The Vallarta Adventure Canopy Tour is basically traversing among the treetops. Upon arriving at the tour office and checking in, you get into a shuttle which takes you about 45 minutes into the Sierra Madre jungle. The guide passes out some bananas and granola bars and you spend the time getting to know the other tour participants.
The tour takes place near the outskirts of Las Palmas. The scariest part is when you are going up these mountains and the road is barely wide enough to house the van and you look like you’re going to go tumbling down the mountainside. Our driver was very nice and would point out different types of vegetation and always kept it on the humorous side.
You are let out upon reaching the location and there are about 5-6 guides that will take you through the entire course. Um, I don’t have the facts with me here, but there are approximately 17 different traverses. It takes about 2-2 ½ hours to go through and then about a 15-minute walk back to the starting spot.
My husband and I thought the tour was great; a few other people thought there might be more to it. You are outfitted in gear that is similar to rock-climbing gear, and you wear these leather gloves that are used to guide and slow your accent through the trees. Some people were very scared, but everyone enjoyed themselves in the end.
A scary part is that when you are waiting for your turn, you are standing stories off the ground on a small platform that is only about 3-feet wide and is made of heavy plastic grate material; because the organization is environmentally friendly, the platforms are not attached to any of the trees with nails, only suspended and secured with rope.
From journal Adventures in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico