The beaches in Puerto Vallarta are not as soft and pristine as those you may find in the Caribbean. They tend to be more of a rough, pebble type sand. While it is wonderful to walk, even in bare feet, more people tend to sit on lounge chairs rather than towels. Kids love to play in it, non the less, but adults tend to keep their things up near the hotel pool area and take a brief walk, or wait for early morning runs or evening sunsets. Coming from the Midwest, we love all beaches in tropical climates. We love Puerto Vallarta so much that the beaches aren't bad enough to keep us from visiting.

We took an excursion from our hotel to an all-inclusive private beach area across the bay. They started pouring drinks when you boarded the large boat to ferry you over to the other side of the bay. The trip was about 30 to 45 minutes and there were around 40 people on board. Once over on the beach, they provided all the water gear you needed: snorkels, kayaks, a swim platform, lounge chairs, etc. They also served a fantastic buffet lunch, alcohol (beer, wine, and mixed drinks) included. It was the best beach area around. It cost around $40 per person. I do not know if they provide a discount for kids or if they are even allowed.

Go people-watching while applying suntan lotion, sip cold beverages, eat lunch, listen to music, take long walks in the surf with amigos or alone, and buy things off the beach.

While visiting Puerto Vallarta, you cannot escape the tendency to shop and buy things even though sometimes you say, "I don’t need that!"

However, shopping is fun and another way to meet people or learn more about this fine community.

Puerto Vallarta offers diversified shopping opportunities, from a very sophisticated shop in Old Town, aka Zona Romantica, to well-known shops at Marina Vallarta to very friendly beach vendors.

It is up to you what you would really like to purchase or add to your collection. For example, we are collectors of the primitive musical instruments and masks from all over the world. You may buy them in galleries, souvenir shops, or from beach vendors. In our case, the most beautiful artistic mask we bought on our last day was at the beach. The vendor himself was an artist, and it was fun to haggle the price. In the end, we got surprisingly high-quality, good art and talked for about 3 hours with the artist about subjects we would have never been able to get information about elsewhere.

The beach was great. I’m not a great swimmer, so I didn’t go in to dip. But I did walk out to my waist! I picked seashells along the beach, which was really nice. We saw a HUGE sea turtle...I never seen a turtle so big! There were daily activities, including a long walk down the beach. It was beautiful - I mean, you could walk for miles if you chose.