101 Hottest People Places & Things

If you’ve got a burn­ing desire to be in-the-know, Ban­deras­News’ list of the 101 Hottest Things To Do in Puerto Val­larta is full of inside infor­ma­tion and red-hot deals that’ll add spark to your Puerto Val­larta vaca­tion. And since it’s not what you know — but WHO you know that really mat­ters, we’ve also listed some of the local hot­ties that cap­ture the warmth and spirit of Val­larta… If you have a hot tip or siz­zling sug­ges­tion, let us know: Hottest(at)BanderasNews.com

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1 At night, the Male­con is ablaze with activ­ity. As you stroll along music drifts from the clubs and artists, while ven­dors and live music and dance per­for­mances add to the fes­tive atmos­phere of this favorite (and free) pastime. 

2 It was here in Val­larta that Richard Bur­ton and Eliz­a­beth Taylor’s love affair first came to light, and the embers of their romance still burn bright at Casa Kim­ber­ley, the home he bought for her while film­ing “Night of the Iguana.” 

3 Try the Lob­ster Tacos at Daiquiri Dick’s made with chunks of lob­ster tail sautéed with a dash of spicy Ser­rano chili pep­per and topped with aspara­gus and hol­landaise sauce. Mar­velous! Olas Altas 314 Tel: (322) 222‑0566 

4 Burn off those extra calo­ries, lose weight and look great! Stop by Curves, at Pul­pito 146 in the Roman­tic Zone, where 30 minute a day 3 times a week is suf­fi­cient to lose weight and burn body fat while ton­ing and firm­ing your fig­ure! 222‑8621 

5 de San­tos, Vallarta’s hippest restau­rant and most intense night spot, is a great place to seper­ate who’s hot from who’s not. Din­ing ’til 1 am makes you cool, and par­ty­ing ’til 4 am makes you too hot to trot! More­los 771 • 223‑3053 

6 Spend a day play­ing golf at Flamin­gos Golf Club, the Val­larta area’s first pro­fes­sional course. Show off your swing while burn­ing up the greens, ’cause when you’re hot you’re hot! Carr. A Tepic KM 145, Buce­rias • Tel: 296‑5006 

7 The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with its trade­mark crown of angels, fuels the fires of faith and strength­ens the peo­ple of Puerto Vallarta’s per­fer­vid pas­sion for Mexico’s patron saint, the Vir­gin of Guadalupe. 

8 Don’t get burned by high prices. When you’re ready to buy your vaca­tion sou­ve­niers, you can get some red-hot deals on crafts from all over Mex­ico at the Mer­cado Munic­i­pal on Insur­gentes on the north­bound bridge over the Río Cuale. 

9 Hot damn, he’s good! Artist and writer Peter Gray con­tributes his time, energy, and all pro­ceeds from the sale of his works to local char­i­ties. He fer­vently believes that every­one can make a dif­fer­ence — and he most cer­tainly does! 

10 Work up a sweat run­ning a few laps around the new Tar­tan Turf track at the sports sta­dium across the street from the Sher­a­ton resort in Puerto Vallarta’s hotel zone. 

11 Enjoy the glow of sat­is­fac­tion that you’ll get when you take food to the kids at Casa Hogar. Direc­tor Sra. Eliza Cornejo. Carr. a Tepic KM 9, Hotel Zone North, Colo­nia Guadalupe Vic­to­ria • 221‑1908 

12 Feel­ing lonely tonight — or maybe just burn­ing up with curi­ousity? You’ll find hot chicks and heated games of pool at the Gentlemen’s Club. Ladies are wel­come too! Fco. Med­ina Ascen­cio 2033 in the North Hotel Zone • 221‑2097 

13 When your sweetie gets all hot and both­ered, smother her with “Besos” from Pie in the Sky. They also serve cof­fee, espresso, latté, scones and ice cream at Lazaro Car­de­nas #247 on the cor­ner of Igna­cio L Val­larta in the Roman­tic Zone. 

14 Get your heart rac­ing, ride a bike! The Cas­cada Salto Bike Tour is a very advanced sin­gle track ride for any­one look­ing to burn off all that gua­camole and all those mar­gar­i­tas! Bike­Mex, Calle Guer­rero #361, El Cen­tro • 223‑1680 

15 Learn to speak Span­ish in a warm and sup­port­ive atmos­phere. Take an accel­er­ated learn­ing, inten­sive Span­ish class that’ll have you under­stand­ing, speak­ing, read­ing and writ­ing basic Span­ish in just 7 days! • [329] 298‑1707 

16 Watch the steam roil off people’s heads when some­one talks about drugs in an AA meet­ing. These dis­cus­sions can get hot and heavy, so make sure you’re attend­ing the cor­rect meet­ing! • For info or help call Bob at 222‑5389 

17 Puerto Val­larta is a hotbed of cre­ative energy. Check out the local art scene, and a wide vari­ety of intrigu­ing art forms while hav­ing fun — and free cock­tails – at the Old Town Art Walk, every other Wednes­day from 6–10 pm 

18 After an out­door event at Los Arcos stage or a sun­set stroll along the Malecón, stop by Tacos de Los Arcos for mouth-watering tacos filled with rotisserie-cooked meat and siz­zling sal­sas. Zaragoza 120, below Hooter’s 

19 Anna Reisman’s blis­ter­ing crit­i­cism and caus­tic com­ments about any­thing and every­thing in Puerto Val­larta will surely make some ears burn. Check out her col­umn in the Val­larta Tri­bune to see who’s in the hot seat this week. 

20 Escape from tourist hell at Costa Azul, a trop­i­cal, all-inclusive, ocean­front resort that caters to surf and adven­ture trav­el­ers. Located approx­i­mately 1 hour north of Puerto Val­larta in San Pan­cho, Nayarit • 01 (322) 258‑4120 

21 Home to Puerto Vallarta’s famous ‘Restau­rant Row’ and a scorch­ing nightlife, the Roman­tic Zone is where you’ll find all the siz­zling clubs, hot Latin lovers and sexy sirens who set this town’s streets and hearts afire! 

22 Only acces­si­ble by sea, the eco-friendly Majahuitas Resort uses solar energy — and when night falls, torches, can­dles and lanterns light up this rus­tic, yet lux­u­ri­ous, all-inclusive resort on Ban­deras Bay. • 293‑4506 

23 Blow off some steam with stress man­age­ment expert Joy! Spe­cial­iz­ing in pain, stress, ill­ness, injury & neg­a­tive pro­gram­ming work­shops, if you don’t leave stress free and with tools to man­age your stress, your ses­sion is free. • 044 [322] 129‑1128 

24 Night trans­forms the trop­i­cal beach hide­away of Las Cale­tas into a mag­i­cal par­adise where you’ll enjoy an inti­mate din­ner and con­tem­po­rary dance show illu­mi­nated by flick­er­ing torches and moon­light. Rhythms of the Night • 297‑1212 

25 Artist Marta Gilbert has a def­i­nite flare for cap­tur­ing the spirit, honor, and mys­tique of the Native Mex­i­can Indi­ans. A hot com­mod­ity among Mex­i­can con­tem­po­rary art col­lec­tors, her art is on dis­play at Arte Latinoamericano.

 26 Since part of liv­ing full-time in Val­larta means adapt­ing to its hot and humid sum­mers, Toody Wal­ton, owner of La Bohemia, designs cool and com­fort­able fash­ions that are per­fect for trop­i­cal tem­per­a­tures. • 222‑3164 

27 Vis­it­ing the Igle­sia Guadalupe can be a fiery expe­ri­ence — even if you’re not a fer­vent fol­lower of the faith. On Sun­day morn­ings, Vicky sells the best hot tamales in town in front of the church [and in Par­que Hidalgo every night.] 

28 When your money is burn­ing a hole in your pocket, head down to the Isla Rio Cuale where the shop­keep­ers are always fired up and ready for some heated hag­gling over Mex­i­can hand­crafts — espe­cially if you’re buy­ing more than one item. 

29 After burn­ing through your cash, and energy, on the Rio Cuale, refuel with flamed filet of beef with grilled green onions, cold drinks and cool ocean breezes at Oscar’s Restau­rant. Credit cards accepted. Isla Río Cuale 1 • 223‑0789 

30 Blaz­ing sad­dles! Take a ride on the wild side with Ran­cho Charro. Beau­ti­ful horses and bilin­gual guides will take you on a ride through the jun­gle, up moun­tain ridges and down into canyons on the “Devil’s Trail.” 224‑0114 

31 Can’t stand the heat? Get outta the kitchen! Make your next din­ner party a siz­zling suc­cess. Call super-chef and caterer Kathy Overly, who’s skill­ful prepa­ra­tion of delec­table delights qual­i­fies as “haute cui­sine.” • 224‑5007 

32 With a smol­der­ing voice and a no-nonsense style, restau­ra­teur Alberto Perez is as pas­sion­ate about music as he is about fine din­ing. Alberto lights up the stage on Mon­day and Tues­day nights at La Palapa on Los Muer­tos • 222‑5225 

33 Playa El Anclote in Punta Mita has every­thing you need for a day of fun in the sun. After you’ve stuffed your­self at one of the palapa-topped restau­rants, burn off those calo­ries while jet ski­ing, kayak­ing, surf­ing, or snorkeling. 

34 Sun wor­ship­ing dates back to pre-Hispanic times when the sun was con­sid­ered a god, and Puerto Val­larta boasts many beau­ti­ful beaches that are ide­ally suited for lazy after­noons bask­ing in the warm rays of the sun. 

35 One of Vallarta’s hottest hide­aways, Chico’s Par­adise, is a great place to chill out while enjoy­ing great food in the mid­dle of the jun­gle next to a cool water­fall. Located east of the PV-Manzanillo high­way at KM 20 • 222‑0740 

36 Spicy food lovers enjoy burn­ing spice and won­der­ful fla­vors in the same dish at La Piazzetta Ital­ian Restau­rant, offer­ing awe­some pasta and 24 dif­fer­ent piz­zas baked in a wood-fire oven. Rodolfo Gómez 143 at Olas Altas • 222‑0650 

37 Rekin­dle your romance at Villa Vera, where you can spend a relax­ing day soak­ing up the warm rays of the sun on the pris­tine sand beach or beside one of the two sparkling pools. Open daily 10–6. For more infor­ma­tion, call 221‑1401 

38 Hik­ing to the water­fall in Yelapa is a great way to beat the heat. If the walk up leaves you burned-out and blis­ter­ing, a jump in the ice-cold water that pools at the bot­tom of the falls is both thrilling and chilling. 

39 A tal­ented artist, Judith Ewing-Morlan defines paint­ing as color, and says that the rea­son behind her com­ing to Mex­ico was to warm up her palette — and what blaz­ing col­ors she found here in Val­larta! Calle Mira­mar #237 • 223‑2179 

40 It may not be North Shore Hawaii, but for surf­ing check out Papa’s Pala­pas in Sayulita. Don’t know how to ride the break­ers? Take a les­son from the fer­vent Mario, so you won’t crash and burn. • Tel: 01 (329) 275‑0282 

41 New York jew­elry designer June Rosen Lopez has forged a new life here in Val­larta cre­at­ing one-of-a-kind ster­ling sil­ver and semi-precious stone jew­elry designs that blaze with her bril­liance. • 222‑5049 

42 When you’ve had enough of the heat, burn up the lanes bowl­ing at Col­lage. Pool Tables, Puerto Vallarta’s largest disco and nightly spe­cials make this a great place to hang out. Just south of the entrance to Marina Vallarta. 

43 Work up a sweat danc­ing to live music seven nights a week at Club Roxy. Never a cover, always great Rock-n-Roll, Reg­gae, and Latin music. Opens at 8 pm. Igna­cio L. Val­larta between Fco. Madero and Lazaro Car­de­nas • 223‑2404 

44 Every May, hot and heavy sport­ing events fire up com­pet­i­tive spir­its with 5k and 10k runs, bas­ket­ball, soft­ball, beach vol­ley­ball, ten­nis, and soc­cer com­pe­ti­tions at the Puerto Val­larta Inter­na­tional Sports Clas­sic • 224‑1175 

45 Share the fan­tasy of Casablanca brought to real­ity in the exotic atmos­phere of Bogart’s. Try the Shrimp Krys­tal flam­béed at your table and served with lob­ster bisque and pasta. At the Krys­tal Val­larta Hotel • 224‑0202 

46 When your late-night hunger burns hot after a late night of par­ty­ing, stop by the only 24-hour restau­rant on Olas Altas. Across the street from Andale, El Chavalon serves great tacos and bur­ri­tos with ther­mal sal­sas on the side. 

47 Only in your wildest fan­tasies have you swung from tree­top to tree­top through dense trop­i­cal veg­e­ta­tion! Fast, fun and elec­tri­fy­ing, Val­larta Adven­tures’ Canopy Tour finally brings these dreams to life! • 297‑1212 ext. 25 

48 Got fish­ing fever? Mr. Marlin’s Cap­tain Juan Moll has been fish­ing these waters for over 50 years, and has a red-hot rep­u­ta­tion as one of the great­est fish­er­man on Ban­deras Bay. Puesta del Sol Local 6, Marina Val­larta • 221‑0809 

49 Bar­bara Peters has been fan­ning the flames of the Puerto Val­larta art scene since 1989 as one of the founders of the Old Town Art Walk and the owner of Gale­ria Val­larta, one of PV’s favorite art gal­leries. Juarez 263 • 222‑0290 

50 At Buddy’s Hacienda Jalisco in San Sebas­t­ian you’ll be imme­di­ately engulfed by its Old Mex­ico charm, a warm­hearted wel­come, warm hos­pi­tal­ity, com­fort­able rooms and great food. For more infor­ma­tion call Pamela Thomp­son at 223‑1695