Gay Guide to Puerto Vallarta
In September 1963 John Huston began shooting The Night of the Iguana at Mismaloya, just south of what was then a small fishing town, and Richard Burton arrived with Elizabeth Taylor in tow. Several hundred reporters and photographers followed them for the better part of three months. Puerto Vallarta stopped being anonymous that autumn and has never gone back. The legal groundwork came far later: Mexico's Supreme Court struck down Jalisco's marriage ban in January 2016, and by October 2022 all thirty-two states had marriage equality.
Zona Romántica, the Old Town south of the Cuale river, is the whole scene, and it is dense enough to cover on foot in an evening. Lázaro Cárdenas carries CC Slaughters, La Noche, Industry, Wet Dreams and Reinas, with Mr. Flamingo on the corner that everyone ends up at. Basilio Badillo adds Kinky and the Studs bear bar, Anónimo and One Six One sit on Rodolfo Gómez, and Paco's Ranch runs the drag shows.
Playa Los Muertos is the beach, and the gay stretch is the southern end, marked by the Blue Chairs. Mantamar next door is the beach club that runs day parties and effectively sets the daytime rhythm of the town, with Sapphire Ocean Club alongside it.
What genuinely distinguishes Vallarta is the lodging. Very few places anywhere have this many gay-specific hotels: Almar, Blue Chairs, Casa Cupula, Piñata PV and La Dolce Vita all cater to the crowd rather than merely tolerating it, which changes the feel of a whole trip.
Vallarta Pride has run each May since 2013. Beyond it, the calendar is weather: high season runs roughly November through April, and the summer is hot, wet and much cheaper, with a noticeably smaller and more local crowd.