Puerto Vallarta Rentals Blog

Welcome to part 3 of our 5-day trip in beautiful Puerto Vallarta. This is our first time visiting Mexico. We tried to capture our journey and share prices, reviews, and experiences of visiting Mexico from Canada. Stay tuned for the next videos and check out previous parts here – https://youtu.be/ilfXtpt1Eh8

Day 3 was all about exploring the romantic zone and the surrounding local neighbourhoods. We decided to check out a few different places for breakfast – so we started off with a smoothie bowl from Ono Smoothie Bowl and Cafe, had some really great fish tacos and squid tostada at Marisma Fish Taco and ended with great refreshing drinks (Tejuino and Horchata) from a street food cart.

Our next plan was to check out the Mexican grocery stores in Puerto Vallarta so we ventured off to some local stores near Farmer’s Market Emiliano Zapata. The stores are filled with fresh local produce, lots of spices and dried chillis. We saw both locals and expats doing their grocery runs in the stores.

As we walked through the streets towards the beach, we decided the check the narrow shaded island that sits between the Centro and Romantic Zone – Cuale Island. This little quaint island is home to many cats and of course, the Cuale Island Flea Market is very popular among tourists. You can score some beautiful Mexican art pieces and handicrafts from this local market. If you are tired of the heat, this island will definitely cool you down while you chill under the trees with a drink in your hand.

Before heading down to the hotel, we checked the Municipal Market Rio Cuale – which is just beside the island. This is a big market filled with local arts, handicrafts and jewelry from Puerto Vallarta. If you want to grab a bite, there is a food court upstairs in the market.

We finished off the day by having dinner at Cafe De Olla. In our last video, we had dinner at Pancho’s Takos and were planning that today we would come to Cafe De Olla. It was a good decision as the restaurant is very cozy, has a nice ambiance and very cordial service. We ordered Garlic Mushrooms, Quesadillas and Grilled Octopus. They will serve you with complimentary nachos and garlic bread. The portions were generous and the taste was really good. You will often find singers roaming around your table and they will ask whether you want to listen to a song. At your approval, they will play one for you but remember, they are not paid by the restaurant. So you gotta tip them as you like after the song.

We had a really exciting day planned ahead for us as we went for a day trip to Mahajuitas and Yelapa island – so we went back to the hotel rather early that night without much exploring the nightlife in Puerto Vallarta. Mahajuitas and Yelapa are among some of the best beaches in Puerto Vallarta and we also planned to do whale watching and snorkelling – check out the next episode if you want to see it all.

We tried to document all costs in a spreadsheet, so if anyone is planning to make a visit to Puerto Vallarta – we could share how much it costs for food, accommodation, and travel.

Generally, most people search for all-inclusive resorts in Puerto Vallarta but we wanted to stay in a hotel as we felt we would be roaming around the city more and eating street foods than staying all day in the resort. We were also looking at the best beaches in Puerto Vallarta and they were quite dispersed so it made sense for us to stay in a happening area with good public transport and walking friendly zone – we chose Centro, which is also super close to Zona Romantica or the romantic zone. The ocean was right across the hotel we chose so it was a big plus.

We felt really safe in Puerto Vallarta as we wandered around the streets at night and the locals were super friendly and helpful. It is definitely a great vacation place as you have pretty much everything for all demographics – families, couples, and solo travellers.

Living in Puerto Vallarta seems like a great option as we met a lot of seniors, and expats who have moved to Puerto Vallarta from the US and Canada. Well, beautiful weather, friendly locals, fresh food, amazing nature – kind of making us contemplate a move to Puerto Vallarta.

We will upload 2 more videos to capture our activities each day in Puerto Vallarta. Please let us know if you have any queries regarding travel to Puerto Vallarta, we will be happy to help!

Chapters:
Intro 00:00
Trying Out Mexican Food 00:56
Local Grocery Stores 02:50
Cuale Island Flea Market and Lots of Cats 04:52
Local Arts and Jewelry 07:08
Dinner 08:05
Outro 09:16

#puertovallarta #mexico #mexicanfood #mexicotravel #couplevlog #groceryhaul #mexicanart #tacos