Jaw-dropping jungle hike near Puerto Vallarta

Lee and I visited Puerto Vallarta this fall. One of our favourite things we did was this 8km (5 mile) jungle hike from Boca de Tomatlan to Las Animas, with lots of secluded beaches along the way.

Boca de Tomatlan

We rented a car for our trip so we drove to the start of the hike. It took about an hour to drive from Puerto Vallarta to Boca de Tomatlan. We parked in a private lot for 100 pesos. If would also be very easy to grab a taxi or Uber. There is also an inexpensive public bus.

Once we arrived, we were swarmed by locals offering boat tours. We declined saying we were going on the hike instead.

We realized we only had a liter of water and it was over 30C (86F), so we bought supplies in a local shop before heading off.

We couldn’t find any signs for the hike, so asked for directions. We were pointed to this bridge at the end of the water.

The hike took us past some people’s houses along the water before we climbed up into the jungle. The trail was easy to follow with many white and green markers.

Playa Colomitos

The walk to the first beach (Playa Colomitos) was the most difficult part of the journey as there was some elevation. This beach was relatively busy as several boats had taken people here to swim.

We decided to carrying on to a less busy beach.

As you can see, the trails were full of tourists, both Spanish and English speaking. This helped me feel like the trip was pretty safe as we weren’t alone.

Playa Madagascar

The next beach had virtually no one there, so we decided to take our swim break. The water was as warm as a bathtub, but still cooler than the air!

We then carried on our way through much easier terrain to the next beach.

Playa Troza

This beach come up pretty quickly after the last one and oh my it was stunning. I wish we had taken our swim break here!

As you can see, I am no longer wearing jean shorts. Lee let me change into her swim shorts to hike in because I was wilting in the heat and humidity. Thank goodness I at least wore proper shoes to hike in!

As we got closer to Las Animas, the resorts started apearing. I felt a bit awkward as Lee and I, these two sweaty hikers, traipsed across their luxury beaches. We got lost and even ended up walking through their property — or perhaps the trail went this way. I don’t know! But people quickly pointed us in the right direction.

Playa Las Animas

There are countless restaurants in Las Animas, all serving basically the same menu of seafood tacos and gringo food. We randomly chose one and enjoyed some drinks and tacos.

Culturally it was a bit of a shock as all the Americans were smoking at their tables, which is not something I am used to at home in Canada or in other outdoor restaurants in Puerto Vallarta.

We knew taking a boat back was an option instead of walking, so we asked our server how it worked. He told us no boat would leave for another two hours. This seemed suspicious to us, maybe like he wanted us to stay and drink/eat.

So we asked another server how it worked. He told us the boats left constantly. He also told us the price should be around 100 pesos per person. This made a lot more sense.

When we were ready to go, we walked down to the beach and waived at someone sitting in his boat. He drove up on the beach to get us. We confirmed the price, which was slightly more than 100 pesos but still fine by me. We then hopped on and got a private boat ride back to Boca. He would have driven us back to Puerto Vallarta, but we had to get our car!

This was one of our favourite experiences on the trip, and logistically so simple. No advanced planning needed at all! I highly recommend checking this trip out if you’re in Puerto Vallarta and are up for a few hours of slow hiking and climbing into a boat when you’re done.

Long covid recovery

I will also note this is my first outdoorsy blog post since I developed long covid in January 2023. I am slowly finding my way back! If you’re interested in what I did to recover, check out my extensive catalog of long covid recovery posts.