#GAY BARS IN PUERTO VALLARTA MEXICO FREE#
If you aren't staying there, for only a $4 entrance fee that includes a free drink, you can check out its pool, Jacuzzi, steam room, and dark room. It is all male and is also the only gay clothing optional hotel in the city. The Vallarta Cora is the oldest gay hotel in Puerto Vallarta and attracts a very loyal crowd even during the slower summer months. Like the Mercurio, the San Franciscan has a free Internet station, free wireless, and guests can make free calls to the U.S. The owner, a retired physician and attorney and onetime San Francisco resident David Rhodes, will make you feel at home. It has an upscale appearance without upscale prices. It sits high on a hill just a block from the neighborhood's main drag, Olas Altas. The San Franciscan Resort and Gym is another great option in Zona Romantica. Like the Abbey, it promotes itself as a gay and lesbian hotel, although its manager estimates that about 5 percent of guests are lesbians. It also provides a complimentary buffet breakfast.
It has a free Internet station for guests, free wireless, along with a cordless phone that you can use to call to the U.S. It has budget prices without a budget feel. The pool now has a waterfall and the bar next to it is open for a great afternoon and early evening stop. The Hotel Mercurio remodeled its pool area two years ago and is worth stopping by even if you aren't staying there. It promotes itself as a gay/lesbian hotel but the manager said that almost all guests are gay men. The Abbey also features a late afternoon pool party starting at 4 p.m. You can surf the Internet with its free wireless service while you cruise the crowd. If you want to escape the beach crowd, the Abbey (no connection to West Hollywood's Abbey bar), has a pool and Jacuzzi. The Abbey Hotel has 55 rooms, 13 suites, and is perfectly situated in the heart of Zona Romantica, just a block from the beach. The newest gay hotel in Puerto Vallarta is also its largest. But be sure to establish the price of the ride before you get in the cab taxis aren't metered. You can take a cab anywhere within the zone for about $3. Everything is in walking distance don't even think of renting a car. Zona Romantica boasts over a dozen gay or gay-friendly hotels and over 20 gay bars and nightclubs. It's also where you will find Playa De Los Muertos, the city's largest public beach, and home to Blue Chairs Beach, the unofficially gay section of that beach. Zona Romantica, where the gay clubs, bars, hotels and just about everything else gay are centered, is in the southern end of Banderas Bay. It's less than a four-hour flight from the Bay Area. Puerto Vallarta is centered on Banderas Bay, on Mexico's west coast. That climate grew warmer this year with the inauguration of a gay-friendly mayor, Javier Bravo Carbajal. The case received media attention and the public sympathy that followed helped pave the way for the city's current gay-friendly environment. He stood up to the cops and was sent to jail. In 1989, Paco Ruiz, the then-owner of his namesake, Club Paco Paco, had his one-man Stonewall rebellion against the police who frequently raided his club. Unlike longtime gay enclaves like Palm Springs, Provincetown, and Key West, Puerto Vallarta's evolution is relatively recent. A handful of other smaller gay bars have opened over the past couple of years and there are even more gay and gay-friendly hotels and bed and breakfasts to give LGBT travelers plenty of options. And where the locals went, the tourists followed, making Ma ana the most popular gay club in Puerto Vallarta. It quickly established a following among locals who were ready for a change from the established Club Paco Paco. The Bench and Bar, with the same owners as the original Bench and Bar in Oakland, is one of the two gay bars just across the street from blu.Ī couple of guys from Los Angeles, Peter Deep, and his business partner, Shaun Butler, made a huge impact on Puerto Vallarta's gay nightlife when they opened the Ma ana nightclub in November 2006. A couple of recent changes were imported from California. The shop is on the neighborhood's main street, Olas Altas, and across the street from two gay bars and a gay restaurant.Īnd Zona Romantica is changing and getting gayer all the time. The former Santa Rosa resident was referring to the gayest part of the city, Zona Romantica, where blu prominently displays the rainbow flag. "This is what the Castro used to be 20 years ago," said Clay Berger, a hair stylist at Puerto Vallarta's upscale blu by len salon and spa. News from Around Banderas Bay | July 2007