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 (2019 Trip)
We will arrange shuttle transportation for you from the Puerto Vallarta airport to and from Casa de Tortuga in Chapala but only if you are planning to arrive Sunday afternoon (March 17th, 2019) and depart the following Sunday afternoon (March 24th, 2019). 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 Sunday afternoon and depart from there. To help expedite the process:
=> You should plan to fly into Puerto Vallarta Airport (PVR) on SUNDAY, MARCH 17th. 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, the driver will stop at the "Big" grocery store so that you can pick up food supplies, sun-tan lotion, drinks, sundries, etc. for your stay.
=> For your return flight, plan to DEPART ON SUNDAY, APRIL 24th 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 Sunday, 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 "Casa de Tortugas" in 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 $100/person. 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).
2) 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.
3) 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....