Planning Your Trip

When to Go

Formerly a seasonal retreat, Puerto Vallarta [1] is increasingly a year-round destination. If there is a time not to visit Puerto Vallarta, it’s during the dry months of April, May, and the first half of June, when much of the natural vegetation is dried-out brown and daytime highs often top 90°F for days on end.

Foreign tourists visit most often during the clear, dry, balmy winter (days about 80°F, nights about 60°F). Mexican visitors—often whole families—prefer weekends year-round and holidays, especially Easter (be sure to make early reservations) and the school vacation months of July and August. Everyone crowds into Puerto Vallarta during the two weeks or so before New Year’s. This is when crowds are biggest, hotel prices are highest, and hotel reservations should be made many months in advance.

So, when to go? If you prefer the winter, avoid crowds and the peak hotel prices by going in January, after New Year’s Day. On the other hand, July, August, and especially September are good times to go because rains and cloud cover moderate the heat, so that days are actually cooler than during the hot, dry spring months. Furthermore, the summer tropical rainstorms result in lots of wildflowers, butterflies, and green landscapes.

For some savvy travelers, the best of all possible times to visit the Puerto Vallarta region is the late fall months of October, November, and early December, when the landscape remains a lush green, the hotels are uncrowded and lowest-priced, and the days are warm and the nights balmy.

What to Take

“Men wear pants, ladies be beautiful” was once the dress code of one of the Mexican Pacific’s classiest hotels. Men in casual Puerto Vallarta can get by easily with just one jacket and no necktie, women with maybe one or two dressy outfits and the rest mostly simple skirts and blouses. Everyone should bring a hat for the sun. Loose-fitting, hand-washable, easy-to-dry clothes make for trouble-free tropical vacationing. For cool breezy nights, especially during the winter, always bring a lightweight windbreaker. If you’re going to the highlands (San Sebastián [6], Mascota [21], Talpa [22], or Tepic [23]), add a medium-weight jacket. In all cases, leave showy, expensive clothes and jewelry at home.

How to Get There

Most Puerto Vallarta [1]–bound travelers go by air (3–5 hours’ flying time) from several U.S. airports. For cost-conscious travelers, express buses provide a safe and sure route to Puerto Vallarta. Hundreds of buses head south daily from central bus stations in the south-of-the-border towns. By all means, for comfort and speed, go luxury-class (about $80, 30 hours).

Although it isn’t a route for everyone, many visitors drive their cars or RVs to Puerto Vallarta. Driving time runs about three south-of-the- border days at the wheel, and costs around $60 in (very worthwhile) expressway tolls for passenger cars (about triple that for motor homes). For more detailed information on getting to Puerto Vallarta, click here [24].