Museo Histórico Naval de Puerto Vallarta

The Museo Histórico Naval de Puerto Vallarta, signposted today as Museo Naval México, is the Mexican Navy's museum in the city, run by the Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR) through its naval history and culture unit. It occupies a white two-storey building with arched windows at Calle Zaragoza 4, right on the Malecón, next to the Los Arcos open-air stage and the bronze dolphins of the Friendship Fountain, so it is easy to drop into during a walk along the seafront. It opened on November 18, 2006.

The museum tells Mexico's history in relation to the sea, from the Spanish conquest to the present-day Navy. Around 150 pieces fill some 700 square meters spread over 14 rooms: paintings, photographs, documents and old charts, navigation instruments, a long gallery of scale models that runs from sailing ships to modern patrol boats, cannons and a collection of muskets, one of them made in Mexico, and the uniforms the Navy has worn over time. Several rooms are interactive, including one where you can try steering a modern ship. The themes include the Spanish expeditions into the Pacific, the voyages to the Philippines and the return route of the Manila galleon, the defence of the treasure fleets, the San Blas naval station, the origins of the settlement that became Puerto Vallarta and the organisation of today's Navy.

The museum also offers guided visits, workshops, temporary exhibitions and an audiovisual room. Its programme has grown in recent years: in 2026 it hosted a temporary exhibition on the Navy and the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, held in Mexico, and opened in the evenings for SEMAR's Noche de Museos, with music, workshops and Navy displays that draw families from the city. The museum is closed on Mondays.