Slow Travel Review: Puerto Vallarta, México – The Land Of Beaches And Birds

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews
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Welcome to my 4th International Slow Travel Review! I spent 6 weeks in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México and want to share my experience with y’all. I originally heard about Puerto Vallarta (often abbreviated to its airport code PVR) from multiple queer friends saying it was a queer haven in México.

This intrigued me enough that I chose PVR as the destination for my 30th birthday celebration in 2019 where I played tourist for a week. I was happy to discover that PVR is the queer haven I had been told and that it’s also a gorgeous beach side town with turquoise water, an abundance of wildlife and delicious food.

So unsurprisingly, when I was thinking of places in México I wanted to live for longer than a week in retirement, Puerto Vallarta jumped to the top of the list. This is my experience living in PVR during November and December 2023.

Airport Arrival & Departure

Arrival

Here is everything that happened after I arrived in Puerto Vallarta. I like to record this stuff to help myself when I return to places, and for y’all so you can avoid any pitfalls I fell into 🙂 .

If you’ve visited México in the past, you might remember that they used to require that you get an Arrival Card when you land and you had to show that same card when you depart. This was a surprisingly stressful prospect when I stayed in México for a long time, like the 9 weeks in I lived in Mérida to learn Spanish in 2022.

However, I was happy to learn that México recently got rid of the Arrival Card requirement. Woohoo! It’s all digital now and I don’t have to worry about losing a small piece of paper during my travels.

During this visit, I got off the plane and proceeded to Immigration. Once I was in line, I saw that there were multiple lines but from the entrance, there appeared to only be one. I stayed in what looked like the one line (the longest one), but luckily it went quickly.

When I got to the front of the line I was asked for my passport and what airline I came in on. They then looked up that info in their computer, stamped my passport, and I was told to go through. So efficient! Nothing to fill out, no extra questions.

I then went to Baggage Claim where I luckily double checked the boards for which carousel our flight was using because the carousel they told us on the plane wasn’t the one my partner’s luggage came out on. It helps to double check 🙂 . His bag came out fast so we grabbed it and joined the Customs Line.

I saw people in line holding a white and green form, which I hadn’t seen being handed out or sitting anywhere, so I asked an employee (in Spanish) where I could find one and they gave one to me. However it turns out that I didn’t need to ask because they didn’t collect them 🙂 .

The Customs Line was once again multiple lines and when I was there, the one on the right was shorter – the left one weaved around a lot more to get to the same destination. Once we reached the front of the line, we were told one person per travel group should push a big red button (ominous…) and the machine would seemingly randomly go green (go through) or red (scan your bags). Some people gave their forms when they pushed the button, but they didn’t ask for them.

Then we exited that area and were bombarded with people yelling. The last time I was in PVR in 2019 I was shocked by all the people loudly selling taxis and tours right outside the airport doors. I had already booked a specific taxi for our group so I’d said “no gracias” over and over and walked with purpose outside and didn’t have any problems.

That wasn’t the case this time 🙂 . It looks like they’ve stepped up their game post-pandemic to include lying and threats – how fun *sarcasm*. I did my usual “no gracias” and started walking to the exit and one person responded in English “ma’am I’m trying to help you! I’m trying to show you where the Ubers are!” She even had a sign with an Uber logo on it…and I fell for it. I knew that getting an Uber in PVR was more difficult than just walking out the door, and for some reason, I believed what she was telling me. I guess I hadn’t put my “city” goggles back on yet. Oops.

She told me that I needed to talk to her colleague, who she claimed works for the airport. He then tried to get me to sign up for tours. WTF? I said no thank you several more times and when they didn’t listen, I started walking away. Then the woman’s tone totally shifted from kind and helpful to saying, “You’ll never get an Uber here. You should listen to us and get this shuttle to a resort instead. Uber doesn’t pick up here” and the man decided to add “You’ll get hit on the highway trying to find one!!!”

WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?! I continued walking away and the man yelled “HA! Good luck!” Full sarcasm. So kind! After that horrible interaction, I luckily discovered (as I suspected) that they were full of shit. There’s an easy and safe way to get an Uber outside the PVR airport. I opened the app and it clearly showed me where the pick up spot was.

So here’s how you get an Uber at the PVR Airport:

  1. Exit the airport and go to the left
  2. Once you reach the end of the building turn left and you’ll see a ramp going to a pedestrian bridge
  3. Cross the bridge
  4. Go down the other side

This is the Uber pick up location! There’s a restaurant right there called Tacón de Marlin that shows up on the Uber map. So we ordered an Uber and it arrived a few minutes later. Despite it being a high traffic time with a surge charge, we paid 139 pesos ($8.14 USD) total. According to our Airbnb host, the normal Uber price from the airport is about 70 pesos ($4 USD) and a taxi is 250-300 pesos ($14-18 USD).

So after all that excitement, I was curious to see what the rest of Puerto Vallarta would be like and if like the airport, it had changed for the worse since I visited last. Spoiler: it hadn’t and the airport is luckily an anomaly. It just really sucks that that will be the first impression people have of a new city when exiting the airport while the rest of the city is nothing like that aggressive, deceitful behavior.

Departure

Luckily leaving Puerto Vallarta is way easier 🙂 . We took an Uber to the airport entrance and then entered the airport under the giant Aeropuerto Internacional de Puerto Vallarta sign. Once we were inside, there were kiosks to the left of the door for American Airlines, the airline we were flying.

We had already checked in online and had mobile boarding passes, but knew that some airlines ask you to use these kiosks to print a bag tag. So since my Partner needed one, we asked if we needed to use the kiosk for that purpose and there was an American Airlines employee right there to answer our questions, which was very helpful. He even put on our bag tag for us. So kind!

So we had the bag tag and then went to join the American Airlines line. There was an employee there asking if we were checking a bag or not. We said yes and were directed to a line on the left (the bag drop section). We then handed over my Partner’s bag and were on our way.

We headed towards the gates and there was a security checkpoint with these little kiosks there and people clustered around employees. It turns out that talking to an employee isn’t necessary. I just went up to the kiosk and there’s a scanner at about knee height that scanned my boarding pass and let me through.

I then joined the security line and no signs said anything about taking things like laptops out of your bag, so I left everything in there and kept my shoes on and went through no problem. We then walked a while to our gate and still with all of the above steps, we were at the gate 20 minutes after arriving at the airport. Nice!

Transit

So that’s how our arrival and departure went, but how about in between? Getting around PVR is extremely easy – even if you don’t feel like walking 🙂 . There are an abundance of Buses that cost 10 pesos ($0.50 USD) a ride and the buses are huge like in the states and bus stops are clearly marked, most with overhangs to sit under.

However, I am apparently a bougie lady so despite intending to, I didn’t take a bus during my visit. I mostly walked and when I had to get somewhere quickly, I took an Uber, which costs about $3-4 to get anywhere in town. And as I mentioned above, even a ride with surge pricing from the airport was only $8 USD.

Walkability

Puerto Vallarta is extremely walkable. There are sidewalks everywhere and they’re a lot wider than those in Mérida (the only other Mexican city I’ve lived in so far). In PVR there are also red paths next to the sidewalk on many streets that seem to be bike lanes. However, off main roads, I never saw a bike on them so if the coast was clear, I use them as an additional sidewalk if needed. Surprisingly, it was very rarely needed. The sidewalks were wide and available 🙂 .

However, one big negative for walkability that surprised me coming from Mérida, is that there are no pedestrian crossing lights. Not even on most of the main highways. They have pedestrian crossing indicators painted on the road, but no lights, so you take your life into your own hands trying to cross those without an indicator. I did it every morning on my run and got used to the traffic flow, but it was a surprise to me.

Outside of major highways though I’ve found one thing helpful given the lack of pedestrian lights: crossing a street is much faster when I do it on the road instead of at an intersection. That goes against all my pedestrian training, but given the lack of pedestrian crossing lights, I found this to be more efficient and possibly safer because a lot of cars don’t use their blinkers…basically ever.

So you don’t actually know where they’ll be turning at an intersection and that causes some chaos when trying to cross an intersection safely as a pedestrian. I found it easier to cross in the middle of a 2 lane road when I could easily see no car is coming in either direction and there was no way they could turn into me unexpectedly.

So with all those caveats, I did enjoy walking in PVR. I walked everywhere. I did have to learn to be more assertive when crossing the road or I’d be there forever, but that’s probably good for my personal growth 😉 .

Another heads up is about the weather while walking. It’s pretty hot in PVR (as I’ll discuss more below) and I walked miles and miles in regular socks, which I soaked through with sweat and the friction caused me to get my first blister ever.

So I asked y’all on Instagram for tips to avoid this in the future and a few people said Wool Socks, which I usually associated with winter weather, but they are awesome at wicking sweat in any temperature. So I started wearing my Bombas Wool Running Socks a lot more and my feet were always dry when I got home. Magic!

Climate

Puerto Vallarta is right on the Pacific Ocean so it gets a nice breeze and can be cooler than other places inland in México. We arrived at the end of October and the below chart is very accurate. It was hot and humid 🙂 . However, it was the perfect temperature to lounge in the pool, which I did daily.

Source: WeatherSpark

In November it cooled off quite a bit and became really pleasant instead of hot and by the time we left in mid-December, it was nicely cool. I might come back during the height of winter next time 🙂 .

Language

So could someone get around in Puerto Vallarta, México without speaking Spanish? Yes 🙂 . It’s so touristy that especially in those areas, most people speak English and they even have English menus. It’s totally possible to get around this city without knowing a lick of Spanish.

Knowing this makes me happy that we went to Mérida to do intensive Spanish classes in 2022 since it would have been way too easy to slip back into English in PVR. People are so nice and accommodating that in the tourist areas, they often switched to speaking English with me, which is very kind, but I’m here to speak Spanish damn it 🙂 .

Luckily we don’t stay in tourist areas so when I was going around my neighborhood, it was all Spanish all the time – perfect. I’m all about trial by fire 🙂 . I also found it funny that my gringo partner seems to give me away. If I’m alone, even in the touristy area, people speak Spanish to me, but if he walks up to me, even the exact same people starts speaking English unprompted.

The only places that are tricky without knowing any Spanish are smaller shops and markets. Everything there is understandably in Spanish and you have to interact with employees to ask for what you need. This includes pharmacies and my experience with a local dentist.

One heads up that I wish I had known before is that in an elevator, PB means Planta Baja and it’s the ground floor. Also in PVR, Level 1 is what we would call the 2nd floor in the US. Also, the Push/Pull doors in PVR have pull as Jale, not Tire like I saw in Mérida (and a different word in Costa Rica that you’ll see when I get to that Slow Travel Review 😉 ).

Inclusivity & Safety

As I mentioned, I originally learned about PVR because of their queer scene and that embracing of inclusivity was still very present during this visit. The city included enormous pride flags and same-sex couples being openly affectionate and being treated well as far as I could see.

While I was in PVR, an announcer on the radio declared that Puerto Vallarta is the safest place in México. I wasn’t able to confirm that based on any sources I trust, but based on my experience I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. I felt completely comfortable in PVR, even walking alone at night or running by myself at sunrise. Everyone was friendly and kind.

Money

When we arrived in PVR, the exchange rate was about 1 USD: 16 Pesos. To get a general idea of prices, I rounded that up to 1:20 and just moved the decimal point of a price to the left one place and divided by two to calculate in my head how much something would cost. I also downloaded a free currency exchange calculator app, but rarely used it.

Cash was necessary to pay for basically everything except at large grocery stores, pharmacies and the Oxxo gas station. When I needed cash, I used my Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account, which reimburses all ATM fees internationally and I learned something wild:

So I’ll never make that mistake again 🙂 . I also discovered that when taking out a lot of money the ATM would give us 500 peso notes, which are pretty big given the low cost of everything in PVR and was often too big for businesses to accept. So we just immediately went from the bank ATM to the line to speak to a teller and asked for smaller bills, which they gave us without issue and then we were on our way!

Utilities

Electricity

México has two types of plugs and one works with US electric devices just fine. We were lucky that that was the type our Airbnb had.

Source

In Mérida our actual electricity at our Airbnb was expensive, so the host was clear upfront that it would be billed to us separately based on usage. So I had this knowledge in my head when searching for places in PVR. I definitely wanted a place with AC since it gets hot and we’re not used to it, but I also ideally wanted a place that had unlimited electricity included in the price, even if it was a little more expensive so I wouldn’t have to think about it. And I found an Airbnb that met my criteria as you’ll see below!

Garbage

Our Airbnb in Mérida was in a little compound type community so we just put our garbage in larger bins and the compound employees actually took it out of the compound. But on this trip to PVR, we lived more like the locals 🙂 . We were told to put our garbage on a specific street corner and that it would be picked up Monday through Saturday from 6-8pm. Easy enough.

Plumbing

It seems to be standard in parts of México to not flush toilet paper down the toilet. The plumbing can’t handle it. Instead, you put used TP in a trash can that’s next to the toilet and obviously empty that often. Here’s a map of places where you can or cannot flush toilet paper that was eye opening to me:

 

 

Source

Medical

Pharmacies

Basically, this:

My flight to PVR cost less than I would have paid for one of these prescriptions in the US and I bought several of them. So until the US gets their healthcare together, it’s more than worth it to take advantage of medical tourism and pick up medicine I need while getting to live at the beach for 6 weeks all for less money.

Dentists

I’ve also continued my quest to have my teeth cleaned in different countries and record the experience for y’all:

I had a wonderful time and once again was impressed with healthcare that can be found easily outside the US. If I’m back in PVR in the future, I’ll definitely be stopping by for another cleaning.

Water

So water is not drinkable in México. At our Airbnb in Mérida, our host took care of this for us and provided 20L (5.3 gallon) garrafones for $2 USD that we just grabbed at the front of the compound. But that was a fancy time with my fancy Mom and in PVR, we were trying to live like locals 🙂 .

We learned a few weeks into our stay that our apartment complex actually had Garrafon Delivery! They come within a 7 hour window and take your empty garrafon and give you a new one. However, the timing of the deliveries didn’t really work for my rigorous pool schedule 😉 so we just walked a block to the closest Oxxo instead.

There you can buy a full garrafon for a few dollars and when you’re done, you can bring it back empty and there’s a machine at the back of most stores that refills it! You press the green button (but don’t have to hold it), for the water to come out and then press the red button for it to stop.

Then you take the refilled garrafon to the counter, explain it’s a refill (rellenado) and pay 18 pesos (about $1 USD) for another giant jug of water. And then my partner got in his weight lifting exercise by carrying it back the block to our place (thank you!).

Nature

One of the reasons I went to PVR is because of its nature! It’s on the Pacific Ocean with lovely beaches and the Malecón boardwalk that goes basically the length of the city.

All of the beaches in México are public property so there are public access points (acceso público 😉 ) to any beach that you can find on Google Maps.

Puerto Vallarta also has a lot of gorgeous marine life. We visited the Los Arcos National Marine Park, which is so close you can see it from downtown and had a fantastic time.

As for nature that’s closer to home, I was shocked that there weren’t really flies or mosquitos in PVR. I saw 1 mosquito in the 6 weeks we were there so it makes sense that a lot of houses don’t have AC and keep their windows open. I would have been more likely to keep my windows open if I knew I wouldn’t be eaten alive like I would have been in Georgia growing up.

We also saw some adorable little geckos around the apartments that I suspect were there to eat bugs. Feel free y’all 🙂 .

Food

Groceries

In addition to regular small local shops, there are also larger supermarkets in PVR. The local version is called Soriana, which we usually went to for bulk staples. When I checked out, they asked if I had a rewards card, which I kept saying no to, but after 2 weeks I decided to just sign up for one online…and then it didn’t work 🙂 . Oh well.

Another thing to note, if you look at nutrition information like I do, their packaging has nutrition info for 100g portions and not a specific serving size, so have your calculator and conversions at the ready. I wish I realized this before I freaked out seeing “335 calories per serving” on the back of my heavy cream instead of “50 calories” because they were talking about 100g (like 1/2 the bottle) instead of 1 tbsp (6.75g). We also passed a Costco in PVR, but wanted to shop local instead.

Restaurant

When eating at restaurants in México you need to ask for the check (la cuenta por favor) because they won’t bring it to you unless you request it. No rushed meals here – I love it 🙂 . Tipping at restaurants is usually 10-20% in addition to the bill and we just defaulted to our standard 20% and dropped change in the tip (propina) jars when ordering food to go.

Cost

I like to base estimates on solid facts and that’s why I began my retirement calculations by assuming I would continue spending the same amount that I did during my awesome HCOL life in Seattle, which cost $18,000 a year. I then added 11% on top of that amount just in case, to come to a round $20,000 for my first year of retirement budget. I then increased that each year to account for inflation.

So I was curious how Puerto Vallarta, México would measure up to my mental baseline of Seattle, WA.

Source: Numbeo

Unsurprisingly, costs are about half of what they are in Seattle all around despite PVR being a gorgeous beach town. I love it 🙂 .

Lodging 

Cost: $1,311.53/month

I went a bit wild choosing our Airbnb for our 6 weeks in PVR, but I don’t have regrets. Despite not needing a second bedroom, I liked this place more than the other options and I loved that it had unlimited electricity for us to use the AC whenever we needed to without thinking about it.

I also loved having a pool right there and being in a neighborhood filled with delicious restaurants – I couldn’t walk a block without seeing five different places to eat. My dream 🙂 .

Food

Grocery Cost: $142.15/month

I thought I was getting fancy with this amount of groceries because I was just buying fresh vegetables, fruit and local meat, but that food would likely be about double in the states so I’m taking the win.

Eating Out Cost: $108.07/month

Food out in PVR was wildly affordable. We were eating out all the time and I only spent about $100 a month. It was absolutely wild.

Transit

Cost: $11.54/month

As I mentioned, PVR is wildly walkable so this is just a few Ubers I took around town when I was in a rush or on a timeline to meet someone.

Entertainment

Cost: $200.77/month

This was mostly the tour we did to Los Arcos, which I wrote about below and was worth every penny. Basically entertainment in PVR is free with all the beaches and performances along the Malécon. There’s never a dull moment 🙂 .

Conclusion

So that was my experience living in Puerto Vallarta, México for 6 weeks! I was very happy that I chose this part of México to return to and explore.

Someone asked me once I was settled in PVR how it differs from the only other Mexican city I’ve lived in, Mérida in the Yucatan. To compare, I think they’re very different in great ways 🙂 . Mérida felt like a small town surrounded by a gorgeous jungle with its local markets, quiet streets, nearby cenotes and Mayan ruins.

Meanwhile, Puerto Vallarta feels like a city on the beach. It has a lot more going on, bigger stores and it has a lot of tourists while tourists were rare when I lived in Mérida. I’ve very much enjoyed both places, but they have very different vibes. So when I feel like eating delicious and cheap food and lounging on the beach, I’m heading back to Puerto Vallarta.

What’s your favorite place you visited in 2023?

If you’re interested in my other Slow Travel Reviews, they’re all here:

14 thoughts on “Slow Travel Review: Puerto Vallarta, México – The Land Of Beaches And Birds”

  2. Looks like a great time! I was particularly interested in this one since Puerto Vallarta is a fairly big tourist destination, but seems fairly safe (as you noted). Is there anywhere else you’re looking at in Mexico for the future?

    Reply

    1. Yeah I really enjoyed it and yes! I’m always trying to get back to México lol. I’m curious to try México City to see what it’s about and also La Paz.

      Reply

      1. Gracias for sharing your story. Would love to also learn from your future Mexico City trip. I like to go there next year with a side trip to Chichen Itza. Also I learned that there’s a castle in CDMX. Is March not that hot to visit? It’s already spring in Canada by that time so it’s easier to get to the airport.

        Reply

        1. Gracias por leer! I’ll definitely write about Mexico City after I experience it. I’m not sure what the weather is like during specific months in CDMX – Google is your friend 😉 . Cool on the castle! Chichen Itza was cool – it was only like an hour outside of Mérida when I lived there so we took a taxi over. Are you going to fly there from CDMX? It looks like a 19 hour drive from there.

          Reply

  4. Very thorough review! PVR looks gorgeous. Every one of your slow travel reviews is a revelation about how many stunningly beautiful places there are in the world where you can live for cheap.

    Since it’s such a touristy town, I’m surprised that you didn’t have any encounters with scammers or aggressive hawkers, other than the fake Uber drivers at the airport. Maybe it’s because you stayed where the locals live, outside the tourist areas. That’s always a wise idea.

    About the blisters, have you tried moleskin foam? I’ve used that for hiking and it works pretty well. If you feel like you’re getting a hot spot that’s going to turn into a blister, you put a piece of moleskin there and it gives you some extra padding to cushion your skin from the friction.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! That’s the goal of these reviews – sharing places I loved, even when I didn’t think I would 🙂 . I’m glad it’s hitting the mark.

      And yeah I think you’re exactly right – we weren’t in the tourist areas much, but when we were there wasn’t anything shady going on so maybe everyone suspicious congregates at the airport 😉 . 

      I haven’t heard of that! Thank you so much – I’ll look into them. 

      Reply

  5. Those sidewalks in Mérida sure were narrow 😅

    Sorry about your airport experience. We just arrived at the Cancún airport for our flight to Oaxaca and were bombarded by scammers in “official staff” shirts asking us what flight we were on and mocking us for not answering. Charming. I’m sure it’s way worse on arrival. but fortunately the rest of the airport was fine.

    We just spent one day in Puerto Morelos on the Caribbean on our way to the airport, and like PVR it was so full of English that it was really jarring! English signs, menus, all the restaurant staff automatically spoke to us in English, all the street musicians sang in English, and of course walking down the beach we heard so many tourists speaking English as well. Couldn’t be more different from Progreso or Churburná Puerto (another beach near Mérida). I must say I’m not eager to return to the Riviera Maya region. Once again thanks for recommending Mérida and La Calle – it was a great place to stay our México adventure! And thanks so much for that ATM tip in your first PVR article – you’ve saved us a bunch of money 🙂

    Reply

    1. Haha yep – that’s one of the reasons I appreciated the wide sidewalks in PVR.

      I’m sorry that happened to you in Cancún – that’s really messed up they have official shirts. And yeah I went to Riviera Maya once (Cancún) and wasn’t eager to return.

      And of course – I’m so glad you had a good time and woohoo for saving money!!

      Reply

  6. Thanks for this post. I’m relieved to hear that the arrival card system has changes, since I had a problem with one of those in 2019. I will be sure to check out the online system next time.

    Reply

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