Maybe, you have visited Puerto Vallarta before in the past or maybe you are heading to the most popular beach destination in Mexico in the next year. You may be a Puerto Vallarta veteran and a Banderas Bay expert, but there are so many interesting facts about Vallarta. We bet you didn’t know some of the facts that are provided below. Fact number 4 might surprise you even more than fact number 1!

  1. Los Muertos Beach (Beach of the Dead)

    2. It may surprise you to know that Los Muertos Beach or Playa Los Muertos means the Beach of the Dead. There is an interesting story behind the name of this popular beach. Centuries ago, pirates were said to have arrived on the beach and started stealing whatever was in their paths, with the plan to bury their treasures. Many of the pirates were killed during a crackdown on the pirate, which is where the beach got its name. Local hearsay claims that when the first hotel was being built on the Los Muertos Beach skeletons were found.

  2. Puerto Vallarta was Las Peñas

    3. Las Peñas was the first name of the city during the late 1800’s, then in the early 1900’s, the name was changed after the former state governor Ignacio Vallarta.

  3. The Source of Income

    4. As you might imagine, the main source of income for Puerto Vallarta is from tourism, averaging over 9 billion pesos. However, tourism wasn’t always the main source of income in Vallarta, as in the 19th century the main source of income in Puerto Vallarta came from bananas, coconuts, corn, and beans being exported to the United States along with fishing.

  4. Deepest Bays in the World: Banderas Bay

    5. According to statistics, Banderas Bay is one of the deepest bays in the world. At over 900 meters deep and 42 kilometers wide, it is also in the running amongst the largest bays in the world too. It probably goes without saying that Banderas Baya is the largest bay in Mexico.

  5. Bay of flags

    6. Banderas Bay’s name has an interesting history too. During the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the Spanish forces were said to have been met by over twenty thousand natives holding feathered flags along with their bows and arrows in an attempt to defend their territory. In Spanish, flags means “Banderas”, which is why it is easy to see how Banderas Bay got its name.

  6. Puerto Vallarta: The Movie Industry

    7. A number of movies were filmed in Puerto Vallarta, but one of the first movies to be filmed here was The Night of the Iguana that was directed by John Huston, and this movie put Puerto Vallarta on the map during the 1960’s. The movie starred Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, and Richard Burton. While Richard Burton was filming he started a romantic affair with Elizabeth Taylor and the two made Puerto Vallarta their second home. The Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, Herbie Goes Bananas in 1980, and Limitless with Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper in 2011 are just a few other movies that were filmed in this place.

  7. Growing Population in Puerto Vallarta

    8. The population continues to grow in Puerto Vallarta yearly as this city is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. The population has increased by 7.56% yearly and in the past twenty years. During the 1880’s, the population was only 1,500, then in 2010, the population in Puerto Vallarta grew to 255,725, but today the population in Puerto Vallarta is over 300,000.

  8. The Home of Mariachi Bands

    9. The state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, is the home of Mariachi music in Mexico. Some of the most talented mariachi bands can be found in Puerto Vallarta, and there are even children’s mariachi bands.

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