LONG BEFORE CRUISE SHIPS, tourists and boutiques arrived in the 1970s, Puerto Vallarta was a popular getaway for Hollywood celebrities that included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and John Huston. They discovered the sleepy seaside village while searching for a location for the 1964 movie The Night of the Iguana, and immediately fell in love with the place. In fact, Huston spent many of his later years at his isolated retreat, Las Caletas, south of town on Banderas Bay.
Today’s Puerto Vallarta is bigger, brighter and busier than 50 years ago, but it retains much of the beauty and charm that first attracted northern visitors— the sun-dappled bay, whitewashed villas and laid-back hospitality.
The city is divided into several informal zones. The three main ones (from north to south) are Nuevo Vallarta/Marina Vallarta, the Hotel Zone, and El Centro/Zona Romántica.
Boaters will likely experience the Marina Vallarta area first, where they find luxurious and pricey hotels, the 18-hole Marina Vallarta Golf Club, a few bayside cafes, shops and restaurants, and the El Faro lighthouse. Nuevo Vallarta, to the north, is a recent luxury development that includes tropical gardens, golf courses, resorts and five miles of beach.
The Hotel Zone is what its name suggests: two dozen or so beachfront hotels, as well as amenities such as a cinema, hospital and retailers Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco.
To experience the “real” Puerto Vallarta or the original part of the city that movie stars fell in love with, head south to El Centro and Zona Romántica. El Centro’s narrow cobblestone streets, Colonial-era buildings, eclectic shops and restaurants, the Malecón (beachfront boardwalk) and the Church of our Lady of Guadalupe make for an interesting and historic walkabout.
Day trip options include the quaint fishing village of Yelapa (only accessible by boat), the lively beach town of Sayulita (an hour’s bus ride up the coast) and Vallarta Botanical Gardens.
The colorful and bustling Zona Romántica, on the other side of Isla Cuale, is bursting with galleries, cafes, boutique hotels, authentic restaurants, nightclubs, markets and taquerias. Most of the top dining spots are here and in El Centro, and prices tend to be lower than in Marina Vallarta. Zona Romántica best personifies this unique coastal city’s duality: traditional and trendy, laid back and lusty, quaint and cosmopolitan.
WHERE TO DOCK
WHERE TO DINE
