“Travel while you’re young and able. Don’t worry about the money, just make it work. Experience is far more valuable than money will ever be.” – David Avocado Wolfe

Sometime last spring my friends and I decided to take a trip somewhere. We settled on Puerto Vallarta and began planning. I’ve been to a lot of places in Mexico and Puerto Vallarta is by far one of my favorites. There is so much culture in this city. We stayed at the Westin near the Marina district. Our hotel was right on the beach but we were right down the street from the Marina so we typically wandered over there for breakfast and to head out on the town at night.

We ate breakfast a few times at this little adorable diner called Mr. Cream Pancakes and Waffle House. It was so yummy and the wait staff was so friendly and welcoming. Not like in America, where you are inconveniencing them by dining there.

The pictures above were from our first morning there but we did visit a few different times. Another restaurant we went to a few times was Pepe’s Tacos in the Marina area but it appears to be closed at this point. It looks like there is one farther south. If you are staying near the other Pepe’s, I would recommend it! We also went to the El Faro lighthouse bar after a full day at the pool and from what I remember it was also pretty legit. The last notable food and beverage place we visited on the trip was the Beer Box. It was a more modern American type bar. They had a great selection of beers and of course and amazing wait staff. Check out some pictures below!

The majority of our time was spent at the pool and beach area. The beaches are very different than the other side of Mexico. The sand is a little more rough and water not quite as blue compared to the Cancun side of Mexico. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Puerto Vallarta and had an amazing time but the beaches are not the best beaches I’ve been to. Anyways, we had drinks, relaxed, met some cool people, and even got into some volleyball games.

The big adventure we did while visiting was taking a boat over to a private island, Las Caletas where we had an amazing dinner by the water and watched the sunset. After dinner there was a show at an amphitheater in the middle of the rain forest and it was actually pretty amazing. Between dinner and the show, there was a little time to relax and explore the island. The island had a ton of paths that wandered through the rain forest but the best part was the hundreds of hammocks near the shoreline. It was beautiful. The highlight of my trip may have been before we boarded the boat to head to the island we even made friends with a sea lion. The adventure was called Rhythm of the nights and it was a great time overall.

This trip actually took place almost a year ago so I am still in the process of catching up! I cherish these trips so much and I love looking back at pictures and reliving these trips. I hope you enjoyed if you made it through the post and next post coming soon! I promise!