PV ideas
 

Heading to Puerto Vallarta for a couple weeks in early April. We've been there many times - looking for some new adventures. Hiking would be great. Any daylong tours would be good.

(We've been to the Botanical Gardens at least five times, have released baby turtles, walked everywhere, gone as far south as Barra De Navidad. )

I don’t know of many hikes around there but one starts at Boca, goes over the mountain to the Ocean Grill. I have not done it but a friend has. She thought it was challenging but then, she is not a big hiker. You can have lunch at Ocean Grill with a reservation. Or you can go to Ocean Grill like we did, take the boat over.
one hike I did do was to an archeological site somewhere by Rincon de Guayabetos. I do not remember the name but if you interested might be able to get info for you. We had a guide.
have done some day trips with Vallarta Adventures. We went to San Saebastion - an old silver mining town. That was interesting and have gone to Las Caletas with them too.
that’s about it for adventure for me. I was there 2 weeks ago. Riding the bus to Bucerias was as adventuresome as we got.

What part of town are you staying in?

Honestly in 30+ trips to Vallarta I've yet to do hiking or day tours :-) but I might have some ideas for around town...

Superior Tours is a reputable company to check with for day tours and activities.

[QUOTE=suze;17346374
Honestly in 30+ trips to Vallarta I've yet to do hiking or day tours :-) but I might have some ideas for around town...

[/QUOTE]

Well that is no shocker. Yet some of us who have "only" been off of cruise ships, have done so.

This was the company we used in 2019, they are based in the Marina. It is already too warm for me there, so perhaps their Sierra Trip. I think they will do custom with three people, or perhaps if you agree to pay for at least three.

This year I just walked on my own from the cruise port up the Rio Pitillal jogging path.

https://www.ecotoursvallarta.com/

Pretty sure you have not done Zumba in the plaza every single morning at 8am. Or joined in similar festivities and fund raisers around town. You need to be there to make connections.

Rather than an expensive formal day tour, you can do city walks from the tourist bureau, gallery walks, visit the church, do the Malecon sculpture walking tour, take a cooking class, make some friends. No shortage of things to do that are inexpensive or you don't have do pay for the experience.

Yeah, don't need any Zumba.

They are asking about hiking, I think. Not city walks which they explain they have already done.

The only tour I took was with a friend, it was not "expensive" in my book. We went to the border with Nayarit at the coast and up the Ameca River. The other two times I walked on my own for free. The first was from the center of the Romantic Zone, past the Cuale. Into the church and bought a few things in town and the outdoor market. Doesn't hold up to most of the other towns and cities I've been to in Mexico outside of the west coast, for "culture" or scenery. I can look at the Pacific Ocean anytime.

Have you ever been anywhere in Mexico other than PV and Cabo, suze?

Suze, congratulations for finding a place you love. I can't help but wonder why some here seem to have a need to ridicule those who enjoy different destinations or activities than they choose for themselves, as if there's only one way to do things. I think short cheap cruises are lame but why would I criticize someone else who enjoys them? Not many are lucky enough to have found their place in the sun, Suze.

Well said. You are always so thoughtful Mme Perdu

Well, not always but I appreciate the sentiment.

"We've been there many times - looking for some new adventures. Hiking would be great. Any daylong tours would be good."

Not "how do I meet people in Zumba Class"!

We've traveled all over Mexico - I started my Mexico adventures as a backpacking hippie girl in the 1970s and never looked back - we've stayed in Merida, Melaque, Mexico City, San Blas, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, Loreto, Copper Canyon, and many more. Over the past five years, we have been going to PV in late winter/early spring, because we bring our adult children and our five young grandchildren along. This year, because of covid, we postponed that trip, and went elsewhere with the family in February,

Trust me, we've walked the malecon, seen the cathedral, taken a chocolate making class, looked at the sculptures, etc etc. I have definitely seen the Zumba crowd in the mornings - not what I was asking about, though.

We will be coming down on our own - sans family - in a week, and we're hoping to figure out some new hikes or other places we haven't been.

But you do you, Suze.

I thought the day trip to San Sebastian was interesting.
The name of the archeological site we went to was Altavista. You would need a car or a guide. It is also called The Valley of the Throatcutters.

{But you do you, Suze.}

Wow! Really??

Nevermind. Nothing in your OP told me you had traveled "all over Mexico" already. And already done all those things in Puerto Vallarta.

Lo siento, ever so sorry.

Yeah I think you just did, in a passive-aggressive way. What I always wonder is why some here who have nothing to contribute in response to a very, very specific question, still feel a need to weigh in with what THEY do on vacation, which has never included a hike or adventure of any sort.
Apparently the OP felt the same way.

Hiking in PV, no, never been. But hiking in Mexico, yes. Here's me, aka PortMoresby, hiking in Oaxaca.

https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/bac...t-1-el-picacho
https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/bac...fing-it-hike-2
https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/bac...e-to-tilcajete

With no plans to visit PV, I still find Suze's posts interesting, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

Oh, what the hell, tried to resist the above challenge (though true, not for long), "...has never included a hike or adventure of any sort", I give you my stories of adventures, at least the ones fit to print:

https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/portmoresby-s-index

{why some here who have nothing to contribute in response to a very, very specific question, still feel a need to weigh in with what THEY do on vacation}

Because I do have something to contribute. This thread is about Puerto Vallarta where I have spent, oh maybe a couple years if I added up all my trips to date.

Often when I post something (Fodor's or more often on Trip Advisor) that I did and found interesting/fun, even if the person had not considered it before, they like the idea, branch out, and follow my suggestion & thank me for it later.

Isn't that what travel forums are about?

"Isn't that what travel forums are about?”

Not really. I am all for open discussion when the OP asks an open question e.g. "What can I do in Puerto Vallarta?” . In this case, the OP didn’t and also made it very clear they had visited the place many times. When they ask a specific question, as the OP did, it is it not reasonable to suppose that they are seeking a specific answer to that question? I find it more than a little tiresome wading through irrelevant opinions on questions that I didn’t just to get to the answer I am interested in.

As is always being said to politicians by journalists and to students by their teachers etc. Just answer the question!

The best information is often provided by experienced travelers to questions the less experienced didn't know to ask.

The OP was very specific about their history and their desires. I agree with crellston. And kudos to the OP for coming back to respond. I hope you come up with something more interesting than Zumba.

Everyone here has been to Mexico. Some of us even prefer outdoor exercise other than Zumba. A few of us are hikers. Being a birder, I often go to places a little off the beaten path, with a guide who is a local expert. I think that lake in your blog is a place I visited in Valle de Teotilan, along with an excursion up into the Sierra.

Sometimes a person who has only been to a place a few times, or once, recently, has more to contribute than someone with outdated, irrelevant and second-hand information.