Vacation time - Puerto Vallarta???

[ratech]

Anybody been to Puerto Vallarta? Does it have a Mecican feel or is it just another Fort Lauderdake type of thing? We're looking to have some fun, but not interested in the spring break type of vacation? Just looking for opinions and fun things to do there. Thanks in advance.

[Ozy_Flame]

If your NOT looking for a Spring Break vacation, then PV is good. It has more of an old town feel, and feels more 'isolated' than Cancun does. Plus, if you go, don't forget to check out the small towns throughout the Sierra Madre mountain range, it's amazing. The locals are very friendly, and it's pretty darn authentic since alot of it is shanty-town like.

You're not going to get great beaches, however. If you want beaches, I suggest sticking to the Caribbean side of the country.

But it is definitely more 'Mexican' than alot of other places. Not so Americanized.

[photon]

I agree.. beaches aren't that great, but less Americanized than Cancun.

[ratech]

Do they have bull fights there? Is it worth a day to go fishing? Can you surf? What is there to do besides lying besides a pool?

[J.G]

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta last night...

My friend and I stayed at the Palladium Vallarta, about 45 mintues North of Puerto Vallarta.

One thing I can suggest, is that if you're looking for the nice beaches and clear water, go south of Puerto Vallarta. The resort I stayed at itself was beautiful, but the smell from the Ocean, and the seaweed washed up on shore was somthing to be desired. It might just be a time of the year thing for the seaweed, but you couldn't walk on the beach without being ankle deep in seaweed.

I took a catamaran tour down on the southern edge of Banderas Bay, and the beaches and water were unbelievable; however, I didn't notice any large resorts down there, more private resorts. There were some nice beaches right around Bucerias (just north of Nuevo Vallarta), where resorts like the Royal De Cameron are located.

I would recommed the Kontiki catamaran trip if you're down. Though you may want to book a trip that stops at Las Arcas (sp?) for snorkeling. Our cat didn't stop there, but there were a few tour groups stopped, and the waters were unreal.

There were also about 4 foot waves just south of our resort, many people out taking in the waves on the surfboards.

[fokakya]

Originally Posted by J.G

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta last night...

My friend and I stayed at the Palladium Vallarta, about 45 mintues North of Puerto Vallarta.

One thing I can suggest, is that if you're looking for the nice beaches and clear water, go south of Puerto Vallarta. The resort I stayed at itself was beautiful, but the smell from the Ocean, and the seaweed washed up on shore was somthing to be desired. It might just be a time of the year thing for the seaweed, but you couldn't walk on the beach without being ankle deep in seaweed.

I took a catamaran tour down on the southern edge of Banderas Bay, and the beaches and water were unbelievable; however, I didn't notice any large resorts down there, more private resorts. There were some nice beaches right around Bucerias (just north of Nuevo Vallarta), where resorts like the Royal De Cameron are located.

I would recommed the Kontiki catamaran trip if you're down. Though you may want to book a trip that stops at Las Arcas (sp?) for snorkeling. Our cat didn't stop there, but there were a few tour groups stopped, and the waters were unreal.

There were also about 4 foot waves just south of our resort, many people out taking in the waves on the surfboards.

HA HA, G,
Don't see me on here much do ya? How was the weather while you were there?

We're heading down to P.V. on Aug 12, to the Samba Vallarta resort. Looking forward to it. Very excited.

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by ratech

Do they have bull fights there? Is it worth a day to go fishing? Can you surf? What is there to do besides lying besides a pool?

Yes, they do have bull fights. There are lots of things to do down there that you can do, like scuba diving, parasailing,fishing, golfing etc...
I absoultley love it down there, my family and I stay at our timeshare in Neuvo Vallarta which is only like 15 minutes out of Puerto Vallarta, Paradise Village, http://www.paradisevillage.com/ , and they have endless activities and things you can do, and a heck of a golf course. Its also nice to go downtown and just walk because there is so many interesting things so see. Neuvo has alot of nice beaches also.

[Neeper]

They have Bull fights every Thursday and it's $30USD for entry. The fishing charters are decent too. You can hire a fishing charter for quite cheap considering it's almost a day's worth. I think it costed us $200USD and there was 8 of us.

If you go ATVing in the jungle, you should avoid the company Mud Rats. They stole $150USD from me and then proceeded to charge my credit card $50 for no reason. I signed a deposit slipped, which was a mistake. Also remember, these businesses in PV, they all just want your money. Remember to alway barter when you are buying ANYTHING. Even fishing charters and acivities. The price will ALWAYS drop. Be stern, it works. I don't know if you've been to Mexico before, but bring Pesos with you before you get there. You can get it here at most foreign exchange places. Do not use USD cash there, you'll end up spending way more money than you should.

Taxi's are cheap to ride around in. They don't have meters, they charge a flat rate depending on where you go. Just make sure you don't get ripped off.

Do not rent scooters. They are very unsafe and I almost killed myself on one. I got 35 stitches on my arm very close to a major artery.

The old town area is very nice and the villages in the mountains are incredible. It is a must see. I would also check out the jungle as well.

[Frequitude]

Just got back late Saturday night.

Booked a Transat holiday package through sample00 here. Saved money. Transat charted a westjet airline, so it was direct Calgary-Puerto on one of their new planes with the TVs. There were buses to take us to and from the airport on our arrival/departure days.

Stayed at the Royal Decameron. It was awesome. Met lots of people, young and old. All-inclusive included:
-booze until 3am
-Restaurants: general buffet, italian, japanese, thai, mexican, steak
-unlimited local unfiltered cigarettes in cups at the bar. This was deadly as they always seemed like a good idea once my girlfriend and I got 4 deep.
-4 or 5 pools
-Great beach because it was nicely in the puerto bay. Nice white sand, and the ocean was a sand bottom as far as one could walk out (30m maybe)

There were lots of activities to be booked through the resort. We did this cool outdoor tour through the mexican jungle. Basically, they take you up into the mountains, hop on a mule that packs your ass up a hill for 20 minutes, and you take about 10 ziplines back down to the base. They averaged about 200 feet off the ground and 200 meters long. It was awesome. If you're interested, be sure to do the one through Vallarta Adventures. Some other company offers another similar one and it's much weaker.

I'll check back in on the thread as more thoughts pop into mind.

[troutman]

You could easily get to Guadalajara (second largest city in Mexico) from PV for an over-night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalajara

Guadalajara is known as La Perla del Occidente (Spanish for "Pearl of the West"), la Perla Tapatía ("tapatío" is an informal adjective of origin for people and things from Guadalajara) and Ciudad de las Rosas (City of the Roses). The city is also the birthplace of mariachi music and charreadas. This beautiful city is considered the "most Mexican" city, and the capital of Jalisco, the "most Mexican" state.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Stayed at the Royal Decameron. It was awesome.

Just in case anybody is looking at booking- I've heard nothing but good stuff about the Royal Decameron. However there is a place called Decameron Los Cocos and it was horrible. Bad food, bad service, bad attitude.

Just so that people don't mix those two up.

[ratech]

Thanks for all the comments. - We have decided to go and stay at Los Tules condos, next to the Fiesta Americana. Anybody stayed there before?

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Just got back late Saturday night.

Booked a Transat holiday package through sample00 here. Saved money. Transat charted a westjet airline, so it was direct Calgary-Puerto on one of their new planes with the TVs. There were buses to take us to and from the airport on our arrival/departure days.

Stayed at the Royal Decameron. It was awesome. Met lots of people, young and old. All-inclusive included:
-booze until 3am
-Restaurants: general buffet, italian, japanese, thai, mexican, steak
-unlimited local unfiltered cigarettes in cups at the bar. This was deadly as they always seemed like a good idea once my girlfriend and I got 4 deep.
-4 or 5 pools
-Great beach because it was nicely in the puerto bay. Nice white sand, and the ocean was a sand bottom as far as one could walk out (30m maybe)

There were lots of activities to be booked through the resort. We did this cool outdoor tour through the mexican jungle. Basically, they take you up into the mountains, hop on a mule that packs your ass up a hill for 20 minutes, and you take about 10 ziplines back down to the base. They averaged about 200 feet off the ground and 200 meters long. It was awesome. If you're interested, be sure to do the one through Vallarta Adventures. Some other company offers another similar one and it's much weaker.

I'll check back in on the thread as more thoughts pop into mind.

welcome home!

glad you had a great time!

and thanks for letting me assist you.

[Claeren]

How much was it for the Royal Decameron?


Claeren.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Claeren

How much was it for the Royal Decameron?


Claeren.

really depends on when you want to go, but if you are asking what the price was that Frequitude got, you'll have to ask him to disclose.

royal decammeron departing August 5th for one week $899.00 per person plus taxes

[ratech]

What about the weather? I have been checking and it seems like there is a lot of rain. Is this one of those rain hard for about 15 minutes around dinner and then you don't see it again until the next night?

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by Sample00

really depends on when you want to go, but if you are asking what the price was that Frequitude got, you'll have to ask him to disclose.

royal decammeron departing August 5th for one week $899.00 per person plus taxes

Gasp! I'd rather not have known that. It ran us about $1200 each for the week after Stampede Week. I guess it's not that bad since it was really the only week we could go.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by ratech

What about the weather? I have been checking and it seems like there is a lot of rain. Is this one of those rain hard for about 15 minutes around dinner and then you don't see it again until the next night?

It was weird, rain/thunder storms did seem to form everynight, but they just hovered over the mountains across the bay without hitting the resort. Of course, we did get some occasional rain amongst the great weather, but it is their "rainy season" after all.

I also witnessed the craziest thunderstorm of my life on our last night. The sky literally lit up 2-3 times per second for hours. I think one bolt hit our building because the lights flickered on then off, but the tv actually stayed on (everything was off before - we were sleeping).