Travel Eye on Puerto Vallarta (Mexico)

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Overview:

Nestled beside the Río Caule between palm-covered mountains and the azure Bahía de las Banderas (Bay of Flags) is the picturesque, cobble-stoned, whitewashed city of Puerto Vallarta, a favourite of both the ultra-rich and the shoestring traveler.

The city boasts white-sand, palm-fringed beaches, lively bars and restaurants and heaps of galleries and handicrafts. The city has mutated from a sleepy seaside village to an international resort so quickly that it is fashionable to deride its spoilt charms, but it's almost impossible to dislike its quaintness, southern beaches, immense bay and marine life.

There are dolphins in the bay year-round, and pilot and grey whales between February and April. Locals insist that if you stand on the seafront in April, you can see giant manta rays leaping into the air during their mating rituals.

Puerto Vallarta is an honest-to-goodness Mexican town as well as a world-class resort, so visitors here enjoy a wider range of experiences than your typical vacation destination offers.

Plus its got all the requisites for that much-anticipated trip down south - weather as good as it gets (similar to Hawaii's, but the peso gives you a lot more bang for your buck), gorgeous scenery, 100 km of pristine beaches on the bay where Puerto Vallarta is situated (Banderas Bay, Mexico's largest and deepest, and home to award-winning sport fish, giant turtles, manta rays, dolphins and whales), more than a thousand restaurants, and every imaginable activity to engage in - even flying through the tree canopy!

There are large hotels dotted along the coast which are firmly mass-market and cater for all visitors, but mainly American and Canadian couples with Europeans coming in a close third.

There is one family-orientated tourist hotel and one small upmarket hotel in the marina development, along with a couple of B&Bs; some apartments are available as holiday lets. Along the coast the hotels are large international-standard establishments with limited nearby amenities.

Locality:

Puerto Vallarta is on Caribbean coast of Yucatan Peninsula (20 mls S of Playa del Carmen; 60 mls SW of Cancun, which has the nearest international airport). The area has long stretches of white sand backed by relatively flat terrain covered with dry scrub and dense native forest that reaches the sea in places.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Puerto Vallarta is synonymous with fun! Visitors can choose from an abundance of activities, from excursions to secluded beaches, floating parties, scuba diving expeditions and romantic dinner cruises to hiking, biking, eco-tours, swimming with dolphins, whale watching and 4-wheeling.

How about parachute rides over Banderas Bay or a quick plane ride to a mountain village for lunch.

Puerto Vallarta is also known as an artists' mecca with its world-class galleries and organized evening art walks. There is always something exciting happening in this lovely tropical city.

Puerto Vallarta has long been a popular tourist destination. But with seven world-class golf courses now in play, its main attractions may no longer be sun-lit beaches and verdant mountains.

The nightlife around the the marina is very low-key, with a couple of restaurant-bars offering live music into the early hours a few nights a week. Ther is a disco, but mainly during peak season. The larger hotels often organise their own entertainment programmes.

There is a modest selection of mid-range eateries, with a couple of establishments setting themselves up as the local quality options, but nothing really exclusive or gastronomic; fresh local fish, however, is literally delivered to the doorstep daily.