Faro de Matamoros

The Faro de Matamoros is a small retired lighthouse on Calle Matamoros, high on the hillside of Puerto Vallarta's historic center, a few steep blocks above the Malecón and the Guadalupe church. It stands at number 478, between Calle Galeana and Calle Mina, where the cobbled streets of El Centro start to climb the slope known as El Cerro.

The beacon was built by Roberto Alcázar and lit for the first time on August 15, 1932, and for more than four decades it helped boats find their way into Banderas Bay. It was switched off in the 1970s (most accounts say 1978) and afterwards declared a historic landmark. In 2006 the tower was remodeled and turned into a public lookout, with a metal spiral staircase that leads to a small railed terrace at the top.

The site went through rough years: it lost its lighting to vandalism, filled with rubbish and was used as a public toilet, and it had to be cleaned of graffiti in 2017. A later rescue led by the local street-art group Colectivo Rompe, with the city and private backers, brought it back to life, and in June 2024 the tower received a mural of Elizabeth Taylor, the actress whose stay in Vallarta during the filming of The Night of the Iguana helped make the town famous. The collective has since added other murals, among them one for the Day of the Dead.

From the terrace the view takes in the red-tile roofs of downtown, the crown of the Guadalupe church and the curve of the bay toward the hotel zone. It is one of the city's favourite places to photograph the sunset, and because it sits off the main tourist track it is usually quiet. The climb up from the Malecón is short but steep, so take it slowly in the heat.