Is it the wonderful seafood? The abundance of fresh local fruit and vegetables? The Mexican love of intense flavors? Or all of these reasons? Whatever it is, Puerto Vallarta is a foodie mecca that has attracted top-level chefs, adventurous restauranteurs, and avid food lovers.
If you love Mexican cuisine, Puerto Vallarta is a hotbed of both traditional and innovative cooking. Take a cooking class, take a food tour, or take a table and you will return from your visit with food memories and new recipes to add to your repertoire.
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta
Vallarta Food Tours, Avenida México, 5 de Diciembre, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Vallarta Food Tours
Miriam's Culinary Experience, Calle Fco. I. Madero, Zona Romántica, Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Miriam's Culinary Experience
My Mexican Kitchen Cooking Classes and Catering, Agustín Melgar, Colonia Zona Dorada, Bucerías, Nayarit, Mexico
My Mexican Kitchen
Langostinos Restaurant & Bar, Playa de los Muertos, Manuel M. Dieguez, Zona Romántica, Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Langostinos Restaurant & Bar
Mr Cream Pancakes and Waffles, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico
Mr. Cream Pancakes and Waffles
Mezcal & sal, Calle Fco. I. Madero, Zona Romántica, Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Mezcal & Sal
Tintoque, Aquiles Serdán, Zona Romántica, Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Tintoque
Mercado del Mar 5 de Diciembre, San Salvador, 5 de Diciembre, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Mercado del mar 5 de Diciembre
Baca Market, Lázaro Cárdenas, Zona Romántica, Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Baca Market
Best Places for Breakfast in Puerto Vallarta
Breakfast is an important meal in Mexico so there are many places where you can explore all the specialty dishes that are unique to the area. You haven’t had a real breakfast until you’ve had a breakfast burrito!
Langostinos Restaurant & Bar
Langostinos is a casual beachside cafe that serves a fine breakfast – fat breakfast burritos, stuffed with scrambled eggs, or a shrimp ceviche are good choices. They serve an gorgeous fruit plate too, and since the cafe is right beside the pier, you can watch the local fishermen getting ready for the day.
Breakfast with your feet in the sand? Best way to start the day!
Mr. Cream Pancakes and Waffles
If you are staying in the Marina area of PV, or have wandered out there for a morning visit, try Mr. Cream. Excellent coffee, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, and lovely fluffy waffles and pancakes. After breakfast, take a walk along the marina for views of expensive boats, the lighthouse, and the ocean.
Best Things To Do in the Morning in Puerto Vallarta
Mornings are the time to hit the local markets. Wander beyond the main streets in PV and you will stumble across a fresh market. The variety and freshness of the vegetables and fruit is astounding and lovely to look at, even if you won’t be in a position to cook anything. And there are fish markets where you can pick up some of those wonderful Mazatlan shrimp if you have cooking facilities in your accommodations.
Mercado del mar 5 de Diciembre
Located on San Salvador, near the cemetery, this fish market is the best place in the city for fresh seafood and fish – it is where most of the city’s chefs get their fresh fish.
Baca Market
This fresh market at the top of Lazara Cardenas is not just a perfect place to pick up fresh things. It is also eye candy – fat mangos, gigantic pineapples, juicy oranges, and every kind of pepper you can imagine. The woman behind the counter will pick out your avocados for you – “For today or for tomorrow?” she will ask. And she never chooses wrongly. The avocados she gives you will always be perfect.
Best Things To Do in the Afternoon in Puerto Vallarta
Get out of the sun for a while and take a cooking class. Many of the best local chefs conduct cooking classes in their kitchens. It is the perfect way to absorb the flavours of the city.
Miriam's Culinary Experience
Chef Miriam Flores is Cordon Bleu trained but she tells me that she learned everything important about food and cooking at the side of her grandmother in their small village.
Miriam’s classes are intimate and authentic and at the end of the class, you get to eat all the lovely things you learned to cook!
Best Places for Dinner in Puerto Vallarta
The dining choices are almost overwhelming in Puerto Vallarta – there are so many options. For those who are open to new culinary experiences, or those who really, really love a gourmet experience, Puerto Vallarta will not disappoint.
Mezcal & Sal
Mezcal & Sal is a sophisticated bistro that puts an artsy spin on Mexican dishes and serves up exciting and powerful flavors. One of the things they do best is innovative cocktails, served in imaginative ways. Their Mexican poutine is delicious!
The present location is right at the foot of Calle Maderos, just steps from the beach, but the restaurant is planning to move to a new location in August 2023. When I dined there, we sat on the tiny patio, with a slice of a view of the beach. It was one of my best meals in PV – service was smart and courteous and the dishes were gorgeous to look at and an adventure in flavours to eat.
Tintoque
Tintoque is one of the most popular fine dining restaurants in PC. Vallartense Chef Joel Ornelas makes creative and exciting dishes based on local specialaties.
The menu changes daily, depending on what’s fresh in the markets, but there is always a seafood dish and it is always a great choice. This is the place for your blow-out dining experience in Puerto VAllarta.
After Dark in Puerto Vallarta
Food trucks & sidewalk vendors
Many of the best food trucks and sidewalk vendors don’t really start up in earnest until it’s dark.
Stroll through the old town and try a burrito, a taco, or a bowl of pozole rojo – the vendors are happy to share their tips and stories about local food. There’s a man who makes the best churros in town and he usually doesn’t set up his table until after dark. The Famous Churros Man sets up around four pm near the church on Calle Aguacate – or just ask someone where to find ‘The Churros man’!
The oldest taco stand in town is Taqueria Mendoza on Calle Lazaro Cardenas. Great place for an informal and affordable evening taco pig-out!
Bonus Pro Tips
When you are walking on the malecon, look out for the man with a cart selling cocadas. Those are triangle shaped bundles of deliciousness – mounds of shredded coconut bound together with a sweet syrup. They are the perfect treat for the end of a meal – or for anytime actually. If you can’t find the cocada man, the little Mexican confectionary store on Basillio Badillo, La Casa Del Dulce, has them.
