Puerto Vallarta’s Deals on Wheels

Getting around can be a bit intimidating when you’re visiting a new place and you don’t know exactly where you’re going. The street names are unfamiliar. Drivers wheel around way too fast. And what are all those people doing in the crosswalk, anyway? Not to worry – you won’t have any trouble getting around town when you set out from your Villa Rental Puerto Vallarta; you’ll find plenty of options for getting from here to there, and many of them leave the driving to a professional.

Call Me a Cab
Puerto Vallarta has a couple of very effective, motorized modes of travel to accommodate visitors and locals who want to travel throughout the city, and beyond. It’s a simple thing to find a taxi that will take you from your vacation rental to your favorite restaurant or beach; with more than a thousand cabs, you won’t find it difficult to catch a ride. Don’t look for a meter in Puerto Vallarta’s taxi cabs; they use a system of flat rates for trips between and within the city’s zones.

In addition to taxis, the city and many outlying areas are served by a system of local and distant busses that offer a very economical way to get where you’re going. Catch a bus that says “Centro” to get to the city’s center; no matter where you step off, you’ll be close to many of the attractions you read about in the guide books, including the plaza, Our Lady of Guadalupe church, and the Malecón. You can also take the bus north to Nuevo Vallarta and Punta Mita or south out of town to Mismaloya or Boca de Tomatlan (you’ll need a water taxi for the trip from there to Yelapa).

Are Your Legs Painted On?
There’s more to life than speeding around the countryside in a taxi or bus. Don’t be afraid to rent a bicycle and see some of Puerto Vallarta’s sights from street level. Sign up with a bike tour and visit a local beach or pedal through the jungle. It’s not always a good idea to attempt tour the city by bicycle, though; the streets are cobblestone (bumpy), many roads don’t have guard rails, and of course, you’ll be sharing the streets with those crazy drivers in rental cars who don’t know where they’re going.

Any discussion about getting around town would be incomplete without a few words about walking tours; that’s right, you can always set out on your own hind legs (unless your mother’s suspicions were correct, and your arms and legs really are painted on). Walk along the Malecón, walk through the Municipal Crafts Market, walk through the art galleries – and when you’re finished for the day, walk back to your Villa Puerto Vallarta, pull up a chair, and watch the sun set over Banderas Bay.