| A Wheelchair User’s Guide to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Laura - A Piece of Travel | |
March 23, 2022 |
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Puerto Vallarta is a city with a backdrop of steep, jungly hills and a foreground of ocean lapping at beachfront restaurants. It’s also home to Mexico’s third-largest port, making it a popular stop for cruise-goers.
So, whether you’re arriving in Puerto Vallarta by sea or land, you understandably are wondering - is Puerto Vallarta wheelchair accessible?
I’ve visited Puerto Vallarta a few times and will help you understand the ins and outs of accessibility there.
General Accessibility in Puerto Vallarta
On a scale of very accessible to not accessible, Puerto Vallarta falls somewhere in the middle.
It has an approximately 1.5-kilometer boardwalk, called the Malecón, along the ocean that’s 100% accessible. This is the city’s biggest attraction. Furthermore, many of its shops, hotels, and condos are modern, featuring ramps and elevators.
However, the moment you head inland, the situation changes.
Some - but not all - crosswalks have drop-down curbs. Many of those drop-downs can be quite steep, given that the sidewalks are high to keep people raised above seasonal flooding. Furthermore, many streets in Puerto Vallarta are cobblestone.
Finally, manual wheelchair users will likely find it a challenge to manage the steep inclines that you’ll encounter the moment you leave the coast’s flat shoreline.
Nevertheless, I don’t want to deter you from visiting this city, as there are several accessible places you can comfortably visit.
Accessible Transportation
Many Mi Transporte buses offer wheelchair accessible transportation in Puerto Vallarta. These public buses have a built-in lift at the middle door.
You can even hop on a Mi Transporte bus that heads along the south coast towards Boca de Tomatlan.
This is a fantastic way to see some of the coast from a higher viewpoint, as they built Highway 200 into the mountains.
Accessible Parking
Accessible parking is available in Puerto Vallarta. Several spaces exist throughout the downtown area. However, prepare to encounter mediocre accessibility at these spaces—street parking is limited, and you may have to cross cobblestone to get to a ramp.
If you’re in the newer part of Puerto Vallarta, particularly the aptly named Nuevo Vallarta (New Vallarta), there’s a greater quantity of accessible parking that’s more on par with ADA standards.
Accessibility at the Puerto Vallarta Port
The Puerto Vallarta cruise port is wheelchair accessible.
Upon your arrival, I recommend having pre-arranged transportation take you to the Malecón area.
Accessible Beach Access in Puerto Vallarta
Downtown Puerto Vallarta offers limited wheelchair accessible beach points. I encountered the following three ramps leading to the beach during my stay:
• Beach at the end of Calle Jesus Langarcia
• Beach at the end of Calle Venezuela
• Beach off the boardwalk between Calle Basilio Badillo and Calle Manuel M. Dieguez, by Hotel Los Arcos
In all cases, the ramps lead to the start of the beach. So, it’ll be helpful if you have a beach wheelchair to push through the deeper, looser sand before getting down to the more compact sand by the waves.
That said, this is by no means a complete list of accessible beaches. Puerto Vallarta sits on a massive bay, and I hear that Bucerias has several accessible entrances.
Read the rest at A Piece of Travel
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Banderas Bay offers 34 miles of incomparable coastline in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, and home to Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit's many great destinations.