friedough2

Just returned from 7 nts in P.V.stayed at The Fiesta Americana. Beautiful hotel with an absolutely gorgeous view of the bay. The beach was great, hotel perfect. Nice location with shopping across the st. Tours were Fiesta, Yelapa, Sierre Madre and Rhythm of the Nights. Don't attempt the Sierre Madre if you don't like being knocked around in a bumpy bus. Rhythm of the nights was very romantic and the Fiesta was hilarious with great dancing. October was a wonderful month with perfect weather. 8 of us enjoyed the trip immensely. Massage on the beach is heavenly.

MichelleY

Dear frie:

How was your Yelapa trip? Please give more details: cost, by sea or land, would you go again.

Thanks,

MY

suze

Michelle~ You can't get to Yelapa by land, you have to go by boat. You can go on your own by water taxi from either the pier at Los Muertos or from the beach down at Boca. Or there are also organized day tours on bigger boats.

MichelleY

Thanks Suze. I really appreciate all you input on this Forum. We are headed to PV for our 2nd time in late January. My DH has a friend with a condo at Girasol, so we are checking it out for a week. I have been thinking of Yelapa. What other day trips would you recommend? DH wants to go to Guadalajara, but I told him it is more than a day trip.

Thanks,

MY

suze

You know from my posts here that I love Puerto Vallarta and go there often. But to be perfectly honest, I never do day trips.

I am content to have a leisurely breakfast each day, then kick around downtown, take long walks, going to the beach, hanging out at the hotel pool, exploring the local neighborhoods, strolling the Malecon, watching sunset each evening.

Yelapa is a good day trip but I have never gone because I get horribly seasick and am too afraid to try it.

Guadalajara is a 5 hour bus ride each way so, you're right, you'd want at least 1 night there I'd think. Unless you were willing to pay to fly?

A girlfriend took a tour she enjoyed up to a San Blas nature preserve (3 hours north). They went by van, then on boats and saw alligators and such!

Sierra Madres (mountain range) is a trip people seem to enjoy. I'd check www.vallarta-info.com for a good selection of tours and activities.

I've gone on my own by bus out to El Anclote which is a beach at Punta Mita. But this is years ago and I'm not certain how development in the area has affected the beach.

The town of Bucerias is only 1/2 hour north and good for beach, shopping, restaurants, etc. if you want a change of pace from PV.

By bus, taxi, or rental car you could drive north to the towns of San Pancho and Sayulita (a surf town). They are only about an hour away.

We had fun one trip where we arranged with a taxi driver for our own 1/2 day tour. He took us to some places with great views above town, then down to Chico's Paradise, El Eden, Boca. Then back thru town and over to Pitillal where we had lunch at Tino's Mariscos. Your hotel should be able to hook you up with a tour guide/driver.

cabron

No need to go to San Blas to see Aligators, plenty here in Vallarta, a lot of them breed at the mangrove area in Boca de Tomates and they even hang out on the Marina Golf Course !
"Four ! "

Stewbear

Even if you fly Guadalajara is NOT a good day trip destination. We have been going there for almost 25 years up to a week at a time & have yet to see it all. Unless you can spend at least a couple of days save it for when you can.

KVR

Michelle, we went to PV last December for the first time. We are used to the Caribbean side of Mexico, but thought we'd try PV.

We did the Yelapa & Majahuitas tour with Vallarta Adventures. We took a boat from the Marina and stopped at a snorkel area by Majahuitas. The water was quite cold and cloudy, so snorkleing was not that great. We did see a few black and orange fish and a couple of puffer fish. We then headed to Yelapa. We hiked up to a waterfall and then down to the beach. We shared a lobster plate at the beach restaurant, which was very good, but the beach vendors were horribly annoying and ruined the atmosphere.

We also did the Jungle Trio/Escape to Paradise Tour. We booked it on-line with Best Day before arriving. The tour took us to view the Arches, view Mismaloya Beach, Mama Lucia Tequila Tasting, El Eden and Chino's Restaurant. El Eden and Chino's had very nice waterfalls, but the water was freezing cold. We had a fabluous shrimp plate at Chinos. (not included in the tour)

Of the two tours we prefered the Jungle Trio/Escape to Paradise the most.

We also went to the Ryhthm of the Nights, which we enjoyed except for the horrible, long, cold boat ride getting to and from.

Our favorite was Andale's bar. We had a blast and probably the only reason we would ever return to PV. We meet some great people and danced all night long with everybody. We loved the "Alice" song.

If your interested we have pictures at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/kvrlvn

rpowell

Hi,
Michelle, we rented a car for a day. We picked it up at noon one day and returned it around 2 the next day. That way we actually got the car for 2 outings. Day 1 we drove to Bucerias, had lunch on the beautiful beach. The next day we drove south stopping at the village of Boca de Tomatlan then on to El Eden and Chino's Paradise. (The driving is over very bumpy dirt roads) We like the independence of having a car, just make sure to take out maximum insurance.
We LOVE taking the local buses. You can take them to explore the marina area or south to Mismaloya.
We also did an ATV tour. It included a stop at the tequila "factory." (Good idea mixing tequila with ATV driving...)It was a fun way to get into the mountains. We got FILTHY!!!!!
Mostly we enjoy walking on the Malecon and the beaches! Have fun.

MichelleY

Thanks everyone for the input. I will be checking out our options, but we may end up just chilling out, eating, drinking.

MY

gertie3751

I see there is a birdwatching tour. Has anyone done it?

Reisender

general idea on the cost of hiring a taxi driver for say 3 hours of driving around? We are there next week.

suze

Sorry, not sure. When we did our 1/2 day tour it was with someone who also worked at our hotel that we'd befriended (he and his brother co-shared a taxi). He did it just for gas money, lunch, and a tip we insisted on.

suze

Reisender,
If no one pipes up with an estimate ask at your hotel front desk. They should be able to recommend someone or at least give you a ballpark idea what the price would be.

If you don't speak Spanish, it would be worth hiring an English-speaking driver/guide rather than a regular taxi drive (many do not speak much English).

Reisender

Thanks suze - I think we have located a highly recommended local service that we plan to use.