
Puerto Vallarta With Kids
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It’s our tradition to go to Puerto Vallarta over July 4th weekend, we have been 4 years in a row so far! Though we do venture out of the hotel to explore and eat yummy food, this is a mostly relaxing trip for us since all our other trips throughout the year are filled with things to do! The flight is short from SoCal, making this an easy trip.
WHERE TO STAY IN PUERTO VALLARTA WITH KIDS
Looking for the best family friendly hotel in Puerto Vallarta? We always stay at the CasaMagna Marriott which is awesome! On our last trip, we got an upgrade to a huge oceanfront suite. The suite had a living room, dining room, bedroom, huge bathroom area and a wraparound massive balcony that overlooked the ocean. There was a huge 8 person table outside where we dined on some nights with friends. The staff here is amazing, there really is nothing negative to say about this hotel and their reviews speak for themselves.
The balcony hat an outdoor tub which was a huge hit with the kids!
Their regular rooms are quite spacious too, usually we get a regular ocean view room like this:
This was the view from our room in 2017:
The first thing we did after checking in was go have some drinks at the poolside bar. Milana loves her pina coladas!
The hotel has a resident cat named Mitzy, who made herself at home here last year after wandering in as a stray. If you happen to find Mitzy wandering around, post your photos to Instagram with the hashtag #HelloMitzy.
The hotel grounds are beautiful and the staff is amazing, definitely one of our better stays! We always a cabana right by the pool the entire time of our stay. Lots of privacy and a place to relax in the shade. I highly recommend it! This is our favorite family friendly hotel in Puerto Vallarta and bonus, it’s just minutes from the airport!
The pool was a huge hit with Milana. It was huge and warm and we spent many hours just swimming!
There is also a kids club at this hotel. While we didn’t utilize the services (it’s something like $6/hour per child), we did use the kiddie pool next to it. There is a shallow pool for little ones with several slides and sprinklers all around. Milana had fun and made some friends while playing here. There’s also a swing set for those who don’t want to get wet.
If you’re going to a place with a pool, I highly recommend buying the Melissa and Doug frisbee, which is great for the water. The hotel sold these and lots of people had them! Milana also loves to dive, so we always bring some diving toys, our favorites being these diving rockets, dive rings, and diving fish.
Such a hard life she leads! The top pic is from 2016, the middle from 2017 and the bottom from 2018 . Same spot, same drink, same rash guard!
The food at the hotel was surprisingly good, we didn’t hesitate to order from their menu! The hardest part was choosing what to eat.
La Estancia inside the hotel has some really good desserts too! Order one of each if you can’t decide what to get, like we did. Milana said that the flan was amazing, a girl after my own heart!
THINGS TO DO IN PUERTO VALLARTA WITH KIDS
The hotel is just 5 minutes from the airport, and a short 5 minute walk to the marina where there are lots of shops and restaurants to choose from. Definitely be aware of crocodiles, we saw one while walking around!
There are also lots of huge lizards walking around the area!
There are a few OXXO (convenience store) located in the marina. Milana is obsessed with Kinder eggs, and they had a ton! Of course, we bought a few.
We had lunch at La Cevicheria. We had the shrimp tacos, fish tacos and garlic shrimp.
After lunch, walked a few doors down to Pie in the Sky for dessert. They had lots of options, and all looked really good. We got a chocolate cupcake and fruit tart.
On Friday evening, we went downtown (El Centro). Lots of shops and restaurants are here, and Milana being the shopper that she is, she was in heaven!
Some shots of the area:
We happened to be there when vendors were set up and selling street food, so of course we had some. They had elote in a cup. Basically corn with mayo and cotija cheese. So good! The line was long for this vendor, so we chose them and it was definitely a good choice!
We also tried a honey banana from another vendor, which was really good. And tacos (no pictures because we were starving!) that were really good and 4 for about $2.
Our favorite taco lady still sets up shop on the street in the evening, best tacos ever!
One night we had dinner at La Posta and it was really good! It’s an Italian restaurant with an extensive pasta menu as well as wood fired pizza and calzones. And, it’s the most air conditioned place downtown, which made it all that better!
One of our favorite restaurants in Puerto Vallarta is Barcelona Tapas. The staff is here is awesome, the restaurant has great views of the city (you have to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get here) and of course the food is amazing! We ordered the croquettes, bacon wrapped dates and eggplant parmigiana tapas, and the paella valenciana as our meal. The paella was one of the best we’ve ever had!
Another one of our favorites is Porto Bello in the marina. It’s an Italian restaurant, with some really good food!
We had the Caesar salad, bruschetta and of course pasta which was awesome. A nice change from eating Mexican food for day!
We also hung out on the beach in front of the hotel and had ice cream one night, but most of the beaches here have rough surf and not really good for young kids. Though we did find one a bit away from the tourist area that is calm and awesome!
The hotel also has giant games to play, so we played some of those as well. Not pictured is the Jenga, beanbag toss and ping pong.
When I was researching where we should drive, I came upon Tour with Roberto, a local tour guide who picks you up and drives you in his van wherever you want to go. The price was right and we didn’t have to try to get around ourselves since he knows the area better than we do. It was a totally last minute thing and we were lucky he was available for a few hours Monday morning since he books up well in advance. In 2018, we went with friends and rented a mini van (Marriott has National at their hotel) and drove to Sayulita, blog post coming soon! There are lots of other tours you can do in PV too, from food tours to atv tours through the jungle which we did before Milana was born and highly recommend it! You can find tour info here: Puerto Vallarta Tours
Since we weren’t planning to be in a car much, we brought the MiFold car seat for Milana, which fit perfectly in cabs and Roberto’s van. This seat is for kids who are at least 4 years old and 40 lbs and who can sit up straight in a booster without leaning over, sleeping, etc. It folds up super tiny and will fit into your purse or backpack, making it the perfect travel seat for older kids. Unlike traditional boosters which boost your child up to make the belt fit, this one is flat and tiny and positions the belt correctly using clips. We love this seat and will bring it on trips where we won’t be doing much driving or using mostly public transportation. Just note that you have to move the red clip down to their shoulder when using it, which I did after I snapped a quick photo. We were in a hurry so I didn’t have time to adjust before taking the picture! If you get one, instructions will come with it.
Our first stop was for some street tacos! It’s not a trip to Mexico without eating some awesome street food.
Roberto took us to a local market, where they sold lots of fish and fruit. We purchased 2 mangos, 3 bananas and some guava, all for under $1USD. Imagine what that would cost at Whole Foods here in the US! Milana proclaimed that it was the best and sweetest banana she has ever had.
Across the street from the market, was this gorgeous cemetery. I had to walk across to get pictures, the ones here in the US are just headstones and nothing spectacular. This reminded me of the cemeteries in Poland, where I grew up.
After the market, Roberto drove us to this beautiful, secluded beach. This was Milana’s favorite part as there were a ton of beautiful shells to collect. This beach name (when translated) is Shell Beach, so the shells were fitting! They also had tide pools with crabs and fish you can see close up. Great place for kids without the crowds or waves the main beaches have. The water is crystal clear, you can lots of sea life.
Out last stop with Roberto was the jungle. Milana loved seeing the river and skipping rocks. There’s a restaurant near the trail and they have a dog that roams the grounds. He took to Milana right away, and would walk alongside of her on the trail and stop whenever she stopped. It was so cute to see! We only wanted Roberto for 3-4 hours, so this itinerary was perfect for us. He will take you to places that interest you, which we loved, and never with another family.
Puerto Vallarta is by far our favorite Mexican destination. Unlike the popular Cabo and Cancun, PV has more of a local vibe. You can drive away from the city and be immersed in culture unlike in the other 2, which cater more to American tourists. We were sad to leave but will definitely be back for a quick weekend getaway!


22 Comments
Katie
One of my favorite Mexican cities!
Karla at GlobalETA
I have never been but it sounds amazing! I am more of a local-vibe type traveler, so I think this would be a good fit. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Jillian Michelle
Milana is adorable! And so much yummy food! I want to try the fruit tart from Pie in the Sky and, of course, all of the street food! Street food is my fav! The best tacos I ever had in my life were from a Mexican lady selling food on the street in Cozumel. The guacamole was fresher than anything I’d ever tasted! The honey banana here looks tasty as well, and I’d never even heard of elote before, but now I def want to try it! <3
Sydney Fashion Hunter
Yes I agree your daughter really does look like she is doing it tough! The pool looks amazing and just perfect for lounging around. Love that you included food options as well ?
arnav2806
The hotel looks really amazing with the lovely pool and an even better view.Such drool worthy food pictures you have put up. Mlana must have really had a ball trying so many dishes and more so deciding what to have.The pictures say it all.
stace16
Milana looks like she had a blast! What a great vacation though, and all that food! Gosh it looks delicious!
Wandering JM
This trip looks awesome and surely my LO would love it as well. You got a cozy and lovely room and i like the huge pool as well.
gobeyondbounds
Puerto Vallarta looks an amazing place to travel with kids. It was great to know you have fun travelling with your daughter. Looking forward to more of your family trips.
A Traveling Bond
I love seeing other traveling little girls like my own! That travel pillow looks amazing! We have a 10 hour flight next week and I am wishing I had it! Your trip looked like a great family vacation!
Milana's Travels
The travel pillow is the best! We used it in August for our 14 hour flight to Thailand and it was awesome. She slept for 10 of those hours because she had room to spread out.
Sabrina Andrea Sachs
gorgeous post and so much yummy food!! and your kids look SO cute! oh! and I need to get that travel pillow! it looks so comfy and mine is old and terrible!! 🙁
Suzanne
I still have to visit Mexico and Puerto Vallarta looks pretty awesome. I’m not really into resort-type holidays so I was really glad this post focused on a lot of street food and adventures in the jungle and at the beach. I would also like to try that corn snack. It looks amazing!
Lisa
Ok, so your little girl is clearly the star of this post, how precious is she! Yes, I’m now super hungry after reading this (it should come with a warning!) and that leche flan (creme caramel) looks so sinful! Puerta Vallerta is high on the list, hope I get there soon!
Pinay Flying High
Milana is a cutie pie!!!! I kind of got jealous of her for two reasons – 1. The airplane seat looks like a first class seat for her. She looks super comfy in those seats. 2. The dog following her! I love dogs and I’d absolutely love it if a dog follows me randomly. Lots of great food in Mexico, your post made me hungry. :-/
asoulwindow
In the age of glamorized solo travel, I appreciate people like you who travel with family, especially kids. Honey banana sounds good. I am surprised to hear that tacos are available for such a throw away price.
loisaltermark
I visited Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. I saw so many families having fun there, and wished I had brought my whole family, too!
Indrani
Milana is so cute and she has cooperated so well posing for different stuffs. I like her confidence.
The food spread is too good. I am drooling over the dishes. Definitely looks like a place to holiday with family.
Tales of travelling sisters
What a beautiful and relaxing place and your daughter is so adorable! I have never heard of Puerto Vallarta but after going through your post I’m definitely going to look up this place while planning a trip to Mexico. I’m in amazed by the hotel pool size, perfect for everyone whose looking for a relaxing vacation.
Peter Korchnak
Quite a little traveler, Milana is. If she continues like this, she’ll have visited more countries than kids at her school will even be able to name. The Western world needs more kids like that.
valisesetgourmandises
Wow I wouldn’t mind waking up to that view every morning! I also like the the pool is direct by the ocean. I’ve been to hotels where the pool was kind of hidden.. I’m more of a beach person, but sometimes the water is rough and the pool is the better option!
And I love that they adopted Mitzy! There are so many poor strays!
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