The planning of this trip ended up not being very straightforward because we were originally booked to fly on the Boeing Max 8 airplane which was grounded from global service after 2 horrific and fatal crashes. Z ended up rebooking our flight 6 times due to scheduling changes before we landed on our final itinerary. Gotta love his perseverance and dedication to making this trip happen, particularly too because I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the destination to begin with.
After an early morning flight out of San Francisco, we landed in Puerto Vallarta on a hot and
sunny Saturday afternoon. Upon arriving at our first hotel, the Puerto Vallarta Marriott, we were greeted by with front desk agent with a warm "welcome home"! What a fantastic friendly greeting to make someone feel truly welcome. After that initial greeting, I knew we would have an amazing time there. We had a fantastic room with both a pool and ocean view. The room was fairly modern and spacious with a full couch seating area and a descent sized balcony. The hotel grounds were well kept, with a very large swimming pool that had a swim-up bar, loungers and several hammocks situated in shallow water so you could relax in the sun yet be kept cool with the water. While we tested out the pool to say that we did, our preference still is the ocean. Surprisingly the ocean was very warm...warmer than I thought it would be for being on the Pacific side. Being in PV, the water was not crystal clear, but it still made for good fun swimming and cooling off from the sun. The beach itself wasn't used much, which we thought strange, but then we realized that the loungers around the pool were more comfortable than the beach and it all made sense. We ate at three of the restaurants. We had breakfast each morning at La Estancia which served a buffet breakfast of traditional and modern flair Mexican cuisine and American style breakfast items. The service here was fantastic and one morning they even recognized Z’s loyalty status by putting a little star trophy on our table. Las Castias is the open air restaurant by the pool and beach. The food here was very flavourful and I really enjoyed the chicken fajitas dish here. The last was Champions Sports Bar which had big screen TVs on ever wall playing every sports event of the day. It definitely catered to the American clientele. The food here was really good as well with big portions.
The hotel also had a spa with a well equipped gym facility and many different spa treatments. We treated ourselves each to an 80 minute massage. Beforehand we got to use the spa facilities which included a sauna, hot/cold baths, hot tub, and foot bath. It was a nice treat to work out some of the stress I’d been carrying for some time.
One evening we ordered an Uber and went into downtown Puerto Vallarta. It was just before sunset as we strolled along the main boulevard admiring the statues left from their Day of the Dead celebration. I thought I felt a drop or two from the sky but didn’t think much of it because the forecast didn’t mention rain. We stepped into one store to look at some
souvenirs and by the time we were finished, the sky had opened up and it was raining. Raining might actually be an understatement, it turned into a torrential downpour and we had no rain coats or umbrella and needed to walk to the restaurant, Casa Tradicional, which was a few blocks away from where we were. While we were able to stay somewhat dry by walking under overhangs, when we arrived we needed to cross the street which was a downward sloping hill and as you can imagine with a torrential downpour the amount of water is too much for most infrastructure to handle. So the road had turned into a shallow river and crossing it resulted in wet feet regardless of how hard I tried to avoid it. This restaurant was worth it though. Of course not long after we sat down for dinner did the downpour stop.
Located off the beaten track and more of a locals place we dined on some very tasty traditional dishes which included one that had cactus as part of the dish. This restaurant is known for making their salsa and guacamole at the table and it was some of the best we’ve ever had. A mariachi band entertained everyone and at one point they even serenaded us (for a fee of course) and we ended up dancing to the song; a suggestion by me that surprised Z because I usually don’t dance.
After our first three nights in Puerto Vallarta we rented a car from Gecko car rentals; a no fuss car rental company with really good rates, so we could make our way 45 minutes north to Punta Mita where we spent the next five nights. Driving around wasn’t too bad, the biggest things to watch for are pot holes and speed bumps that sometimes felt like they appeared out of nowhere.
Punta Mita is more remote and is a 1500 acre peninsula surrounded by the warm
aquamarine Pacific Ocean. We stayed at the modern and funky W Punta de Mita hotel. The hotel is perched on a gorgeous white sand beach with the property sloping up the hillside and nestled amongst lush trees. Our room was upgraded to the ocean view haven room with a with private deck and plunge pool. Our room was huge with a very large entrance area, king sized bed with a handmade tin headboard. There was a sunken living room area with very large L-shaped sofa and two wicker saucer chairs. The wall art represented the local bohemian beach culture The bathroom had two sinks which were open to the rest of the room, while the shower area also had a soaked tub and faced a large open window from which you could see the ocean. The hotel decor and decor in the rooms was rather unique and eye catching. There were swinging chairs in the lobby and large round couch areas set up with board games; great for groups.
We spent most our time here just relaxing beachside and swimming in the ocean. Our stay included a buffet breakfast with a wide selection of traditional Mexican foods and the typical American style items.
From our resort, we took a day trip to Islas was Marietta National Park, a 15 minute boat ride from Punta Mita. Marietta is a small group of uninhabited islands that are a popular tourist attraction. There is an abundant population of marine life which is able to flourish due to government fishing restrictions in the islands. The gem is the Hidden Beach. Access is only by swimming in through a cave opening during low tide and you enter a open crater that has a gorgeous white sand beach. Due to its popularity the government restricts how many tourists can visit the hidden beach and you are limited to a 30 minute visit. The government has boats anchored just off this crater checking that tourists have the appropriate write band to enter. The marine life was incredible in the in islands and the snorkelling was such a treat. We stopped at a couple of the other islands and accessed them by jumping off the boat and swimming to them. The islands are inhabited by the blue footed booby. These are incredibly beautiful birds with brilliant blue feet and beaks. This day trip was certainly the highlight of the trip.
While originally I wasn’t entirely excited about going to Mexico, I had a great time and really enjoyed this vacation. Not sure it’s a regular spot for me despite the relatively short flights but it was a good experience and made even better with my great travel partner!!
Until next time... to travel is to live! Life is good!
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