edit Puerto Vallarta Travel Guide

By plane

By train

By car

By bus

By boat

By taxi

Hotels may provide a price list for cabs (expect to pay about 50 pesos for short trips, and 200 for longer trips). Hotels will offer transport from airport to hotel. But that's expensive.
If you've booked with a travel agency, they will most likely provide you with transportation to and from the airport.
Be prepared for fast speeds, as the cab drivers have schedules to adhere to. Many of the cabs do not have working seatbelts or speedometers as well. Taxi drives tend to gather at the intersection close to the liquor outlet in the Centro District. They are friendly and you can negotiate trips outside of Puerto Vallarta at very reasonable cost on slow days. They will wait for you while you dine or shop as well as photograph you and your mates. Include a small tip with the very reasonable fare.

By bus

• Local trips

Bus trips cost around 5 pesos, which is about 50 cents that you pay to the bus driver when you get in and every ride is good for as long as you have to stay on... the whole city if you'd like. Buses stop almost every five to ten blocks and at peak hours tend to get very full, so be ready for that. If you are a man, be ready to give up your seat to women if the bus becomes crowded. Bus drivers will make change, but won't break large bills.

The buses are quite handy to get to places like Pitillal (the rapidly growing suburb to the NE) and Ixtapa (including the nearby U of Guadalajara campus with its gallery and crocodile farm. They are also useful for travelling from the hotel zone and marina area to the downtown or old-town areas. Any bus marked Centro will pass through both. Buses marked Tunel will skip downtown and head directly to the old-town / zona romantica via the tunnel bypass.

• Out of town trips

You can visit Bucerias for 12 pesos, $1.20. You can also go to Punta Mita for 14 pesos, $1.40. Mismaloya buses charge around 10 pesos. There are also larger buses that can take you to Guadalajara, which is about a 6-hour trip.

You can catch buses for Mismaloya along Basilio Badillo on the corner just West of where you see them lined up.

The easiest way to catch a bus to Bucerias, Punta Mita or points in between is to catch a city bus to Wal-Mart/Sams. Walk along the main road to the northernmost bus shelters in front of Wal-Mart. The buses to Bucerias leave from here.

Police

Fire Department

Hospitals

Crime

Smoking