Mexican electric power is supplied at U.S.-standard 110 volts, 60 cycles. Plugs and sockets are generally two-pronged, nonpolar (like the pre-1970s U.S. ones). Bring adapters if you’re going to use appliances with polar two-pronged or three-pronged plugs. (A two-pronged polar plug has different-sized prongs, one of which is too large to plug into an old-fashioned nonpolar socket.)

The Puerto Vallarta region is split between two time zones. The state of Jalisco part, which includes Puerto Vallarta, Barra de Navidad, and Guadalajara, operates on central time, while the state of Nayarit part, which includes Nuevo Vallarta, Rincón de Guayabitos, Tepic, and San Blas, operates on mountain time. The Río Ameca and bridge, just north of the Puerto Vallarta airport, marks the Nayarit-Jalisco border. When traveling by highway south into Puerto Vallarta from Nayarit, set your watch ahead one hour; conversely, when you cross the Río Ameca traveling north set your watch back an hour.

Mexican businesses and government offices sometimes use the 24-hour system to tell time. Thus, a business that posts its hours as 0800–1700 is open 8 a.m.–5 p.m. When speaking, however, people customarily use the 12-hour system.