Food and Fun In Puerto Vallarta
 

What are your favorite restaurants/activities in Puerto Vallarta? I am organizing a list for our honeymoon! I would love your input!
Thanks

suze???

Head down to Playa Los Muertos (main local beach on the southside) and set up under a palapa on a chair/lounge (yours free for buying drinks or food from the waiter/restaurants). Do your souvenier shopping from the strolling vendors. Get a temporary tattoo or hair braids.

Catch a water taxi from the pier and go out to Yelapa for the day.

Take a local bus and head north to the beach near Punta de Mita called El Anclote, or one nearer Bucerias called Destiladera.

Have dinner at The Red Cabbage Cafe in Remance district.

Go to the cathedral, sit in the quiet, and watch the local world come and go. Light a candle for a loved one past, and make a donation in the box.

Formal tours and activities include: a dinner cruise on the pirate ship in the bay, snorkeling or booze cruise, jungle tour, zip lines, tequila factory tour, mountain biking.

Sports including: parasailing, banana boats, boogie boards, golf, horseback riding.

Hire a taxi as your private driver for 1/2 day and go down to Chico's Paradise and El Eden (restaurants at fresh water rivers in the jungle) for lunch.

Get a massage.
Go to a spa.
Work out at the gym.

Go down to Playa Los Muertos at sunset and have drinks and dinner on the beach, at one of the restaurants with tables set up on the sand. Strolling mariachis bands will serenade at your request (and tip). Waves literally washing over your feet under the table. Torches lighting your dinner.

Rent a jeep for the day and drive up to Sayulita, Ricon de Guaymbitos, and San Pancho.

Go to Chez Elena's rooftop bar at the Cuatro Vientos hotel 520 Matamoros up behind the cathedral, and have margaritas with the best sunset view out across the town and the Bay.

Shopping at tourist shops, art galleries, practical local stores (hardware, fabric, tiende de plastico, supermercado).

In the evening, weekends are best, stroll along The Malecon, watch the people, get an ice cream cone or corn in a cup, hold hands and kiss like all the local teenagers do.

Sometimes there is a free music or dance show on the stage under the arches at the south end of the Malecon.

Eat tacos from a street vendor stand. Go to a local bakery.

If you aren't staying in the neighborhood, go walking in Zona Romantica (the Old Town which is "south of the river" from downtown).

All manner of the usual entertainments like fiestas put on for tourists and the local bullfights.

I certainly cant top what Suze has to say!~~ but- i can reccommend an activity i recently participated in.
It was a Canopy Tour.If you have not heard of this before,you ride on zip lines from treetop to treetop through the jungle.I think there was a total of 15 ziplines. You start off short and not that high to really a long ride and pretty high up with a river underneath you. So thrilling, scary and just fun!!!!
Ther is a fantastic spot to eat lunch after on a river.
I had such a blast on this i am definatly going to do it again when i go back in Sept.The name of the tour company is Canopy Tour de los Veranos.
Their website is www.canopytours-vallarta.com.
Another restaurant reccomdation is La Palapa on the beach.You can make reservations for a special dinner for two. I saw a couple on the beach having this romantic dinner right practically in the water with their private waiter. We thought it was a movie star or something!! Come to find out the restaurant has these special dinners for a fixed price. You can access this info. on line as well.
Good luck and have fun!!!

Hi Lbride77

As suze said go to the Red Cabbage!

Also, Cafe des Artistes, gourmet food and try to get a seat in the 'Garden'
esp since it's your honeymoon, tell them it's your honeymoon when you make the reservation. You can do it online!
congratulations!

Ivitlay, thanks for posting about the canopy tours. i keep hearing more and more about them and wasn't sure exactly what people were talking about!

(although I think I saw something similar on the Amazing Race -LOL)

Lewis, that's a great suggestion, meaning to mention your honeymoon. The local folks in PV are very friendly people and i'm muy romantico. i'm sure this would get you an extra warm welcome.

People even got a kick out of when I was traveling with my sister one trip, and my female cousin another trip (I learned to say this in Spanish).

Here's a great restaurant that LVITALY recommended to me us and we loved it!!!Very romantic Vista Grille it's high on a hill and you must go before Sunset they have a table for 2 overlooking the beautiful view and the food was incredible. Don't miss this one!!!

Suze- Thats why i did it( because i saw it on the Amazing Race!) I felt like if they could do it so can i!!!
Butsey- right on about Vista Grille. It would be a romantic place for two on a honeymoon,especially during the sunset.

In Puerto Vallarta city proper, in alphabetical order:

Top Ten Seafood places
Blue Shrimp
Cueto's Mariscería
Daiquiri Dick's
El Dorado
La Palapa
Mariscos Polo's
Mariscos Tino's
Roberto's Puerto Nuevo

Top Ten Gourmet
Bianco
Café des Artistes
La Palapa
La Petite
Le Bistro
Le Gourmet
Nikki Beach Club
River Cafe
Trio
Vitea
Top Ten Mexican High Cuisine,
Top Ten Mexican Traditional Cuisine,
Top Ten Taco Stands/Street Food,
Top Ten Beach Eateries,
Top Ten Views/Vistas, etc...

Gary
San Francisco, CA.
www.cafepress.com/vallartaguide
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Puerto...Town_SouthSide

Gary,
Can you Tell me about Daiquiri Dick's and Marisco Tino's? Location, ambiance, Price etc.
I ate at the Blue Shrimp in Feb. and found it to be good but very pricey.
I am always looking for new ideas on restaurants there as i am returning in Sept. Thanks.

I'm not Gary but I'm happy to say about Mariscos Tino's...

It is a wonderful place located at Avenida 333 & Revolucion in Pitilal. Great atmosphere and popular with locals and tourists both. Fish done on a big grill, excellent shrimp cocktails Mexican style, sometimes live music. Tel. 224-5584

We found it the first time when we asked a local young man we'd gotten to know quite well, where he would take his family for a special occasion.

Daquiri Dicks (I have never eaten there but walked by a hundred times) is on a cement patio at a busy corner on Playa Los Muertos (southside beach). I know it is popular with tourists but never understood why. There are many other restaurants along the beach that I'd choose instead. Again, just personal opinion speaking to the ambience (or lack thereof) since I've never tried the food.

Suze,
In terms of the Malecon where is Marisco's? Near it, off a side street from it or just somewhere else completly? Thanks for the address but i am trying to figure out round and about where it is.
I looked up Daqurie Dicks and on their website they are closed the month of Sept. so thats scratched completly.
There are several restaurants that have become my favorite ( thanks Butsy) but always looking for a few more.

No Pitilal is a different district entirely from downtown PV. As you're coming from the airport into town it is on a road that forks off from the highway (maybe around the Marina somewhere, I think??). I've only gone there by taxi, but I have seen the name on the front of local busses too.

Thanks. If i only did not speed read your post i would have caught the word Pitilal, not that i knew where that was to begin with! Thanks, as that gives me a clearer picture of where the location is. it seems alot of names of restaurants are Marisco something or other, so at least i know what direction we should head.

I'm not sure if you're teasing me or not, but 'mariscos' in spanish means 'seafood'!!

Went to both Vista Grill and Cafe des Artistes...Cafe des Artistes has a slightly better (we are talking whether it is 9.9 vs 9.99 here) romantic ambiance while Vista Grill's view is unbeatable. Both equally pricey, but worth the splurge. Daiquiri Dick's is nice on the beach, but not on the same league as the other 2. Avoid Barcelona Tapas, as despite it's rave reviews by some, we were treated rudely and the food wasn't that great afterall.