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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
Bahia 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 R?o Cuale spills out into the Bah?a de Banderas; then
Mexicana airlines, their hand forced by Aerom?xico'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 R?o 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 malec?n 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.
