By reputation the second of Mexico's beach resorts, PUERTO
VALLARTA is smaller, quieter and younger than Acapulco. In its
own way, it is actually every bit as commercial - perhaps more so,
since here tourism is virtually the only source of income - but
appearances count for much, and Puerto Vallarta, while doing all it
can to catch up with Acapulco, appears far less developed and
retains a more Mexican feel.
It lies in the middle of the 22-kilometre wide Bahía de
Banderas , the seventh largest bay in the world, fringed by
endless sandy beaches and backed by the jungly slopes of the Sierra
Madre. Its hotels are scattered along several miles of coast with
the greatest concentration in Nuevo Vallarta , north of the
town and sliced through by an eight-lane strip of asphalt. Just
south of Nuevo Vallarta is the new marina , where you can
stroll along the boardwalk and have a look at how the other half
live, on beautiful boats. Despite the frantic development of the
last decade, the historic town centre, with its cobbled streets and
white-walled, terracotta-roofed houses, sustains the tropical
village atmosphere.
The town's relative youth is undoubtedly a contributing factor.
Until 1954 Puerto Vallarta was a small fishing village where the
Río Cuale spills out into the Bahía de Banderas; then Mexicana
airlines, their hand forced by Aeroméxico's monopoly on flights
into Acapulco, started promoting the town as a resort. Their
efforts received a shot in the arm in 1964, when John Huston chose
Mismaloya, 10km south, as the setting for his film of Tennessee
Williams' play The Night of the Iguana , starring Richard
Burton. The scandalmongering that surrounded Burton's romance with
Elizabeth Taylor - who was not part of the cast but came along - is
often attributed to putting Puerto Vallarta firmly in the
international spotlight: "a mixed blessing" according to Huston,
who stayed on here until his death in 1987, and whose bronze image
stands on the Isla Río Cuale in town.
The package tourists stay, on the whole, in the beachfront
hotels around the bay, but are increasingly penetrating the town
centre to shop in the pricey boutiques and malls that line the
streets leading back from the beach, and to eat in some of the very
good restaurants both on the malecón and downtown. Nevertheless,
what could be a depressingly expensive place to visit turns out to
be liberally peppered with good-value hotels and budget
restaurants, especially during the low season (Aug-Nov).
Puerto Vallarta today is one of the gay centres of
Mexico, with a great deal more tolerance for - and entertainment
geared towards - the gay scene than almost any other Mexican
town.