Travel is one thing you can buy that will make you richer. Time with your family is another experience that’s irreplaceable. Unmissable experiences await if you decide to spend Christmas in Puerto Vallarta. Your holiday will be enhanced by the time of year, and you can be exploring the ocean waves – where sunsets, fuchsia skylines, and bubblegum pink clouds await. If you are planning on heading to Puerto Vallarta over the holiday season, this blog article delves into the best activities to gift this Christmas to your loved ones.
Surprise!
Activities to gift this Christmas can include a vacation itself as a surprise of a lifetime – but remember to give your family time to pack!
Or why not tell them about a planned Christmas vacation and how you plan to choose to give ‘experience gifts´.
Experience gift ideas are all around Puerto Vallarta such as food and drink vouchers for eateries downtown, or spa trips for those who love pampering. The best experiences as gifts are plentiful, plus, you can purchase some artisan products from local markets to put under the Christmas tree.
Whatever you choose, many people choose to combine time with their family, Christmas celebrations, and their vacation time by coming to Mexico.
Christmas Eve, When the Fun Starts
If you are traveling from the United States, Canada, or other countries, you can experience the festivities in style.
The people of Mexico celebrate Christmas in a unique fashion, with tradition all around.
Christmas is celebrated on December 24th, when Mexican families gather for the final ‘posada,’ or traditional gatherings that reenact the arrival of the virgin Mary and Joseph.
You might wish to attend a midnight mass, or gather together on the Malecon or the famous street, Olas Altas, and ‘people watch’ all the celebrations as families await midnight and the arrival of Christmas Day.
If you wander through the streets, you will most likely see Nativity scenes or nacimientos. These are recreations of the holy family, gathered around baby Jesus in Bethlehem, and appear throughout homes, windowsills, and common spaces.
You will see star-shaped piñatas, strung everywhere. There is a traditional game for children to play by taking turns to bash the piñata, filled with fruit, candy, or treats until the goodies fall out.
After witnessing a different way of life, you can take yourselves back to your hotel to indulge in an à la carte meal, and then snuggle up in your suite watching Christmas movies.
Travel and Connect
As we hinted earlier, the best experiences as gifts are a way to keep things simple when abroad.
In Puerto Vallarta, everywhere you look there is something to learn, experiences where you can live in the moment, and beautiful mountainous scenery, where you can enjoy every second you spend with your loved ones.
You can trust your Christmas Day will have many beautiful scenes, not just visually, but your every sense will be awakened.
Booking Your Christmas Experiences
You can pre-order experience gifts through hotels before you arrive. Don’t worry if you’re not that organized. Once you have arrived your concierge, personal butler, or reception staff are always delighted to get you last-minute deals on tickets, excursions, or days out for you.
Here is a list of the six most enthralling activities to gift at Christmas in Puerto Vallarta – where every day spent there is a gift-giving holiday:
The Marigalante Pirate Ship
Activities for families don’t get better than this. You can board an incredible 700-ton Galleon and set sail through the Bay. Characters in special makeup, fireworks, a pirate tavern with delicious dining options, a pirate show with special effects, and excellent service make for swashbuckling fun.
A Luxury Sail and Snorkel Tour
How about spending the day on the azure waves on a sailing adventure?
You can set sail on a catamaran to some beautiful hotspots, enjoying delicious drinks and hors d’oeuvres served along the way.
Stops are made at some of the best spots in the area so you can get out and swim, snorkel, or paddle board. Marine life is all around – dolphins, turtles, humpback whales, and tropical fish —you never know what you’ll see!
Sayulita Escape ATV Tour
This is a magical activity to gift at Christmas for those who love adventure. The Sayulita Escape ATV Tour offered by Vallarta Adventures is a fun guided excursion full of thrill and excitement as you cruise off-road in a Polaris RZR UTV. You will blaze through the jungle crossing steep hills deep valleys and wind your way around twisty turns. After your off-road adventure, you will cruise to Sayulita on your RZR, and stop at a beach club to enjoy some free time lounging on the beach, having lunch, or exploring this laid-back surfing village, also known as a “hippie” town. You will find lots of restaurants with wholesome and delicious foods, ice cream stories, clothing boutiques, markets, and street vendors selling artisanal goods.
Rhythms of The Night Adventure
The Dinner Show with over 7,000 5-star reviews on TripAdvisor makes Rhythms of The Night an evening you cannot miss.
After a sunset cruise, you are greeted by hundreds of flickering candles. Acrobats and dancers guide you along paths to outdoor dining areas, where a feast awaits.
The show is a celebration of pulsating rhythms, dance, and amazing costumes. You’ll feel like you’ve entered another time when you take your seat in the outdoor amphitheater under the starry sky.
Spotting Humpback Whales
In December it’s a must to keep an eye out for awe-inspiring humpback whale sightings. As oceanic families pass close to the Pacific coast, to see a humpback whale roll over with an enormous fin offering a friendly salute to the boats approaching it is an experience of a lifetime. There are several reputable tour companies in the area that offer whale watching tours, but even if you take a regular sailing or snorkel tour by boat, the chances that you will spot a whale are very high. You can even spot them from the beaches and the Rooftop at Hotel Mousai is a great place to spot them, too.
Outdoor Zip Line Adventure
If you want to give the gift of adrenaline this Christmas, the Outdoor Zip Line Adventure offered by Vallarta Adventures is a great way to do that. This 6-and-a-half-hour tour is rated as the #1 outdoor activity in Puerto Vallarta on Tripadvisor. This adventure begins flying across the bay on a speed boat, then riding up hill on a Unimog truck before mounting a mule to take you high up into the Sierra Madre mountains where you will fly through the air on a series of thrilling zip lines, rappel down a waterfall, and experience the twists and turns of a Roller Coaster Zipline. This tour promises the adventure of a lifetime!
A Gem of a Time
Extraordinary things can happen when you spend Christmas in Puerto Vallarta. Despite the absence of a wintry Christmas setting, there is always the white sand beach. The Malecon downtown is also decorated with twinkling lights and a Christmas tree and has a Christmassy vibe. Several restaurants in the Bay serve a traditional Christmas dinner complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, and all the trimmings.
And once you decide which of the best activities to gift at Christmas, you and your loved ones will bring home happy memories and celebrate your holiday as part of your life’s mosaic.
And to add to your bucket list, why not return in February to sample some Rosca de Reyes bread and to enjoy more great times? The celebrations never end in Mexico!
