The Local Hangouts: Well-informed travel websites and books often provide accurate information about “must-see” spots and landmarks but can fall short on providing insight about the places where locals like to hang out.
Looking Ahead: Five Trends to Follow: What are some of the interesting trends, people or places to watch closely in the next few months? Nobody knows for sure. That said, here are some that have caught our attention.
An Endless Disco Night: Once you’ve put on your best disco duds and styled your hair, you just need a final check in the mirror before the fun begins.
Música Mexicana: Seven Artists to Consider: Just as Mexico is turning heads on the silver screen, thanks to young performers such as Salma Hayek and Gael García Bernal, Mexican musicians are crossing the border and finding success and popularity all over the world.
Where is the Best Dining View in Puerto Vallarta?: When it comes to glorious Puerto Vallarta sunsets and spectacular dining views, we all have our own favorites.
Live Music Options in Puerto Vallarta: From colorful and lively performers bouncing from one city bus to another all day long, to sassy vocalists crooning jazz standards into the microphone at a local lounge, live music abounds in Puerto Vallarta.
Behind the Scenes at Rhythms of the Night: An accomplished pianist plays Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as if it were the melody line of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and a gifted chef prepares a perfect Grand Marnier soufflé as easily as you or I would take the lid off a container of ice cream and scoop some into a dish.
Jazz in Puerto Vallarta: A number of professional jazz musicians have found their way to our destination, some as tourists, others to work for a season or two, and then there are those who have chosen Puerto Vallarta as their permanent residence.
Lenny: Music a la Carte: About four years ago, while I was having dinner at
Daiquiri Dick’s, Lenny appeared with his guitar, offering music table to table. At the request of my companions, I ended up singing Sabor a Mi in harmony with this talented artist. I recently had the opportunity to interview him in the very same restaurant.
39 Vallarta Essentials: You cannot visit Paris, no matter how brief a stay, and miss the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, or spend any time in San Francisco without succumbing to the temptation of crossing its majestic Golden Gate Bridge. Each popular world destination has its very own list of must-see/must-do items and Puerto Vallarta is no exception.
Music: Movers and Shakers: We cannot possibly do justice to the increasingly vast and varied live music scene here in Puerto Vallarta in a single installment. Like waves on the sand, every year seems to come and go, leaving behind new and memorable performances by talented performers from all walks of life.
Mexican Pyrotechnics: From Gunpowder to the Marigalante: Spend enough evenings around downtown Puerto Vallarta and you'll find you no longer need a watch, especially around 9 pm, when the daily Marigalante pirate ship fireworks light up the night sky. Here in Mexico we need practically no excuse to set off fireworks.
South Side Hot Spot: We dare you, double dare you, to say the name Basilio Badillo to the person next to you without hesitating — or peeking at its syllabic pronunciation below. Because this happening north-south street, also coined “Restaurant Row” and “Calle de los Cafés,” is one you will definitely want to discover again and again.
The Viva Girls: A Dash of Class and a Lot of Marketing Savvy: Surprises happen in Vallarta when you least expect them, like when having dinner at a nice restaurant, say. And suddenly, four gorgeous women in capes glide in, appearing before you smiling broadly ...
Best Place for Free Entertainment: Around the Main Square: Vallarta offers an abundance of free concerts, plays, movies, dance performances and much more all around the bay. But when it comes to consistently conveying Vallarta’s vibrant cultural manifestations, nothing beats our Main Plaza beside City Hall and the oceanfront Malecon right across from it at the Los Arcos outdoor amphitheater. And here’s what our senior photographer, Eduardo Solorzano, saw when he wandered there awhile.
Best Place for Free Mariachi Music: Tequila’s Cafe: By day, Tequila’s Café on the Malecon offers a panoramic view of Banderas Bay, complete with the spectacle of humpback whales cavorting in the crystalline waters during the winter months. By night, patrons can enjoy some of the best mariachi music around, ideally while dining on the restaurant’s romantic wraparound balcony perched one story above the street action, just opposite the seahorse sculpture.
The BEST of Vallarta 2006: Vallarta has come of age in so many aspects recently that chosing topics for this annual Best Of Section is becoming both more challenging and more rewarding. Our editorial team has selected things that remind us there is so much to be discovered here.
Best Looking Female Impersonator: Ida Slapter: We met because of a tin-foil tiara. I was wearing it while celebrating something or other at the Red Cabbage five years ago, when in sauntered Shane Clabaugh with his entourage. As beautiful as any woman, eyes startlingly blue and the longest legs I’d ever seen, he took my breath away.
Best After Hours Club: The Zoo: If you are a night owl, the Zoo is the place for you. With a 4 to 6 am curfew and an unbelievable atmosphere, the party just never seems to end. The Zoo is Puerto Vallarta’s favorite after-hours club, and on Saturday nights it is packed with both tourists and locals. Located at Paseo Díaz Ordaz 630, on the Malecon, it is the first choice for late-night dancing, socializing and partying. Prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is great, the security is good, and access to taxis in the wee hours is no problem.
Best New Dance Craze: Tango: Whether you speak English, Spanish, Swahili or all three is irrelevant when it comes to learning tango, the hot, sensuous dance that originated in 19th-century Buenos Aires and has taken PV by storm since tango instructors Barbara and Al Garvey moved to town two years ago.
