Mexico (Peurto Vallerta)

Country visited: Mexico
Places visited: Puerto Vallerta
Dates visited: December 23rd to December 27th 2015

General tips:
(1) Puerto Vallerta has the best Mexican food in Mexico. Eat to your hearts content.
(2) Water temperature is great in December too, so plan to hit the beach and have fun!

Getting to Peurto Vallerta from San Francisco:

You can get round trip ticket tickets from SF to PV for about $350 per head on a good airlines, although around the holidays like Christmas and New Years it may be more pricey (~$500) The flights are about 5 hours each way. American citizens and Green card holders do not need to get visas beforehand. Other nationals may need to get visas and will have to check with the Mexican consulate that is closest to you.

Accommodation and transport in PV:

Most of the hotels are within walking distance from the beach and the El Malecon boardwalk and Zona Romantica so you will typically not need to rent a car unless you want to go around the interiors of the city (there is really nothing much to see or do in the interiors though). Hotels can be expensive and most condos are rented by older (retirement-age) Americans who stay in PV for months together. AirBnBs can be a great option here. Me and my husband rented a unit in a 3 storey apartment building in a local neighborhood through AirBnB and really enjoyed our stay there. We paid ~$270 for a 3 night stay. There were Mexican families living in the other units. Although we didn't directly interact with the families, we liked seeing small kids running around and smelling all the wonderful foods coming from their kitchens. I think we wouldn't have appreciated a hotel stay as much.

Places to see in Peurto Vallarta:

We had only 3 days to spend in PV. Both me and the husband being beach-bums, we wanted to maximize our time in the beaches and that's what we did. Apart from beaches PV has activities such such as snorkeling (which in PV is recommended only for medium to expert level  swimmers) and zip ling.

(1) Food

These are some recommendations for restaurants in PV. In general we thought the restaurants around the Los Muertos Pier were great, serving excellent quality Mexican food; and the more we headed towards the commercial districts on El Malecon boardwalk, the more Americanized and mediocre was the food. I would recommend sticking to the restaurants closer to Los Muertos for all your meals in PV. Below is a list of restaurants we really enjoyed in PV

*Cuates y Cuetas - Agreed we didn't have time to sample from all restaurants in PV, but among the ones we did this is our 1st pick. We rarely go to a restaurant twice when traveling, but we did here. Their free salsa was GREAT! Definitely get their guacamole appetizer and garlic fish fillet.

El Mole de Jovita - these guys are really famous for their sauces esp the chocolate based sauce 'jovita'. Literally every item you'll get in this restaurant are dipped in their sauces.

Fredy's Tucan - tandard American brunch.

La Palapa -  this place is famous for being the 1st beach shack in PV. Good food, long wait waits. Go here only if you are prepared to have a lazy slow lunch. 

(2) Beach

If you have only 2-3 days in PV, just spend all your time eating and hitting the water. The best beaches are by the Los Muertos. On weekends and other holidays, expect a big local crowd in the water. Otherwise, it's not too crowded. 

(3) El Malecon

Walk around El Malecon and Zona Romantica once during early morning and once during late evening. It's beautiful at both times and so different. In the morning hours, there are fewer people and you get to enjoy the calm, peace walk while taking tons of pictures of the interesting artifacts along the sides of the walk and in the evening when there is quite a bit of local crowd, you can enjoy snacks such as cake slices and fried delicacies from food stalls which are pretty good.