Although we’ve traveled to Puerto Vallarta dozens of times and called the city home for a bit in 2016 until the last trip we’d never taken advantage of one of the very popular walking food tours put on by Vallarta Food Tours. I wish we hadn’t taken so long! What a great few hours with new friends wandering and eating our way through several neighborhoods.

After a light breakfast of street tamales, we headed to nearby Lazaro Cardenas Park at 1030am to meet our group. Our fearless leader was Joana, a native of Puerto Vallarta. We all chatted as we headed to our first stop for breakfast tacos. Yes, for everyone not familiar with truly authentic Mexican cuisine, breakfast tacos are a thing!

Our first stop was Tacos El Cunado, established in 1968 and the oldest taco stand in town and just a block over from our hotel at Los Arcos Suites. On the menu were taco Asada, two fresh-made corn tortillas topped with carne asada (beef), and grilled onions & jalapenos. Pile on the guacamole, pickled red onions, cilantro and a squeeze of lime and the day just started out right!

From Cunado we headed a few blocks over to Tacos Robles, known for their crispy birria tacos. Now, Birria isn’t for everyone, and several of our group were a bit hesitant but we knew how much goodness we were in for. Birria is goat, slow-cooked with adobo, garlic, cumin, bay leaves, and thyme. Tacos Robles finely chopped their cooked goat and piled it high on corn tortillas that they then brought them back to the grill to fry them up until a nice crisp formed.

It was really nice to see that all of the tour participants did try the dish and all proclaimed it a hit. New goat fans were made!

Already feeling satisfied after just two stops we quickly began to question just how many tacos we’d be able to enjoy but put that thought aside as we meandered to stop 3; Carnitas La Santa Cruz.. located within view of the lovely Iglesia de la Santa Cruz church. The views were good but the tacos were great. Carnitas is one of our favorites, pork stewed slowly in lard, orange juice, and spices before being shredded and piled onto, you guessed it, fresh corn tortillas.

As with every taco stand in Mexico, Carnitas la Santa Cruz offers a full array of goodies on their “salsa bar”. While each stand has its specialties you can be pretty confident you’ll find salsa Roja and salsa verde, diced onions, pickled red onions, cabbage, lime wedges, sliced radishes, and pickled jalapenos. Fish taco stands include crema in a squeeze bottle, that most delicious mix of mayo, sour cream, lime juice, and garlic salt. What you won’t see (or if so rarely) are diced tomatoes, black olives, plain sour cream, or queso.

Leaving the carnitas stand behind we hit up an all-time favorite, an Aguas Frescas stand. Mexicans rarely drink plain water but adore the uber refreshing Aguas Frescas. These delightful drinks are made of purified water mixed with lime and sometimes sweetener with any number of delicious ingredients. Here we sampled mango, pineapple, and horchata flavors but our favorite was easily the cucumber and basil. Pure refreshing heaven on a hot day.

By this time it was a good idea to have a seat and enjoy what became our favorite taco of the day at Mariscos Cisneros. The restaurant’s food cart is parked in front of the brick & mortar building offering beautifully muraled walls and an open kitchen. We were treated to their specialty of grilled jalapenos stuffed with an amazing mix of fish, cream cheese, and crab that have been softened on the BBQ before settling on a fresh flour tortilla and topped with crema, coleslaw, and pickled red onions. This dish was an epiphany.

We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and continued towards downtown while learning more of the history of the city and enjoying typical street life.

Although frequent visitors to the city, we weren’t aware that the city was not issuing any new permits for food carts, and existing licenses are passed down from generation to generation. Each cart license also has quite an interesting set of regulations regarding location as well as days and hours of operation that, if violated, cancel out the license. Obviously, vendors strictly abide by these rules to maintain their hold on their place in the mix.

Even though we weren’t sure we could eat more, we eagerly filed into Mariscos El Guero where we were greeted warmly by the staff with ice-cold hibiscus water. Our taco of choice was not a taco in this case but one of the most delicious ceviche tostadas we’ve ever been lucky enough to enjoy. Absolutely fresh fish marinated with lime juice before mixing it with chopped tomatoes, green onions, jalapeno, and garlic before being seasoned well with salt & pepper. Set on a crispy tostada and sprinkled with chopped cilantro ensure perfection.

Truly unable to eat any more right then we took a detour to see how all of those delicious corn tortillas are made at Tortilleria La Gloria, near the Rio Cuale. Educational and an opportunity to digest a bit before crossing the pedestrian bridge over the river into downtown. Sweets were in order and Dulceria con Orgullo Azteca was a perfect stop. The very charismatic owner and his staff liberally handed out a vast array of sweet treats before the flavored tequila tasting began! With stuffed shopping bags we all staggered out of the shop to head just one block down to Vallarta Factory.

We were very familiar with this spot, having frequented it regularly when we lived a few blocks away. This chocolate and coffee shop also has a room humidor with quality cigars for purchase but the freshly roasted coffee and deluxe chocolate truffles are the real draw. A spot of coffee later we were revived enough for the final stop of the day, the delicious and well-known Gaby’s Restaurant.

Gaby’s was established in 1989 and is housed in a stunning restaurant a block or so from the Church of our Lady of Guadalupe cathedral, the landmark of downtown. We were escorted upstairs and treated to a typical sipping refresher. Three shot glasses were set before us showcasing the colors of the Mexican flag. The first shot contained lime juice. The second tequila. The third sangrita. Together the green, white (clear?) and red of the national colors. These shots aren’t for shooting but rather for sipping with a taste of lime juice, a taste of tequila, and a follow-up sip of sangrita. all meant to be savored.

The dish we were served was truly beautiful featuring a two-mole pork enchilada with a green pistachio mole covering half and a more typical chocolate-chili mole on the other half. Stunning and scrumptious! The final dish of flan was wonderful but by this time we truly were rolling. Overall, this fantastic food tour lasted nearly four hours and was one of our favorite days we’ve ever spent in Puerto Vallarta.

It was delightful to roam the familiar streets with true locals learning more about culture and history while eating extremely well. Vallarta Food Tours only visits establishments that have been serving locals and visitors alike for more than 20 years, giving business and acknowledgment to these historical carts and restaurants, truly the life-blood of the city.

We chose the Original Downtown Tour, but Vallarta Food Tours offers many delicious options including the foodie “hot spot” of town; Versalles, evening tours, mixology tours, as well as day tours in nearby Sayulita and Bucerias.

The Original Downtown tour cost $55 per person, a very reasonable amount when you consider all of the amazing food combined with a walking history tour of the city that comes with it.