The Best Place To Retire In Mexico In 2026

Chapter 1: Intro

Hey, Live And Invest Overseas! This is Sasha, frequent contributor to the OLL and one half of the Grateful Gnomads. Here to tell you about why I love living part-time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Chapter 2: Puerto Vallarta Overview

Puerto Vallarta is located on the west coast of Mexico in the state of Jalisco. It’s a long-time favorite of vacationers, retirees, spring breakers, and the LGBTQ community.

Chapter 3: How I Discovered Puerto Vallarta

In the past 5 to 10 years, a new group has also fallen in love with PV, digital nomads. That’s how my wife and I ended up here for the first time in 2017. What was supposed to be a one-month stay turned into three, then turned into six. It’s a common story here.

We’ve been to Puerto Vallarta almost every year since, anywhere from 1 to 6 months each visit. We love that we can find fully furnished apartments with fast Wi-Fi. We can also go to co-working spaces or work from cafes and join a gym. Here’s a look at some of PV’s best neighborhoods.

Chapter 4: Top Neighborhoods in Puerto Vallarta

When it comes to the best neighborhoods in Puerto Vallarta, we’re a little bit biased and we really love this Cinco de Diciembre neighborhood because we spent so much time living there.

It’s a mostly residential neighborhood, but there are tons of great restaurants, bars, cafes and you’re right by the beach. There is, however, a little bit of a hill up there. So, if you want to live here, keep that in mind. You may have to get a good glute workout to get home or, you know, shell out the money for cabs and Ubers more often than you would living in other neighborhoods. But anyway, it’s an awesome spot to live. Definitely one you should consider if you’re thinking about living in PV.

We stayed in Cinco several years in a row, mostly because we had this amazing one-bedroom apartment on the hill. It was always full in the high-season, so we became the low-season people.

We worked for that great view by walking up and down the hill.

The shared rooftop with the plunge pool and chill area was great. And yeah, we had some stormy nights there. Playa Camarones is located in Cinco, so you’ve got a beach right at your fingertips. And much more.

So, one of the coolest parts about the Cinco de Diciembre and Center neighborhoods are these tiered like landscaped gardens that they’ve got in between residential units. And this has been an ongoing project here. This one in particular looks really nice.

Living in Cinco, you can easily pop over to Centro to take a stroll on the famous Malecon. And visit the main square for cultural events.

Further from the center, the Versalles neighborhood is also a great choice.

We found a simple but nice and cheap place to stay here with a great garden.

It’s also an up-and-coming foodie destination. Neighboring Fluvial is where the fancy people live. It’s a nice area to go for an evening stroll. We’ve also stayed up in the hotel zone for a six-month stint. I should add that this was during the pandemic when we stumbled into a very nice condo for a great deal, and short-term travelers were not arriving at that time.

It was nice while it lasted. One of the best things about PV is the food.

Chapter 5: Food in Puerto Vallarta

From the street tacos. Puerto Vallarta shrimp and bacon.

Amazing seafood, great vegan fare, and plenty of fine dining options.

You can find craft beer and fancy cocktails, and there’s always something sweet.

Chapter 6: Things to Do in Puerto Vallarta

In the evenings or on the weekend, we can head up a beach club and just hang out for a few hours.

It’s also great walking through Old Town, also known as the Romantic Zone. The tile park here has come a long way over the years and looks great these days.

Walking down to the beach for sunset never gets old.

And I mean never. Once the sun goes down.

There are plenty of options in PV. It’s fun to stroll the beach and the Malecon.

You’ll see fireworks every single night here. It’s easy to make friends. The tequila helps in the many bars here. It’s honestly always a party in PV with live music every night.

We usually save it for the weekends, though. But sometimes we sneak away on a school night.

On days off, often we just go head up Playa los Muertos and hang on the beach. But sometimes we hop on a boat trip. To go snorkeling and visit other beaches.

Or we rent stand-up paddle boards and go cruise around the National Marine Park.

One thing we love about PV is that you can also get up in the mountains pretty easily.

Swap the ocean for a dip in a nice, cool river. There are some good walks around town, such as heading to this lighthouse to take in the views. Or, if you’re feeling more adventurous, hiking up to the cross on the hill, it’s the best place to take in another beautiful PV sunset.

In the winter, you can go on whale watching trips where you’ll also see dolphins.

Then there are the markets. The lucha libre fights.

The fancy open-air shopping malls. And really nice cinemas. Last but not least, there’s the culture.

People in Puerto Vallarta love a good fiesta. And there seems to be a parade every weekend here. The one for Independence Day is quite amazing. The party in the square that follows really is something else. We’ve also seen downhill BMX events here.

There’s the super fun Pride parade.

And Day of the Dead is a fascinating time to explore the Malecon as well.

There’s never a dull moment here, and it’s why we keep coming back.