Puerta Vallarta

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Puerta Vallarta is everything you look for in a Mexican Beach vacation. Beautiful sunsets, warm waters, tropical cocktails, romantic walks on the beach... I was so lucky to be brought to this paradise by my BF for my 30th birthday. We flew straight from Los Angeles to PV. Our first night we stayed in Downtown PV the state of Jalisco, at the Villa Del Palmar. It's a charming resort with a nice bar area, and a beautiful pool with a waterslide. It's located about a mile from central downtown PV, right on the beach. I love the mature tropical landscaping. We took a cab to downtown and had a romantic birthday dinner at La Palapa-an amazing spot on the beach, perfect for sipping a glass of wine at sunset while you people watch.

For breakfast we got out of the hotel and hunted for a local desayuno (breakfast) spot, which we found a couple blocks down and across the perilous main street. We tripped our way though the menu with our mix of Socal Spanglish and were presented with a fine spread: chilaquiles, juevos rancheros, and fresh OJ. We watched as the owner hand-squeezed the oranges in a huge (antique?/old-but-reliable) juicer. The result was the sweetest, freshest OJ we've ever had. That day we headed to Nuevo Vallarta in the state of Nayarit (about 30-40 minutes and a $20-$25 cab ride). The driver was happy to stop at a convenience store so we could pick up some snacks. We loved our resort hotel in Nuevo Vallarta! Again we stayed with the Villa Group at the Villa Del Palmar (Nuevo Vallarta). The resort is so beautiful, we stayed on the 7th floor so we had a fantastic panoramic view of Banderas Bay. If you stay here, you must take advantage of the all-inclusive plan, 2 restaurants, beach and pool service for food and drinks, unlimited booze, it was almost hard to get use to the potential for absolute gluttony! The food was really good: breakfast buffet daily, pizza or Italian food for lunch, and gourmet Mexican fare for dinner.

There's no need to ever leave the resort but we did venture down to the nearby town of Bucerias-walking distance down to peaceful white sand beach. Nuevo Vallarta is a less-populated area and beach, compared to the downtown area. We had the freshest ceviche on a street cart, my BF’s first and he is still talking about it! There is some street vendors here with good prices, I bought a sundress for myself and some local pottery as gifts. We relaxed around the resort most days, at the pool or on the beach, ingesting a steady stream of tequila in frozen blended mango. We emerged from our sunny paradise one more time to do the "Canopy Tour" with Vallarta Adventures. Highly-recommended adrenaline rush! There were excellent instructors and facilities. It was an adventure I was really glad I was persuaded do (BF, thanks), despite my crippling fear of heights.

Some more notes on the trip: the weather was great-about 80 degrees F, the ocean water was nice, I think it was 80 also. The city was safe, taxis were U.S. prices, but I am used to paying less in Mexico. Customs was quick and we were met by our escorts who greeted us with bottled waters and smiles and took our bags to the awaiting cab. A lot of people speak English, but it never hurts to learn a few easy tourist words. We had a great experience at the Villa Del Palmar(s), we were lucky to get a deal with the timeshare referral people. If you stay here, take advantage of the all-inclusive plan, especially if you drink alcohol and don’t really want to venture out to find food. We are looking forward to our next Mexican trip in January 2010-Cabo!

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Photos

Romantic Sunsets
Patio area at the Resort-North PV

View fr the Beach of our Resort
Villa Del Palmar-Downtown PV

Steve is Lovin' the Ceviche'
At a street cart in the town of Bucerias

Bay of Banderas-View from our Room-North PV
Sunsets are a can't-miss here!

The View from our Room
Villa Del Palmar-North PV