Funviralpark 
Megan Drillinger
Gone are the sleepy days of Puerto Vallarta. A once obscure getaway on Mexico’s Pacific coast, he’s become one of the hottest tickets in town. Luxury condominiums rise above cobbled, tree-lined streets. Websites like Eater write full coverage dedicated to the exploding culinary scene around town. The beach is booming. Airports are expanding. The quiet coastline to the north and south of the city is home to some of the world’s most famous brands. Puerto Vallarta is arguably Mexico’s next big thing.
A quick look at the numbers proves this. In November he was visited by 341,800 international arrivals. This is a 20.9% increase from November 2019 and a 19.4% increase from November 2021. According to the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, 2022 forecasts predict that total arrivals will exceed his 6 million by the end of the year. “Puerto Vallarta is beyond recovery and is on a strong growth trajectory,” said Luis Villasenor, managing director of the Tourism Board.
The destination’s growth trajectory is fueled not only by the development and gentrification of the city itself, but also by the topic-worthy projects happening around it. and both are still paying off from the significant investments of the past decade.
A new wave of resorts in Costaregre
Most recently, Costalegre welcomed Four Seasons Tamarind. Bookings for this magnificent resort opened on his November 7th. Surrounded by 3,000 acres of private nature reserves, Four Seasons Tamarind exemplifies a new level of luxury that redefines Mexican standards. The 157 guest rooms and public spaces are designed to blend in with the landscape, with an emphasis on local materials and a spirit of preserving the land and giving back.
Felix Murillo, General Manager of Four Seasons Tamarindo, said: “Our dream is to bring things into the resort, but we leave nothing behind. Everything we consume becomes organic compost. We have pigs that eat compost. We’re back on land again, we produce our own food, we want to add to the area, we’re another layer of that.”
Our second project on the horizon is Xala, the highly anticipated luxury lifestyle community. Xala aims to give back and serve the people who live here, and integrate seamlessly into the community with minimal impact on the landscape.
The project is already in full swing with community services, bringing clean drinking water to towns and villages, providing mental health services for children and teenagers, launching skate parks, after-school programs for students, and more. On the hospitality side, Xala has signed a deal with Anchor Hotel, a world-renowned luxury brand that debuts in the fall of 2024 and is yet to be found in Mexico. Following the opening of the airport near Xala, guests and residents will be able to hop on a shuttle flight from Puerto Vallarta, reducing travel time from about three hours to just 20 minutes by car.
“Costalegre is a very unique region in Mexico because five different developers control more than 40 kilometers of coastline. We have a vision of being undeveloped.It’s not just sustainable.In fact, we’re trying to be renewable development,” said Ricardo Santa Cruz, founding partner of Xala. I’m here.
Puerto Vallarta Development Continues
And then there’s Puerto Vallarta, which has changed dramatically since I became a regular in 2013. Gustavo Diaz Airport has already started construction of a new terminal. The project, which will be Latin America’s first zero-energy airport terminal, will be equipped with solar panels and a water management system that will reduce energy consumption by 40% and water consumption by 35%. The airport currently handles 3 million passengers a year, and the new terminal will increase passenger capacity by 50%.
Puerto Vallarta is far more than a beach destination and has become a full-fledged city. There are designer shopping malls, gourmet grocers, luxury condominiums, skyscrapers, and a culinary scene that can serve up everything from street corner biria tacos to creative biria his soups. Ramen, elegant tasting menus and experimental cocktails.
Yet beneath the wheels of traffic are (oh, traffic!) cobbled streets. Terracotta tile-roofed villas still line the road that winds up into the hills, and bougainvillea flowers tower over the whitewashed façades of centuries-old buildings. My family still jumps into the bay at 7am to take a dip before heading off to work. And at night, churro skirt steam whistle pierces the damp air. The shadow of that small fishing village is there, and if you know where to look, they continue to make this place one of his favorite places on earth.
