Things to do in Puerto Vallarta
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Puerto Vallarta
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry high season, little rain, lower humidity, clearest bay water and the full cultural calendar.
Whale season 8 December to 23 March, peaking January and February with mother calf pairs.
Rainy season, mornings usually fine with heavy late day storms, emerald mountains and full waterfalls.
Wettest, most humid and quietest month, murkiest bay water and highest storm risk, but the lowest prices.
Shoulder gold, rains ending or calm seas, Art Walk restarting, Restaurant Week and Pride in May.
Best month overall, dry with whales at peak and Art Walk in full season just off the Christmas price spike.
What's on
- Dia de Muertos 24 October-2 November
Malecon altars, a giant Catrina figure and a parade on 2 November.
- Festival de las Almas 24 October-15 November
Statewide programme concentrating Puerto Vallarta events 31 October to 2 November around the Malecon and Isla Cuale.
- Festival Gourmet International mid-November, about 10 days
Guest chefs cook in Vallarta best kitchens, the food traveller best week of the year.
- Art Walk Wednesdays, late October-May
Centro galleries open 6 to 10pm, a season worth anchoring a trip on a Wednesday night.
- Fiestas Guadalupanas 1-12 December
Nightly pilgrimages and processions to the Guadalupe church, culminating 12 December.
- Vallarta Pride late May
A week of parades, beach parties and circuit events centred on the Zona Romantica.
- Restaurant Week mid-May-early June
Fixed price menus city wide below winter prices.
- Independence Day 15-16 September
The Grito, fireworks over the bay and a plaza party in Centro, inside the rainiest month.
- Mexico Open at Vidanta February
PGA Tour event at Vidanta in Nuevo, the golf traveller fixture, confirm current year dates.
Best things to do in Puerto Vallarta
Malecón Puerto Vallarta
Twelve car free blocks of sculptures, performers and sea views that are best walked slowly from an hour before sunset.
Playa Los Muertos
The Romantica social beach under the sail pier, busy and scene driven, best for people watching and sunset.
Vallarta Food Tours
A small group food walk through long lived family stops that gives first timers a map of places to return to.
Centro Art Walk
Sixteen or so Centro galleries open late on Wednesdays in season for a free self guided art and folk art walk.
Vallarta Botanical Gardens
Mountain gardens with orchids, jungle trails, a gorge side restaurant and river pools for swimming in dry season.
Rhythms of the Night
A sunset boat to a candle lit cove for a beach buffet and a polished cirque style show in a jungle amphitheatre.
Basilio Badillo
Restaurant Row and nearby Olas Altas are where the Romantica lingers after the beach, with cabaret by night.
Isla Cuale
A shaded green river island with markets and paths that links Centro, the Romantica and historic Gringo Gulch.
Where to stay in Puerto Vallarta
Zona Romantica
best all round base, the default
Walk to Los Muertos, Restaurant Row, cabaret and the Malecon with no car, lively and heavily walked at night.
Centro / 5 de Diciembre
culture, value, longer stays
Malecon, plaza, church and Art Walk galleries, quieter and more Mexican, with the Romantica a short walk south.
Hotel Zone
resort first trip with town as an outing
Larger beachfront hotels with sandier beach and big pools, but a bus or taxi ride to every dinner that matters.
Marina Vallarta
golfers and a quiet stay near the airport
Calm, manicured marina of condos, golf and a restaurant boardwalk, minutes from the airport but 20 plus minutes to town.
Nuevo Vallarta / Nuevo Nayarit
all inclusive resort weeks
Widest, flattest beach and biggest resorts across the river, with nothing walkable outside the gates and distance as the cost.
South Shore (Conchas Chinas-Mismaloya)
seclusion and repeat visitors with wheels
Jungle hillside boutiques over coves near the Gardens and Arcos boats, but town is a winding drive with thin late transport.
Think twice about
- Pitillal and the deep colonias east of the highway
Friendly with great cheap food by day, but no visitor infrastructure and dark unfamiliar streets at night.
- The airport/cruise corridor
Functional overnights on a highway, not a base for a town trip.
- Listings pinned in far Nuevo, Bucerias or Punta Mita sold as Puerto Vallarta
Check the map pin, these are a long drive from the Romantica and not the town stay the listing implies.
Best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta
Cafe des Artistes
A French Mexican garden flagship for three decades, the special occasion room the rest of the city measures against.
Pancho's Takos
Evenings only, cash only al pastor carved off the trompo with pineapple, with a queue that is part of the ritual.
La Palapa Restaurant
Vallarta oldest beach restaurant, feet in sand by day and torch lit by night, with sunset as the floor show.
El Dorado Restaurant & Beach Club
La Palapa calmer sister next door on Los Muertos, from the same group with the same beach setting.
Mariscos El Coleguita
A locals seafood institution since 1989, huge sharing platters of aguachile, ceviche, whole fish and lobster.
El Arrayan
A courtyard house serving the Mexican canon properly, duck carnitas, cochinita and moles at mid range prices.
La Leche
An all white, milk themed room with a daily chalkboard menu of playful modern Mexican cooking.
Barcelona Tapas Puerto Vallarta
A Centro rooftop for Spanish tapas, a sharing seafood paella and sangria, with one of the best bay views.
Outdoor things to do in Puerto Vallarta
Ecotours Vallarta
Biologist led small boat whale watching in a winter breeding bay, with mother calf pairs and hydrophone song.
Yelapa
A boat only fishing village with palapa beach restaurants, a small town and a waterfall a short walk inland.
Marietas Islands Hidden Beach
A capped, permitted swim into a circular hidden beach, plus reefs with boobies, turtles, rays and reef fish.
Los Arcos de Mismaloya
Five granite islets you can boat through, with the bay most accessible snorkelling over reef and rock.
Boca de Tomatlan to Las Animas Trail
A free coastal jungle hike past Colomitos and small coves to Las Animas beach, with a water taxi back.
Sayulita
A mellow surf town an hour north for longboarders and learners, with a busy main beach and cafe plaza.
San Sebastian del Oeste
A cool, cobblestoned former silver mining town in the Sierra Madre, with coffee, raicilla and mountain views.
Los Veranos Canopy Tour
Nineteen ziplines over the Rio Los Horcones, then a river swim, rock slides and a riverside restaurant.
Best hotels in Puerto Vallarta
Casa Cupula
The landmark luxury LGBTQ boutique hotel in the Amapas hills, with lush gardens, pools and a serious restaurant.
Almar Resort Luxury LGBT Beach Front Experience
A beachfront adults oriented luxury tower on Los Muertos with the Mantamar beach club as its front yard.
Hacienda San Angel
An antiques filled boutique hotel of linked historic houses with bay views, Vallarta most romantic non beach splurge.
Pinnacle Resorts 180
Modern condo hotel suites with kitchens and a famous rooftop infinity pool a block from Los Muertos.
Playa Los Arcos Hotel Beach Resort & Spa
A full service Mexican owned beach resort right on Los Muertos, the mid range beachfront default for first timers.
Hotel Posada de Roger
A genuine budget classic courtyard posada on Basilio Badillo, two blocks from the beach with a small pool.
Hotel Eloisa
A small, basic beach block hotel in the Romantica bought for honest location and price.
Posada Lily
A small, basic beach block hotel in the Romantica bought for honest location and price.
Is Puerto Vallarta expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | MX$1,300 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | MX$2,400 a person |
| Splurge | MX$5,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Vallarta Food Tours: a few days ahead
- Rhythms of the Night: weeks ahead
- Gaby's Restaurant & Cocktail Bar: a few days ahead
- Las Caletas Beach Hideaway: weeks ahead
- Marigalante Pirate Ship: a few days ahead
- Ecotours Vallarta: a few days ahead
- Marietas Islands Hidden Beach: weeks ahead
- San Sebastian del Oeste: a few days ahead
- Hidden Beach permitted slots book 1 to 3 weeks ahead December to April, verify the permit includes landing in writing.
- Biologist led whale boats book days ahead in January and February.
- Cafe des Artistes, Trio and Le Kliff at sunset should be reserved when you book flights in high season.
- Rhythms of the Night and earliest Vista Vallarta tee times should be booked ahead, not on arrival.
Is Puerto Vallarta safe?
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
- The policed Malecon and Romantica core is far calmer than inland Jalisco, and the risk that shapes the state's reputation sits away from the bay.
- Watch for pickpockets on crowded buses and Malecon nights, wear your bag in front and watch drinks in clubs.
- Obey beach flags, shore break and rips injure more visitors than anything else here.
- Heed crocodile signs at the Marina, El Salado and river mouths and never swim in estuaries.
- Do not bring vapes into Mexico and do not buy drugs, laws are strict.
Puerto Vallarta travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The airport timeshare gauntlet is the top trap, nothing inside that hall is your ride, walk through and find your driver outside.
- Every free tour, tasting or welcome breakfast costs a long timeshare presentation, a polite no gracias is the defence.
- Pay in pesos always, decline card terminal and ATM conversion offers and use ATMs inside banks and big stores.
- Confirm the per kilo price for lobster and whole fish before it is cooked, and question an unasked service line on a bill.
Getting around Puerto Vallarta: public transport and more
- Walk Centro, the Malecon and the Zona Romantica as one whole, that is the point of basing there.
- City buses are cheap and frequent, southbound for Boca and the Gardens, northbound for the Hotel Zone, Marina and airport.
- Uber works well in town but cannot pick up inside the airport zone, walk over the pedestrian bridge to the highway pickup.
- City taxis are unmetered, agree the fare in pesos before the door closes.
- Water taxis from Los Muertos Pier and Boca serve the south shore beaches, confirm the last boat back before you swim.
Who Puerto Vallarta suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Puerto Vallarta your trip
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