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 Travel & Outdoors | May 2007 
Yes, Puerto Vallarta is for Families
 Kris Hundley - St. Petersburg Times
Puerto Vallarta - Once you shake the time-share salesmen, who cling like ticks from the minute you clear customs, Puerto Vallarta proves to be a surprisingly laid-back place for a family vacation.
This resort town on Mexico's Pacific Coast is wedged between the Bay of Banderas and the craggy Sierra Madres. Walk four blocks inland from the Malecon, the broad city sidewalk that follows the shoreline, and you'll find yourself hiking up cobblestone streets at a San Francisco-like angle. Stop at any point for a breath and a view of the sea or of a hideaway straight out of Architectural Digest.
Puerto Vallarta was a speck of a fishing village until the 1960s when it was used by director John Huston as the setting for Night of the Iguana. The film's stars, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who were married to others at the time, scandalized the world with their love affair during filming.
Taylor is said to still visit Casa Kimberley, a three-story villa Burton bought her overlooking the bay. The thrill of touring her former home, most recently a B&B, is muted a bit when your kids ask: "Who is Elizabeth Taylor?"
Bypass the sales pitch
Like any resort town, Puerto Vallarta offers a wide range of accommodations, from the frankly flea-bag to the exorbitantly out-of-my-price-range. A spacious condo that sleeps six at a four-star resort runs about $250 a night in season. You can keep costs down by picking up breakfast and lunch foods at the local Sam's Club or Gigante, the Mexican deep-discounter.
Puerto Vallarta has everything, from golf to parasailing to deep-sea fishing to flying along zip-lines through the jungle canopy. Arranging such tours, however, is another matter. Our "personal concierge" promised several times to get us great discounts on a dive trip, but the discounts never materialized. A call to the dive shop was the solution.
It is simple to get around Puerto Vallarta by cab, though the $17 fare from the airport is a bit of a burn when you consider the return ride is only $5. The best deal for traveling around town is to grab a bus: 50 cents for a tooth-rattling ride over cobblestone streets.
Walk along the water
Other low-cost entertainment can be had by strolling the Malecon. The city is a magnet for Mexican families on holiday. Everybody parades the Malecon, clambering all over fantastical sculptures that dot the walkway.
One night, the Malecon's main event was a performance by four Indian voladores, or flyers, who climbed a 90-foot pole, deftly wrapped ropes around the pole as well as their legs, then proceeded to swirl, upside down, to the ground, all to the music of a fifth Indian, who was playing a pipe and dancing on the top of the pole (big tips appreciated). At the town's central plaza, a crowd gathered around a big outdoor movie screen to see a '50s Mexican sci-fi film.
A peaceful discovery
The best part of any trip is always the unexpected. For us it came when we rented a car and headed out of town. Going north on Carretera Federal 200, we pulled off the road at a gin-clear beach at Destiladeras. A thatched roof restaurant served beer and fish tacos on the sand. Around the point we came to the hippie surfing village of Sayulita.
The second day we headed south, to the Botanical Gardens of Vallarta. Only a year and a half old, the nonprofit gardens are a promising work in progress. We arrived early, walking through the paths that wound through jungle, across streams and along a river where enormous boulders created hidden swimming holes. The crowds and the mosquitoes and the time-share salesmen had not yet arrived. It was heaven.
On the Web
Plan your trip
If you're ready to head south, check out these sites for travel ideas.
www.visitpuertovallarta.com bills itself as the city's official site and offers extensive information on all there is to see and do, plus a calendar of events.
www.vallartabotanicalgardensac.org features lush photos and descriptions of the developing botanical gardens.
www.casakimberley.com takes you inside the former home of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The house is a B&B. |
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