We were living in Calgary, Canada, and had a chance to head for one foreign vacation and we chose Mexico since it was the closest to our budget.

We were thinking about using one of the package vacations but it’s not our style and it was still expensive even with 50% off. In the end, we found a cheap flight to Puerto Vallarta and booked accommodation through Airbnb.

Day 1: Puerto Vallarta

After dropping Yoda in the kennel, and getting a bus to the airport, we landed in Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon. We took a public bus for 10 pesos with a stop near our Airbnb.

The first evening, we just went for a walk around to see what was around our 1-week home, bought a beer, and went to drink it at the nearest beach.

On the way back, we spotted this nice local place serving Birria. We’ve never heard of it, they said it’s traditional, we got it with an extra Quesadilla, and it was a fucking bomb! I’d definitely recommend the place, I just don’t remember the name…(but Clare knows: Birriería El Tío Toño).

Day 2: Puerto Vallarta – beach/city

The first full day was dedicated to the city itself. We walked to the main (busiest) beach in town – Los Muertos Beach – found a wee spot in the corner and set our towels there.

Mexican fellas ran around and were offering different food and drinks. I believe we had shrimp on a stick and some fresh oysters. Yes, we’re asking for diarrhea on the first day!

After a few swims, we headed further along the beach to Mirador Punto Muerto, found a hidden beach called Amapas, and continued uphill to circle back to the town. It was a long walk and mostly on the main road, so once we reached the Zona Romántica we had to reward ourselves with some beers (50 pesos) and tacos (40 pesos).

Our journey then continued up to the Mirador el Cerro de la Cruz. Yes, it is uphill and with a lot of stairs but people on other sites are exaggerating a wee bit. Based on some reviews it looked like a half-day hike…we’re up in 20 minutes. The viewpoint offers great views of the entire city and the jungle behind it. There is a small shop at the top but we didn’t get anything.

Unfortunately, shit tends to happen when you’re having fun. Clare slipped on one of the stairs and smashed her phone. Thankfully, nothing happened to Clare but the phone needed a new screen.

We then continued back to our Airbnb and had a home-cooked dinner.

Day 3: Hike Boca de Tomatlan to Quimixto

Clare found this amazing hike along the beach so we had to go try it.

We took a bus from Zona Romántica to Boca de Tomatlan for 10 pesos each (stop location). The drive takes about an hour. The bus stops just above the town and so we continued down and along the water to find a bridge to cross. After that, we just followed a surprisingly nicely maintained path along the coast. The path climbs up and down, it’s uneven, and sometimes there are trees fallen across. We consider ourselves fast hikers but nevertheless, in the heat, it took us about 3 hours to complete the whole journey to Quimixto (5-6 hours including stops and a detour to a waterfall). We only met two more people on the path but we would definitely recommend it. You can always get a boat from the beaches along the way and don’t have to finish all the way to Quimixto.

The rest of the day was simple: Boat back to Boca -> Bus back to the town -> Street food for dinner -> Margarita -> Margarita -> Margarita

Day 4: A disaster!

Don’t know if it was the street food (we all know it was!) or the margarita, but Matej spent the night – let’s be nice – “under the weather”.

So the day was spent watching movies, on/near the toilet, and by a short walk to the nearest pharmacy.

Day 5: The surfer town of Sayulita

On day 5, we decided to head up north to visit the hipster/surfer town named Sayulita. The bus cost 30 pesos (I think…), takes about an hour and a half, and you can catch it in front of Walmart (map).

We went to the local beaches, battled with waves, watched surfers, and really enjoyed the town. Since Matej still wasn’t feeling 100%, he got some ribs while we stopped for a beer, and Clare went for street tacos later on the way to the bus.

Day 6: Boat to Yelapa

This morning, we walked through the downtown and checked out some places we haven’t had time for before, such as the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

We then took the same bus as before to Boca de Tomatlan and took a boat directly from the pier in Boca to Yelapa. It cost 240 pesos per person for a return trip. We tried to bargain and find someone cheaper but no luck (most of the boat don’t go as far as Yelapa).

Yelapa was beautiful. We spent some time on the beach, stopped at a bar, and went for a short walk to a nearby waterfall where we took a dip.

We had a home-cooked dinner since we had a bunch of leftovers and only one more night left to go.

Day 7: Mismaloya Beach and Palo Maria waterfall

Once again, we headed for our trusted bus towards Boca. This time we got off earlier and spent most of the day at Mismaloya Beach. We had a bucket of beers, ate some food, and smoked a Mexican cigar that we bought earlier on the way to the bus stop.

On the way back, we stopped for a hike to the Palo Maria waterfall. It was actually very fun since the “path” took us across the river a few times, through the jungle, and across boulders. Unfortunately, for some reason, we thought that there would be a path and that we would walk way faster. We had to call it quits before we reached the waterfall since it was getting dark and we had to get back. We got back to the main road when it was pitch black.

On the way back, we tried to stop at some places on the outskirts for food but they were all extortionate, so we got dinner later in the town.

Day 8: Back to work-ish

The last day was quick and easy. We packed and walked to Starbucks where we started the holiday season with some Christmas coffee and watched football on the phone.