By Tom Adkinson
Feb 6, 2026
 |
|---|
| Grilled shrimp straight from Banderas Bay become snack food for people strolling on Puerto Vallarta’s seaside walkway called the Malecón. Image by Tom Adkinson |
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Conversations in this seaside destination usually involve where to watch the almost-daily spectacular sunset, when you will see a whale leap out of Banderas Bay and where to go for your next meal – and not necessarily in that order.
 |
|---|
| A strolling violinist adds a special touch to dining at the Hacienda de Oro, an open-air two-level restaurant at the center of the Vallarta Botanical Garden. Image by Tom Adkinson |
Food, and where to consume it, always seems to be a top-of-mind consideration, which isn’t to say that sunset vantages and whale behavior aren’t important.
Before breakfast is over at one of Puerto Vallarta’s multitude of mornings-only establishments, you’re discussing where to get lunch. Lunch plates aren’t cleared before the debate about where to have dinner arises. At dinner, you’re often trading restaurant ideas with people at adjacent tables. All this talk is made easier because the laid-back nature of Mexican restaurant service means that your server won’t bring your check until you ask for it. Few servers will make you feel rushed.
 |
|---|
| A sharable quesadilla brings a smile to the face of this diner at the Café San Angel in Puerto Vallarta’s Zona Romantica. Image by Tom Adkinson |
You don’t need to be a so-called foodie to appreciate the food scene in Puerto Vallarta, a small fishing community several decades ago and today a bustling metropolitan area of 600,000 residents and devoted visitors who come for a cultural shift – and in winter months for a climate shift. Winter mornings begin in the mid-60s, daytimes peak in the low 80s and evenings are thoroughly pleasant for outdoor dining.
Variations on traditional Mexican fare are omnipresent. Tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, quesadillas and huevos rancheros are common menu features. Puerto Vallarta wraps around a portion of Banderas Bay, which is one of the Pacific Coast’s most prolific fisheries, so fresh seafood is plentiful.
 |
|---|
| Scoring a corner table at La Cappella guarantees a romantic view of Puerto Vallarta and the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Image by Tom Adkinson |
A smoked marlin tostada at the restaurant called Barracuda’s, a tray of mahi tacos at Canto del Mar or a pulpo taco at Café San Angel prove the abundance of seafood. (Pulpo is octopus, and it delivers a taste and texture that make you define Mexican food in new ways.)
Camarones (shrimp) are big and juicy, and they appear in sometimes surprising ways. You might try a skewer full of shrimp from a vendor on the seaside walkway called the Malecón, and when you order a shrimp burger at Mar de Vallarta, you don’t get a patty of shrimp pieces squeezed into a circle. What you get is a hamburger bun packed with almost a dozen whole jumbo shrimp decorated with lettuce and a tomato slice and accompanied by a hefty order of french fries
 |
|---|
| Chef Miriam Flores chats with guests in her home for a cooking class in traditional Mexican fare. She also owns a French bistro. Image by Tom Adkinson |
The Olas Altas Saturday Market at Lazaro Cardenas Park opens a variety of culinary choices different from the Mexican-influenced fare you might expect. One vendor cooks Thai dishes to order, a daring vendor offers wood-smoked pulled pork that many Southern barbecue fans would enjoy and another vendor offers shepherd’s pies and lamb pasties.
To dive into traditional Mexican fare, check out Miriam’s Culinary Experience, a hand’s on evening of extraordinary dining and cultural education in the home of Chef Miriam Flores. In addition to her at-home cooking classes, Chef Flores offers a quite different dining experience at Café de Flores, an intimate French bistro, where you will not find tacos or tostadas.
 |
|---|
| Pulpo, whether presented formally as here at La Cappella or more casually in tacos, tostadas or quesadillas, is a popular seafood item in Puerto Vallarta. Image by Tom Adkinson |
While most Puerto Vallarta dining is very casual, restaurants worthy of dressing up and celebrating special occasions are available. The La Cappella Restaurante and the Iguana Restaurant are two examples. Both feature stunning nighttime views of Banderas Bay and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, and both have special stories.
La Cappella, housed in the seven-room boutique BellView Hotel is available only at dinner, because its tables are reserved for hotel guests earlier in the day. The Iguana is at Casa Kimberly, another boutique hotel, where memories of its most famous guests are vivid. Those guests? Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Trip-planning resources: VisitPuertoVallarta.com
(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available at Amazon.com.
