Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is a wonderful destination for a family looking for a warm destination to travel to during the winter months. The friendly people, amazing weather, beautiful resorts and good food make it a great place to visit for all ages.
Resorts:
Resorts can be found in 4 different locations-downtown Puerto Vallarta, the Puerto Vallarta Marina area, Nuevo Vallarta, and Punta Mita. You’ll find both all-inclusive resort options and resorts that aren’t all-inclusive. There are some terrific restaurants throughout the Puerto Vallarta area so going all-inclusive isn’t a must.
On our most recent visit we stayed at the Marriott CasaMagna. The Marriott CasaMagna is a 5 minute taxi ride to/from the airport and is located in the Puerto Vallarta Marina. It’s walking distance to a Starbucks (very important for our vacations) and the shops and restaurants in the marina and a 20 minute taxi ride to downtown Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. They have a Kid’s Club and a brand new splash area for the little ones. Their pool is one of the best resort pools I’ve been to and also has a swim up bar. I highly recommend a visit to the Marriott CasaMagna on your next visit to Puerto Vallarta!
Activities: The weather in Puerto Vallarta is so gorgeous, you’ll want to sit at the pool all day! If your family wants a little more action on vacation, no problem-there are plenty of things to do! There are two different locations offering dolphin encounters. Our family swam with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery . Not only did we get 50 minutes in the water with their sweet dolphins, we also got the entire water park, Aquaventuras included in the price of our dolphin experience. There are also sea lion encounters available through multiple tour operators. The most popular tour for families is Las Caletas Beach Hideway. This all-day tour includes a roundtrip boat ride to the private beach escape as well as activities such as snorkeling, kayaking, paddleboarding, and a parrot and monkey encounter. There is even a kid’s adventure park with zip lines for your little ones and lots of fun for the whole family. There are lots of other tours for the adventure seekers like canapy tours, scuba diving, fly boarding and surfing. Whatever tour you do decide to do, I recommend booking your excursions with your travel agent before travel or with your hotel concierge. You’ll find lots of vendors in the airport, in town or on the beach offering tours but often they are working with a time share company or aren’t reputable.
Weather: I’ve already mentioned the fabulous weather, but you should know that there is a rainy season from June-September. You’ll find beautiful, sunny weather with high’s in the mid 80’s from December-May. I barely saw a cloud on my most recent 10 day stay! Dare I say it was the best weather I’ve seen in an any destination in December?
Food: There are so many great restaurants in Puerto Vallarta! You’ll find every cuisine you can think of and lots of great seafood! Many restaurants have fresh caught red snapper on the menu served whole, which I highly recommend trying! There are a few restaurants offering panoramic views of the the city and the bay which is spectacular at sunset. In the romantic zone or old town area you’ll find restaurants on the beach such as Daquiri Dicks, Blue Shrimp and La Palapa. Reserve a table around sunset for a really remarkable dining experience! At the time this blog was published the value of the peso (Mexico’s currency) was about 20 to every US dollar. You’ll find that food is very reasonably priced and very good!
If you are looking for an amazing family vacation or even an adult getaway, consider Puerto Vallarta!
My name is Dana Rasof and I’m a vacation planner with Travel with the Magic. I specialize in family vacations including cruises, Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, and Disney Destinations. Email me today with help planning your vacation Dana@travelwiththemagic.com
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