Gay Puerto Vallarta. A review for the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter.

By Travel Writer Ed Walsh.

Puerto Vallarta has been called the San Francisco of Mexico. You may get some argument over that but it would be difficult to overstate the close ties between the two cities.

I arrived in Vallarta, as locals call it, late last Monday afternoon.  After checking into the Hotel Mercurio, I headed for the famous Blue Chairs gay beach, just a short walk away. I plopped myself down on an empty chair near the surf and asked a man sitting nearby if he would keep an eye on my stuff while I went in the water.  He turned out to be a San Franciscan, Ben Schatz, who was in town performing with the Kinsey Sicks at the Palm nightclub. Ben is also a part-time Vallarta resident.

After a refreshing swim, I went to the rooftop patio/bar at the adjacent Blue Chairs Resort Hotel to take a picture of the sunset.  A group of men from one of the hotel's balconies gestured me to come over for a better picture. "Hey, you fell for that," they laughed as I ventured over to take them up on the offer. It turns out the group was from the Russian River. I knew one of them and got a great picture of myself in my shockingly pale skin in the Mexican sunset.

The next night, I arrived back at the hotel to find the desk clerk, Alex Lopez, reading the Bay Area Reporter.  He explained that a regular hotel guest brings him copies. During my four night stay, I met four other people from the Bay Area who happened to be staying in the same hotel. At a Kinsey Sicks performance, I met two more San Franciscans, including Jeff Green, one of the owners of the Twin Peaks bar.

Vallarta boasts 17 gay bars and nightclubs and at least 14 gay friendly hotels and bed and breakfasts. In the late 80s, there were only two gay bars, Club Paco Paco and Balcones. Paco's owner, Paco Ruiz, helped pave the way for other gay business owners by defiantly staging a one-man rebellion. He stood up to police and refused to give them bribes.  He took his fight to City Hall and eventually gained public sympathy and support through local and national media coverage.

The gay center of Puerto Vallarta is the southern part of the city in a neighborhood commonly known as the Zona Romantica. Its cobblestone streets are jammed well into the night with tourists and locals enjoying the countless shops, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Accommodations

There's a wide variety of gay friendly accommodations available in Vallarta.  Room rates range from about $30 per night at the Adagio Vacation Apartments up to $330 for the penthouse suite at the upscale Casa Cupula.   Many hotels offer lower rates starting around mid spring through the summer and fall.

The aforementioned Hotel Mercurio is in a perfect location in the center of the Zona Romantica.  With room rates in high season starting at $70, including tax, it is one of the best bargains around.   The 28-room hotel offers free Continental Breakfast at poolside. This is a nice time to meet and chat with friendly fellow hotel guests. When I stayed there, there was a great mix of gay men, a lesbian couple, a single woman, and a straight couple.

The six-story Blue Chairs Beach Resort hotel sits directly in front of the famous Blue Chairs beach. It features 40 rooms and is a great place to fall asleep to the sound of crashing surf.  Rates there start at $115.

The San Franciscan Resort and Gym is owned by San Franciscan David Rhodes.  It is on a hill behind the Blue Chairs beach.  David is a semi-retired physician well known for his civic and charitable work.  The San Franciscan is one of the newest and most upscale resorts in Vallarta.   With rates starting at $110, it is also one of the best values for those who like to travel in high style without busting their budget. Its gym is available free for guests and $5/day or $20/wk for visitors.   The San Franciscan features a rare amenity: free local and long distance phone calls to the US and Canada. 

The ultra luxurious Casa Cupula is owned by another San Franciscan, Don Pickens.   It's perched high on a hill with sweeping waterfront views.   Rates start at $190.  Its spectacular $330 penthouse suite features two levels with a semicircular bedroom and an ocean view. The Vallarta Cora is on a hill two blocks from Blue Chairs Beach and is known as "party central."  The12-room men-only hotel has a high-sexual temperature like many of the resorts in Palm Springs.  Its daily, 4-11pm pool party is open to the public.  The cover charge is $3 and you will get a free drink.  High season rates start at $95.

Nightlife

Club Paco Paco draws a crowd 7-days a week.  It's open until 6am and usually doesn't get busy until around midnight.   Down the street from Paco's is the modern and cavernous Sky club.  It was formerly called NYPV and features the head of the Statue of Liberty as a dance floor backdrop.  It's busiest on the weekends.  A short walk on the other side of the Rio Cuale from Paco's and Sky are the bars Anthropology and Balcones. Both feature strippers.   Balcones has been in existence for 21 years and is Vallarta's oldest gay bar.  The Apaches martini bar is lesbian-owned and popular with women.  Sama is another popular martini bar. It features outdoor seating and is next door to The Palm bar, known for its entertainment.  It currently showcases the Kinsey Sicks.  

Daylife

Paco's Paradise is a must-see.  It's an isolated clothing-optional gay beach, hotel, and restaurant that is accessible by boat.   If you want to check it out, your best bet is to meet in front of Paco Paco's at 11am.  A guide will escort you, via a public transit bus, to a beach where you will be shuttled on a boat to Paradise.  Admittance to the beach resort,
including the boat ride, is just  $10.  The city bus ride is about 40 cents.  

Money

The exchange rate is about 11 Pesos per dollar.  An easy way to do the conversion is to simply drop the last digit.   So, the 174 pesos cab ride from the airport is about $17 US dollars. The Banorte bank on 246 Olas Altas in Zona Romantica will give you the best exchange rate of about 11 peso per dollar. Just about every block has someplace to exchange money, usually at a rate of about 10 pesos per dollar. That's still cheaper than exchanging money at SFO which will give you that rate but charge you a $5 fee.

You can also usually get a good rate withdrawing money from an ATM. You can also charge purchases, but credit cards are not as widely accepted as they are in the US and credit card companies generally tack on a surcharge of two to three percent for foreign purchases. Sales tax is 15% but in most cases the tax is included in the posted price.

Restaurants

Popular restaurants include Mama Dolores, Kit Kat, Café Bohemio, Café des Artistes, Archie's Wok, Café de Olla, Coffee Cup, Choco Banana, and Dee's Coffee Company.  If you're on the go, you can grab a bite at one of the many street venders.  At about 60 cents a taco, you can't go wrong.  By the way, restaurant workers only make about $4./day, so if you are given good service, be sure to leave at least a 15-percent tip.

Getting There

Alaska Airlines and United offer nonstop flights from SFO.  Roundtrip fares start about $335 but watch the sales for deals better than that.  A cab from the Puerto Vallarta airport to the Zona Romantica will run you about $17 but the fare is only $8 going back. That's because only special permitted cabs are allowed to pick up fares at the airport and they are allowed to charge extra. I paid $25 for a shuttle service arranged by my hotel, Hotel Mercurio.  They had someone waiting for me at customs to whisk me away to a waiting van to go directly to the hotel.

Getting Around

City bus service is only about 40 cents but they can be kind of hard to figure out.   Cabs are an inexpensive way to get around.   The taxis don't have meters. They are all on a zone system. Your fare will depend on whether you are traveling within a zone or to another zone.  A trip within the same zone runs about $3. A trip across town will be about $6.  Your driver should be able to tell you your fare in advance. Mexicans usually don't tip cab drivers so drivers often seek out Americans.

For More Information

A great gay guide can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.gayguidevallarta.com" www.gayguidevallarta.com.    It includes a weekly calendar of events.   It's available in brochure form in most gay places in Vallarta.  The guide details and provides links to gay events including the popular "Latin Fever" held on the Thanksgiving weekend, the Leather and Bear Week, held just last week, and the various circuit parties held throughout the year. 

The official Puerto Vallarta Web site:
HYPERLINK "http://www.visitpuertovallarta.com" www.visitpuertovallarta.com
Mexico's official visitor's Web site:
HYPERLINK "http://www.visitmexico.com" www.visitmexico.com

Puerto Vallarta

by Paul Crist

If you are looking for the ideal place for a fun and relaxing vacation, Puerto Vallarta is a perfect choice for many reasons. For wonderful weather, exciting beach and mountain activities, great restaurants and shopping, and exhilarating nightlife, Puerto Vallarta cannot be beat. And, of course, it is the most Gay-friendly of Mexico’s tourist destinations. Vallarta has a large and visible Gay community including both Mexicans and foreigners. Gay or bisexual visitors will find a wide range of Gay-welcoming places to stay. Vallarta offers almost 20 different options for Gay nightlife, including neighborhood cantinas, trendy martini bars, sidewalk or beach bars, stripper clubs, and discothèques. New businesses are opened by Gay entrepreneurs in Vallarta every year, offering clothing and accessories, fine art and Mexican craft items, restaurants to suit every taste and budget, home furnishings, and much more. With so much to offer, it is not surprising that Vallarta is the #1 most-returned-to vacation destination in the world. People discover Vallarta, and they keep coming back.

The beauty of this city is partly due to its stunning location on Banderas Bay, one of Mexico’s largest bays, on the Pacific Coast. The Sierra Madre Mountains, with their lush jungles and misty peaks, surround the bay, protecting Vallarta and providing incredible sea and mountain views. The stone streets, the lovely parks, the beachfront Malecón, and the white houses with their typical red-tiled roofs add to the charm that one finds in Vallarta. The city is divided by the Rio Cuale, with the Gay neighborhood in the area to the south of the river, known as the Zona Romantica, or Los Muertos Beach.

Vallarta remains sunny and warm from late October until June, with very little rain. Even during the “rainy season,” from June through early October, there is plenty of sun and clear weather. During “rainy season,” it typically rains during the night, or for short periods in the afternoon. After the afternoon rain storms, the skies clear, the temperature and humidity moderates, and the evenings are very pleasant. Vallarta sunsets are quite amazing at any time of the year.

For Gays looking for activity and adventure, Vallarta has much to offer.  Gay cruises, sight-seeing tours, parasailing, scuba diving, mountain biking, all-terrain vehicle tours, and horseback riding are just a few of the activities that Vallarta has to offer. From December through April, Humpback Whale watching tours provide visitors an opportunity to see the giant mammals up close.

Gay men love to shop and dine, and Puerto Vallarta’s shops, restaurants and galleries offer a dazzling array of choices. This area of Mexico is known for its traditional Talavera pottery and beautiful hand blown colored glass. The Huichol Indians of Nayarit are among the great artisans of Mexico, producing intricate yarn paintings and beaded masks, animals and prayer bowls. And dozens of stores and galleries offer clothing and accessories, beach wear, Cuban cigars, native artifacts, home furnishings, colorful blankets (sarapes), silver and gold jewelry and hand-made items of just about every imaginable design.

When it comes to dining, the options seem almost endless in Vallarta. Dinner can be found for as little as $3USD at one of the many taco stands that dot street corners. Be sure to ask a local or your hotel receptionist which ones they recommend, to be sure that the food is good and the sanitation is adequate. These taco stands, or taquerías, are part of the Mexican culture, and aside from some healthy caution in choosing a good one, it is an experience that should not be missed by visitors looking for the true flavor of life in Mexico. Another very economical choice is a cenaduría, which is a small, usually family run restaurant, often the front room of the family home. These cost slightly more than the taquerías, but offer a wider choice of menu. At the other end of the price spectrum, a 5-course chef’s tasting menu, complete with wines selected for each course by a world-class sommelier, can be had for about $120 per person. Of course, there is a dazzling range of restaurants in between these two extremes, including a substantial number of Gay-owned and Gay-friendly choices. Your hotel receptionist or concierge can help you find a restaurant that is just right for you.

If your idea of a vacation is non-stop wild partying and drunken debauchery, Puerto Vallarta won't disappoint. There are bars and clubs to suit every taste, and the local guys are always happy to make visitors feel at home. Start your evening with a drink at one of several friendly sidewalk bars along Olas Altas Street, watching the steady parade of sexy guys & girls coming back from the beach. Later, visit one of several rooftop bars for Happy Hour, to enjoy Vallarta’s spectacular sunset over the ocean. As evening sets in, your options include many options, from swanky martini & piano bars, to cruisy neighborhood drinkeries where you’re sure to meet a new friend. Around 11pm, the strippers take the stage at a couple of the popular clubs, showing off their muscles and…well, you know. And as the hour gets late, a well-known dance club is just getting started, and does not stop until the lights come on at 6am. If you’re STILL not ready for sleep, then we want some of what you’re having!

How to get there.
Puerto Vallarta has a modern international airport that serves over 450 flights per week from Canada, the U.S., and major cities in Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta is about 4 hours by car, or 40 minutes by air, from Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city. The historic Center of Guadalajara features stunning Spanish Colonial architecture, and is the center of the city’s bustling gay scene. Guadalajara can be an interesting and fun side trip to your Puerto Vallarta beach vacation!

Featured Hotel:
Hotel Mercurio is an all-Gay, 3-star hotel offering a 5-star friendly and attractive staff, clean and well appointed rooms, a quiet atmosphere, and an unbeatable location close to the Gay beach and all the bars. For those visiting Puerto Vallarta for the first time, the reception staff and management are knowledgeable about the local scene, and always ready to help guests find the best restaurants, shops, bars and clubs to make their vacation memorable.

Hotel Mercurio offers a great breakfast buffet each morning to start your day, and is the perfect place to recharge your batteries after a long day and night of shopping, partying, and cruising on the beach. Your new friends and overnight guests are welcome, with legal identification proving they are over 18 years old. Room amenities include essential items to make sure your fun is also safe.

The hotel has a new, heated pool where you can relax and meet fellow hotel guests. Breakfast is served at poolside, and guests often enjoy swapping stories of their wild adventures from night before over a cup of fresh hot coffee. In the afternoon and evening, the Mercurio poolside bar offers the best margaritas and tequilas in town, and attracts a fun and lively crowd.

Hotel Mercurio offers free Internet access via high-speed connection, where you can check your e-mail and find a hookup on one of the many gay cruising sites that list Puerto Vallarta members. For those with their own laptops, a wireless network is also available. Rooms include air conditioning, cable TV, refrigerators, and a safe for your valuable items.

To make a reservation, call Hotel Mercurio (toll free from US & Canada) at 1-866-388-2689, or visit their website at www.hotel-mercurio.com. VISA, MasterCard, and American Express are accepted.