| Trip Report
by travelbug-jp (March, 2005)
Okay here goes! Better
fill up the coffee mug cuz this could take a while! We arrived
at the Canto del Sol shortly after midnight (Saturday a.m)
We love this hotel, the staff are awesome and so are the
restaurants. They had drinks and a little sandwich bar set
up for the late comers. That was really great because we
were very hungry. There was a very slight breeze, the moon
was out and shining through the gently waving palm trees
around the pool, it was like they were saying welcome back,
welcome home! We sat out by the beach for a while listening
to the waves wash ashore. Okay, I want to go back right
now!!!
We got up bright and
early on Saturday just raring to go, had breakfast and then
just had a nice lazy day by the pool. Beautiful blue sky,
not a cloud in sight. We used a 45 sunscreen the first couple
of days. It's worth it not to get a burn. Sunday was more
of the same, lazy day reading and jumping in and out of
the pool, also participated in the water aerobics. They
have a great exercise programme at this hotel. I booked
four excursions with our Signature rep. She was very helpful.
The excursions we went on were: Las Caletas, Sierra Madre,
Canopy and Rythmms of the night. We spaced them so that
we would have a lazy day or two in between each of them.
They are all very different
but were all excellent. If I had to pick a favourite it
would have to be Sierra Madre because you get out of the
tourist area and go into the smaller communities and see
how people live out of the city. Very very amazing. Our
tour guide asked if we could pass on this piece of info
if you are going on this tour... Please do not give any
money to any of the adorable children that you may come
across. She said it does not help them in the long run,
rather if you want to give them something then bring along
some crayons and colouring books, pencils with your national
flag emblem (I'm Canadian) markers, erasers, hair clips
etc. She said it's better for the children if we don't encourage
them asking for money. Las Caletas is great for doing a
bunch of different activities, my husband went snorkling
which he had never done before, we went kayaking and I went
to yoga class, paella cooking demo, sat on a big rock and
let the waves crash over my legs and we went on the eco
tour. Lunch was included and was great. The Canopy tour
was one of those whooo-whoooooo, yippee and arribaaaaa screaming
tours! What a freakin blast. It was so much fun and we felt
so safe even though we were 75 to 120 feet up in the air.
They provide helmets, gloves and they have double safety
lines for extra precaution. The guides were very knowkedgable
and professional. Make sure you bring longer shorts or long
lightweight pants because the harness you sit in could chaff
bare skin. Sneakers or hiking boots are a must as is bug
repellent. Rythmms of the night goes to the same place as
the Las Caletas tour but you arrive after dark and the whole
place is lit up with torches and candles to light the way.
A great show in the outdoor theatre tells an ancient legend
and then you go to your beach side candle lit table and
enjoy a yummy supper while listening to the waves lapping
into the shore before heading back. It's really, really
nice.
We and two other couples
also hired a private taxi service one day and he took us
all over the place, also out of PV. I can't remember everyplace
we stopped but we had an hour or so in Bucerias for shopping.
Tequila tasting tour of a factory that still makes it the
old fashioned way, by the way the almond tequila is sooooooo
delicious. We bought a bottle. Mexican cemetaries are beautiful,
he took us to one and explained why they take such pride
in honouring their loved ones that have passed on. He also
took us to Sayulita where we watched the surfers for a while.
Absolutely breathtaking views from the top. For lunch we
stopped at a place called Hidden Paradise Restaurant, it
was a little rough going to get there but so worth it. A
view from the top overlooking the water and the most beautiful
elegant woman I have ever seen came to our table with a
tray of fresh meat, beautifully decorated and softly said
"this is my menu" We were speechless. And it was
as delicious as you can imagine. This tour costs the same
for 2 people or for 6. He has a comfy van with air if you
need it. He is just the nicest gentleman with lots of stories.
I went to the Hacienda
Spa and Hotel one day and had a massage. It was so relaxing,
the ambience blew me away. Outside under one of those palm
tree frond roofs with trees and shrubs, birds and a little
stream surrounding me. I felt relaxed even before my massage!
Very nice.
Of course a trip to
PV is not complete without going to PiPi"s for supper!
The mariachi band, marguretas, freshly made guacamole, fajitas
etc.etc. were all outstanding. It's a pretty busy place,
try to go around 6 or 6:30 to avoid a long wait for a table.
Even if you have to wait, do it, it's worth it.
We also went a couple
times to a bar called Andale's! Arribaaaaaaa The margaritas
were fabulous as is the entire atmosphere in that place.
Superb dancing music if you are over 30. Younger groups
may not appreciate the older tunes but we were in our glory!
And... if you want to you can ride a donkey right through
the bar, make sure you hoot and holler while you do it,
I did! The crowd responds really well if you show some emotion.
Some people just sat on it like a lump of coal, where's
the fun in that? And I don't know where else I can ride
a donkey through a bar! So I made the most of it.
Thursdays and Sundays
evenings at the Plaza, just off the malecon, the municipal
band comes out to play, families come out, vendors selling
balloons and other fun stuff and people dancing to the music.
It's free. Just go and enjoy. Wonderful.
I did a little bit
of shopping at the market and I love to do the bartering.
It's just so much fun. We also had a few time share people
approach us but you know what? It really is not a big deal.
It's all in your attitude. We would stop and make small
talk for a minute or two and then just politely say thank
you for the offer but no thanks and then say they lived
in a beautiful city, say bye and then just walk away. No
big deal. I had one of them teach me a few words in Spanish.
I had fun with them. That includes the beach vendors, I
just love them. Beautiful people trying to make an honest
living. Almost everything I bought I bought from the beach
vendors. They have it all. Of course you can barter with
them too.
I better stop, this
might be a short story by now. Just want to close by saying
that the people of Puerto Vallarta are so beautiful, externally
but more important they have beautiful souls. If you make
eye contact and give them a genuine smile you can see their
faces radiate. Try to learn a few phrases or words in Spanish
before you go, you are in their country after all so try
to make a small effort.
I'm already scheming
on where I can cut back on my monthly budget so that we
can go back next year instead of 2 years from now. I hope
I didn't bore you to tears. Enjoy your vacation!
^Top
Going back
to the land of rain by NdnQueen (Feb. 2004)
Ok first off i want
to say the trip was awesome, the resort was a great deal
we have had absolutely no complaints. i loved our room it
was right in fornt of the pool and we had our own little
patio. it also had a kithenette and sitting area, a bonus
to me. the dirnks were awesome and the food was so so. the
room was clean and we tipped the maids daily. everyone here
thought we were locals lol. i had no problems at all going
thru cutoms and the timeshare people never bothered us at
all. we didnt even notice them. we did howver have alot
of people asking us if we wanted to make some easy money
lol and we did lol we had to do it we had to see if the
horror stories about timeshare presentations was true. for
us it wasnt. we went to a meeting ate a wonderful breakfast
and then we left 240$ richer. very easy and not even a bother.
a fun way to spend a cloudy morning. we never did have a
problem with vendors or TS people we just said no thank
you and that was that. i do not know why people get so bothered
by them. while i liked the resoprt and had no problems at
all with the service i was not impressed by the food at
the villas vallarta and only marginally more so with the
canto. i loved the resturants around town more and the taco
stands were AWESOME! this was our first time in mexico and
we ate and drank everything we stayed out alllll night drunk
as skunks and walked the malecon and the other parts of
town and were never bothered or unsafe feeling. we met some
locals and hung out with them and had a good time. the bars
were great but we found them to be pretty much the same
price as the bars back home. we went to HILOS and that was
our fave place to be. we also went to club 69 and liked
it there also. carlos obriens was ok and we werent even
feeling Andeles it was just not our kind of place. i guess
lol we preffered the places with lots of locals. hehe. we
had a board meeting and that was fun also! i posted about
it in the meetup site. we went on the canopy tour i highly
recomend it and we went snorkelling it was so good too and
we got tattoos today the day we are leaving to remember
our trip a permanent souvineer. walk walk walk the town
it is so aweosm we walked all day everyday every where.
take the bus!the bus is fun. we went to bucerias and we
had an awesome time even rode horses on the beach! i really
loved out trip. my only complaint was THE WEATHER! it was
sucky all week it rained it was cloudy and many locals told
us this was highly unusual. so i didnt get as brown as i
wanted to but i still had the best vacation ever. we will
definately be coming here again. for a more in depth trip
report go here http://www.queenandcrow.blogspot.com and
for pics go here http://queenandcrowmexico.photosite.com
^Top
Velas Vallarta
- June 2004
Well, it's been almost
a week since we returned from our trip to PV and I think
I am finally getting adjusted back to reality. I am having
major vacation withdrawals right now. So, please bear with
me!
This was my second
trip to PV in almost 17 years and my first stay at the Vellas
Vallarta. The hotel was beautiful and the wait staff was
excellent. The hotel is located in the Marina area and only
a five minute drive from the airport. I cannot say enough
good things about this resort. There was six of us and we
stayed in a full suite that connected to a studio.
The rooms are great.
In the suite we had a large kitchen that they stocked daily
with water, juice, bread, beer, & cereal and fruit.
Two good sized bathrooms one with a large tub and the other
with a nice marble shower. Also, we had a nice balcony area
with a great view of the ocean and the pool. We spent many
a night out there with a couple bottles of wine just enjoying
the view.
The only bad thing
was that during our stay Student Travel was staying at the
resort. Large groups of senior class kids were staying there.
They could get a little rowdy at times but for the most
part it wasn't that bad.
We spend most of our
days at the resorts pool. Service was top notch with waiter
scomming over every 5 minutes to take our drink orders.
I want to give a shout out to our waiter Haviar.. He was
the best!
The weather was great.
Very hot and humid which I prefer. Although, its PV rainy
season it's not the rain storms that I am used too. It never
once rained all day. If it did rain it would be early in
the morning or at around 8:00 pm at night. The rain never
lasted for more than 10 minutes. It was actually kinda cool
to sit out on the balcony and watch the storm roll in!
The food at the hotel
was excellent. They had almost everything to please any
type of appetite. Our group did the all inclusive and it's
the way to go. There are two resteraunts at the resort one
down by the beach that is more casual and laid back. The
other is called Andre's which is more elgant and you have
to make reservations to eat there. Every night they have
a different theme night at Andre's. Mexican, Italian, Argentina...
to name a few.
We ventured into town
one day to do some shopping. I think the taxi from the hotel
to downtown was around 4-5 dollars. We spent the day walking
around and enjoying the atmosphere. Based on the comments
from this board we ate lunch at Pipis. I hoped I spelled
it correctly. Anyway, it was the best food I have ever tasted.
Everyone in the group was pleased. The fresh quacamole was
to die for!
Sadly, to say the week
flew by while we where there. It was one of the best vacations
I have had in a long time. We could not ask for a better
time. All of us agreed the we would definatley return. I
can't wait to get my pictures back and start planning my
next trip to PV!
KCShawn
July 2, 2004
^Top
Paradise Village
- May 2004
As I sit in my office
looking out at this rainy gray Tuesday... my thoughts return
to Puerto Vallarta.
We are club members
at Paradise Village. This year we brought 4 friends with
us and stayed in one of their 3 bedroom penthouse suites.
I have been to PV 7
times now and I think other than the 1st time... this was
probably the most fun! Our guests were blown away by the
resort, especially our view overlooking both the Bay and
the Nuevo Marina.
We saw porpoises or
dolphins swimming out in the bay from our view as well as
some spectacular sunsets and I saw the sunrise every morning
as I went to the gym to work out and then drink coffee on
the deck. Not everyone saw a sunrise... but... they were
on vacation!
Three of the guys
played golf at Paradise Villages' El Tigre golf course and
said it was one of the most beautiful courses they had been
on. They especially liked the cold towels they bring to
to about halfway through the course.
We went deep sea fishing
on the Vanessa with Captain Don Paco... and caught all the
red snapper and yellow fin tuna we could catch. We actually
did catch and release after awhile because we didn't want
to waste any.
Even though it was
the third week of May, we saw one whale pod, and we saw
a couple of sting rays, a huge school, pod, group, whatever
of jellyfish... thousands! That's where we also caught a
lot of fish that were feeding on them. We cooked some of
the snapper and tuna on the grill that we had on our deck
that night with about a case of Pacifico to wash it down
with... that really goes down easy in PV...
We ate at Bernardo's
in Bucerias, Brasil Steakhouse in Nuevo, Daiquiri Dicks
in PV, and The Jungle in Nuevo besides eating at the resort
and cooking ourselves. You can't beat Paradise Village Brunch
at the Golf Course on Sunday...
We had gone into town
Friday the 21st and there was a big Lions Club parade going
on... lots of people... stopped at No Name Cafe to have
happy hour and watch the people go by...
We now have 4 more
recruits who love Puerto Vallarta as much as we do and will
be returning!
TAG
Date: June 01, 2004
________________________
^Top
Another trip
to paradise
I can't believe I'm
already back at home planning my next trip to paradise.
Last week was my 5th trip within the last 6 years and I'm
always able to discover something new, whether it's a new
place to lay out on the beach or a great place to have some
fresh seafood.
We were a group of
five women staying at a villa in Conchas Chinas. I'm only
able to afford such a beautiful vacation home because I
work with the owner of the house (employee discount!!).
The weather was hot and humid but not as bad as I expected
it to be. The mosquitoes sure got to us but it was more
our fault for not putting on the bug repellent since day
one. I can handle the bug bites, but what irritates me more
is to not get the better deal on something. For instance,
never take the white suburban taxis that haunt the airport.
You end up paying way too much for a ride into paradise.
On my next trip I'm definitely going to cross that bridge
and jump into a yellow taxi. We were about to do just that
but they stopped one of my friends that was lugging around
2 suitcases and convinced her into taking their airconditioned
suburban, as if the yellow taxis don't have ac. Vacationer
beware, take the journey over the bridge and flag down a
yellow taxi.
I've read a lot of
reviews for restaurants on this board but haven't seen anyone
mention Restaurante Rio Grande. This has got to be the best
place for seafood in all of PV. The portions are huge and
the prices are just right. I hightly recommend the Pescado
Sarandeado (sp?). It's a red snapper that's grilled to perfection
over firewood. It's the only thing on the menu that you
order per kilo. We shared a 1 kilo snapper for 3 women and
still had some left on the plate. The restaurant is located
on the same street where the malecon is. If you're traveling
south it's about 2-3 blocks before the malecon begins, near
the supermarket and the plaza. Oh......and to drink, make
sure to order a Chichi, grande! It's a pina colada with
a shot of grenadine. YUM!!!
We did the pirate ship
night cruise, the canopy tour, and a boat trip to Caletas.
I booked all of these trips online and got a 15% discount
with Marigalante and a 10% discount with Vallarta Adventures.
The night cruise was nice but not what I expected. The canopy
tour was unbelievable!!! I think I found a new sport. heehee!
A couple of friends in our group overcame their fear of
heights. Caletas is just like being on fantasy island. Laying
on a hammock and listening to the waves was heavenly.
We were lucky to have
the beach right across the street from the villa. Conchas
Chinas beach is beautiful and the waves are calm. There's
no vendors and very few people. We just needed to make sure
to take our own drinks and snacks.
We danced at La Bodeguita
to the music of a great salsa band. The food was good but
a little over priced. The appetizers were delicious and
the mojitos hit the spot. J&B's needs to promote themselves
a lot more. We went on Monday night and it was empty. Maybe
it's their slow night. But you're always guaranteed a good
time at Carlos O'Brians, even on their "slow nights".
The service at COBs is the best! The waitors are very attentive
and always smiling. We went to Senor Frogs but the crowd
was a bit too young for us. The Zoo and Hilo were fun but
after a certain hour the crowd gets a little sketchy. The
music at all these clubs was ok. The dj's kept playing the
same songs over and over every night. They should consider
getting some djs from overseas or at least keep up with
the new music. But after all that dancing my favorite thing
to do is to take a slow walk all along the malecon and breathe
in the fresh air.
If anyone's looking
for a business idea I would highly recommend for you to
open up a club that has multiple rooms with different types
of music, such as salsa/cumbia/merengue, hip-hop/R&B,
disco/70's, and dance/rave music. There's a few clubs like
that here in SF. People like variety and if anything, people
are willing to try new things while on vacation. (Send me
an email if you need a busines partner. : ) )
This was my best trip
so far because I was able to celebrate my birthday with
a great group of friends in the middle of paradise. I got
two of my friends hooked on PV and they're also planning
their next trip back.
Till next time!
JCS
Date: Sep 05, 2003
________________________
^Top
Just returned...damn
it was good!
Got back Saturday
evening from one week at the Sun Getaway. I've been to Cancun
(2x), I've been to Acapulco, I've been to the Domenican,
Vegas, etc....this trip was the ULTIMATE. Just wanted to
say thanks to everybody that we met at the hotel - me and
my buddy met up with a group of 20-30 others staying at
the hotel and we owned the place (hotel & city) for
a week! Great party city (Zoo, Hilo, Christine, Collage
(foam!)), and one hell of Italian restaurant (Dolce Vita)
- and this is coming from a wop himself. Thanks for a good
time.
Steve
Date: Mar 03, 2003
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^Top
Back from Paradise
Another great vacation
in PV. We tried something different this time, 3 nights
at the Premiere Resort and Spa and then back to our all
time favorite hotel, the Crown Paradise, in our wrap around
terrace room with an outside jacuzzi. The Premiere was a
top notch resort, the food was excellent and the foot massage
was to die for. The pool area is small but has super thick
padded lounge chairs. You can go accross the street (very
close) to the sister Hotel the Buenventura that has more
pools and a relaxing pool, (a pool that has chairs and tables
built in the water, have never seen anything like that before.)
We relaxed and enjoyed three days there, we did meet friends
from our area that were staying at the Vila Del Palmer and
had a good visit with them. The beach front of the Premiere
only had a couple of chairs and umbrellas set up, I don't
know if during "high season" if they put more
loungers on the beach or not. There was only one bar at
night and it was very small, about 10 chairs. During the
day a small bar next to the pool and beach was the only
one open. Onto the CP, we were greeted with open arms and
familiar faces. Pauli got promoted to "Captain"
and is rotating between the restaurants. He did get married
but their official church wedding is in Feb. Aldo is still
at the bar, he is was working differnt shifts and even working
at the pool bar. Ana Ramirez as usual was her very friendly
self along with Mariana at the front desk. Everyone was
wonderful as usual, the staff at this resort makes it the
best. The drinks are good brands, the food although not
gourmet is very good, the beach area is the very best. We
hired a driver (Mario) for $15.00 an hour and he took us
exactly where we wanted to go. There were some areas we
wanted to revisit and others we had never been to in a total
of 9 trips to PV. The jungle area where the Predator was
filmed (in honor of the Governor elect of CA) was on our
list, it was beautiful up there and the cool temperature
compared to downtown was much appreciated. The waterfalls
were gorgeous, the road was amazing, hard to beleive the
tour buses could make it there, but they do. The Mismoloya
area was as usual beautiful and provided some great pictures.
The view from the Concha Chinas area was picture perfect.
A quick stop at a tequilla factory was also on the agenda.
We saw the most amazing lightening storm, the whole sky
was illuminated in bright white, not just streaks but the
whole sky as far as you could see, that reflection on the
water was amazing. The storm went on for hours, I got up
in the early Am to watch it from the terrace, it was still
pitch black out so was pretty astounding to watch. Of course
the accompanying thunder was deafening! There were still
sand bags around the hotel from preparations for Hurricane
Olaf, we were told the water did come up to the beach bar
and first floor of rooms where the sand bags were. No damage
was apparent, and we only experienced a very few rain drops
a couple of evenings. The Krystal Hotel a few feet down
the beach has its new expansion of rooms (3 stories) almost
completed. There is construction going on at the nightclub
on the corner, Christine's. The walking bridge going over
the river downtown to south side looks almost complete.
For what it is worth the rumor from the locals is that the
Sheraton time share units are to open next week (now it
would be this week) and the other units in December.
We will be back to the Crown Paradise in May 2004, this
time we are bringing our friends smoked sturgeon that is
caught, smoked and canned from our home town. Got our pictures
back today, we enjoyed them over a few cocktails tonight,
and of course are already talking about next time at the
Crown Paradise!
MHan
Date: Oct 25, 2003 on 11:39 p.m.
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^Top
Westin Regina,
trip details and timeshares
Hello all...thanks
for all your info on the trip we just back from....spent
7 nights at the Westin Regina and it was amazing. Did the
Mexican Fiesta, Rhythms of the Night tour, went horseback
riding to a waterfall, sailed on the Bloodhound to Yelapa,
and golfed at Flamingo and Vista Vallarta-Nickalus course.
If anyone wants any info on the above send me an e-mail.
I loved all the trips but the Bloodhound was the best. There
is a sail to the same beach as the Rhythms of the night
goes to, but we chose this one. Went snorkeling and then
to Yelapa where there is no police. They can smoke, do drugs,
etc. I guess they never run into any other issues?? I bought
some red rosewood bowls and got a free shot of the moonshine
they make there (it is also illegal everywhere else)...I
felt like I drank fire!
Our hotel was great....4 seperate pools....a bit noisy(the
workers) but I think it's there low season so it was time
for repairs. Not much of a beach but not that big of a deal
to us....how long can you sit on a beach in 90 degree heat
anyway? I'd rather go to the pool and move to the shade
when I wanted.
The timeshares where kind of a pain. We will never waste
our precious vacation time on these things just to get $50-$100...it's
not worth it....but they are out of control....I had to
keep telling myself "This is there job, and they have
to do it".....because I felt like screaming at them
sometimes. You would think someone would do something about
this because this will ruin them eventually(at least that's
my opinion). I LOVED PV but I would have to think twice
about going again in the future....there are a LOT of vacation
destinations. I have been to Hawaii, Tortola, Curacao, Paradise
Island, Vegas, Puerto Rico, and a cruise to 5 other Caribbean
islands and have never seen anything like PV timeshares....again,
there are a lot of destinations and something should be
done. Most of the people elsewhere(locals) said bad things
about timeshare people also....they made fun of the idea.
We had someone meet
us there the first day (Jose) and we made our excursions
with him.....we also booked golf with him too.
We ate at the marina
for the most part...had breakfast at the Westin (marina
didn't open for breakfast until 9 or so) and ate at Girabralde
(may be spelled wrong) on the water in the westin (this
was very good).... and the food everywhere was great! Ate
so much 'home made' tortillas. Food in the marina was a
lot cheaper.....but you had to walk by 'you know who'
Eating right on the water in the sand in the R of the nights
tour was GREAT!!!!!
Again, anyone with
questions, e-mail me....later
Date: Nov 16, 2003 on 08:32 p.m.
____________________
^Top
Back from La
Jolla de Mismaloya
Wow. Wow. Just returned
last week...
Our first time to PV -- our honeymoon. We had an absolutely
amazing time. The hotel itself was fabulous (we did hear
some complaints about musty rooms on lower floors of tower
2, but in tower 1, everything was perfect). The suites were
very nice, room service extremely prompt, etc. They're in
the midst of updating the furnishings in the hotel, and
I think that will only make it more amazing (for such a
highly rated hotel, we sort of thought the couches were
cheap -- they're being upgraded). The pools were amazing,
and the waitstaff around the pools were extremely attentive
but not overbearing. The food in the restaurants was spectacular,
especially at El Patio. The beach... well, it was tiny.
But, they make the best of what they have. It's about 2/3
smaller than the photos on their Web site -- and those were
taken in early fall 2001. But, it's pleasant and the waitstaff
brings drinks/food to you there, too. There were some vendors,
but it didn't feel overbearing... they left if we said no,
for the most part. The water itself was fabulous. We truly
enjoyed wading in -- but after about 4 feet out, it's tread
water time, it drops off drastically. Made for nice floating/relaxing.
Our absolute favorite
trip was the Los Veranos canopy tour. It is a definite must-do.
We had such an amazing time zipping through the trees and
over the river, and the guides were very knowledgable, and
made us feel really safe. DEFINITELY GO! But, go earlier
in the day, before it gets too hot. And, they say it's three
hours, but it's closer to 4 by the time you get back.
We took a Vallarta
Adventure snorkel tour on the Celito Lindo -- a Trimaran
that allows only about 26 people aboard. We had 14. It was
fabulous. Great music, great crew. But, I felt snorkeling
at Los Arcos was too short (45 mins) and then when we sailed
to Las Animas (beach there is bigger and prettier) we stayed
too long (2 hours, and lunch) as it was quite hot. I wish
we'd gone on the snorkel tour to Yelapa, because they snorkel
twice, once at Los Arcos for an hour and then 45 minutes
near/at Yelapa, plus the 90 minutes on the beach.
We also did Rhythms
of the Night -- very worthwhile,, great food, neat show,
beautiful sail there and back. Would have loved to see Caletas
in the daytime, though.
Some great food we
had:
PiPi's in El Centro. The most amazing shrimp and fish fajitas
I have ever had. It's a loud and hopping, slightly touristy
place, but the food tasted very authentic and the atmosphere
was pretty neat.
And an ABSOLUTE MUST
-- Tony's in the town of Mismaloya. A little hard to find,
but so, so worth it. A local child or adult on the street
will point the way. The best seafood I have ever had. The
restaurant is half the guy's house. His sons are the waiters,
his wife and daughter cook, and the menu is a tray of fresh
catches and other items they're serving that day. The food
was amazing, truly. And the bananas flambe for dessert was
made right at our table. And yummy. Followed by their special
coffee, served flambe... a mixture of alcohols and espresso.
Out of this world delicious. Two big meals, two giant margaritas,
and the flambe bananas (coffee was on the house) was only
about 500 pesos.
Went to the flea market
one day and picked up a few neat items -- you can certainly
bargain and we did walk away a few times when we felt items
were still overpriced. We were a little annoyed by the Time
Share people. They were everywhere. But we are from NYC
and have practice ignoring shouting people all around...
and eventually we started saying, it's our last day -- or,
we have a timeshare already.
All in all, it was
an amazing trip. WE had a fabulous time, it is such a beautiful
place. The hotel was so pampering. The surroundings were
lush and beautiful and I loved that we were away from the
hustle and hum of downtown, but for 4 pesos and a 15-minute
bus ride, we were right in the middle of it all.
Thanks for reading!
Jennifer and Keith
Date: Nov 04, 2003 on 03:19 p.m.
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Trip report
from January 11 to 19
As promised our trip report from our maiden voyage to PV
January 11th to January 19th, 2002
Well, started off on a sour note leaving Edmonton, Air Transat
was almost 2 hours late departing, that's 2 hours less in
beautiful sunny PV. We decided at the airport to upgrade
to first class, it was well worth the extra $240.00, plus
free drinks all the way down. Arrived at PV at 6:00am Saturday
morning, what a shock stepping off the plane into the heat
and humidity. Going through customs was a breeze. The first
few people did the stop light and were all green lighted.
After that the tired looking customs agent waved people
through without pushing the lights, well the ones we seen
anyway.
Arrived at the Pelicanos by 7:00 and were registered in
minutes. We were unable to get our AI bracelets until noon,
so we had to pay our own breakfast and coffees, we declined
the 50 peso/charge opted for the free coffee only.
Day one was spent checking out the hotel and surrounding
area, acclimatizing to the weather and sipping Chichita
Bananas. Great drink, just don't drink them for four hours
and try to get out of the pool. My wife has the photos of
me trying as evidence.
Day two pretty much the same. Took the shake rattle and
roll (bus) downtown for Sunday night on the Malecon Great
spot for watching the sunset and the sights.
Day three, again lying on the beach sipping cool ones and
trying to swat off the vendors. Man they can be pesky, however;
we did get a nice carpet for hanging on the wall for 200
pesos, asking price was 750. Later that night we went on
the Rhythm of the Nights cruise. The cruise there and back
was great. We all had lots of laughs, the crew really hams
it up, especially one fellow named Lucas. They said he was
Michael Jordan's illegidement son. We found the Mexican
show not to interesting, although others seemed to enjoy
it. The dinner was excellent. We would not go on this again
as we thought the $65.00USD price/per was steep, this is
just our opinion some of you may like that sort of thing.
Day four was spent shopping, spent the afternoon at the
flea market; we found it a blast haggling with the merchants.
Got some great deals on tee shirts for the friends' back
home as well as another carpet and paper mache dolls, 4
for 80 pesos. My wife found a great little leather shop
next door to the Pelicanos in the little mall. Bought a
beautiful leather skirt and jacket for 1400 pesos. Seen
similar ones here in Canada for $1200.
Days four five six and seven were all spent at the hotel
and beach, after all we did come down for relaxation.
Our thoughts on the Pelicanos, the positives: very clean,
great, friendly staff, excellent buffet style food with
lots of variety, quiet not to many partiers, except the
small group of young folks from Quebec, nice pools to swim
in except we found the water to be cooler than in the ocean,
well kept grounds and pretty good variety shows at night.
Negatives: The bars closed at eleven, a cool beer late in
the evening would have been nice sitting by the pool, the
travel brochures advertised a disco but it has not been
in operation for over a year, no in room safes as advertised
but they were located in the lobby, no balconies, and misleading
photos in the travel brouchers. The white hotel they show
in the pictures is not of the hotel but of the time-share
condos. The actual hotel is through the grounds and across
the driveway/road, about a 2-minute walk to the beach. We
would stay there again and probably will be going down again
in November.
How did we rate our trip: probably 9.99 out of 10. Definitely
a great city to spend a vacation.
Mike and Gabriela
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Our wonderul
trip from January 2 til January 9, 2002
We arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Jan 2, 2002. I see beautiful
mountains all around. We get our hotel, we have a nice ocean
and mountain view.
We walk the beaches
around the hotel zone, we must have walked a few miles.
There are rocks dividing the beaches up from one hotel to
the next but the rocks do not go all the way back so you
can get by just fine.
We walked to downtown the following day by the way of the
beaches. The Malecon (boardwalk) was neat with all the different
sculptures. I really like The Seahorse, Los Arco, the outdoor
theater and the dolphin one. We went around to some shops
and did a little shopping. After that we just laid around
the beach, soaking up the sun.
The next day is our
tour. First we sail to Los Arcos, little rock islands in
the bay. They were pretty neat, some people snorkeled there
but the waves were pretty rough so it was not too good of
snorkeling that day. After that we sailed to Las Animas
to visit that beach. It was a pretty nice beach but we only
got to stay there about an hour. The one bad thing was,
getting from the boat to the beach and back to the boat
from the beach. We had to go in these little boats, which
hold about15 people, so the wait to and from Las Animas
was a little long. When everyone was loaded up, we took
off for Quimixto for our horse ride up to the waterfall.
What an experience that was!! I did not realize that the
paths would be so steep, dusty, and narrow plus these horses
had to walk up some step also, needless to say it was a
little scarey. Especially since the last time I rode a horse,
was about 30 years ago. Plus my horse had his own agenda,
he was thirsty, so when most of the other horses were going
across this stream to go up the mountain, my horse was going
downstream, getting a drink. Anyways, eventually we get
to the waterfall, it is very pretty. Luckily a guide, led
my horse all the way back down so it was not so bad. I really
think you should be a little more experienced than I was,
to ride a horse to this waterfall.
We just did the beach
scene the next day to rest up from our big tour. The next
day, on the advise of Alfredo, we went to Pitilla to shop,
suppose to be better prices there. We took a taxi ride out
there and then walked the streets, looking at all the shops.
Lots of toy shops, it seems like to me. Steve stopped to
take photos in this butcher shop, they were so friendly,
they had Steve put on a hat and they took a photo of him
in the shop. We did buy a few things, Steve got a good price
on the well made belt, and we got some other trinkets. After
that we went to the Marina and looked around there, it was
around 1:30 pm. I wanted to go up the Lighthouse but it
was closed, I guess it must only be open in the evenings.
We got back to our hotel and lounged around the hotel, then
we went back to downtown Puerto Vallarta.
We went by Casa Kimberley,
the bed and breakfast place(used to be Elizabeth Taylor's
home that Richard Burton bought for her) and checked out
the infamous pink bridge, connected their two houses, it
was kind of neat. We decided to check out Isla del Rio Cuale,
the island in the river. There were many tourist shops here,we
did a little bit of shopping but we had to hurry, we wanted
to catch the sunset.
On our last day, we
went to Destiladeras beach near Rancho Banderas up north
of Puerto Vallarta, about a 30 minute ride. This beach was
great, powdery soft sand, and the waves were not so rough.
In the hotel zone, the waves could get rough and drop rocks
on your feet and make them bleed a little bit,but not here.
It was great walking from one end to the other, looking
for seashells, and there were a lot of sea shells. There
were even some rocks with seashells embedded into them.
To sum it up, it was
a wonderful trip, we had a lot of fun. I would love to come
back someday.
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