This was a family hike on the south side of Banderas Bay near Puerto Vallarta, Jaliso, Mexico. We started this day trip by taking a taxi to Boca de Tomatlan, the last village accessible by road on the south coast of the bay. We had breakfast and then began the walk/hike west along the hills, cliffs, and beaches.
After the first mile, we stopped at Playa Colomitos, a small beach cove of beautiful sand surrounded by rocks. We then continued west past several other beaches including Playa Emma/Madagascar, Playa La Troza, and Playa Caballo. After another 1.5 miles or so, we reached Playa Las Animas, a beautiful but popular tourist beach. We had lunch and refreshments at Las Animas, and one of our members went parasailing for the first time.
We continued another 1.7 miles or so to the small town of Quimixto. By this time, one of our members was moving slowly due to a rolled ankle, and others were pretty tired. We split up, with three of us continuing up to the Cascada Cuale (AKA Quimixto Waterfall) and then meeting back up at Playa Quimixto (about an extra 1 mile total).
We purchased some water and enjoyed wading and swimming in the refreshing waterfall pool. We walked back down to Playa Quimixto and were reunited with our full group. We met a water taxi operator named Leo for boat ride straight back to the Romantic District in Puerto Vallarta. I had spoken to Leo at Colomitos and he agreed to meet us around 5pm at Quimixto and transport us by boat for $2,600 pesos (around $150 USD). Those of us that had continued to the waterfall ended up being about 40 minutes late, but Leo waited for us.
The water taxi took us back along the scenic coastline and passed us directly through the beautiful Los Arcos formations. We were back to Puerto Vallarta in under an hour and chose to pay Leo a total of around $3,200 pesos ($188 USD) to account for a tip and the extra time he waited for us.
The one-way hike was total of about 5.2 miles walking/hiking and 1,150ft total elevation gain. The trail varies with everything from flat paved sidewalks, to suspension bridges, to steeper dirt/rock sections. Considering the heat, especially for those visiting during the dry season, and the time you may want to stop at the various beaches and sights along the way, I would give yourself a full day to experience this trail and would rate this in the moderate to moderate-hard difficulty for most folks.
