10 Best Shopping in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Here the Huichol are treated as a people, not a product. At their downtown Vallarta shop, the owners— a Mexican-Canadian couple—are happy to share with customers their wealth of info about Huichol art and culture. They work with just a few farming families, providing all the materials and then paying for the finished products, amazing and colorful handicrafts that represent the most sacred elements of their culture. Huichol imagery is so colorful because they actually see these images when they eat peyote, an hallucinogenic cactus, as part of their religious rituals.

This contemporary gallery features fine pieces of jewelry, clothing, painting, and sculpture. Every artwork is from a renowned artist, such as Italian Alessandro Alpiani or Mexican Rodrigo Lara.

This is the main shopping mall in the whole Puerto Vallarta–Riviera Nayarit area, offering 73,000 square feet of shopping distributed on two floors and a magnificent view of the arriving cruise ships. This mall and the surrounding shops are mainly visited by cruise-ship passengers and Mexican out-of-towners looking for everything from sporting goods to clothing to housewares. Galerías Vallarta has two escalators; restaurants; parking; a 12-theater cinema; and a fast-food court with the ubiquitous McDonald's, Dominos Pizza, Chili's, and Starbucks (it also has the most slippery polished-stone flooring known to man).

Near the north end of Banderas Bay, Hikuri is run by a British couple who pay asking prices to their Huichol suppliers and employ indigenous workers in the adjoining carpentry and screen-printing shops. The workers initially have little or no experience, and the training and jobs here give them a leg up to move on to more profitable work. The excellent inventory includes large and small fine yarn paintings, beaded bowls and jewelry, and feathered prayer wands. An on-site patio restaurant called Abalón (closed Wednesday and 2–6 pm) is another good reason to visit, for its international dishes and sometimes live music.

Yes, it has tequila, but it also has wines from Chile, California (Gallo), and Spain; imported vodka and other spirits; and the cheapest beer around. You'll find it across from IMSS (Mexican Social Security Agency).

It's DIY chic here. You choose the colorful, cotton, triangular sash of your liking, miraculously transforming pretty but baggy dresses into flattering and stylish frocks. The color palette is truly inspired, although the selection for men is limited.