Things to do in Central Pacific Coast
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Eco Ride
Surrounded by the mountains, jungle and sea, Vallarta offers some truly thrilling mountain biking. This outfit offers guided one-day cycling tours suited for beginners and badasses alike. The most challenging is a 50km expedition from El Tuito (a small town at 1100m) through Chacala and down to the beach in Yelapa. The views are stunning.
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Joe Jack’s Fish Shack
Seafood aficionados flock to this joint for fish and chips, garlic shrimp, whole red snapper and great slabs of mahi mahi. Large groups are graciously accommodated on the pleasant rooftop terrace. The service is jovial and quick, and the music classic rock.
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Davannayoga
Yoga Alliance–certified Davannayoga offers a wide-ranging schedule of yoga classes, including the popular Sunset Yoga, held daily on a rooftop high above Vallarta.
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La Tramoya
Hearty Mexican meat dishes are set out on spacious sidewalk tables. Ravenous? Try the carne azteca – a steak stuffed with huitlacoche (corn fungus) and served on a bed of nopal es (prickly pear cactus).
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Buseo Nautilus Divers
Snorkeling is good at Playa Las Gatas and even better at Playa Manzanillo, especially in the dry season, when visibility is best. Buseo Nautilus Divers offers a variety of dives and NAUI courses and certification.
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Café de Olla
This well-loved traditional Mexican restaurant nurtures a lively atmosphere with its sidewalk grill and open kitchen.
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Wala Wala
This cheerfully decorated restaurant serves inexpensive, tasty home-style meals. It’s mostly basic Mexican and pasta with a few specialties such as lobster (M$225) and pollo con naranja (chicken with orange, M$80). There’s live music three nights a week.
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Café des Artistes
Many consider this to be Vallarta’s finest restaurant. Whether or not you’re prone to superlatives, you’re sure to enjoy its romantic ambience and exquisite French cuisine. The service is formal but unobtrusive, and reservations are recommended.
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Casa de Pancho
It couldn't be more simple: a few plastic tables set up in a mostly-bare room. But the economical pozole, enchiladas and other basic dishes are simply splendid. Carlos, the genial waiter/cook/owner, loves to spread the gospel of salsa.
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La Espiga Dorada
Doña Betty Pompa has operated this bakery for nearly 50 years from her home in a grand old building built in 1837. Try the fluffy sweet bread called concheta or a perfect meringue cookie. There's no sign; just follow your nose.
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Casa Elvira
This old hand turns out some tasty food like oysters Rockefeller, jumbo steamed shrimp and broiled octopus with garlic. Vegetarians will appreciate the soup, salad and spaghetti choices. Order the coconut custard for dessert.
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Banderas Scuba Republic
Banderas Scuba Republic maintains a high degree of professionalism with its small-group excursions to both well-known and lesser-known sites. Private diving tours (from M$5200) are also offered.
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Miso Sushi
Mazatlán has several sushi restaurants, but none as cosmopolitan as this trendy favorite, recommended for its hipster decor, good music and super-fresh, well-presented fare.
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Vittore Italian Grill
This elegant spot with romantic patio seating features delicious calorie-rich pasta dishes and memorable seafood and beef dishes. The service is rather formal.
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Fredy’s Tucan
This gringo breakfast paradise serves waffles, omelets and almost anything else you could want in an ample courtyard three blocks from the beach.
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Lunazul
Several local surf shops offer rentals and lessons, including the well-established Lunazul.
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Kelly’s Bicycle Shop and Tours
Kelly’s Bicycle Shop and Tours can provide mountain bikes for M$195 per day.
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Andale
Party hearty with throngs of young vacationers to very loud classic rock.
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Islands
Resembling breaching whales in silhouette, the three photogenic land masses jutting from the sea are Mazatlán's signature islands. With secluded beaches and limpid waters ideal for snorkeling - and great multitudes of seals and marine birds - they provide an ideal day trip destination. On the left is Isla de Chivos (Island of Goats); on the right is Isla de Pájaros (Island of Birds), and in the center is Isla de Venados (Deer Island), which is the most visited of the three.
The islands are part of a wildlife refuge designated to help protect the marine fauna and birds they harbour. The most popular option for visiting the islands is the five-hour Deer Island Tour to Isl…
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Isla de la Piedra
Escape artists love Isla de la Piedra, located southeast of Old Mazatlán, for its beautiful, long sandy beach bordered by coconut groves. Anyone with an appetite sings the praises of the simple palapa (thatched-roof shelter) restaurants. Surfers come for the waves, and on Sunday afternoons and holidays the restaurants draw Mexican families. Most other times you'll have the beach to yourself.
Several companies offer no-hassle, all-inclusive excursions to Isla de la Piedra (it's actually a peninsula) including open bar, lunch, and a menu of activities such as water sports and short rides on forlorn, skinny horses.
It's a simple matter to get to Isla de Piedra on your own. …
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Fuerte de San Diego
This beautifully restored pentagonal fort was built in 1616. Its mission was to protect the Spanish naos (galleons) that conducted trade between the Philippines and Mexico from marauding Dutch and English buccaneers. It must have been effective because this trade route lasted until the early 19th century.
After a 1776 earthquake damaged most of Acapulco, the fort had to be rebuilt. It remains basically unchanged today, having been recently restored to top condition by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). The panorama of Acapulco you'll get from the fort is free and alone worth the trip.
The fort is now home to the Museo Histórico de Acapulco, which h…
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Tufted Jay Preserve
Especially worthwhile are Sendero México’s tours to the Tufted Jay Preserve, a nature resort located high in the mountains southeast of Mazatlán. You don’t have to be a birder to be enchanted by this beautiful enclave, created collaboratively in 2005 by the local community and the Mexican conservation group Pronatura to protect the lush habitat of this striking endemic bird – easily identified by its long tail, black bib and wings, and Mohawk-style hairdo. Day trips (M$1900) include hiking, bird-watching and optional horseback riding. Overnight visits (by arrangement with Sendero México) include accommodations in lantern-lit wooden cabins with kitchenette or in safari …
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Isla Isabel
You can make an interesting trip further afield to Isla Isabel, four hours northwest of San Blas by boat. You really need a couple of days to appreciate this national park and protected ecological preserve. To visit you'll need permission from the port captain. The island is a bird-watcher's paradise, with colonies of many species and a volcanic crater lake. There are no facilities, so be prepared for self-sufficient camping.
The official price for transportation of up to five people is around $5000, but deep discounts are possible depending on your negotiation skills. For trips to Isla Isabel, ask at the boat landing on Estuario El Pozo. Alternately, you can make the tri…
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El Arrayán Cocina Tradicional
Owner Carmen Porras takes special pleasure in rescuing old family recipes from obscurity and finding new converts for real traditional Mexican cuisine. Her restaurant, with its open kitchen and romantic courtyard, emphasizes local ingredients: the delicious panela cheese comes straight from the small dairy south of Puerto Vallarta, and the corn used for the tortillas is locally produced and comes directly from the mill. House specialties include crispy duck carnitas with orange sauce – scrumptious! – and rib-eye steak marinated in Mexican spices and tequila. Raise a toast to a truly memorable meal with a shot of fiery raicilla, a rare agave distillate produced in Jali…
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Onca Explorations
If being in the wake of cetaceans floats your boat, try Onca Explorations and its 3½-hour Whale Quest, a humpback-whale research expedition led by marine ecologist Oscar Guzón (M$1100) from December to March. During your journey, learn about whale-research techniques as the crew collects information on the behavioral ecology of the whales and conducts a photo-identification project. Also offered is a four-hour dolphin research and island snorkeling expedition with an emphasis on marine ecology and conservation (M$975, year-round), and a fascinating four-hour tour to the archeological site Las Labradas (M$850), where the only beachside petroglyphs in the Americas exist.
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