Gay Puerto Vallarta Guide - Useful Tourist Travel Information

On this page:
Consulates | Drugs | Important phone numbers | Money | Passport & airport
Taxis | Timeshare | Puerto Vallarta Forums | Water, food, health

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Passport and Tourist Visa On the plane, you will be issued a tourist card, FM-T, which is stamped by officials as you pass through customs inside the airport terminal. The airline will then collect the tourist card when you leave Mexico. An actual visa is not required unless you are staying in Mexico for over 180 days. Avoid carrying the tourist card or your passport with you while in town, but keep them in a secure place in your room or in the hotel. If your passport is lost or stolen, a copy of the tourist visa can help the consulate to process your replacement documents. It's probably a good idea to have a complete photocopy of your passport and your other important identification documents with you while traveling. For U.S. citizens, proof of citizenship and photo identification are required for entry into Mexico. A U.S. passport is the simplest way, but other citizenship documents such as a certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate, a naturalization certificate or a certificate of citizenship are also acceptable. You should be prepared to present one of these documents as proof of citizenship along with some type of photo identification. Canadian citizens will need to travel with their passport, or else with a Canadian birth certificate and a picture ID such as a drivers license. Other foreigners, if in doubt about the entry requirements, should check with a local Mexican embassy or consulate. For with the most recent State Department Consular Information Sheet for Mexico Airport/Airport Transportation The airport is approximately six miles north of downtown Puerto Vallarta. Near each airport exit is a booth where you should purchase your tickets for transportation into town. It is recommended that you take a taxi which brings you directly to your lodging. You should pay for your taxi directly at one of these specified taxi booths and not to any individual taxi driver - you have been advised! The vans from the airport carry up to eight persons and make multiple stops, so it's best to take a taxi, unless your entire group rents a van. Vans and taxis will sometimes know the locations of the Puerto Vallarta gay hotels and B&Bs and of PV's many condos and villas (not to mention the numerous Puerto Vallarta gay bars & clubs), but it's still a good idea to have the address of your accommodations and a phone number handy with you. Also, taxi prices around town are fixed and set by zone. Diana DeCoste now has a preferred VIP transportation service for her Diana's Gay Tours clients when arriving in Pto. Vallarta. A gay-friendly VIP Representative will be waiting by the luggage claim and will also meet you again once you pass customs to escort you to your driver. The price is $20 USD per car for 1-3 people (depending on luggage). A van is available for larger groups for $10 USD per person. Please visit Diana's Puerto Vallarta VIP Transporation Service for complete details on this service. Puerto Vallarta Tourist Office - The Board supplies free maps, brochures and travel information. There are two offices, the main one downtown at City Hall (Presidencia Municipal) on Juarez street near the downtown Guadalupe cathedral, open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, Tel: 222-0242 and other at the Secretary of Tourism at 1712 Avenida Medina Ascencio, on the 3rd Floor also Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.  Contact them at Tel: (52-322) 224-2939 or Fax: (52-322) 224-0915.

Vallarta Forums and Message Boards
There are several large Puerto Vallarta forums and message boards that I know of: the largest one at Puerto Vallarta Mexico Bulletin Board Message Board which also has an Alternative Lifestyles forum, the All Vallarta Message Board and another at the Puerto Vallarta Scene Forum which can be quite lively.

Spanish
Spanish is the official language, but don't worry, English is widely spoken in Puerto Vallarta. If you do know some Spanish, so much the better!  People will appreciate your efforts and it will make establishing friendships that much easier. If you'd like to learn some basic Spanish vocabulary about dining, directions and numbers before your visit to Mexico, you can visit the Travlang web site Foreign Languages for Travelers  Note: If you do want to learn some Spanish while you are here, you can get in touch with Leonardo Tejeda, who teaches beginners to advanced students. Contact him at leomar@usa.net or Tel: 223-4784 or 044-322-294-2565 or with Melchor's Spanish school, contact Senor Melchor Cortes, from USA cellular: 011-52-322-118-0822 or local Tel: 224-8917

Water
The water leaving the purification facilities of Puerto Vallarta has been certified for over seven years as among the best in all of Latin America. However, the city's piping is rather old, so it's best not to drink the tap water. Purified water is available in all hotels, bars and restaurants, which all use purified ice as well. It's advisable to drink at least 4-5 glasses of purified water a day to help prevent dehydration. Bottled water is sold in most stores. Some hotels and villas have filtration systems, so you might want to check.

Food
Food service quality has greatly improved in Puerto Vallarta in recent years. You can be pretty confident that the food in restaurants is washed in purified water and/or properly cooked. Follow some simple rules: choose cooked food, eat in restaurants that are popular and watch your alcohol and coffee intake. As an added precaution, you may want to avoid salads and peel all fruits and vegetables or at least wash them well. As the saying goes: boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it. Use the lemons served in restaurants, as the juice has antibacterial properties.

Health
It's possible you may eat or drink something that isn't quite right while on vacation. If you experience diarrhea, there are several ways to treat it. Avoid anything that will further irritate your stomach such as alcohol, sodas or coffee, and drink plenty of purified water to replace lost fluids. Pepto bismol is a time proven relief for diarrhea.

Most pharmacists can recommend the proper medicines, which are generally inexpensive and effective. You don't need a prescription in Mexico for many drugs (except of course for controlled substances) and a trip to the pharmacy will usually suffice for most traveler's complaints. There are many good doctors in Puerto Vallarta. Discovery Vallarta recommends Dr. Maria Guadalupe (Lupita) Lewgot, Tel. 223-0444 and her office is at the Medasist Hospital located at 358 Manuel Dieguez street on the South Side, the Puerto Vallarta Zona Romantica. See below or go here for further updated travel information on PV hospitals, medical services and other important Puerto Vallarta phone numbers here.
 

Month Average   High Average  Low Average  Precipitation (inches) January 80 62 0.8/0.9  February 80 62 0.2/0.3  March 81 63 <0.1 April 82 65 <0.1 May 85 70 <0.1 June 88 76 5.9/6 July 89 76 10.3/10.4 August 90 76 11.1/11.2   September  90 76 9.4/9.5 October 89 74 3.4/3.5 November 85 69 0.5/0.6 December 81 65 0.6/0.7

Weather Puerto Vallarta, Mexico enjoys well over 280-310 days of sunshine per year and basically has two seasons. From November until May is the dry season, when rain is rare, the sky relatively cloudless and the nights mild. The daytime temperature ranges from 78-85 degrees Fahrenheit and can drop down to 55-60 degrees at night during the "high season" winter months of January and Febraury. The temperate sub-tropical climate, comparable to that in Hawaii, is one reason people flock to Vallarta. You may want to bring long pants and a light sweater for the cool winter evenings. Go to the new Puerto Vallarta weather page for more complete info, an updated climate chart and some travel tips on what to wear. The rain normally starts right on the money in mid-June and increases in frequency and duration until there are often daily downpours July through September, usually in the late afternoon or at night. The rains continue into October, really tapering off around the middle of the month. It is hot and muggy. The summer daytime temperature is 88-93 degrees every day and 75-78 or warmer at night. There is little underground drainage, so streets become streams during the tropical summer rains, which are quite intense at times. Total rainfall in Puerto Vallarta amounts to a fairly substantial 45-60 inches a year. Because of the favorable topography of Banderas Bay, which is shaped like a gigantic horseshoe opening to the Pacific Ocean on the west, Puerto Vallarta is generally protected from hurricanes in the late summer and early autumn (July-early Oct) that pass up the coast and either swing out to sea or continue on up to Baja California. Only once in the last 30+ years or more did Vallarta suffer serious damages in certain parts of town, in the neighborhood of $100 million, when Hurricane Kenna passed by on the morning of October 25, 2002.

Traveler's Checks
You many want to carry a ample supply of American Express or VISA traveler's checks with you to Mexico. They are usually accepted at banks, stores and hotels, though I believe that most Casas de Cambio/Money Exchange places will no longer accept travelers checks. If you lose or misplace your checks, contact the carrier after referring to the Handy Numbers section on the Services page.
 

Money and Money Exchange
The currency in Mexico is the peso. The bills come in 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 peso notes and they are quite colorful. Coins are in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1, 2, 5 and 10 pesos. 100 centavos equals 1 peso. All items sold in Mexico are priced in pesos. The current international exchange rate is variable around 12.0-12.5 pesos per dollar and fluctuates daily. Go here for the Universal Currency Converter and the current rate. For the very best exchange rate, use your ATM card at any of the many conveniently located banks or ATMs in town and pay for your purchases with a credit card.

Banks have an exchange window usually open Mon through Fri, 9am-1:30pm where you can buy pesos with dollars or traveler's checks. Many of the Money Exchange or Casa de Cambio places on the streets of Puerto Vallarta offer slightly less for your dollar than the banks but are open into the evening hours until 9-10pm and are quite convenient and widely used. They accept cash but apparently no longer or rarely accept traveler's checks. The stores, bars and restaurants will often exchange money but at a fairly lower rate, so I would advise against doing it that way. Hotels give the worst rates. Travel tip: Be sure to count your pesos whenever changing money. Exchange rates are usually clearly posted, but if not, be certain to ask beforehand.

Post Office
The main Post Office (Servicio Postal Mexicano) is located downtown on 1014 Colombia street between Argentina and Venezuela streets near Hidalgo Park (Parque Hidalgo). A letter or post card to the US or Canada costs approximately 10.50 pesos and may take up to several weeks to arrive as all international mail apparently goes first to Mexico City. If you buy anything bulky or valuable, ask at the store about shipping; they usually ship more direct via FedEx or DHL. Post Office hours, Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm and Sat, 9am-1pm. Tel: 222-6308.

Taxis
There are somewhere around a thousand taxis in Puerto Vallarta. They are a cheap and convenient way of getting around, especially after 11:45pm when the buses stop running. Ask the driver how much your trip is before you get in, because some taxi drivers will try to overcharge tourists. Be advised that there are restaurants that will pay taxi drivers a commission for bringing clients. If your driver wants you to try a restaurant other than the one you have selected, it may be self-serving advice. Locals have found over the years that most drivers are friendly, honest and knowledgeable about the city and know at least a bit of English. Many drivers now know the names and locations of the gay bars, the gay hotels B&Bs and the gay beach, but it's still a good idea to carry your accommodation's name and address along with you. Puerto Vallarta is divided into taxi zones, prices are fixed by the local union, and fares go anywhere from 30 pesos within a particular zone up to 80-120 pesos (from the Marina to the South Side/Olas Altas area for example). Coming in from the airport is the most expensive as it is the federal zone. Many hotels will post the current taxi fares.

Buses
Buses are cheap in Puerto Vallarta, costing 6.5 pesos or about 50 US cents. The buses are sometimes rather run-down, but you never have to wait long before the next one comes along. Stops are marked by a blue "parada" sign which has a bus outlined on it. You may find yourself being entertained by locals who hop on the bus to do a clown act or play guitar or 10 year old boys singing about their lost loves, all for a few pesos.

To get to the gay bars from the hotels on the north end of Puerto Vallarta, be sure to take buses marked "Centro" or "Olas Altas". The bus will pass by several of the gay bars such as Anthropology and Club Paco Paco before turning around at Lazaro Cardenas Park on the South Side. Most buses run regularly from approximately 6am to 11:45pm. To go to Conchas Chinas, Mismaloya, Boca de Tomatlan or any of the south shore accommodations, buses leave from Basilio Badillo street at Constitucion street on the South Side, 7am-10pm.

Motor vehicles have the right of way in Mexico, not pedestrians. We don't want to sound like your mother, but buses in Vallarta are noted for traveling at excess velocity, so extra care should be used crossing the street.

Mexico's long distance bus system is top notch and probably envied by much of the world. Regular services link all major cities day and night. Networks of shorter routes reach almost every corner of the Republic. A bus from Mexico city to Acapulco costs less than the toll charges for a private car. The National Chamber for Passenger and Tourist Buses estimates that the 40,000 buses owned by its members have about 3.5 billion passenger movements each year.

Drugs
Drug offenses are risky business in Mexico. Mexico's drugs laws are often more reactionary and ridiculous than those of the States, though the Southern states and Texas probably take the cake. Under Napoleanic law, you're guilty until proven innocent. If you must, be extremely discrete; if you're caught, you may be deported, have a prison term or have to pay a fine. Police occasionally stop and frisk locals and tourists, checking for drugs. For gay guys this might likely occur at night in the area near the gay bars Manana and Paco's Ranch. From what I have heard and read, penalties can be rather lax in Vallarta, a good thing, though I wouldn't bet my liberty on it. If you are stopped and feel that you have been mistreated in any way, please call your consulate to report the incident and lodge an official report/protest. Note: The police have been known to extort money if they find something on you, or otherwise, so beware. Get the Patrulla/patrol car number on the side if you have a run in with the cops.

Siesta Time
Most Mexicans eat their main meal sometime between 1pm-4pm, so some shops and government offices are closed. This is a sensible custom in a tropical country and gives the body and mind a chance to rest during the hottest hours of the day. The stores that observe this custom are open afterwards until 8pm-10pm. Bars and restaurants stay open during these siesta hours.

Timeshare
The sale of timeshares has unfortunately become a big business in Puerto Vallarta. On nearly all the streets of the city frequented by tourists there are timeshare stations or offices. The salesperson or "OPC" will invite you to a free breakfast and promise gifts or discounts on a cruise, tour or jeep rental in exchange for your time at a "presentation" at the hotel or resort. Salespeople at this "presentation" will sometimes use high pressure or misleading tactics to induce you to buy their product. Unless you are really interested in buying timeshare in Vallarta, it is advisable that you pass these people by and continue on your merry way