A Tourist’s Guide to Visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mexico​

​Seashore Escape

Regardless of its spectacular setting overlooking Banderas Bay and the Sea of Cortez, Puerto Vallarta’s seashores not often rank as Mexico’s greatest. That mentioned, with a little bit of effort you’ll discover turquoise coves and abandoned swaths of sand only a few miles south of town middle. 

​Earlier than heading farther afield, Vallarta’s famed Playa Los Muertos deserves a stroll. Plan to take action very first thing within the morning when the beachfront bars and eating places are simply waking up for the day, and completely happy canine chase Frisbees into the surf. Remember to try the Los Muertos Pier. Designed by award-winning architect José de Jesús Torres Vega and inbuilt 2013 as a part of town’s downtown revitalization challenge, the pier grew to become an immediate Puerto Vallarta icon. Afterward, seize breakfast on the leafy patio at native favourite Coco’s Kitchen — churro hotcakes and huevos rancheros present scrumptious gasoline for the day’s adventures.

​From Coco’s, it’s a 30-minute taxi or Uber journey to Boca de Tomatlán, the leaping off level for the a number of seashores tucked alongside Vallarta’s south shore. Ask your driver to deliver you to the tiny city’s pier, the place brightly painted pangas (motorized skiffs) wait to zip you throughout the water to the seashore. One of many prettiest is Playa Las Animas, an extended stretch of tawny sand studded with seashore bars all providing lounge chairs, umbrellas, basic Mexican fare and ice-cold bottles of Pacifico. 

Getting Round

It’s refreshingly easy and reasonably priced to get round by taxi or Uber. An Uber from Marina Vallarta to the Malecón prices about 115 pesos ($6), whereas the fare from the Malecón to Boca de Tomatlán must be round 200 pesos ($13). Hiring a panga from Boca to Las Animas will run you about 100 pesos per particular person every means, however you’ll be able to all the time negotiate.

​The place to Keep

Every of Puerto Vallarta’s neighborhoods has one thing distinctive to supply. Folks trying to land in the course of the motion flock to El Centro and Viejo Vallarta, the place the slender streets are lined with boutiques, galleries, bars and eating places. Within the Lodge Zone, giant, full-service resorts sit shoulder-to-shoulder on an extended stretch of sandy seashore close to a mall, grocery shops and even a Costco. To the north, Marina Vallarta has an upscale, coastal really feel simply 10 minutes from the airport and a simple taxi journey from the guts of town. 

​Gina DeCaprio Vercesi is a New York-based journalist who contributes to Nationwide Geographic Traveler and Journey + Leisure.​​​

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