Puerto Vallarta Travel Guide

The practical questions, answered straight — everything to sort before you go.

Independent guide · Last updated September 2026

View of the coast of Puerto Vallarta. Photo: TerryDOtt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Before the fun stuff, the logistics. These guides cover the questions every visitor asks — when to come, whether it's safe, how to get around, and what it all costs — so you arrive knowing how the place works.

Start with these four decisions

Most of planning Puerto Vallarta comes down to four choices, and the rest follows:

When to come. The year splits into a dry season (November–April) and a humid green season (June–October). That single choice drives weather, crowds and price — see best time to visit and the weather guide.
Where to base yourself. Old Town, the Hotel Zone and the Marina are three different holidays. This matters more than which hotel you pick: where to stay.
How long to stay. Three days covers the essentials, five is comfortable, seven lets you slow down — see how many days and our itineraries.
What to book in advance. Accommodation and one seasonal boat trip; almost everything else can wait until you arrive.

Getting there and getting in

Puerto Vallarta's airport (PVR) sits north of the city, near the Marina. Transfers to Old Town take roughly 20–30 minutes. Authorised taxis are bought at a booth inside the terminal; ride-hailing works but has known pickup restrictions at the airport. Ignore anyone offering a "free tour" or "welcome drink" in arrivals — those are timeshare pitches, not transport. Details in airport to Old Town and getting around.

Money, safety and the practical basics

Mexico uses the peso. Pay in pesos rather than dollars, decline the card machine's offer to charge in your home currency, and carry some cash for stands, tips and water taxis — see money and tipping. On safety, the headline to understand is that the US State Department rates the state of Jalisco at Level 3 while applying no travel restrictions to Puerto Vallarta itself; the full explanation is in is Puerto Vallarta safe?. Don't drink the tap water, watch the beach flags, and bring shoes you can walk cobbles in — see what to pack.

What a trip costs

Puerto Vallarta scales from genuinely cheap to expensive, and the lever is almost entirely where you sleep and how you eat. A budget traveller staying in a guesthouse and eating at stands spends a fraction of what a resort guest does. Realistic daily ranges at three levels are in our trip cost guide.

A note on seasonality

More than most destinations, Puerto Vallarta changes with the calendar. Whales are in the bay only from roughly December to March. Christmas, New Year and Easter see prices roughly double and the best places sell out months ahead. August and September are the hottest, wettest and cheapest. Almost every practical question on this site has a seasonal answer, which is why we date our pages.