As one of the top 10 tourist destinations in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta can easily feel like any other tropical destination, filled with manicured beaches and souvenir shops. But, for those seeking a more authentic cultural experience, it takes only a few steps off the main strip to find the spots the locals frequent, or at least some locals to point you in the right direction.
Here’s the itinerary:
- 6:00-8:
00pm – Explore Old Town and scope out the best street tacos and churros (our recommendations took us to the intersection of Lázaro Cárdenas and Aguacate) - 8:00-9:
00pm – Sample Pulque at La Pulquería PV - 9:00-11:
00pm – Margaritas on the beach at El Solar - 11:00-1:
00am – Salsa dancing at La Bodeguita del Medio
Note: these were the spots we stumbled upon, but discovering them was half the fun–use this as a guide, but don’t shy away from asking locals for their favorite spots. You won’t be disappointed!
On my recent trip to Puerto Vallarta, my best memories were made while exploring Old Town, eating street tacos, sampling Pulque and searching for the best local bars. A group went ahead to withdraw pesos from the ATM, and by the time the rest of us arrived they’d found the best taco stand (according to the owner of a nearby
We placed our order, pulled up plastic chairs next to the stand, and within minutes, a tray piled high with tacos appeared from above. When we finished our first round, we hollered our next order to the chef and he began whipping up tacos as fast as we could eat them. 45 tacos and $35 later, we left very happy and very, very full.
But not too full for churros.
Since we enjoyed the taco recommendation (and apparently the shop keeper had fronted us some pesos), we returned to the same
Sure enough, just a block and a half from our new favorite taco spot stood a husband and wife and their churro cart. As we watched them make the churros — first frying them in oil, then dipping them in cinnamon sugar — they told us in broken English how they’d been operating this churro cart in the same location for the last 25 years.
We bought several bags full of churros and continued walking through Old Town until we arrived at a Pulqueria.
Pulque is an alcoholic drink made from the fermented sap of the agave plant and was originally used as a part of religious rituals. It’s milky in color and has a sour yeast-like taste, that somewhat reminded me of Kombucha. To be honest, I didn’t really like the taste — but I enjoyed sampling it while listening to the history, which our server was happy to share with us.
Then it was time for margaritas. For that, we decided to go to the beachfront area, just past the main tourist strip. About 20 minutes and 3 Senior Frogs later, we found ourselves at El Solar, a small beach bar, with a laid back vibe. We grabbed margaritas (highly recommend the cucumber) and posted up on a bamboo mat on the beach below.
A few margaritas later, we (I) thought it would be a good idea to put our salsa skills to the test and go dancing. And as luck would have it, as we walked back to towards the main strip we passed by La Bodeguita del Medio, a Cuban restaurant by day and salsa bar by night. Inside, a live salsa band played as couples danced in front of the bar. We immediately joined in, though with substantially inferior skill — ending our night with sore feet and a new found love for salsa.
What are your favorite things to do in Puerto Vallarta? Let me know in the comments below!