Puerto Vallarta Restaurants and Dining

(Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico)

Puerto Vallarta is known throughout Jalisco for its fine dining and gastronomical delights. Many of the restaurants within the appealing port city of Puerto Vallarta offer dining with great coastal views and a variety of freshly caught seafood, often enjoying rooftop settings.

If you are lucky enough to be visiting Puerto Vallarta in November, you will be able to enjoy the city's International Gourmet Festival. Lasting around ten days, this event attracts a number of famous chefs from around the world and offers the chance to sample many tasty dishes and plenty of tequila.


Visitors staying in Puerto Vallarta and looking for something a little different in the way of dining will find the beach restaurants hard to beat. Known as 'de rigeur', these restaurants overlook the Bahia de Bandera (Banderas Bay) and feature thatched roofs and plenty of tasty dishes.

What to Eat

Classic Mexican cuisine, American-style fast-food restaurants and many European dishes can all be found within Puerto Vallarta. Many visitors favour dining within the main resort hotels, which cater well for tourists and provide extensive menus, with most featuring Mexican classics, such as enchilada (filled tortillas often topped with cheese), ceviche (seafood salad), spicy octopus omelette, grilled shrimps, lobsters and scallops.

You will find that Mexican dishes often use chilli as a major ingredient, being accompanied by salsa, guacamole and sour cream, and washed down with copious amounts of tequila.

Where to Eat

Some of the tastiest and also cheapest food in the whole of Puerto Vallarta can be found at the evening taco stands, which regularly line much of the Madero. Nearby, a cluster of family restaurants are also based around the Madero and offer economical dining and plenty of character.

Restaurants are plentiful all around downtown Puerto Vallarta and many boast outdoor terraces with pleasant surrounding scenery. Some of the most notable eateries and dining options within Puerto Vallarta's downtown district can be found along the Avenida Mexico, Avenue Juarez, Lazaro Cardenas, Morelos, Paseo Diaz Ordaz and Pino Suarez.

In particular, the best views of Banderas Bay are available along the Aguacuate and the Calle Ecuador, while a number of restaurants are also clustered around Los Muertos Beach (Playa de los Muertos). The Hard Rock Café is especially popular with tourists looking for lively dining in Puerto Vallarta and located in the Malecon area.

Most restaurants on the southern side of the Cuale River cater well for tourists and in particular, the Basilio Badillo has become the city's 'restaurant row', featuring some of the most highly acclaimed restaurants in the whole of Puerto Vallarta. Also look out for dining venues and riverside cafes on the nearby Isla Rio Cuale (River Cuale Island), waterfront restaurants around the Marina Vallarta and the Paseo de la Marina, and the numerous beachfront restaurants around Olas Altas. Various eateries and restaurants are scattered along Puerto Vallarta's Highway 200, a number of which overlook the Lindo Mar beach, where it is even possible to whale watch between November and March.