Puerto Vallarta - Dec 2009 - Things to do - 7 day family trip
 

Hello,
We are traveling to Puerto Vallarta and I wanted to start this thread to get a list of ideas for travel activities for a family of 4 (kids are 5 and 10). We enjoy swimming, water activities, hiking, historical sites, and city sights, sports, etc.

We are there for 7 days from Dec 17 through 24, and our hotel booking is done (beach resort near Paseo del Marina)

I am looking for: best activities/things-to-do for 4 of the days, places to dine, suggested travel books on Puerto Vallarta.

Any other suggestions that you may have are also very welcome.

Thanks in advance!!

Take a boat trip to Yelapa for snorkeling, beach, and waterfall

Walk the malecon, day or night

Pirate ship (have never done it, but kids might like it)

ATV trip into the mountains

Rent a car and visit El Eden (lunch, swimming, jungle)

Ride the local buses

Visit the various beaches

Your best source of information imo are these websites: www.allvallarta.com & www.vallarta-info.com

If you really want a printed guidebook I like both Fodor's and Moon Handbooks 'Puerto Vallarta'.

I love PV and have been there often but don't have kids and stay in a different part of town so can't be much help with your other questions.

Two hints; the pirate ship is a getting-drunk ship. and there is a new private zoo (do no go to the one at El Eden, its pathetic how the animals are housed), but I don't know more about the new zoo, just that they have "big cats".

Another idea; you may be there for the festival of Guadalupe. there is a charming parade in Vallartas downtown that goes north to south on the street of the main Catholic church, ending at the church. School children parade, off-key bands play and it is wholesome and a lot of fun for kids. The Vallarta website says annually Dec.1-12, but I saw it on a December 18. the church also has a fun diorama in its entry way. Double check this (or write to me after I come back from my Vallarta trip over Thanksgiving) but I remember that every Saturday evening, beginning around 8 PM, the townspeople all gather at the Plaza to hear a band, eat cotton candy and ears of corn, and just have a wholesome good time. Walk on the seawall "Malecon" with them any afternoon, again to see the locals strolling, grandmothers with the grandkids, young people flirting, and to see the unusual sculptures on the walkway. Also take them into a Huichol craft store and have the salesperson explain about this separate people who use bees wax to imbed beads in gourds to make designs like scorpions, corn, deer and gods-eyes (OK and peote buds designs too).
Also, don't go to El Eden at all, but have a lunch at Chico's Paradise, eating on a broad balcony overlooking the stream with waterfalls, divers and zip-line doers. Good food but not cheap, but the kids will love the Macaws in cages and the architecture.

the festival of Guadalupe ends on Dec 12th, sorry. The restaurant near El Eden is Chino's Paradise, not Chico's Paradise, that is up the Rio Horcones from Boca de Tomatlan.

Oops, I was going to say the same, Cabron beat me to it. The Festival culminated on the 12th of December each year, so they unfortunately will miss it.

Thank you for all your responses - very helpful. Suze - I am looking at the map on vallarta-info.com, and find it very helpful. Our hotel is in the Marina airport zone, and we have not rented a car. What's the recommendation on traveling to downtown & other areas? How much do taxis cost? Are buses safe?

What are some of the nice beaches (family friendly)?

Still haven't had a chance to go pick up the books, will do that over thanksgiving.

Thanks!

The busses are relatively safe, LOL, just get to your seat quickly and hang on, the drivers tend to take off as soon as the last person has boarded. There's one bus line that servers the Marina, 5.5 pesos each, which goes all the way to the south side, you should go there and visit Los Muertos Beach. On the way back, catch the Marina bus, it'll say "Marina" in the top display window.
Don't understand the 'family friendly beach' ? All the beaches in Mexico are public beaches.

Taxis are relatively inexpensive, but definitely take the bus. Its fun and you get a lot of local color. You can take the bus to Los Muertos and change buses to go south as far as Mismaloya Beach and Boca de Tomatlan. You can also take a bus north to the town of Bucerias which has beautiful beaches! Last time we went to PV we rented a car just for a day to drive into the mountains and visit Chino's Paradise.
One of my favorite beaches is Las Gemelas near the Presidente hotel. There are two small pristine beaches divided by a rocky point. During the week they are nearly deserted.
Have fun.

Well perhaps they have heard about & don't want to go to Blue Chairs beach club on Los Muertos which is a well-known gay beach? All the hotel beaches are "family friendly" and most of the rest of Los Muertos (south-side public beach) are mixed with all kinds of people, tourists, locals, visiting mexican families, seniors, teens, couples, singles, etc.

Busses are safe but a bit tricky to learn to use, and sometimes a fast rough ride, so hang on!! Taxis are reasonably priced imo. The white ones (airport) are more expensive as they are regulated and the only ones allowed to pick up there; you'll be using yellow (town) ones that are lower priced. Just ask the fare before getting into the cab.

We found PV to be a most casual and fun places.
There is something for all ages. Beach activities, shopping, eating and drinking to name a few.
I cant imagine anyone not enjoying their time there.
we stayed at Playa Los Arcos. We loved it.
Most of the town is walkable.

We are going to Puerto Vallarta in June 2010 and I am interested in hearing your experiences with the ATV tours. Which one did you like best etc.
Sue

ATV tours in Puerto Vallarta: What did you like best about them, value for your money, which was your favorite tour?

Sue~ Welcome to the forums! You might want to start your own thread asking about ATV tours in PV, so more people would see it, it's kind of lost at the end of this older thread.

Also www.tripadvisor.com has a very active PV discussion forum you could check as well.

The only ATV tour I would recommend is Unique ATV, all the others are responsible for tearing through small neighborhoods filling peoples houses with dust. They are not liked by the locals at all, Unique is the only one that is responsible and actually puts back into the local society.

cabron~ Good to know there's one decent company. Because I've seen those ATV tours literally ripping up the residential streets (inland/southside) making a ton of noise is quiet family neighborhoods. It was really NOT pretty, very "ugly" tourist.