Nuevo Vallarta Holidays

Nuevo Vallarta starts at Marina Vallarta – Banderas Bay’s midway point. It then shoots an arrow-straight course up the coast all the way to Bucerías. On its way, it passes a seven-kilometre beach lined by a long row of luxury hotels. Behind the front, there’s a residential-resort community that’s grown up with a big bucks tag. Grand villas and residences with tropical gardens are the norm. And most of them have private piers by the canal, which weaves through the district. Elsewhere, galleries and restaurants border two marinas.

Nuevo Vallarta is the sister resort to Puerto Vallarta, but it begs and borrows nothing from its elder sibling. It’s neither city, nor village, but a brilliantly planned lattice of attractions. There’s no history here. Instead, it’s jam-packed with tennis clubs, dozens of restaurants and a waterpark, to list just a few. And if that’s not enough, the three local golf courses let you perfect your swing with views of both the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madre Mountains.

The resort’s beach is wide, white, and very long, yawning as far as the eye can see. It’s got a cheery atmosphere – spot-on for banana boats, boogie boarding, or just relaxing beneath a palapa’s thatch. Plus, the water’s warm with some waves to play in, but no strong currents. For even purer whipped-cream sands, push on to Bucerías, a 20-minute taxi ride from Nuevo Vallarta. It’s the last of the bay resorts before the coast arcs round to Punta de Mita, and has lots of space for everyone to do their own thing.

Depending on when you visit, you can see nature’s creatures in their finest hours. From December to April, hundreds of humpback whales come into the bay to mate and give birth. In July through to December, sea turtles born in the bay come back to lay their eggs. At the turtle farm on Flamingos Beach, you get to patrol the sands for mothers laying their eggs, and to release the little ones in to the sea.