El Pitillal

El Pitillal is a traditional neighbourhood of Puerto Vallarta, about 5 km northeast of downtown on the Río Pitillal, and the place to see everyday Vallarta away from the beaches. It began as a separate village: it counts its founding from September 15, 1872, when Exiquio Corona settled at what is now the corner of Emiliano Zapata and 5 de Septiembre streets. Its name means "place of pitillos", the plants that grew on the river's sandbanks. The village lived from farming on the lands of its ejidos, such as El Coapinole, and grew so fast in the late 20th century that it merged into the city; today it is a municipal delegación (sub-district) of Puerto Vallarta. Around 1989-91 some residents even campaigned for Pitillal to become its own municipality with Ixtapa, Las Juntas and Las Palmas; the idea went nowhere, but the coat of arms designed for it can still be seen in a stained-glass window at the delegación offices.

The heart of it is the plaza, with a bandstand and a monument to the Niños Héroes, facing the twin-towered Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, built of brick and dark stone. In the evenings the plaza and the streets around it fill with families and with stands selling tacos, churros and other antojitos, which is why several of Vallarta's most popular food tours, including evening taco tours, are based here. Colourful PITILLAL letters stand at the neighbourhood's entrance, between the two bridges at the end of Avenida Francisco Villa, next to the riverside linear park.

The biggest days are the fiestas patronales of San Miguel Arcángel at the end of September, with mañanitas, a cabalgata, a dance and, on September 29, processions of charros, escaramuzas on horseback and the local ejidos before a large open-air Mass; in 2025 the bishop of Tepic came to lead it. The Fiestas Patrias around September 15 are celebrated in the plaza too, together with the anniversary of the founding.