This itinerary is built for travelers who want to actually move through Puerto Vallarta rather than just look at it from a pool chair. Over two to three days, you'll swing between the Sierra Madre jungle, the Pacific coastline, and the cultural core of the old city — each day with a different texture, none of them slow.

Start in the jungle. Both Canopy Tours Los Veranos and Jungle Adventure Canopy Tour run zip-line circuits above the river canyon south of town — do one on day one and save your legs for the water. The following morning, get out with Azul Wala Diving for reef time around Los Arcos, then decompress on the black sands of Playa Mismaloya, which sits right at the base of those same rock formations. When you're ready to come back to town, the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens reward an hour or two of unhurried walking through orchid collections and native flora. Back in the Romántica zone, the Mercado Municipal is the right place to eat lunch standing up — carnitas, aguachile, whatever looks busiest. Afternoons belong to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which punches well above its size with rotating Mexican and Latin American work. Evenings open up at the Los Arcos Amphitheater on the Malecón for open-air performance, and La Noche de Iguana Show gives you a sharp, locally rooted theatrical experience to close things out properly.