Check out our perfect long weekend in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico!
Day 1 – The Malecón
When you get to Puerto Vallarta, the first thing you should do is take a stroll along the malecĂłn. Unlike what people in the United States think when they hear “boardwalk,” here the boardwalk is mostly a concrete walkway that stretches for about a mile along the BahĂa de Banderas. Like the US, the boardwalk is lined with merchants and restaurants all eagerly promoting their business.
The malecón in Puerto Vallarta is a fascinating place to observe local Mexican culture from the state of Jalisco. I would highly recommend catching dinner at a restaurant along the malecón to watch the sun set! Many restaurants participate on the OpenTable app for reservations. However, depending on when you are in Puerto Vallarta, you may be able to just walk in and grab a table. Puerto Vallarta is typically busy year round, with many Mexicans traveling to the city on vacation from May until September. Americans typically prefer the milder months of December to March. As we learned, many Americans have become so enticed by the flair of Puerto Vallarta, they’ve purchased a second home!
The best part of the malecón is you never have to go hungry as you explore. I would highly recommend finding an elote stand and grabbing some Mexican street corn. You also can’t go wrong with a local juice vendor to try some fresh squeeze juices. Whatever you find, we recommend sitting and watching the sunset or people-watching!
Day 2 – Puerto Vallarta City Tour
Day two of our long weekend in Puerto Vallarta! If you’ve never been to Puerto Vallarta, I highly suggest doing a full day city tour. We booked with Puerto Vallarta Discovery Day Tours. Our guide, Jorge, was wonderful and cared for us as if we were family (literally, he kept calling our group family as we moved from place to place). This tour provided an excellent opportunity to learn about the history of Puerto Vallarta and the Mexican state of Jalisco. Jalisco is known for the town of Tequila and the agave plant. The tequila in your liquor cabinet probably came from Mexico and was originally developed in the town of Tequila in Jalisco. There are many alternatives to tequila that have been developed in the region by varying the fermentation and collection of the agave nectar, such as mezcal and raicilla. There’s no replacement for quality tequila though!
For this tour, we started at the Faro del MalecĂłn, or the old lighthouse on the boardwalk. After meeting up with our group, we began our walk down the malecĂłn. The history of Puerto Vallarta has been meticulously demonstrated through the works of art sculpted or engraved on the malecĂłn. One such engraving is in the shape of a peyote, a cactus natives in Mexico used as a psychedelic median. We stopped for pictures in front of the famous Letras de Puerto Vallarta. The sculpture of a young boy on a sea horse represents the innocence and aquatic nature of Puerto Vallarta. There are also arches adjacent to the amphitheater and many other sculptures along the boardwalk.
As we continued down the boardwalk, we met the namesake of Puerto Vallarta, Ignacio Luis Vallarta. Ignacio was a lawyer and former governor of Jalisco who was influential in developing Jalisco into an economic driver of Mexico. Vallarta’s statue rests in the Plaza de Armas in the city, across the street from the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. This church, with its signature crown, is called a cathedral. However, such a title requires the presence of a bishop, which Puerto Vallarta does not have. Despite these little discrepancies, the church is still widely used by the residents.
Regrouping after the church, we pile back into the van and make a quick stop at a local leather making company. Once we got back on the van we were ready to begin our ascent up into the mountains outside of Puerto Vallarta. Here we made a couple of stops, first to Maria Bonita Organic Coffee Shop to try some local coffee. After coffee, we finally made it to Rancho Verano Distileria de Tequila. At Rancho Verano we were welcomed to a taste testing of six different tequilas produced by the ranch, ranging from blue agave tequila to extra añjo and even some speciality tequilas as well.
After drinking and eating lunch, we headed back down the mountain and returned to our accommodations in Puerto Vallarta. You’ll get back in the early evening, so the night is all yours! Puerto Vallarta is known for it’s vibrant nightlife, and while that’s not our style, there are definitely many places to check out along the malecón!
Day 3 – Beach Day!
I highly recommend taking a day to just relax at the beach on your long weekend in Puerto Vallarta. There are plenty of beaches that are easily accessible and plenty more a short boat ride away. Don’t be fooled though, there are no “private” beaches in Mexico. The beaches are all public property and it is illegal to deny access to a beach (doesn’t stop the hotels from making it as difficult as possible for you to get on their beach, but that’s another issue). When somebody promotes a private beach, it’s just very difficult to get to a beach that requires a boat ride. You’re basically paying for the boat ride and not necessarily access to the beach.
We recommend renting some chairs and an umbrella from a restaurant along the beach if you’re not staying at an all inclusive resort. The advantage of doing this is you also receive all the services of the restaurant you’re renting from, such as drinks and food delivered right to your chair. It might not be an all inclusive resort with a semi-private beach, but it’s definitely not a bad set up for a 5 minute walk from our Airbnb! For a whopping $200 MXN (about $5 USD per chair), we set up shop for the day outside of The Blue Shrimp. We tried a wide array of cocktails and food, including made at our chair guacamole! The water itself was beautiful, warm, and relatively empty. Certainly better than the Jersey shore in the summer!
Day 4 – Food and Mixology Tour
If you have a flight late on your last day or early the next morning, I would not recommend this tour. You drink A LOT! Since tequila is integral to the economy of Jalisco, it wouldn’t seem right to spend a long weekend in Puerto Vallarta and not taste all that there is to offer!
To get a good sampling of the food and drinks, I recommend booking a small company called Vallarta Food Tours. Our guide, Bernando, was so passionate about all the different foods and drinks we tried during our tour, it really made the experience memorable. The best part about this tour is that they are constantly changing the restaurants you visit and no two tours are the same. For our tour, we visited Joe Jack’s Crab Shack, Mariscos Cisneros, PulquerĂa Chinga Quedito, Zapata Antojeria & Bar, Sonorita Olas Altas, and Mezcal and Sal. We did not have one complaint the entire day and each place had a fantastic lineup of both food and drink. If we had to pick a favorite though, it was definitely the tacos al pastor from Sonoritas!
Overall
Puerto Vallarta is the perfect long weekend vacation destination for anyone. More likely than not, you already know somebody who’s been to Puerto Vallarta. Whether you might be heading to Puerto Vallarta for your first time or tenth time, there’s always something to learn about this city on the bay and I encourage you to keep exploring!