Shopping in Puerto Vallarta

It's hard to decide which is more satisfying: shopping in Puerto Vallarta, or feasting at its glorious restaurants. There's enough of both to keep a bon vivant busy for weeks. But while gourmands return home with enlarged waistlines, gluttonous shoppers need an extra suitcase for the material booty they bring home.

Puerto Vallarta's highest concentration of shops and restaurants shares the same prime real estate: Old Vallarta. But as construction of hotels, time-shares, condos, and private mansions marches implacably north up the bay, new specialty stores and gourmet groceries follow the gravy train. To the south, the Costalegre is made up primarily of modest seaside towns and self-contained luxury resorts, and shopping opportunities are rare.

More than a half dozen malls line "the airport road," Boulevard Francisco M. Ascencio, which connects downtown with the hotel zone and Marina Vallarta. There you'll find folk art, resort clothing, and home furnishing stores amid supermarkets, and in some cases bars, movie theaters, and banks.

A 15% value added tax (locally called IVA, officially the impuesto al valor agregado) is levied on most purchases. (Note that it's often included in the price, and it's usually disregarded entirely by market vendors.) Foreign visitors can now reclaim this 15% by filling out paperwork at a kiosk in the Puerto Vallarta airport (and other major airports around the country). Purchases must be made using a major credit or debit card or cash at approved stores and businesses, and must total $115 or more. You must present a credit card at the time of purchase and obtain a receipt and an official refund form from the merchant. Tax paid on meals and lodgings won't be refunded.

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