Úrsulo Galván

Úrsulo Galván is a village on Highway 200 at the southern edge of the municipality of Compostela, Nayarit, immediately east of Lo de Marcos. The two run into each other along the highway, which locals here call Calle Vallarta, but the line between the municipalities of Compostela and Bahía de Banderas passes between them, so Lo de Marcos and its beach belong to Bahía de Banderas while Úrsulo Galván is the first village of Compostela. It carries the name of Úrsulo Galván Reyes, the early twentieth-century agrarian leader from Veracruz, and is sometimes written Ursula Galván on maps.

It has grown steadily, from 538 people in 2005 and 629 in 2010 to 729 in the 2020 census. It is a working village rather than a resort: a few streets on either side of the highway beside the Lo de Marcos creek, a primary school, the Gabino Barreda telesecundaria and a kindergarten, a corner shop and a small restaurant. The climate is warm, about 25 °C on average, with the rain concentrated in the summer months.

For visitors, its great advantage is that it shares Lo de Marcos's beach and services, about a kilometer away: a wide beach with calm water that is good for swimming, an estuary for birdwatching, horseback rides on the sand, a lookout trail in the hills and, in winter, humpback whales offshore. Sayulita is about 21 km south, roughly half an hour by car, and the sheltered beach of Los Ayala is about 14 km north. Just to the east is Villa Morelos, and beyond it the La Florida junction with the toll road to Puerto Vallarta.