First trip to Puerto Vallarta
 

My husband and I finally made a decision. We are going to Puerto Vallarta a month from today. We are staying at the Villa Premiere and we chose not to do the all-inclusive. We have been to Cancun, Playa Del Carmen and Acapulco and are looking forward to seeing another area of Mexico.

We are in our early 40s and would love suggestions for restaurants, clubs, things to do, and places to see. We are active. We like fining dining but also great local restaurants. We like some nightlife but don't want to hang out with a bunch of 20 year olds either.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Things to see and do: stroll the Malecon in the evenings, especially weekends. watch the sunset down on Playa Los Muertos beach on the south-side. rent a car or take a bus to Bucerias, Destiladeras, Punta Mita, El Anclote, San Pancho, Sayulita, &/or San Blas (towns and beaches to the north). take a water taxi to Yelapa. visit the main church with the crown on the top in El Centro. hire a taxi for a private 1/2 day tour heading south.

If you prefer organized tours and formal activities there's a long list of possibilities such as: snorkeling boat trips, cruise to Yelapa, pirate ship dinner cruise, ziplines, horseback riding, city tour, home tour, jungle visits, etc.

I think the two best Vallarta websites for more information are:
www.allvallarta.com
www.vallarta-info.com

Also there is a very active Puerto Vallarta forum over at Trip Advisor (not the hotel reviews part but in the destinations forum section).

Suze,
I have noticed your name on several treads. Do you live in PV? or vacation there frequently? Do you have any recommendations on restaurants? We are pretty flexible. We will probably have a couple of nice, upscale dinners but also would like to go to some local favorites.

oops. I meant threads. I meant to ask about whale watching. Is it worth it to go on a whale watching excursion? will we be able to see whales from our hotel? We were in Hawaii at this time the last couple of years and the whale watching excursions were disappointing. Last year, I think we saw more right where we were staying. Thanks for your help.

I live in Seattle but have been to Puerto Vallarta ~17 times over the past 12 years. I stay on the south-side, sometimes called Old Town or Zona Romantica in a local 3-star hotel.

The two websites I directed you to above are managed by two people living currently in PV.

Sorry, I'm not sure about seeing whales from your hotel or on an excursion. I've never taken a boat tour like that, nor have I seen whales from shore.

A couple favorite places I like are the rooftop at Cuatro Vientos Hotel & Chez Elena Restaurant - which is a bar called El Nido. It's a great place for a drink and to watch sunset. It's on a street up behind the church, taxi driver would know it.

If you go to Basilo Badillo (street name, located about 4 blocks south of the river, also dubbed "restaurant row") there are many moderate priced favorites such as: Cafe de Olla, Fajita Republic, Joe Jacks Fish Shack, etc. Nearby I also like La Piazetta for italian food (on Olas Altas). It's easy to walk around this few block area and pick out what you like. Most place have menus posted or available.

I'm not really up on the more high-end places but people seem to enjoy: River Cafe, Trio, Vitea, La Palapa. I suggest buying a Vallarta Lifestyles magazine after you arrive. It will have all the current nicer places listed, often showing menus.

Since you are going to P.V., it ould be a shame not to take a comfortable and inexpensive luxury ETN bus trip over the mountain to see Guadalajara. Very historical city with lots of nightspots for the over 30 crowd. Good affordable rentals for a few days. Buy your souvenirs for a tenth of the price, where they are made!!!
A good clean and inexpensive place to stay is The Dickinson Guest House. Was just there recently. Wonderful, with lots of amenities. www.at-home-in-guadalajara.com Have a good trip!

I second Suze's recommendation to spend some time at Playa des Muertos. If you're up for some snorkelling and possible whale watching, we took the public bus to Punta de Mita at the north tip of the bay where PV sits. We approached one of the row of private boat owners, who took us for 1/2 day snorkelling in a cool area off shore - not spectacular, but I heard the reviews of friends who paid for the package snorkelling tour in town and their experience was not as good and twice the price. After we had been snorkelling a while, our boat driver got a radio from his friend that there were whales in the harbor, and he quickly got us over to where they were breeching and playing - an unexpected bonus. The restaurant at Punta de Mita, attached to the hotel on the beach, (right beside the boats) had a very nice meal for us, and the price/atmosphere was great. Punta de Mita is really a small town - not hard to find the boats or the hotel as the bus dropped us off right across the street.

good info michele_m! i've been out to El Anclote, the local public beach at Punta de Mita just once. it's lovely out there. we (i was with my sister that trip) had a wonderful cheap fresh fish lunch at a beach restaurant. we also took the bus from downtown for a couple bucks.

There is plenty to do in P.V., and all of the restaurants mentioned are very good. This was our fourth trip. Unfortunately, my wife and I stayed at the Villa Premiere late last month and found it so relaxing, we did almost nothing for a week but walk downtown and hang around the hotel!

There is a very nice restaurant just across the street from the Villa name El Andariego. When we were there they had a $20(U.S.)lobster special. Their breakfast special was about $4.50. They also give you a free tequila after dinner in the evening.

I didn't notice on the other replies, but Vallarta Adventures has two different excursions to Las Caletas that are each very nice. One is a whale watching (with free booze) during the day. When you get to Las Caletas you get a very good meal, then have a couple of hours to just hang around, swim, snorkle or hike. The other is Rythms of the Night. You leave in the evening, have a nice dinner and then a fun show in an outdoor amphitheater. Las Caletas has no electricity so everything is lighted by torches.

Also, do a jungle restaurant like Chico's Paradise or El Eden. We had planned to do a canopy tour, but as I said earlier, it was too nice at the hotel.

Dougin, glad to hear you liked the Villa Premiere so much. Did you do the all-inclusive? If not, were drinks and food expensive at the hotel. What are the prices like at the restaurants and bars? I am from Chicago and I know when we went to Acapulco and Playa del Carmen you could get pretty good food reasonably.

Here's a local favourite. A place called Epoca. Walk the full length of the Malecon, they're just finishing off the newest portion to the south. If you walk all the way south, and cross the new bridge...past the empty lot that used to be the molino de agua hotel, and basically the last restaurant before the malecon drops you off onto sand on the south end is a place called Epoca, the food uses traditional flavours, but with some real flare to it, especially at dinner, and there are great little palapas on the beach for that special candle light evening. The mojitos are some of the best in town too!! That's deffinitely my pick, quiet, a bit off the beaten track, worth the walk. It's also the best place on the beach to watch the sunset.

Hi....I was in PV last year with my fiance....it is a lot different in my opinion from Playa del Carmen. I preferred PV, where you are really in Mexico as opposed to resorts set away from town. It is still touristy, and everywhere you go there are people trying to sell you tours. I also recommend the Rhythms of the Night, we really enjoyed that. Las Caletas also has a day tour which looks really nice, but we didn't get to that. Some of the snorkeling tours are not worth it (Los Arcos for instance, you get about 10 minutes to snorkel, and then you sit on the beach or the option to go to a waterfall (not worth it at all, and the horses all look like they are dying). Snorkeling in PV is nothing like snorkeling on the other side of Mexico, although we did do one that was better than the other, on the opposite side of the bay (they tell you you will see dolphins, which we did not) where there is a lot more fish and huge manta rays which were pretty cool. I can't remember where it was, but the opposite direction you would go for Los Arcos. We did a zip line tour, which was man made zip lines set in a desert type of area (not through forests or anything) so it was seriously hot and they had nothing to drink. If you do one of these, try El Eden. Most of the boat cruises (for snorkeling) are just booze cruises though, so don't do too many of them unless you like that kind of thing. PV is a beautiful town, so many great restaurants - I wish I could remember some of them, sorry! And there is great shopping. The beaches are public though, so very crowded on the weekends, and lots of people selling stuff. Have fun!

Definatly do the Canopy tours. I did one with Los Veranos and thought they were a great company. Las Caletas with Vallarta Adventures is a fun experience.
Go to La Palapa for dinner!!! It is such a wonderful experience to sit on the beach watching the sunset while eating dinner.They also own another resturant Vista Grill which sits high on the hill so you have this panoramic view of the city which is also gorgeous at sunset.
I second El Andariego and also Pipi's is a fun resturant as well. Have fun!!!

Just got back from PV and went snorkeling at Los Arcos and took a boat trip to Yelapa. Saw whales on both.

5 more days! I am so excited. I am not sure about the Canopy tours. Everyone has been recommending it but it seems scary to me. :-) If we go to Las Caletas, should we go during the day or do the Rythym at Night? I don't think we would do both. Also, what is Las Animas? Do we have to take a boat there? Thanks.

To bad you are scared about the Canopy Tours, its such a blast!!! I was scared but overcame it, did it and cannot wait to do it again someday.
As far as las Caletas, i have only done the day trip there.I have heard Rythym of the Nights is really good as well.
My son is there right now and i cant wait to hear his take on the Canopy Tour:)

The Villa Premier looks wonderful, but out of my price range. Has anyone been to the Melia all inclusive? Or maybe another all inclusive in the mid-level range?

Another question...are the beaches as clear and georgeous as Punta Cana?

One more...any reasonable AI in Cabo?