Summary

Los Muertos Beach (Playa Los Muertos) is one of the main attractions in town along with the Malecon/boardwalk, the Guadalupe Parish, the downtown area, and Old Vallarta.

Introduction

Los Muertos Beach & Pier Collage, Puerto Vallarta

Los Muertos Beach (Playa Los Muertos) pier collage

Playa Los Muertos (Los Muertos Beach, Deadman’s Beach, or Beach of the Dead, the reason for this sinister name a little bit further down this page) is the most popular, the best known, and the most visited beach in Puerto Vallarta.

This beach is very popular among families, the locals, and visitors from neighboring cities and states.

Visitors that enjoy the local culture also hang out here as do the ex-pats, it’s a lively place, full of traditions, and a great place to drink a beer by the edge of the sea, with your feet in the sand, and just watch the, now famous, sunsets.

Los Muertos is 2050 ft long (630 m) and is one of the cleanest beaches in the State of Jalisco, together with Las Gemelas and Camarones and extends from Olas Altas Beach (Francisca Rodríguez street) on the north to El Púlpito (The Pulpit) on the southern end.

Los Muertos Beach, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta

Why visit Los Muertos Beach?

  • Location in Puerto Vallarta: Los Muertos Beach (Playa los Muertos) is located in the Romantic Zone/Old Town
  • The beach stretches for 2050 ft long (630 m) between the pier and El Púlpito (The Pulpit)
  • Los Muertos Beach is one of the most popular beaches in all of Puerto Vallarta and is both a tourist and local favorite.
  • The beach is known for being gay-friendly and is one of the most popular beaches for the LGBT+ community.
  • The favorite activities on the beach are sunbathing, swimming, making sand castles and jet skiing.
  • There are a number of bars and restaurants on the beach (Langostinos, Palapa, El Dorado, etc.) where you can enjoy your food and drinks with your toes in the sand.
  • Visit the Los Muertos Beach Pier, a popular stroll, some use it for fishing and it’s the starting point for water taxis and various tours.
  • Los Muertos is also known for its active nightlife. After sunset come visit one of the many bars and clubs that stay open late.
  • Get some impressive sunset view photos and views from this beach or on the pier.
  • Much of Los Muertos beach is easy to get to, a short walk from the downtown PV and also with wheelchair access.

How to get to Playa Los Muertos

You’ll find it south of downtown Puerto Vallarta, the Malecon, and the Cuale River.

The first part of the beach in the Romantic Zone (Old Vallarta) between the Cuale river mouth and the Los Muertos Beach Pier is called Olas Altas beach and south of the pier it’s called Los Muertos beach.

One easy way to get there is by walking south along the Malecon, over the river (use the pedestrian bridge ;-)) and then walking until you get to the pier.

Malecon to Los Muertos route

Malecon to Los Muertos route

BLUE

  1. Pass by the Malecón Arches, The Friendship Fountain (The Dancing Dolphins) and the Naval Museum, continue along the edge of the Malecon II.
  2. Then walk over the Cuale River along the pedestrian bridge.
  3. On the other side, you are now in the Romantic Zone, the beach to your right is Olas Altas.
  4. Continue south along the sidewalk, until you arrive at Lázaro Cárdenas Park, at this point you are not able to see the sea
  5. Continue south to the corner of the park and Venustiano Carranza street (the corner of Daiquiri Dick’s)
  6. Turn right, walk down to the edge (The Blue Shrimp to your right) and continue to the pier, you are now on Playa Los Muertos.

BLUE + GREEN

  1. Another option is once you go over the pedestrian bridge and are at Olas Altas beach
  2. Then walk off the sidewalk to the beach and follow the water’s edge southward going toward the pier you can now see in the distance.
Los Muertos Beach looking north

Los Muertos Beach looking north

What to do at Los Muertos

Los Muertos beach is mainly the top attraction in Old Vallarta, the beach is crowded compared to the rest of the beaches in Pto. Vallarta and even the Bay area, but that also means that if you enjoy people watching, you’ll have fun here. There are vendors, activities, food, beers, parasailing, you can swim in the ocean (the waves normally aren’t big), build castles in the sand with your kids. Here are some options and details.

The Los Muertos Pier/Lookout (Muelle)

Los Muertos Beach, Old Vallarta

Los Muertos Beach and Pier, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta

The spectacular pier was finished and inaugurated in 2013, so now the place is a fun mix of old and new, traditional and modern. Enjoy a stroll along the pier, the fresh wind is great, the views are wonderful, you’ll get lots of great photos too. The pier is also the starting point for many tours and water taxis that can take you to the beaches on the south side of the bay.

Read the complete Los Muertos Pier article (videos, photos, and much more)

Las Pilitas & the Original Seahorse statue

The Boy on the Seahorse (the original one) by Rafael Zamarripa (1960) Las Pilitas

The Boy on the Seahorse (the original one) by Rafael Zamarripa (1960) Las Pilitas

Walk down the beach to the south (when you are looking into the bay, to your left) and visit the original Seahorse statue at Las Pilitas.

More on the original Seahorse statue

El Púlpito (The Pulpit)

El Púlpito, Playa Los Muertos, Puerto Vallarta

El Púlpito at the end of Los Muertos beach

When you are at Las Pilitas, continue down the beach to the little hill that is at the end, it’s called El Púlpito, there is a path up the hill and you can visit the top, where there is a boulder overlooking the bay. Only for sure-footed adults.

Full El Púlpito article

Restaurants & Bars

El Dorado Restaurant, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta

El Dorado Restaurant, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta

Then you can also enjoy the restaurants, bars, and cafés, at night there are quite a few very good ones right there on the beach.

You can enjoy a gourmet dinner right here, a romantic one too with the famous Vallarta sunsets and now with the colorful and impressive pier as a backdrop… picture perfect!

Try the Pescado and Camarones Embarazados

Camarones embarazados

Camarones embarazados

A great tasting local dish here in Puerto Vallarta is the strangely named “pescado embarazado” and “camarones embarazados” (pregnant ship or shrimp) is a playful corruption of en-vara-asado (grilled on a stick). So no pregnant seafood here, just tasty fish and shrimp wonderfully grilled on skewers over firewood and charcoal on flexible and thin wood skewers.

One of the original recipes includes just a sprinkling of flavoured salt, but this is Mexico and many also like to flavour them with either sweet or spicy seasoning.

Read our article on the local food & dishes

Why “Los Muertos”, why the ugly name?

Perhaps as a local citizen, you’ll have had time to become immune to the quite horrible name “Playa Los Muertos”, but as a visitor, it is obviously not an attractive nor a welcoming beach name. Who wants to go and spend a supposedly relaxing and happy time on the Beach of the Dead… those two don’t really mix well…! :-)

This puzzling name was actually acquired long before the founding of Las Peñas in 1851 (the original name of Puerto Vallarta) – a name that, by the way, the authorities have tried unsuccessfully to change a few times – first it was “Playa Las Delicias” and later “Playa del Sol”, but they didn’t stick and it always reverted to the original designation. There seem to be three different explanations for the sinister name (Deadman’s Beach or Beach of the Dead).

Here they are:

Version one

This beach was located near a ranch called “Las Peñas” (the original name of the town) where gold and silver from the Cuale mines in the Sierra would be embarked, one day the local Indians ambushed the crew of transport ship killing them all and leaving the beach covered with dead men, thus, Playa Los Muertos.

Panoramic view of Los Muertos with the old pier, before the year 2000

Panoramic view of Los Muertos with the old pier, before the year 2000

Version two

Now with a little bit of Hollywood influence, the legend now even includes pirates. Instead of Indians, now it was the pirates that were responsible for the slaughter, they ambushed the muleteers that brought the minerals up from the Sierra, thus, Playa Los Muertos…

Daiquiri Dick's Restaurant and Bar, Los Muertos Beach

Daiquiri Dick’s Restaurant and Bar, Los Muertos Beach

Version three

The last version of the reason for the name and the one that seems to be the correct one is that the beach was a sacred cemetery of the local Indians. This was first noticed when residents started building by the beach and started digging up bones in ceramic pots, a local Indian tribal custom when they buried their dead. The most recent evidence provided by Archaeologist Dr. Joseph Bode Mountjoy Harris of the University of North Carolina supports this last theory.

Los Muertos is certainly not a beach for those looking to relax and get away from it all, but if you want action, sun, sand, food, and lots to do, this is it, the heart of it all.

Los Muertos Beach Pier, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta

Los Muertos Beach Pier, Romantic Zone, Puerto Vallarta (drone view)

Los Muertos Beach, a little bit of history

By Prof. Carlos Munguia Fregoso (1938-2005)
Official historian of Puerto Vallarta

“On the hills east of Playa Los Muertos lived the fishermen who, every morning before sunrise, would come down with sails and oars over their shoulders to go fishing. One of them, “El Gaviota”, had a “chirito” – a dug-out canoe – that, for a few pesos, he would rent to the young boys learning to be sailors.

At the foot of the hills, there were several “palapas” – palm-frond huts – such as Cloro’s or Murillo’s where coconuts, soft drinks, and the occasional glass of “raicilla” were sold. Farther to the south the leafy manzanilla trees provided shade for most visitors, but some unfortunate swimmers developed a severe rash from being near the tree.

Los Muertos Beach 1965Los Muertos Beach 2019

Los Muertos Beach is the most popular beach in Puerto Vallarta. Up until the 1960s, it was the favorite place for Vallarta families and their Sunday picnics. They would gather in the shade of a palm-frond lean-to and eat the tacos they had brought from home in straw baskets, or the tacos that they bought on the beach, adorned with a little bit of shredded cabbage and seasoned liberally with “Tomatlán” sauce.

Los Muertos Beach & Las Pilitas 1950s

Los Muertos Beach, sometime in the 1950s. Photo kindly sent by Charles Chapman.

While the adults, sitting in beach chairs, or reclining on woven palm mats, chatted, the children, under the ever-vigilant eyes of their parents, would play in the bay’s crystalline waters.

During those years, the only water that ran into the bay was the water from the palapa belonging to Cloro because he had showers there. The water came by gravity-flow from Las Canoas (up along the Cuale River) and was only used to rinse salt and sand off the bathers. Instead of the unpleasant smell of gasoline and sun-tan lotion, the beach was fragrant with the smells of salt-air breeze.

Sunset Old Town (Romantic Zone), Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta Romantic Zone, Pirate Ship and Sunset

At the end of the 1950s, when more tourists began arriving in Puerto Vallarta, the local authorities tried to change the name of the beach. They suggested names like “Las Delicias” (The Delights) and “Playa del Sol” (Sun Beach), but tradition won out and to this day it’s still Los Muertos Beach. Many people are curious with regard to the name of the beach and how it came about, a name that, oddly enough, native Vallartans associate with happy childhood memories, not with funerary events.”

When reminded of his life and work as a Vallarta historian, Mr. Munguía rekindled:

“Memories are leaves carried by the Autumn winds, deep scars created in time by past experiences, the sun’s reflections and ghosts of days gone by. They are music that delight you in those slow hours far from what we love. They are the happiness of a man that remembers the years he lived in Vallarta”.

Full walk along Los Muertos Beach in Old Vallarta

Los Muertos Beach location map

Last Updated on 25/01/2023 by Puerto Vallarta Net