Tours in Puerto Vallarta

[Annie3131]

Hello all,

We are going to be staying in PV in December, not on a cruise. I wanted to see if anyone knows of a good tour company to deal with so we could get some excursions from our hotel. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Annie

[Family Man]

Here are a couple of links to previous posts that were incredibly helpful to me when planning our trip to PV 5 weeks ago. There is a plethora of information here. I have a couple of other links at home that I will post later, but these will get you started. Sooner or later, I am going to sit down and write out my thoughts/review on things we did and places we ate (we went to some good ones). Briefly, we went on a horseback ride, did the zip lines at Los Veranos Canopy Tour, and went on the Rhythms of the Night Tour. All were OUTSTANDING. It is nice stopping at PV on a cuise, but an all together different experience to be able to spend a week in PV Paradise!

 

The links:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=247594

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=362951

 

Another good one since my trip:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=381390

 

As mentioned above, I have some other links on my Favorites at home. Paul (MSN-Travelers) is most helpful and knowledgeable. Take his advice and just get money from ATMs at the major banks versus going to a currency exchange. If you do want to exchange cash, go directly into a bank for the best exchange rate. YOU WILL NEED your passport if you do. There are a few folks that own timeshares in PV that frequent this board and they will probably be your best source of information.

[Family Man]

Here are the PV links I have in my favorites. Some are duplicates from what were in the previous posts listed above.

 

http://www.vallartaonline.com/ I used them and was pleased.

 

http://www.vallarta-adventures.com/ This is who most of the cruiselines use.

 

Do a search for J & S Tours in Puerto Vallarta. For some reason CC blocks their link every time I try to post it. Johann and Sandra post here often.

 

http://www.vallartatoday.com/ This is an English language online news page.

 

http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com/ We did this tour and it was awesome!!!

 

http://www.ranchoelcharro.com/ This is who went horseback riding with. I booked it through Vallarta Online. Pam, the owner of Rancho El Charro is the mother-in-law of the man who owns Vallarta Online and PVNet. PVNet is the internet cafe across the street for the Sheraton Buganvilias where we got a package of 70-80 minutes (I don't remember exactly) for 10 pesos (around 87 cents).

 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

[MSN-Travelers]

Hello all,

 

We are going to be staying in PV in December, not on a cruise. I wanted to see if anyone knows of a good tour company to deal with so we could get some excursions from our hotel. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

 

Annie

 

Looks like Tim (Family_Man) has given you a good start. Look at the third party tour broker sites to get a feel for what is available. In many cases, the tour operator will have their own web site and may offer discounts equal to or greater than the broker.

 

You say you are staying in PV and are looking for excursions from your hotel. If you don’t mind my asking, where will you be staying? I ask because many people think a hotel/resort out in Nuevo Vallarta is the same as being in Puerto Vallarta. It’s not the same and you may find that there are very few excursions that offer pick-up/drop-off service out in NV. In fact, I don’t know of that many that still offer PO/DO service in Vallarta any more. Nearly all taxi drivers speak enough English to take you wherever typical tourists go and carry on a limited conversation.

 

Advance planning can affect what you will pay for excursions in the greater PV area. You can pay the “right off the street full price” or make an advance purchase via the internet with a discount. You can also get free tickets to popular activities or significantly reduced (40-60% off) prices if you are willing to sit through a timeshare pitch.

 

We have timeshares in PV (Sheraton Buganvilias) and out in NV (Grand Velas). Both offer a “welcome breakfast” or “club update get together” as a means to pitch additional weeks. If we go to the meeting, then we get access to excursions at the significantly reduced rates. Expect your hotel to make the same "breakfast" offer. The Mexican Government used to have a program to promote tourism in Vallarta. The Government actually paid the resort X amount of dollars for every tourist they could pitch a timeshare membership to. It was around $300 at one point and is likely a program that is still running today. That is how the resorts can afford to offer free tickets, reduced rate tickets and even cash just for you to sit through a TS pitch. It’s a game and if you know the rules, you can play and save/make some money at the same time. Just be able to say NO, NOT INTERESTED AT THIS TIME with firm resolve at the end of the sales pitch.

 

Two Vallarta web sites that offer low commercial content, up-to-date information and have local discussion boards too are: ***** and http://www.vallarta-info.com/

 

I know this is extremely generic information. Feel free to ask specific questions and I will try to get answers for you.

 

Enjoy!

[Family Man]

The Mexican Government used to have a program to promote tourism in Vallarta. The Government actually paid the resort X amount of dollars for every tourist they could pitch a timeshare membership to. It was around $300 at one point and is likely a program that is still running today. That is how the resorts can afford to offer free tickets, reduced rate tickets and even cash just for you to sit through a TS pitch.

 

Two Vallarta web sites that offer low commercial content, up-to-date information and have local discussion boards too are: ***** and

 

You continue to teach me new things oh great OB1 Canobie-Puerto Vallarta mentor :D ;) !!! I wondered how the resorts could so drastically reduce such popular tours. Cool discussion board too!

[cruzin'd]

We have booked a whale watching excursion at vallartawhales.com for Dec.It's on a zodiac raft and we thought it would be interesting and fun as well.

[Ine]

We have booked a whale watching excursion at vallartawhales.com for Dec.It's on a zodiac raft and we thought it would be interesting and fun as well.

 

You will love it, we have done it 3 times before....

The Zodiac can sail fast, as soon as whales are spotted. Best chance to see many.

But be preprared, no bathroom on board.