Puerto Vallarta - Location and Overview
Puerto Vallarta is located at the head of the Bay of Bandaras, about halfway down the west coast of Mexico.
Puerto Vallarta itself is a city of about 250,000 that sits at the head of the Bay of Bandaras. The Bay is pretty heavily developed along its North shore, particularly as far as Bucerias. The south shore, lacking road access to most of its length, is less developed.
This is a large area. For example, we set out to walk from our condo located about "South Side", above, to the Marina area. It was too far and we eventually hopped on a bus.
Puerto Vallarta ("PV") was a decent sized town before tourism took off. It has a history which means it is much more than clumps of condos, although there are lots of those. We found it pretty laid back. It doesn't seem to be as "hot" a destination as Cabo San Lucas or some of the resorts on the Yucatan. It has a nice mix of old and new.
