The scruffy roadside clutter of Bucerías (Place of the Divers) is deceiving. Situated 12 miles (19 km) north of the Puerto Vallarta airport, Bucerías (pop. 5,000) features the longest, creamiest beach on the Bay of Banderas. Local people have long flocked to Bucerías on Sunday for beach play, as well as for fresh seafood from one of several beachfront palapa restaurants (which, however, may be mostly closed weekdays).

Bucerías has developed from its beginning as a fishing village of a few long dusty streets running parallel to the beach. Visitors from Puerto Vallarta began arriving and the town gradually acquired a sprinkling of small businesses—grocery stores, bakeries, and local-style restaurants.

Recently, the wealth brought in by the growing expatriate colony supports several excellent restaurants and many good lodgings, from moderate hotel rooms, suites, and apartments to luxurious beachfront villas.

Despite its burgeoning popularity, the original charm of Bucerías remains: lots of old-fashioned local color, especially around the lively town-center market and the adjacent rickety mid-town footbridge over the creek (that blocks through traffic and divides Bucerías into a pair of tranquil, virtually traffic-free sub-villages), and the seemingly endless beach, with slowly breaking waves and soft golden-white sand, perfect for swimming, bodysurfing, boogie boarding, surfing, and surf fishing. Tent camping is customary on the beach, especially during the Christmas and Easter holidays.

Getting There

Autotransportes Medina (1410 Brasil, tel. 322/212-4732 or 322/222-7279) buses complete a flood of daily round-trips between the shoreline communities northwest of Puerto Vallarta and the Puerto Vallarta station, north of the Malecón.

In Puerto Vallarta, walk or hire a taxi to the terminal, or catch the bus as it heads north along the airport boulevard through the Zona Hotelera.