Tranquila Beach, Puerto Vallarta Hotel Zone

The beaches in the Puerto Vallarta Hotel Zone are from north to south:

• Playa de Oro Beach
• Los Tules Beach
• Las Glorias Beach and
• Tranquila Beach

The resorts, condos, and hotels you’ll find along Tranquila Beach from north to south are:

• Costa Club Punta Arena
• Sheraton Buganvilias Resort & Convention Center
• Buganvilias Resort Vacation Club

By car it’s some 9 minutes, approximately 1.7 miles (2.8 km) from the main square in downtown Puerto Vallarta.

Tranquila Beach on the northern end features darker emerald-green waters and some darker golden sand, you can wade a bit into the sea, but because it is not the most popular beach, you won’t have a lifeguard, so do be careful. The beach is some 40 meters wide on the northern end and tapers down to some 25 meters on the southern end. You’ll only find sand north of the beach in front of the Sheraton property. The rest is very rocky (check out the video).

Tranquila (Calm) Beach, Hotel Zone, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I would recommend going in through the northern side access via Febronio Uribe street. You’ll walk between the “ghost” building and Flamingos Beach Club (Bar). There are a few bars with basic food and beer, maybe a fruit stand if you are adventurous.

Costa Club Beach Club, Tranquila Beach, Hotel Zone, Puerto Vallarta

This beach is mostly for sunbathing, a shallow dive into the sea, and maybe a stroll around, mainly northward into Las Glorias Beach. Considering the many nice beach options all around the bay, I find it hard to justify going here.

Tranquila Beach is located some 25 minutes on foot, 1.4 miles (2.0 km) from the main square in downtown Puerto Vallarta. It’s between the Costa Club Punta Arena and Villa Premiere. It’s between Las Glorias Beach to the north and Camarones Beach to the south.

This beach tends to be a bit hidden away from the normal Puerto Vallarta visitor and few venture to it, mainly because it is not obviously accessible from the main boulevard, and the fact that the beach itself is not really nice, doesn’t help.

There are two available public beach access points, one on the north side and another on the southern end. The northern access path goes along Fabricio Uribe street, you’ll be walking toward the abandoned building and then taking a right to the sea. The southern access is a dead-end alleyway called Atlatenco and follows the southern edge of Buganvilias Resort Vacation Club.

Because this beach is not the best one, both access points are not either very chic or nice, the fact that this road leads to an abandoned building too, makes it even less attractive, but there are some service providers here, so, despite the looks, you’ll be able to rent water-skis or similar services. You’ll walk 160 meters south before you arrive at Tranquila Beach and the best section of the beach that’s located north of the beach in front of the Sheraton.

There’s really not much point accessing the beach from here, you’ll arrive at a rock-covered beach, with at least 400 meters in each direction for any semblance of sand. Maybe a good starting point for drone or photo sessions…

There are three hotels & resorts in this area of the hotel zone that share Tranquila Beach, including, from north to south:

• Costa Club Punta Arena
• Sheraton Buganvilias Resort & Convention Center
• Buganvilias Resort Vacation Club

Sheraton Buganvilias Puerto Vallarta in the early 1980s

In the 1960s the area where the ex-Holiday Inn, ex-Plaza Las Glorias (now Plaza Pelicanos), Los Tules, Fiesta Americana, Las Palmas, and Sheraton on Tranquila beach was all a series of creeks covered up in lilies and tule reeds (Schoenoplectus acutus – AKA bulrush) and was also used for crocodile farms.

Sheraton was the first big hotel built on this beach in 1978.

Of all the beaches in the hotel zone, Tranquila Beach would be the one I would recommend you just skip. If you are staying at the Sheraton of Buganvilias Resort, you’ll maybe take a peek, a small stroll there and back, but I doubt you’ll enjoy and use it. If you are staying at Costa Club, there’s a bit more of a beach at their location and it’ll be alright. For anyone not staying in this part of town, skip this beach, there’s no point visiting it when you have so many better options north and south of it.