We come from the Midwest and are always looking to escape the bitter cold winters to somewhere affordable. Our family took our first trip to Puerto Vallarta in April 2019. The weather was impeccable (only one day of rain), the ocean was gorgeous, the location was perfect for exploring the city, and the kids had the time of their lives. We had planned for a studio room but were upgraded to a one bedroom suite, which had a small kitchen. It was perfect for our family of 4 and had a decent kitchen, where we prepared most of our breakfasts and lunches, then we went on excursions a few days and out for dinner and drinks a couple of nights. We were there 6 nights and planned 3 outings, we could have definitely stayed longer and explored more. When we weren’t exploring the city, we spent our days lounging poolside and both of my kids (ages 13 and 6) made friends from other COUNTRIES! My teenager became fast friends with a girl from Mexico and a boy from Canada.
This was our 4th time in Mexico and our 2nd time taking the kids. We have never had any issues or concerns with travelling to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta. The only drawback is my beloved Groupon is utterly useless to me in Mexico. I was not able to find either major destination on there… which brings me to the Mexico versions of Groupon! (for activities/excursions anyway)
Adventures
Always looking for a deal, even in Puerto Vallarta, I checked around on the internet to plan our excursions and found a few useful, discount services:
- Vallarta Adventures: This is an online, third party that offers discount tours and excursions throughout Mexico (including Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, and Cabo San Lucas). It seems to be a pretty large touring company.
- Puerto Vallarta tours: Smaller scale, locally run by two women, and specific to just Puerto Vallarta. The pricing on both websites is pretty similar, but I think that Puerto Vallarta tours was slightly less expensive. There are many adventures where they offer a free child admission with the adult, BOGO sales, and they can be a little more flexible than the other website.
Our first affordable family adventure in Puerto Vallarta was Aquaventuras, which is a waterpark with animal encounters. It was about 15-20 minutes from our hotel by taxi and the taxi cost $3-5 USD (ish) each way. We spent the day on the waterslides, then made friends with the dolphins and sea lions. We booked the sea lion excursion through Puerto Vallarta tours because, at the time, the kids were free with the purchase of the adult ticket and the sea lion encounter included admission to the waterpark. The waterpark itself wasn’t as extensive as many of the ones in the United States, but there was lots to do for all ages. Here is a current (as in I just screenshotted) rates for the same Sea Lion adventure from both websites. You’ll see that Puerto Vallarta tours is just a little bit less.
I also prearranged a Pirate Adventure cruise to Majahuitas Island (Natural Reserve only accessible by boat) where we went Snorkeling, Kayaking, rode Banana boats, played Beach Volleyball, and went on a Treasure Hunt! I thought that the kids might like it and they had the time of their lives. We watched full on pirate debauchery on the cruise to/from the island (about 45 minutes each way) and witnessed the actors be thrown overboard! There were meals, drinks, and activities the whole time. This adventure was not available through any third party website, so I booked directly through them. It was a little higher priced, but also took care of all of our food and drink needs that day. However, they currently have 25% off adults and 50% off children on the Majahuitas Cruise that we did and I think I got similar pricing back in April. Just check back occasionally to see what the discounts look like for your family budget.
Our final outing was a tour of the city, including a trip to the tequila distillery, and a native park called Kawitu. We got this as a free perk from our hotel, however, I just checked the Puerto Vallarta tours website and it is $29.50 for adults and $14.75 for children. Meals are not included, so I would encourage bringing snacks, and they do offer a pretty fancy late lunch at Kawitu. I did not know that lunch was going to be at like 3pm and I definitely did NOT bring enough snacks, we were starving. The tour bus took us to the malecon (boardwalk), El Palacio Municipal (City Hall), the main plaza and other city landmarks, such as the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe), and the flea market area. It is super affordable, great for families on a budget, and a really awesome day time adventure to see more of the city.
Food and Drink
You guys know that I am all about finding the best deal and ways for our family to travel on a budget, right? Therefore, we did not do All Inclusive at our resort in Puerto Vallarta. I know that people prefer to (a) not have to worry about cooking and (b) like to eat and drink to their hearts content, however, it just does not make sense for us when we bring the kids. Our 13 year old now has to pay adult rates (which is $110+ a day!). There was a market at our resort for necessities, but we were right in the middle of town and we walked to Soliana (kind of like a Walmart) that was 3 blocks away. It was the best decision we made. We bought food and alcohol for the week for about $150 USDnand grabbed extra necessities as needed from the resort market. We had a couple of nice dinners, but otherwise made breakfast and sandwiches in the room on the days that we weren’t on excursions. It would have been $385 PER DAY for our family of 4 to do All inclusive (3 adults x $110, 1 child x $55 half price). That would have been $2310 for the 6 days we were there! Um, no thanks. I will order $10 nachos from the pool bar for every meal before I pay you that much money for our food…
Transportation
Taxis were the way to go you guys. We did arrange an airport shuttle for our arrival (because I strongly dislike the airport chaos and people trying to suck you in to timeshare presentations), but both of our excursions were by taxi as well as a trip to a sister resort from ours. The drivers were nice, the rates were fantastic, and they were always ready and waiting for people. When you compare $10-20 per person for a shuttle or $20 total (for all 4 of us) in a taxi, AND it leaves when you want rather than waiting on 10 other people… I’ll take the taxi every. time.
A brief note on air transportation. We took Southwest (no bag fees!) for this trip, but could not find a direct flight to Puerto Vallarta from Des Moines, Minneapolis, or Chicago. When you have a connection, but travel internationally, it’s similar to going through airport security twice and lugging all of your bags (checked and carry-ons) with you the whole time. Getting through customs in Denver on the way back, before travelling on to Minneapolis, is an inconvenience that I don’t recommend. This extra stop on our itinerary made our travel days several hours longer. We have had pretty good luck with direct flights to Cancun from Minneapolis (3.5 hours and your there!) and I will talk about Cancun in a future post. I promise.
Did you see the cover photo on this website? The beautiful sunset with palm tree? That is taken from our resort’s beach in Puerto Vallarta, it is by far my favorite sunset photo. I would definitely recommend Puerto Vallarta for families or couples. There were tons of activities and excursions. We would like to go back to see some of the things we didn’t make it to this time. I heard that they have performances and free events in the evening at the malecon (boardwalk), but we didn’t know that until our final day. There is also ziplining, ATVs, scuba diving, sunset cruises, and anything else your heart could desire to explore. My best advise is still to shop around, even in Mexico there are discount tour sites!
Have you been to Puerto Vallarta? Share your photos and adventures with us on social:
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And if you have any travel questions, I am happy to help! Message me on social or email me at familytravelonabudget@gmail.com. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction.