Fun in the sun: What’s new in Puerto Vallarta

Promenade: The waterfront Malecon walkway has been expanded in Puerto Vallarta. Photo: LatinFlyer.com

By Mark Chesnut

It’s already one of the top-selling Mexico vacation destinations, but the Pacific Coast resort town of Puerto Vallarta also showed its stuff as a hotspot for meetings and conventions in March, when more than 7,000 people landed here for the Tianguis Turístico, Mexico’s annual tourism conference.

Among the most noticeable news in the city: the beautifully expanded Malecón, the waterfront walkway that has nearly doubled in size since a long stretch of street has been blocked to vehicular traffic. This pedestrian-only stretch is among the city’s loveliest places to stroll, enjoy ocean views and check out the shops and eye-catching sculptures and public artwork. The Malecón also served as an attractive setting for a large cocktail party during Tianguis, proving the city’s ability to hold memorable private events in public spaces. Visitors to may also notice a brand-new logo, unveiled in March by the Puerto Vallarta Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is a colorful interpretation of the popular seahorse sculpture that sits in the center of the city.

Among the newest Puerto Vallarta hotels is the all-inclusive Secrets Vallarta Bay Resort & Spa, an adults-only resort in the hotel zone that opened in April as the second AM Resorts hotel in the area, joining the Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa.

In downtown Puerto Vallarta, this reporter stayed first at the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort & Convention Center, a business- and family-friendly oceanfront hotel that is the large hotel closest to the center of town, followed by a stay at the budget-friendly Hotel Catedral, one of the newest small hotels in the very heart of Vallarta. The owners of Hotel Catedral recently acquired the beachfront Emperador Hotel & Suites, located on Los Muertos beach, and are currently renovating that property with new decor.

In nearby Riviera Nayarit, the coastal tourism area just north of Puerto Vallarta that includes Nuevo Vallarta, tourism officials are touting recent hotel upgrades and upcoming changes. Among the most discussed: The existing Vallarta Palace is to relaunch this year as the Hard Rock Vallarta, an all-inclusive, music-infused resort in the vein of the brand’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. (Palace Resorts is also recasting some of its hotelsin Cancun and the Riviera Maya with the Hard Rock brand.)

Among the recent upgrades is the all-inclusive Palladium Vallarta Resort, which recently completed a $30 million renovation, and the Occidental Grand Nuevo Vallarta, formerly known as the Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, which has reopened following a $14 million refurbishing. The luxurious Four Seasons Punta Mita has also completed a series of upgrades.

Related resources

• Cheap Puerto Vallarta flights
• Puerto Vallarta hotels
• Puerto Vallarta vacations

Mark Chesnut is a freelance travel writer, editor and publisher of LatinFlyer.com, which focuses on travel to Latin America. He loves tacos al pastor.

Tagged: Mexico