Las Palmas de Arriba

Las Palmas de Arriba, usually just called Las Palmas, is a country town in the northern, inland part of the municipality of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, roughly 27 kilometers from the city. It sits where the valley of the Ameca River narrows against the foothills of the Sierra Occidental: the river, which here forms the border with Nayarit, runs along its western side, the hills close in to the north and east, and the farming community of El Colorado lies to the south. The 2020 census counted 3,949 people, making it the fourth-largest locality in the municipality, a little fewer than the 4,145 of 2010.

The town grew up around its fundo legal, the original village core, and its land belongs to the ejido of Las Palmas, one of 26 ejidos in the municipality. Most of the surrounding territory, more than 8,500 hectares in the area covered by the town's 2021 urban development plan, is forest on the hillsides, with good farming soil on the valley floor; the plan sets out to encourage agriculture and low-impact, nature-based tourism here rather than more housing.

State Highway 544 is the town's main street and its link to the world. Coming down from the mountains, the road from Mascota and San Sebastián del Oeste descends through La Estancia and Las Palmas to Las Juntas on the coast highway, so Las Palmas is the first sizeable town travelers reach on the valley floor, and the last before the climb when heading the other way. San Sebastián del Oeste, the old silver-mining Pueblo Mágico, is about 44 km and a bit over an hour's drive further up the road.