{"id":21919,"date":"2012-04-09T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=21919"},"modified":"2018-03-06T14:20:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T20:20:33","slug":"fun-in-the-sun-whats-new-in-puerto-vallarta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/fun-in-the-sun-whats-new-in-puerto-vallarta\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun in the sun: What’s new in Puerto Vallarta"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Promenade: The waterfront Malecon walkway has been expanded in Puerto Vallarta. Photo: LatinFlyer.com<\/p><\/div>\n

By Mark Chesnut<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s already one of the top-selling Mexico vacation<\/a> 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 Tur\u00edstico, Mexico’s annual tourism conference.<\/p>\n

Among the most noticeable news in the city: the beautifully expanded Malec\u00f3n, 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 Malec\u00f3n 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\u00a0Puerto Vallarta Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is a colorful interpretation of the popular seahorse sculpture that sits in the center of the city.<\/p>\n

Among the newest Puerto Vallarta hotels is the all-inclusive\u00a0Secrets Vallarta Bay Resort & Spa<\/a>, 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In downtown Puerto Vallarta, this reporter stayed first at the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort & Convention Center<\/a>, 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<\/a>, one of the newest small hotels in the very heart of Vallarta. The owners of Hotel Catedral recently acquired the beachfront Emperador Hotel & Suites<\/a>, located on Los Muertos beach, and are currently renovating that property with new decor.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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<\/a> in the Dominican Republic. (Palace Resorts is also recasting some of its hotelsin Cancun and the Riviera Maya with the Hard Rock brand.)<\/p>\n

Among the recent upgrades is the all-inclusive\u00a0Palladium Vallarta Resort<\/a>, which recently completed a $30 million renovation, and the Occidental Grand Nuevo Vallarta<\/a>,\u00a0formerly known as the Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, which has reopened following a $14 million refurbishing. The luxurious Four Seasons Punta Mita<\/a> has also completed a series of upgrades.<\/p>\n

Related resources<\/strong><\/p>\n