Where locals go

Where locals actually go

Step a few blocks back from the malecon and prices drop and the crowd turns local. Residents eat where the food is fast and cheap, not where the sea view is.

• Neighborhood taco and birria stands. The morning and late-night taco carts around Emiliano Zapata and the Pitillal area are where locals eat, not the seafront terraces. Look for the stand with the line.
• Mercado del Mar and the fish counters. For fresh seafood cooked simply, locals head to market fondas rather than the tourist palapas.
• Pitillal. The town-within-the-city inland from the hotel zone has a real plaza, a church, cheap food and a Sunday-evening family feel with almost no tourists. This is where a lot of Vallarta actually lives.
• Playa Camarones and the north end of the malecon for a quieter beach morning before the day-trippers arrive.
• Versalles. A residential neighborhood behind the hotel zone that’s become the local foodie strip — good restaurants at fairer prices than the seafront.

What a friend here would tell you: eat your best meals a couple of streets uphill from the water. Same kitchens, half the price, and you’ll be sitting next to people who live here.