Arriving in Puerto Vallarta via Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport sets you up perfectly, with surf towns, jungle villages, and Banderas Bay a short drive away. Puerto Vallarta is a Pacific beach town with a cobblestoned old center, a seaside boardwalk, and the Sierra Madre rising right behind the hotels. It is warm, welcoming, and lively well into the night.

Standout experiences around Puerto Vallarta: - Walk the Malecón at sunset past its bronze sculptures and street performers - Explore the Zona Romántica and the Los Muertos pier - Photograph the crowned tower of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Watch humpback whales in Banderas Bay from December through March - Take a water taxi to the car-free village of Yelapa and its waterfall - Snorkel the Marietas Islands and the hidden beach - Surf or browse the boutiques in Sayulita, about 45 minutes north - Visit San Pancho and Bucerías for quieter beaches and taco stands - Drive into the mountains to San Sebastián del Oeste, a silver mining town - Try birria and a shot of raicilla, the region's agave spirit

Puerto Vallarta spans the border of Jalisco and Nayarit, and the Riviera Nayarit coast north of the airport holds Punta Mita, Bucerías, and Sayulita within an hour. South of town, the road to Mismaloya and Boca de Tomatlán leads to beaches reachable only by boat. Each December, nightly pilgrimages to the Guadalupe church fill the streets with music and candles for twelve days.