Getting There
Flying into Puerto Vallarta (PVR), Mexico
You can get great discount prices for airfare using online search engines, particularly if you book your flight at low travel times. You can shop and compare at:
Transportation from the Puerto Vallarta airport to the retreat (2023 Trip)
We will arrange shuttle transportation for you from the Puerto Vallarta airport to and from Chacala, but only if you are planning to arrive Tuesday afternoon (Nov 28th, 2023) and depart the following Tuesay afternoon (Dec 5, 2023). Simply let us know your airline, flight number, and arrival & departure times after you book them. We will meet at the Puerto Vallarta Airport as a group on Tuesday afternoon and depart from there. To help expedite the process:
=> You should plan to fly into Puerto Vallarta Airport (PVR) on TUESDAY, NOV 28th. Try to arrive late-morning to mid-day if possible as it is a 90 mile drive to Chacala and a one hour time change (later) from Puerto Vallarta. En route, anyone on the earlier shuttles may elect to take an optional stop at the "Big" grocery store in order to pick up food supplies, sun-tan lotion, drinks, or other sundries for your stay.
=> For your return flight, plan to DEPART ON TUESDAY, DEC 5th AND please try to book your flight from Puerto Vallarta to leave no earlier than 1:00 or 2:00 pm as you will have to leave Chacala about 3 hours prior to your flight. Planning your flight later in the day is ideal if it works for you so you have one more morning on the beach!
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If you are not arriving/departing on Tuesday, or if you don't want to use our group shuttle, of if you have other plans, you will need to arrange transportation to & from Chacala on your own. Here are some options for doing that:
1) There is a daily shuttle service that provides R/T transportation from Puerto Vallarta to Chacala and back for around $150/shuttle. We will be happy to help arrange this for you and/or your group. (Please let us know your airline, flight number, and flight arrival and departure after you book them and we can contact the Chacala shuttle representative for you). There is also a shuttle service at the airport
2) Puerto Vallarta now has Uber Service. You can try booking an Uber from your smartphone. Be sure to download the app first.
3) You can rent a car for the week in Puerto Vallarta. There are a number of rental agencies at the airport available to you and most of these can be found on the search engines above, but PLEASE BE FOREWARNED:
While the car rental agency prices may appear to be very cheap while doing an online search or when asking at the kiosk window at the airport, this is because they don't make their money on the car rental, but rather on the obligatory insurance policies that you are forced to buy, and which may cost you several hundred dollars for the week. They will also not honor any insurance covered by your credit card, so don't count on that. This being said, this is still a good option if you want to split the cost with other participants and use the car during the week to travel around or explore on your own. Herz has also allowed us to opt out of buying local insurance in the past, but rental is entirely at your own risk.
4) One final option is to buy a ticket for an airport taxi to the Puerto Vallarta bus terminal (“Al central de caminiones, por favor”). The bus terminal is one kilometer away. There, you can go to the Pacifico bus counter and purchase a ticket to Las Varas which costs about $7.00 per person. Board a northbound bus to Tepic and get off at Las Varas. From Las Varas, take a green and yellow collective taxi to Chacala which costs about $5.00 during the day and about $10.00 in the evening. While this is clearly a cheaper option, it is a fairly complex and unreliable way to travel and not recommended unless you are 1) feeling very adventures, 2) you don't have much luggage with you, 3) you speak Spanish, 4) and you don't mind getting lost in a foreign country. Just saying....