El Pescador

El Pescador is the lesser-known sister property of Hotel Rosita, a landmark historic hotel located three blocks farther down the shore.  While both hotels feature old, rather dated buildings and are squarely budget properties, the rooms are slightly nicer at El Pescador. Hotel Rosita has a grander, more charming lobby and courtyard, however. The 103 rooms at El Pescador include Standard and Ocean View Rooms, the latter of which have nice balconies facing out to the deep blue ocean. The building itself is done in the traditional Mexican style, with white concrete walls and brick trim. Enter through a small lobby and tour desk, and pass through to the nice outdoor pool area that faces right onto the water. The overall atmosphere is laid-back and relaxed and extremely low-key, though the hustle and bustle of the city is right outside the door.

El Pescador is located on a quiet side street on the very northern edge of downtown Puerto Vallarta. It offers a beachfront location, with direct access to the beach and great views of the sunset over Banderas Bay. It’s situated close to the resort-heavy Hotel Zone, but within walking distance of Centro, the central part of town that contains the excellent promenade called the Malecon and a wide variety of bars, shops, and restaurants. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the hotel to reach the markets located along the river and on Isla Cuale, and a little farther to the charming Romantic Zone. It’s only a 15-minute taxi ride to the airport.

The 103 rooms at El Pescador include 47 Ocean View Rooms and 56 Standard Rooms, which face out toward the city. Another distinction is that the Ocean View Rooms have flat-screen TVs, while the city view rooms have old tube TVs. All rooms have air-conditioning, but there are no mini-fridges (though the hotel staff can bring one in for a fee). The Ocean View Rooms have big sliding-glass doors that take advantage of the views and let in lots of light. They enjoy larger balconies with plastic chairs and great vistas up and down the coast of Banderas Bay, with great sunsets. The Standard Rooms have smaller balconies that overlook the city.

Overall the rooms and light and clean, and in better shape than the dingy, drab rooms of Hotel Rosita down the street. The decor is minimal, featuring dull, mostly white or beige colors and few if any paintings on the walls. There are traditional wooden headboards with carved designs and a few other plain pieces of furniture. The bathrooms are larger than at Hotel Rosita and actually have light coming in through a window. They feature some updated tile and walk-in showers, but overall are a bit old and dated.

The hotel’s main amenity is a lovely, medium-size free-form pool with views from the pool deck right out to the ocean close by. There are many blue plastic lounge chairs scattered around the sunny pool deck, though only a few umbrellas to provide shade. The pool has a shallow section that’s great for kids and a small waterfall feature on one side. Next to the pool, there’s a small restaurant and bar called the Coral Restaurant, which serves both Mexican dishes and continental fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The bar offers cocktails like mojitos and good happy hour specials.

On the far side of the pool, there’s a gated fence with concrete steps that lead down to the beach. Upon closer inspection, the concrete steps and retaining wall are crumbling, with large chunks of concrete falling off onto the sand below. There are also some exposed rusty metal parts, so take care when walking down. This area is a public city beach, which is not very wide and a bit rocky. It’s kind of a desolate area of beach, and the bits of litter scattered around are a sign that it’s probably not the best for swimming. The hotel offers free Wi-Fi throughout the property.