For the past few years my family has been doing the hot destination escape during the Christmas break. This year we were heading back to Mexico for the third time, however this time we would be staying in Puerto Vallarta (previously we had been to the Mayan Riveria and Los Cabos). Unfortunately, Jen ruptured her achilles tendon and was scheduled for surgery the day before our departure date so sadly she wasn’t able to join us. As a result, there was an abundance of photos of Mat taken during the trip haha.
For our week in Mexico, we stayed at the Riu Jalisco resort located in Riviera Nayarit coastline. The area houses a number of resorts and private condos all of which share the beachfront. There are three Riu resorts in Riviera Nayarit: Riu Jalisco, Riu Vallarta, and Riu Palace. The Riu Jalisco just finished undergoing a renovations so it was absolutely mint, featuring a more modernized theme throughout. One day we were chatting with some people who had previously been to both Riu Vallarta and Riu Palace, and they mentioned the Palace was the nicest (best service and food…..also reflected in the price haha) but they also said they preferred Jalisco over Vallarta even though Vallarta had better ratings. Riu Jalisco guests also had access to the Riu Vallarta resort, with the exception of early morning breakfast. Overall, I thought the stay at Riu Jalisco was excellent, the food was absolutely delicious, entertainment/service was phenomenal, and I would recommend Riu Jalisco to anyone travelling to Puerto Vallarta who would like to stay outside of the city. Anyways, lets get to the pictures now…..
Here’s a shot of the front of the resort on the day we arrived. Just outside of the entrance, from where I took this picture, there are taxis parked awaiting a call from the lobby. We took a tour bus into town once, but I would recommend just taking a taxi as they are cheaper and you aren’t constrained to the tour schedule. The taxis outside the resort are typically newer vehicles, but when you head into Puerto Vallarta you’re surrounded by Nissans from the 90’s. The average taxi fare into Puerto Vallarta was about 20-25 dollars.
As soon as you walk into the lobby you see where the renovations occurred. Many people were quite impressed with the Christmas tree, however if you take a close look you can see the simplicity of it….aka steel framing and lights.
The lobby was often quite busy throughout the day, however in the evening it would be packed with often no open seats. This was because the lobby had free wifi access (90 minute daily limit), which was nice so we could FaceTime with Jen every day.
Mat chomping down some breakfast. The hash brown on Mat’s plate was quite a hot item at breakfast, with them often being all gone within five minutes of being put out. 
The view from the bar in the lobby looking out towards the pool and beach.
I guess we like to strut when we walk down to the beach haha.
Just down from our resort there is a turtle hatchery on the beach. We actually missed the hatch but here is one of the stragglers that was found.
The family photo minus Jen…….and no Mat is not that much bigger than me, we were standing on a slope haha.
Was able to grab a quick shot of the iguana as if climbed down a tree near our chairs along the pool.
The beach. If you are looking for super soft sand that you can walk barefoot in all day, Puerto Vallarta is the place to go.
Along the beach you can also find some unique looking fish washed up. My mom thought this was a bird……?
This was one of the private condos along the beach. For only $750,000 you could get yourself into a 4,500 sq ft unit!
The next few shots are of the market in Bucerias, a small town about a 45 minute walk down the beach from our resort. It’s a nice walk if you get bored of just tanning on the beach and the market has everything you can think of. Also in Bucerias is a restaurant called Fat Boys which was highly recommended by people at the resort. The restaurant is right on the beach, and for 20 bucks you can get yourself a whole seafood platter full of shrimp, lobster, marlin and mahi mahi.
One of the few tours we did was the Rhythms of the Nights. The tour starts with a scenic ocean cruise across Banderas Bay to the isolated cove of Las Caletas, with the boat having a full open bar! Here is the sunset from the docks as we were just leaving for Las Caletas.
After about an hour boat ride you arrive in complete darkness to cove where the entire venue is only candle lit. Really had to push the 5d Mark II to its low light limits to grab this shot of the buffet.
Once we stuffed ourselves stupid at the buffet we headed to the pyramid stage for the best part of the tour, the Rhythms of the Night show. The show features the ancient civilization combined with amazing acrobats, fire dancing, and live music. Unfortunately, cameras weren’t allowed during the show so I wasn’t able to snap any photos, so you’ll have to take my word on how great the show was. I definitely would recommend this tour to anyone heading to Puerto Vallarta. Here are two quick shots I was able to get right at the start of the show before they asked the audience to put away their cameras.
Be sure to check back for Part 2!
