PUERTO VALLARTA, MX
Puerto Vallarta. It's a huge city, and has been extremely popular for tourism for about as long as Mexico has been. I spent nearly 2 months in the area, and I always had a bad impression of Puerto Vallarta; I guess to me I thought it would be similar to Cabo San Lucas or something along those lines. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by the city. The city is full of colorful buildings and nice streets to walk around. There are great options to eat. You have a really nice malecon or waterfront walkway that's lined with palm trees. There's a nightlife scene here, some hostels with travelers, and all that. It's worth checking out for a day or two even if you hate large cities or tourist destinations. There are also a few really cool beach destinations that you can go to from Puerto Vallarta. You will have to get on a boat but going to these was very fun and memorable. There's a huge airport here, and you can get here from pretty much anywhere so the access is incredibly easy. If you are here as well there's so much to do in the area surrounding. You have Sayulita and San Pancho to the north, Yelapa to the South, surfing options, resorts and golf if that's your thing; beautiful beaches, nightlife, and hostel culture. There are two main areas to Puerto Vallarta. Centro, and Zona Romantica. Zona Romantica is more of a neighborhood feel, with homes and stuff but it's a cool and trendy area. The center, or El Centro is where the hostels will be, a lot of the nightlife, and such. So regardless if you want to spend a lot of time in the actual city of Puerto Vallarta or not, it's a place worth coming to for the surrounding area. It's also not a bad place to spend a few days while you are at it.
Puerto Vallarta is in the state of Jalisco. It's in the central part of Mexico along the Pacific Ocean. In town there is an international airport (PVR), which allows very easy access from all over the world. It's one of the reasons why the place is so popular to visit. The airport also serves a number of other very popular tourist destinations in the area like Sayulita, San Pancho, and Punta Mita.
Punta Mita, to randomly say a little bit about Punta Mita, sucks. If you are looking to just go sit at a resort, play golf, and not even remotely feel like you are in the country you are in, then hey, maybe you'll like it. But I imagine if you have gotten this far on this website then you are not one of those people. So avoid it.
But Puerto Vallarta is right on the water, and spitting distance to a lot of really cool places. If you are bussing to other places in Mexico as well, Puerto Vallarta is the best place to pick those up. It's an important stop along the backpacking trail of Mexico given its size, and the amount of travel through here.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
A cool little hostel well located in Vallarta. It's not fancy or new or anything, but the charm of these types of hostels is better if you ask me anyways. There's a nice rooftop to hang out, drink, watch the sunset, meet people, etc. There's a couple of common areas, they have free breakfast, and they have lots of information on tours and things to see in the city. This is a great option to stay, and at $15, it's one of the cheaper options in the city anyways.
There's a few hostels in town and certainly a hostel culture. There are a lot of them but as with anywhere, some are better than others. There's certainly a big hotel scene here given the amount of tourism that is in the area but I won't get into any of that. I also didn't do any camping here, but it's a really big city so you won't find any nice camping places or wild options.
I'm only mentioning 2 hostel options; they are the best ones in the city. From my experience, these two like to book up pretty quickly. I would book in advance at one of these two. This is where you will find a social scene, nice common area, etc.
This is another great place to stay in Vallarta. It's similar to Casa Kraken, maybe a little nicer. It has a big rooftop area with sofas and all that, where you can chill and meet people. This place has a little more of a party vibe to it, which is totally okay. Nothing overwhelming like some places can be. But it's a great spot, a nice place to meet people, and all that. Well located, too. A little bit more expensive at almost $20 per night. Free breakfast included here as well.
EATS
Unlike a lot of really popular large tourist destinations, the cuisine scene here actually feels pretty authentic. Rather than a bunch of nice and expensive international restaurants, a lot of the food here feels homegrown. At least it did to me.
Now I think that Vallarta has a really good food scene that you would be able to explore if you didn't have a budget. I didn't do that, but I got some cheap eats that I really did enjoy. Like everywhere, the longer you spend here the better chance you have of scoring great food.
Restaurants
Some of the most famous tacos in the city. It's a restaurant, but the tacos are just great. Won't set you back all that much either. Located in the romantic zone, so a few kms from where the hostels are. Baja style fish tacos here.
This is a simple little local spot in the center. A lot of the restaurants in the center can be kind of tourist trappy, but this place was quaint. They had good cheap simple breakfasts and lunch options.
As is the case in a lot of parts of mainland Mexico, there will be lots of tamales. Here is no exception. It's probably the cheapest way to eat. And they are good. — Cost about $.50 each, fill you up, and are good. Keep an eye out and you will notice the tamale ladies.
and many more...
Go explore. There are restaurants all over the place. Eating your way through a city can be one of the best ways to figure it out anyhow.
NIGHTLIFE
Bars and Clubs
There will be a big nightlife scene here. It wasn't really my vibe; I don't love the nightlife in these big touristy cities. The clubs and stuff like that just kind of rub me the wrong way. But the hostel scene here is fun, you'll run into other backpackers touring the country, and it's usually a good group of people. So partying with them at the hostels and some bars can be fun. I didn't go out too much here, but I went to a few places for some drinks. The Zona Romantica is full of bars and clubs and pretty much everything is walking distance over there. I stuck around the center mainly because that's where the hostels are, but definitely go check out the nightlife in that area also.
However, I did go to one place that isn't in Puerto Vallarta, that I would highly recommend visiting. I went to this party/rave on this secluded boat, only access a beach outside of Vallarta. It's a beach club that I will get into more below but it was very fun. It's certainly expensive, and if it's not in your budget that makes sense. The boat ride there, the drinks, everything is pretty pricey. But I will say it's one of the most unique parties that I have ever been to.
This place is super unique; it was one of the most interesting places I went to in Mexico. It's a totally secluded beach with no road access, that has a restaurant and nightclub on it. It turns into a cool rave at nights sometimes as well. It's not cheap though, and you have to pay for a boat. But it's a crazy beautiful place to go party.
There's another Yambak over in Sayulita, and it's the best place to go out there. The one here is a nice spot to go grab drinks and stuff too. There's a rooftop with a view, food, home brewed beer, and it's in the center near the hostels so it's a good place to go get the night started or just stay at all night.
Cool little cocktail bar in the center of town near all the hostels. They make really nice cocktails, it's going to be a bit pricier though. But the space is cool, and the drinks good as well.
SIGHTS
YELAPA
This place has a page of its own, because for me it was unbelievable, and like no where that I had been up until that point. It's a small village located just south of Puerto Vallarta, that was for a long time entirely cut off from the rest of the world. The only way to get there is by boat; there are no cars. Only recently ATV transportation, and horseback. Small walking trails weave in and out of the city built into the mountainous hills. It's spectacular. There are daily boats heading there from Boca de Tomatlan. It's amazing. More on that page.
Puerto Vallarta, prior to all the development, was surely a very beautiful place naturally. The town itself is now a city and there are city things to visit, like a malecon, and a pier, and churches, and all that stuff. But additionally, the surrounding area is just beautiful. There are beaches and other towns and jungle to explore. Whatever you want to find really, you can find here in and around Puerto Vallarta.
Some of the good exploration here will cost money, it may require taking a boat or something, but if you want to, and can afford it, it's pretty cool. I would also add that from a Puerto Vallarta perspective, some of the best things to see are the towns to the North: Sayulita and San Pancho. I won't include those as specific things below, but just know that these places are all so close to each other that anything can be done in a day trip.
Puerto Vallarta has a very nice Malecon, actually. It's not overwhelmed with tourist shops like Malecons you would find in Cozumel or La Paz. It's a nice, palm tree lined walking path along the ocean. It's just a good place to have a relaxing little walk; day or night.
There are a lot of little hidden beaches to the south of Puerto Vallarta that have no access via the land. In order to access these pretty spectacular little places, you will need to hire a boat or to get on some sort of tour. But it could very well be worth it if you have enough people. They are very unique and amazing all down the coast to the south. Little patches of paradise, with no road access. One after the other. Some of them have development on them, like the nightlife destination Majahuitas.
There are some islands off the coast of Puerto Vallarta where you can take a tour out to for the day. It's an extremely popular thing to do here. I didn't do it because of the cost of it, and from how touristy I heard that it can get. But when you are out there, they will bring you to a pretty unique place called hidden beach, which is a miraculous circle-shaped beach inside a dome-like portion of a mountain or something. Hard to describe. It's in the photo here though. The tour they take you on is a full day, and will include snorkeling, lunch, kayaking, whatever you want. You'll see some amazing things, but there is a price.
Puerto Vallarta is in Jalisco, which is the home to tequila. So on top of just generally drinking a lot of tequila, you can go on tequila tours in the town famously called Tequila. It's a pretty long journey to get over there, but you will be able to tell your friends for the rest of your life you went to Tequila. There are also some tequila farm tours and stuff you can do in the area that are fun.
WHALE WATCHING
There's a lot of whale activity in the whole area depending on the time of year that you are here. But pretty much all year round you can see whales in the area. This is something that you could do anywhere in the surrounding coast. Sayulita has options as well. But if you have the budget, going out and seeing the whales would be memorable. I assume most of the backpackers don't have this in their budget; I know I didn't but if you do it would be great.
SURFING
The surfing recommendation here will be the same for Sayulita and San Pancho. Refer to those pages for recommendations on surfing in the area.