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Avalos Sayulita Real Estate

Costa Vallarta Realty, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Remax Bahia, Bucerias

Remax Sites, Marina Vallarta

Vallarta Property Services email: vallartaproperties@prodigy.net.mx

Puerto Vallarta and Area

The story is as famous as the people who created it and they, through their actions, unwittingly created a new vacation destination that has become just as famous. The place is Puerto Vallarta. In 1963 this small sleepy Mexican village was chosen as the location for the filming of John Huston's Night of the Iguana . It wasn't the film or it's co-stars that grabbed the world's attention but the star's married girlfriend who came along for the ride. The fact that she was the world's leading, and most beautiful movie star and he was the most famous and most handsome classical actor of his day meant the world's press swooped down on Puerto Vallarta.

Fame, notoriety, glamour, money and sex all came together as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor romanced on the shores of the Pacific. The world was fascinated and the legend began. To this day Puerto Vallarta enjoys a special romantic reputation among Mexico's many spectacular resorts.

That small fishing village is no more. Some fishermen still cling to the old ways and the cluster of red tile roofs still canopy their old houses as they climb the increasingly steep incline of the coastal hills, but North Americans were quick to realize their potential and are now the principal occupants of these beautifully renovated houses

Today North Americans have spread up and down the coastal highway that traverses Puerto Vallarta. Condominiums, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, marinas and luxurious private residences surround the old fishing village - a physical testament to the resorts 35 years of sustained popularity. Purists will claim Puerto Vallarta was already on it's way to fame and fortune before the "grand event". But progress was slow and it's prime attraction to North Americans was as an artistic retreat and an away-from-it-all destination - a destination far removed in character and time from the Pacific coast's then major tourist centres of Acapulco and Mazatlan.

Situated near the geographical centre of the vast expanse of Banderas Bay's nearly 50 miles of coastline, the village of Puerto Vallarta was built into the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur that sweep down to the shoreline. Their tropical forestation is only prevented from reaching the ocean by the expanding resort that literally clings to the sides of the hills as it inexorably winds its way south of the town centre. But it is north of the old town that much of the early resort development took place as it is here that the mountains veer inland and the coastal plain opens up.

Ten years ago it would have been simple to describe Puerto Vallarta's tourist area as anywhere south of the international airport which, in turn, is situated just south of the Mascota River. The river is both a natural boundary and a political one - it is where Puerto Vallarta's state (Jalisco) ends and where the State of Nayarit begins. Today however the the term Puerto Vallarta is often (mis)used to include the sweep of Banderas Bay north of the river all the way to Punta Mita - the northern most point of the bay and the site of the recently opened, fabulous (and fabulously expensive) Four Seasons Resort. Slightly further north are the small coastal villages of San Francisco and Sayulita. It is here that I have chosen to start my journey and travel south.

San Francisco is the "new" in place for gringos who cannot afford the higher prices of the "hip" Sayulita just down the road. It is Sayulita, however, that North Americans have come to love and settle. Situated on a great bay and surfing beach and backed by coastal hills, Sayulita gives the impression of entering another world. Perhaps this is its attraction - or that limited land means it can never grow too big. A paved road linking Sayulita to Punta Mita is (almost) finished.

Punta Mita is just the latest resort to recognize that the beauty of Banderas Bay with its tropical climate (moderated by the cooling Pacific) and the magic of nearby Puerto Vallarta, combine to make this area an ideal site for a resort complex. Taking advantage of this new focal point, private homes are already being built around the headland and scattered developments are planned along the winding road that leads to the small fishing town of Cruz de Huancaxtle 10 mile south. Here, new developments abound and real estate offices like Canadian owned La Cruz Realty are kept busy year round..

A mile south of Huancaxtle the two-lane road joins the four-lane highway that will take you right into Puerto Vallarta passing through the old, but quickly expanding, vacation and residential centre of Bucerias towards the State of Narayit's response to the success of Puerto Vallarta - Nuevo Vallarta. This planned development just north of the State Line is virtually a continuum of the older resort. To access it you exit the highway and drive through a series of magnificent wide tree-lined streets servicing a growing number of residential, time-share and rental properties until you reach the shoreline where six major resorts are already in full operation. Most of these are all-inclusive hotels but the most southerly development, the magnificent and expanding Mayan Island complex combines a hotel with residential apartments and luxury villas all on a mile of beach and incorporating nearly two miles of canal, a marina and an 18 hole championship golf course.

South of the airport one enters Puerto Vallarta proper. After passing a large shopping mall, take the first right - Paseo de la Marina - and you will pass the 18 hole Club de Golf on your right and a well-planned hotel, private home and condominium development ahead. All this is anchored by a spectacular marina on the south side. The area, imaginatively called Marina Vallarta, is one of the towns showpieces. Bordered on the east by a series of 4 and 5 Star beach front hotels, the marina is a complete tourist attraction in itself. With moorings for over four hundred boats the architects created a people friendly environment by constructing, on two sides of the marina, a virtually unbroken wall of shops, bars and restaurants surmounted by three stories of residential apartments whose flower-filled balconies add colour and warmth to the scene. The 25 foot wide landscaped promenade that separates the marina from the commercial establishments is the focal point for tourists and residents alike. Here, with views of the sierras above the forest of masts in the marina you can buy everything from handcrafts to fine art to luxury villas.

Follow the 4 - 8 lane tree-lined boulevard south past the string of beach front hotels, condominiums and time-share apartments that represent the first phase of Puerto Vallarta's tourist expansion. The appropriately named Mexico Avenue leads you to the old town via a one-way traffic system that gradually narrows as you near the centre. It is now that you experience the reason for Puerto Vallarta's enduring charm. Old stuccoed buildings climb the steep narrow cobblestone streets interspersed with shady plazas and all eventually leading to the malecon that borders the beach. This is a vibrant commercial and residential district but still retains a sense of the real Mexico.

Strictly speaking the old town stops at the Cuale River, but since this was bridged in the 1960's the old town naturally spread south of the river. It is here that the coastal hills literally meet the sea. But the river's flood plain stretches sufficiently to create a small expanse of level land that is popularly known as Alos Altos where you will find the always busy Los Muertos Beach fronting a myriad of trendy cafes, bars, fine restaurants and an unusually large number of realtors. The realtors attest to the type of development found south of the river. While a number of major resorts hug the rugged shoreline as far south as Mismaloya, most of the buildings are private residences ranging from luxury villas to condominium apartment complexes and including independently run small hotels and bed & breakfasts. Many seem to grow out of the steep hillside while others cling to or perch on rocky outcrops virtually defying gravity. It all makes a visually exciting panorama further enhanced by the verdant landscape and the ever present waters of the Pacific.