Made it to Puerto Vallarta 4 days ago and found a nice apartment that will be our home for the next 6 months. I figured I'd put a bit more info and pics in this thread with some thoughts.
First impressions of PV: I had fairly high expectations going in, and I dare say they may have been exceeded.
We're staying in Zona Romántica, an area right next to downtown packed with bars and restaurants. We're about 6 blocks from the most well known beach, Playa Los Muertos, and feel like this is the perfect beach. Basically in ZR, in the first block or 2, you'll find a couple super touristy locales, as well as the little markets selling all the touristy crap. Then the next block or two, you'll see more nice restaurants/bars and frequented by quite a few tourists. But then after that, the vibe changes to a more local feel, which I love. So we get the benefits of being close to all the action, but a bit more peace and quiet with a local vibe (which I prefer). The section we're in seemingly has anything you'd ever need: tortilla shops, a great local market, taco stands, great little restaurants, bars, etc. As well as being a 7-8 minute walk to the beach and having tons of other incredible restaurants nearby.
Couple pics of the Zona Romántica:
Right next to the Zona Romántica is Playa Los Muertos, the most famous of the beaches in PV and often quite busy. I'd say we arrived at the perfect time. The weather is still great (a bit hot during the day and perfect at night) and not too packed w/tourists. High season for foreigners is in the Winter months, and national tourists tend to visit around Holy Week, which ended 3 weeks ago. One of my concerns was that it would feel way too packed with foreign tourists (like Los Cabos was when I visited 2 weeks ago), but it's not too bad, and a nice mix of foreigners and Mexicans. And of course, you need only venture 3 blocks away from the beaches and the tourists start thinning out pretty quickly.
The beaches near the center of PV are decent, but can't compare to Cancún or Los Cabos. Water won't be near as clear, and parts of the beaches will tend to have little pebbles, which makes it difficult to enter for a swim. I've also heard that during rainy season (July-Octoberish), the rain can bring a lot of garbage into the bay, making the beaches unswimmable some days. That being said, there's a lot of activity with bars/restaus lining the beaches, and beautiful scenery for a walk.
Heading north from ZR/Playa Los Muertos to El Centro, you'll cross the Rio Cualé (Cuale River), a nice little island area with restaurants and a very touristy market.
After crossing the Rio Cualé, you'll hit the Malecón and El Centro. The Malecón is about a mile long and packed with great sculptures on one side, and lined with clubs, bars, restaurants, and food stalls on the other. This seems like the area to go if looking for dance clubs w/insanely loud music. Great place for an early evening walk to take in the sunset, and plenty of activity with street entertainers as well.
You'll also find the main Church, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, and the central square, and while nice, I found it a bit underwhelming compared to many central squares in Mexico. This area will also have lots of art galleries, and we're looking forward to checking out the Art Walk on Wednesday, through this area.
Traveling further north, you'll encounter 5 de Diciembre neighborhood. It's still packed with taco stands, bars, and great restaurants, but much more of a local feel. I'm looking forward to checking out this area more as I think it would be a great place to live if you want to stay more among locals, while still being walking distance to the most popular areas. The beach here, Playa Camarones, also had a much more local feel.
Much further north (about 25 min. drive from El Centro), you'll encounter the Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) and Marina Vallarta. I've got a friend visiting next week and staying in this area, so I'm gonna wait until then to check it out. For me, it doesn't seem like an interesting area at all. Mostly just larger resorts, where foreign tourists who don't want to interact w/tourists just hang out at their hotels the whole trip. But I'm glad it exists b/c it attracts many foreign tourists and thus keeps them out of El Centro and ZR.
Thus far, the big winner for me is the food. We've had 4 meals and 3 of them have been incredible. We follow an American couple on YT who have lived in 5 Mexican cities and visited every state in Mexico, and they swear that Zona Romántica has the best food they've ever tried. So far, I'd have to agree. Their recommended places have been excellent. We've eaten some of the best shrimp and marlin tacos ever, and heard there's another stand that might be even better! Had great fajitas and coco shrimp, and then a fish filet that I thought was very good.
The owner of our apartment said that the last place is only average as far as ZR goes, so I'm excited to start checking out some of his recs. And prices have seemed pretty reasonable so far. 4 enormous marlin and shrimp tacos cost about $6.50 total. The fish filet w/veggies, rice, etc. cost about $10. The most expensive was the coco shrimp at $17.50, but it was super delicious and a massive portion that could almost feed 2.
I would need to check out PV in other times of the year. The Summer, to see if the heat and rainy season are somewhat manageable. As well as touristy high season, the Winter, to see if the city is somewhat fun or if it's just too packed with tourists. But so far, it's looking like a place I could see living long-term since I'm a sucker for hot weather and coastal living and PV seems about the best option for a larger Mexican city on the coast (Mazatlán is high up there as well).