What is puerto vallarta like?
 

Want to go someday soon, if possible. Is it a quiet place or party-place? Lot to do there? would like a more quiet holiday, would that be possible here?

First look at<BR>http://vallartainfo.com<BR>any questions after that, feel free to e-mail me.<BR>JR

Do what we just did. Fly into PV, drive north 45 minutes to Sayulita, rent a casita on the hill by the beach. Quiet, secluded, beach restaurants, typical Mexican village, dirt roads, friendly people, inexpensive food & great views. Close enough to spend a day in PV for the touristy stuff, back to Sayulita for peace & quiet, except Saturday night when they turn up the techno-disco! We thought it was a great mix.

It can be considered both a party place and a quiet place. One can eat dinner in their hotel and go to one of the fun, upbeat bars/disco's in town, or go to a pretty, romantic restaurant in town. The food was really good when I was there last. It was also quite affordable. We ate in one place along the river and listened to live piano music. After you can stroll down the cobble stone streets or along the boardwalk.<BR>As far as activities, I'm not sure. We were pretty much in to just hangin on the beach. I did go parasailing and I recall there being day trips available; suchas, snorkle/boat trips and horseback riding.

Sarah:<BR>PV is a sizeable city (300,000) so some of the good and the bad come with it. We have been going for nearly 20 years and always seem to return. Quiet can be had with little effort. Fro example, we stay at the Krystal Vallarta which is located on 37 acres and is very quiet. Yet, it is accessible to the city if you want shopping, dining and activities.<BR>Parasailing, day trips by boat, RV, horseback, motorcoach are all available. Deep-sea fishing is readily available, also. Most hotels have resident travel agents who can book you all the trips and activities you can possibly want.<BR>We have our favorite restaurants and hang-outs -- which we always visit -- but we spend a lot of time on the beach at our hotel. It is quiet, drink/food service is excellent and the Mexican people are absolutely wonderful.

Dave,<BR>When we visited Krystal Vallarta last week, we thought the hotel was nice since it was spread out & not high-rise. But the pool/buffet area was crawling with people & the pool was shoulder to shoulder kids. People were waiting in line to eat buffet style that did not look appetizing & it was loud & very windy. I was disappointed hoping to find a new hotel in PV to return to if we chose to stay in/near town but think I would stick with up the coast or Camino Real south of town especially if you don't have any kids.

Check out south of PV at: www.lamanzanillamexico.bizland.com/lamrentals.

Peggy, I agree with you that the Camino Real is a wonderful hotel (especially if you want it nice and quiet, very few kids or college partiers there), but I am surprised at your experience with the Krystal. We have stayed there 5 or 6 times, and have never seen it overly crowded. Actually, we travel with an "only child" and most often wish there were more children there! Kids club they offer is nice but not enough kids of the right age, actually! Often only 6 or 7 kids in the entire pool area of varying ages. We usually go in January or February, and enjoy it very much.

Maybe it was a bad time, I do remember now there was a convention of veternarians going on!? Even around the pool area they had huge blow up cartoon type characters & tons of wet kids running back & forth between the buffet & pool. Good thing you didn't go then! Perhaps I'd check if they had any conventions booked the next time you go. I'll keep that in mind myself.

PV does not get as filled with college students so I'd say it's pretty quiet other than the small clubs and bars (it's no Cancun). The restaurants are really good and a GREAT hotel is the Westin Regina if you are looking for a relaxing place to stay. PV is great because despite the fact that many foreigners go there there are also many natives and Mexican culture.

I was wondering about the Krystal Vallarta myself. Since we are taking 2 children, I too am looking for a resort with lots of them. Sometimes we find there aren't enough kids for ours to play with so I really want a family friendly spot. Would the Vallarta fit the bill?

Chris- I certainly have found the Krysal to be kid friendly, but certainly wish there were more kids. It varies year to year, and I don't know if you would find more kids at other resorts or not. One of the secondary pool areas has a big slide that my daughter loves, so there are sometimes more kids at that pool than the main pool area, but no bar service over there. The only time I felt it was crowded there is when the cruise ships come in, sometimes the people from the ships come to the pool area, drink and take up chairs! We have learned to find out the day that the cruise ships come in and do an "outing" instead of a pool day. We are going January 26th, 2002 this year because there is a children's discount that week through MLT, and we are hoping that this will inspire more people with kids to go that week. Have fun!