Puerta Vallerta is a beautiful beach town with amazing sunsets. You won’t see the turquoise calm waters that you see on the Gulf side but the Pacific coast offers surfing, pristine beaches, and multi colored sunsets. If you want to get a good local feel, stay in the Zona Romantica area. Other than relaxing on the beach, here are my top 3 favorite things to do in the area.
1. Hike to secluded white sand beaches
My favorite thing to do in this area was the hike from Boca de Tomatlan to Las Animas. It was a coastal jungle hike sprinkled with secluded white sand beaches. Personally, I love finding hidden areas where I’m the only person vs a crowded beach. I maybe saw 2 others along this hike so I was loving every peaceful moment.
How to get there
I took a 30 min bus ride north from Puerto Vallarta to Boca de Tomatlan. The bus stop is in Old Town on the corner of Basillo Badillo and Constitucion (in front of the Oxxo conveient store). Its a hop on hop off bus with the destination written on the front windshield with marker. It might sound sketchy but it was absolutely safe, cheap and easy to get around without speaking Spanish. It cost about 8 pesos one way.
Boca de Tomatlan
When i arrived in Boca, I walked down the hill and looked for the pedestrian bridge. There was a bit of construction going on so I had a hard time finding it. After going down the hill I went left/inland and found a sign to cross the bridge. After the bridge, I turned right and walked until I found a rock that said, ‘Las Animas.’ There was a clear trail from this point on. This winding coastal hike went in and out of the jungle. There were no mosquitoes when I was there in February, but I’ve heard it can be quite buggy so better bring some insect repellent.
The trail passes by a cute cafe/restaurant on the water called Ocean Grill. tried to get a reservation but unfortunately they’re closed until further notice. Hopefully they will reopen because it’s really a beautiful location.
After Ocean Grill, theres a series of gorgeous secluded white sand beaches where I had the entire beach to myself! I spent the majority of the day enjoying the peace and relaxing.
(I passed some gorgeous off the beaten path air bnbs along the way: 2 BR air bnb, 3 BR air bnb , 6 BR villa and a quiet resort called La Troza)
Casitas Maraika
Before arriving to Las Animas I stopped for lunch at one of my favorite beach bars ever- Casitas Maraika. Beautiful views, tropical drinks, hammocks to relax in and fresh ceviche. The best part is you can only get here by hiking to it- this is an absolute must! I only had lunch here but they have rooms to rent overnight. The last, and my favorite secluded beach, is after this bar so get your fill of beach time before continuing on.
Las Animas back to Boca
It was quite busy when I arrived in Las Animas beach town with huts of food and drinks. I got a cold drink and headed to the water taxi dock. It was about 15 pesos for a water taxi back to Boca. Once in Boca, I walked back up the stairs to catch a bus back to Puerto Vallerta. The entire hike would have taken about 2 hours if I didn’t stop along the way, but I took my time on the beaches and made a day of it.
Video Recap of the hike
2. Hidden Beach
I first saw a photo of Hidden Beach on Pinterest and decided I have to find out where and how to get there. The full name is Playa del Amore on the Marieta Islands and you need a boat to get there.
Getting there
We asked locals and travel agents where we can hire a boat and supposedly they stopped all the boats for whatever reason. I was determined to get there anyway so we took a taxi to Punta de Mita, which is the closest point to the islands (theres also a bus to Punta de Mita but we were short on time).
The taxi dropped us off in front of the el Coral restaurant and the first guy we saw on this main road asked us if we were interested in going to the island. He took us 1 block inland from the el Coral restaurant to a little booth that was a booking center. I couldn’t believe how quickly we found someone to take us. He said he wanted to wait till he had more people so we laid out on the beach and relaxed until he came back. After 45 minutes he couldn’t find anyone so we ended up having a private boat. It was maybe a 30 minutes cruise to the islands.
Playa Del Amore
When we arrived on the outskirts of the island, I couldn’t see the beach at all. We jumped in the water and swam toward the island. As we got closer I could see a small opening. We swam through a tunnel until it opened up into a beautiful hidden beach with a circular hole above! From photos I’ve seen, there were so many people that you could barely see the beach. We were very lucky, as there was maybe 10 other people. At one point they left and we were the only ones there! 
Supposedly, the hole was created from a test bomb decades ago. Nature has completely overtaken it and now theres birds everywhere- but the island is a protected so we weren’t allowed to climb up and walk around. After we got back to the boat they drove us around to the opposite side where there was another hole visible from the outside and you could take a boat inside. If you’re here in December/January, you might see whales along the way.
3. Sayulita
If you’re able to spend a few days in Sayulita, I highly recommend it! It’s a surf town about an hour north of Puerta Vallarta (if I had more time I would have checked out San Pancho as well)
Accommodation
We stayed at an awesome boutique hotel called Petit Hafa . It was decorated in hearts and lit with candles everywhere! There was a roof top lounge area with chairs to lay in the sun and a shaded area with couches to chill on. This hotel had such a homey relaxing vibe to it.
I don’t know how expensive these hotels are, but I walked past them and they looked very nice.
–Amore Boutique Hotel – a little outside of town but right on the beach.
-Hotel Playa Escondida – outside of town and right on the beach, surrounded by jungle.
–Casa mis Amores-very nice villa on the beach
How to get there
It’s cheapest to take the bus straight from the airport to Sayulita- exit to the left from the airport and cross the bridge. The bus will be green and say Compostela. We were coming from Puerto Vallerta so we took a taxi for $50 USD.
Things to Do
-surfing: you can rent surf boards and lessons right now the beach
-turtle sanctuary: north end of the beach you can watch the babies be released
-Monkey Mountain: we didn’t have time for this but its supposed to be a great hike outside of town with a nice view at the top. It’s recommended you go with a guide as the entrance is on private land and the trail is hard to find at the start
-massages: $20/hour right on the beach
-yoga: there were a few yoga studios around town offering classes in the morning and at night. I took a great class from an amazing instructor and former Cirque du Soleil dancer, Willis Johnston, at Villas Sayulita.
Where to eat
-Chilis and Margaritas: chilis reonnos are incredible and their tequila is to die for. They make their own tequila infusions with 100% blue agave and the margaritas are the best I’ve ever had in my life! 
-La Reinita Paletas: fresh fruit juice popsicles with an option of alcoholic popsicles
-Tierra Viva: great food and good Bloody Mary’s
-Burrito Revolution
-Su Casa: great margaritas and guacamole
-Street food: all the street food we ate was very good
-SKIP Tacos my Ass: I went there because it was highly recommended but it’s OVER PRICED compared to the 20 cent tacos everywhere else
Thanks for reading and hopefully you enjoy Puerto Vallarta as much as I did!