Visiting Puerto Vallarta - Part 32

Hotel Zone

The Hotel Zone is the area of Puerto Vallarta where there are a lot of nice hotels, resorts and modern high rise condo buildings. It is located along the main highway through town, Francisco Medina Ascencio, which runs parallel to the beach. The Hotel Zone extends southward from the Maritime Terminal, across from the Galerias Vallarta Mall and the Walmart, Sam’s Club complex, all the way down to the large Puerto Vallarta sports stadium, Agustin Flores Contreras which is across from the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort and Convention Centre.

In the Hotel Zone you will always find plenty of taxies, and it’s easy to hop on a public bus heading south to other areas of Puerto Vallarta such as the world famous Malecon in the downtown area or Centro as it’s known locally, as well as Los Muertos Beach and the new pier which are located south of the Rio Cuale in the Romantic Zone which is sometimes called “Old Town” or “The South Side”. If you want to travel by bus to areas north of the Hotel Zone such as Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias, La Cruz, Punta Mita and Sayulita, it’s very easy. You get to any of these outlying destinations by catching a bus from the bus stop in front of the Walmart, Sam’s Club complex across from the Maritime Terminal where the cruise ships dock.

In the Hotel Zone, from north to south, there are five distinct beaches: Playa de Oro, Playa los Tules, Playa las Glorias, Playa Tranquila, Playa Camarones. These golden beaches of the Hotel Zone are naturally lined with hotels and resorts such as Villa del Palmar, the Hilton Hotel, the Holiday Inn, the Sheraton Buganvilias, the Krystal Vallarta, the Crown Paradise, and many, many more. There is also a wide variety of high rise condos in this area which can be rented from private owners. You should note that within the Hotel Zone there are a wide variety of accommodation choices so there will be something to suit every budget.

The various amenities available in the Hotel Zone are extensive. At the northern end of the Hotel Zone is Puerto Vallarta’s modern, two-story Galerias Vallarta Shopping Mall which is anchored by the Liverpool department store which is very similar style to Macy’s in the U. S. This large mall has a wide elevator and a parking garage with plenty of handicapped parking spaces which make this a very wheelchair friendly facility.

Continued in part 33