Puerto Vallarta offers a full menu full of culinary adventures—plus superb shopping, outstanding art and cast-your-cares-away beaches
By Susan Kaye
If the phrase "Mexican cuisine" inspires in your mind images of cheese-smothered enchiladas and bean burritos with shredded lettuce, think again. And, consider a trip to Puerto Vallarta. This outstanding Mexican resort has evolved in the past ten years into a culinary epicenter, outpacing the country’s other beach destinations. It would be effortless to book yourself for three weeks of fine dining experiences in Puerto Vallarta, never repeating a venue.
Puerto Vallarta’s diverse cuisine alone with its terrific shopping and its vibrant arts community, sets it apart from other Mexican resorts. In the past decade it has added noteworthy restaurants, a number of first-class art galleries and a bevy of tempting boutiques. Along with its sizable North American community, there is a growing population of artists-in-residence and art aficionados.
The town—in the middle of the Bay of Banderas coastline—has mushroomed from a fishing village to a city of 350,000, and the clutch of whitewashed adobe homes climbing the hills by the sea has largely been taken over by second-home owners. Still, the city retains its cobbled streets and red-tiled roofs, a romantic Old Town by any standard. Couples linger on the malecón, a seaside promenade studded with fine sculptures (there’s more public art there than in any Mexican double the size). By day visitors and locals effortlessly mix on Los Muertos Beach. They gather again on Thursday and Sunday nights, when the concert band strikes up in the ornate handstand and everyone snacks on elote, grilled ears of corn slathered with mayo and sprinkled with chile powder.
You can stay in Puerto Vallarta itself; in the marina area 15 minutes away from downtown, which has large hotels as well as all-inclusives; in Nuevo Vallarta, a good 30 minutes from town; or in Punta Mita’s options range from small and funky properties to the Four Seasons.
I’ve stayed in all four areas and enjoyed each enough to return for more. Puerto Vallarta itself is farthest from the majority of the area’s golfing opportunities but wins hands-down for shopping and dining; Nuevo Vallarta is closest to the newest courses; Marina Vallarta has good beaches and easy access to town.
Whenever my husband and I are on a plane bound for Puerto Vallarta, we list the restaurants we want to revisit No Matter What. Inevitably, our appetites stretch longer than our vacation, but favorites that we find ourselves at year after year include Trio, Los Xitomates, Archie’s Wok, Daiquiri Dick’s, La Palapa, River Café and the totally unpretentious but delicious La Casa de los Pancakes.
"We’re the center of gourmet dining outside of Mexico City," chef Luis Fitch tells me. Last year, Fitch was one of two Mexican chefs to receive the Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. (Six downtown restaurants hold this prestigious international award.)
Finch’s restaurant, the chic Los Xitomates, puts a global spin on Mexican food. I always start with the tortilla soup (with chile pasilla, avocado and crème fraiche). For entrees, a favorite is fresh red snapper with heart-of-palm sauce spiced with fresh ginger and chile.
We also make lists of the art galleries and handicraft and jewelry shops we don’t want to miss (actually the latter two categories make only my list). Among the dozens of boutiques, check out the jewelry at Viva, run by Texan who buys from hundreds of designers worldwide and also carries her own line of espadrilles.
Art galleries run the gamut in Puerto Vallarta, from those representing pottery from across Mexico to individual artists selling their own works. Gary Thompson, owner of of the avant-garde Galeria Pacifico, says, “Puerto Vallarta is the biggest art center outside Mexico City. In terms of number of galleries we’re ahead of Guadalajara with its millions of residents.”
In the high-season winter months, semimonthly Art Walks coincide with show openings. The second and forth Wednesday nights have become a party that covers downtown: A dozen top galleries throw open their doors till 10 p.m. during this self-paced, self-guided event. With drinks, and often food and entertainment, as well as the presence of artists, the festive evenings celebrate the vital role that art plays in the city.
After a couple of days of re-exploring out favorite haunts, we’re ready for some serious beachin’. That’s when we hire a boat to Yelapa, a spellbinding beach that’s private, but always fun. Once we’ve snorkeled Yelapa’s waters (maybe alongside a manta ray), settled on out beach blankets and devoured a lunch of grilled fish, we signal the “pie ladies” who walk amid the sun umbrellas selling their homemade wares (best choices are banana and coconut cream).
If your vacation stretches long enough, you may actually want a break from beaching and shopping and fine dining. I signed on for Vallarta Adventures’ day trip to the whitewashed town of San Sebastian. Hidden in the folds of the Sierra Madre to the east of Puerto Vallarta, this town was founded 400 years ago by gold-hungry Spaniards. It mushroomed thanks to the activity of 28 mines and seven opulent haciendas. Then it languished for centuries. Although San Sebastian is only 45 miles east from Puerto Vallarta, a road trip can take hours. Vallarta Adventures offers the alternative of a 15-minute flight in a little prop that swoops in on San Sebastian’s gravel airstrip. The ride itself, skimming the green-glade mountains, equals the pleasure of lunching in a moody hacienda and stopping for coffee at another hacienda where beans are grown, handpicked, sun-dried, and roasted over an open fire in the courtyard.
San Sebastian is a trip through time, as is an hour-long sunset boat ride from Puerto Vallarta to Las Caletas. When the boat pulls into Las Caletas, guests make their way to dozens of candlelit tables readied along the cove. Since there’s no road to this village–or any electricity—the evening is one of those magical experiences where life is reduced to the sound of the waves and the winking of the stars. The cuisine, though, is far from elemental, as a massive Mexico buffet has been brought in by boat from the neighboring village of Quimixto, where there is electricity (but still no road).
It’s clear that wherever you are along Puerto Vallarta’s wide bay, you can always enjoy great food. Even when you’re on a beach where no road leads in or out.
Susan Kaye has been traveling to Mexico for decades—she’s made almost 100 trips there. Her favorite beach resort remains Puerto Vallarta. |
