 We’ve certainly come a long way from the “sleepy little fishing village” in these photos, which make it very easy to see why Vallarta was destined to become such a desirable international resort — some 3,700,000 tourists visiting last year alone.
Actually, it wasn’t all that long ago when there were a lot more crocodiles than people here, the action up in the mountains, in Cuale, San Sebastian and Mascota, where silver mines drew workers from far and wide.
But things started changing in 1851, when our founding father, the young Guadalupe Sanchez — a boatman from Cihuatlán who traveled back and forth between here and San Blas delivering the salt required to process the metal — fell in love with the place, he and his bride settling in what would initially be called Las Peñas.
 Then the mining bubble burst in 1914, the displaced workers returning to agriculture, but this time in the fertile Ameca Valley — where the Ameca River divides the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. The soil yielded generous surpluses and the population thrived, Las Peñas becoming the municipality of Puerto Vallarta in 1918. This intensive agricultural phase ended about 1935, when big tracts of land were confiscated as a result of the Mexican Revolution.
Next, Vallartenses turned toward the ocean, finding a new source of wealth in sharks, their fins ending up on the tables of Chinese restaurants until depleted by over fishing by 1949. Midway during this chapter in Puerto Vallarta’s growth, the town was formally promoted for the very first time in a New York magazine, which offered a flight from Guadalajara to “a primitive place of hunting and fishing.”
The tourism phase of Puerto Vallarta’s development had begun. Despite a lack of basic comforts like electricity and telephones, artists and intellectuals from all over the USA and Mexico were seduced by the town’s friendly people and spectacular beauty. And then movie director John Huston’s “The Night of the Iguana” sealed the deal in the early ‘60s, firmly entrenching “PV” front and center on the tourist map.
About the same time, Mexico City engineer Guillermo Wulff and architect Fernando “Freddy” Romero came to town, greatly influencing the direction its architecture would take. They contributed to a distinctive home design known as Old Vallarta-style architecture, its charming elements — whitewashed adobe facades, pitched roofs with red clay tiles, stone walls, and decorative wrought-iron, niches and cupolas — featured in many a home here to this day.
 Truly an exceptional place, Puerto Vallarta is still a typical Mexican town in all the ways that matter, yet also a sophisticated world-class resort offering everything one could hope for. A plethora of architects, designers and professionals of all kinds have settled here for the same good reasons that the rest of us have, or want to. So we enjoy top-quality service providers in every category.
A recent dramatic boom in real estate development means you can find every conceivable kind of property in a wide range of prices and locations, “Vallarta” for all intents and purposes now encompassing the entire Bay of Banderas and then some! Marina Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, on a mountain, beside a river, tucked into a funky cobblestone street, the possibilities for where and how one lives in Vallarta are seemingly infinite. Oceanfront properties are particularly sought after, a host of luxurious villas, condominium complexes and resort and residential communities to chose from. But with the current international focus on Vallarta as the place to invest, one has to act fast, retiring baby boomers snapping up second homes the minute they come on the market.
When it comes to holiday accommodations, until the 1970s visitors had just two upscale options: the former Camino Real and Posada Vallarta, now Dreams and the nH Krystal respectively. The Oceana, Rosita and Playa de Oro were also among PV’s first hotels. Then hotel construction began in earnest, taking off in a big way in the late ‘80s, lots of huge resorts, many all-inclusive, now lining prime beachfront.
At the northern tip of the bay in Punta Mita, one finds the most prestigious hotels in the world, as well as an unparalleled lifestyle that other local developers are tapping into, many a villa owner enjoying the same privileges as hotel guests. The newest advance in how one vacations is Costa Vallarta Boutique Villas, an exclusive collection of luxurious, pre-qualified villas offering five-star concierge services. Whether your preference is functional, sophisticated elegance or barefoot-with-linen, Vallarta definitely has what you’re looking for.
 There has been a revolution in the way folks eat and entertain here. Along with the simple foods folks have traditionally enjoyed — lots of fresh seafood, locally grown fruit and vegetables, and the standard Mexican fare — chefs from around the world settling here have brought exotic global cuisines and approaches with them. And today Vallarta’s culinary scene is superior to that of any other resort destination in the country, the prestigious Festival Gourmet International every November, Restaurant Week in May, gastronomic competitions and many more exciting culinary events attracting those who really appreciate good food and drink. And having some 1,000 eateries of all stripes to choose from means dining out is a big part of Vallarta’s social life.
Getting from point A to point B has also changed radically. With few roads and fewer bridges (suspension ones at that), burros and small boats once handily did the job. But today there are 10 or so vehicular bridges, and the main road into town from the airport is eight lanes wide. Taxis and buses are everywhere, as are cars, parking garages recently added to the mix.
To handle escalating air traffic, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport has just undergone a $13 million USD renovation and expansion. In 2005, 2,758,000 passengers passed through the terminal, compared to 2,279,000 the year before. During the first quarter of 2006, passenger traffic rose 18% over that same period the year before. And the executive Aerotron hangar, which recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary, now receives an average of 480 private planes a month, compared to 30 the year it opened.
Before construction began on our Maritime Terminal in 1970, ships anchored off the Malecon and Los Muertos Beach, goods and passengers ferried back and forth by panga. Montgomery Fruit vessels, seen frequently until that American company abruptly left the country in the mid-30s, came to collect “green gold,” unripe bananas and the chicle used to make chewing gum. These days, it’s mainly tourists that come and go, an estimated 455,900 arriving by cruise ship in 2006, compared to 133,061 a decade before, cruise ship arrivals up 233% in the past 10 years alone. A recent $25 million USD renovation and expansion to the Maritime Terminal now allows it to host four liners simultaneously.
 When it comes to activities, strolling the oceanfront Malecon (which was recently extended), fishing, sunning, playing in the surf and horseback riding used to be about it. Now the sky’s the limit and we can fly through the tree canopy, swim with dolphins, take tango and tennis lessons, and golf on more than half a dozen courses in the immediate area, with regularly scheduled events taking place around these activities and a host of others.
No matter the time of year, there is always something special going on, whether it be a procession, parade, festival or fiesta. Despite the explosion in tourism, real people still call it home and fervently honor their age-old traditions. Vallarta even has its own chamber orchestra now, along with one of the most talented folkloric dance troupes in the country, lots of good English- and Spanish-language theater, and an international film festival owing much the legacy of long-time resident Huston.
too. While one can still patronize ambulatory vendors, wonderful old-fashioned markets and families operating cottage industries out of their homes — perhaps the living room given over to selling homemade piñatas or huaraches — most folks think first of going to an air-conditioned mall. You’ll find just about anything you could buy up north and then some in one-of-a-kind boutiques and popular US and Mexican department stores: Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Soriana here, and Sanborn’s soon will be.
The newest commercial venue to create a lot of excitement is the Peninsula Village Shopping Center, which anchors the luxurious Peninsula residential development.
And under development is a $40 million USD shopping center featuring Mexico’s best known retailer, Grupo Liverpool. When it opens in 2007, it will introduce a new definition of one-stop shopping, virtual tiendas included.
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