Conchas Chinas and Amapas: The Hills Above Old Vallarta
Private villas with bay views, minutes from the Romantic Zone: what the hillside offers, the stairs it demands, and the coves below.
In this guide
In short
Amapas and Conchas Chinas are the steep hillside neighborhoods just south of Puerto Vallarta’s Romantic Zone, home to many of the city’s larger villas. They offer bay views and quiet evenings minutes from the old town, in exchange for steep streets, stairs and small rocky coves rather than a broad beach.
Conchas Chinas and Amapas are the hillside neighborhoods that rise immediately south of Puerto Vallarta’s Romantic Zone, where the city gives way to steep, green slopes above a series of small coves. They hold many of the city’s larger private villas, built on several levels to catch the view across Banderas Bay, and they offer something the rest of the city cannot: a quiet, residential base within minutes of the restaurants and nightlife of the old town. If the city is new to you, start with what Puerto Vallarta is.
Where Amapas ends and Conchas Chinas begins
Amapas is the closer of the two, climbing the hill directly behind the southern end of the Romantic Zone and Los Muertos beach. Conchas Chinas continues south along Highway 200, with lower streets near the water and higher streets climbing toward the ridge; villa listings often distinguish lower from upper Conchas Chinas because the difference in gradient, views and walking distance is significant. Beyond Conchas Chinas, the road continues toward the south shore.
What staying in Conchas Chinas is like
The appeal is the combination of privacy and proximity. Homes look west over the bay toward the sunset, and the evenings are far quieter than in the Romantic Zone below. Yet dinner on Basilio Badillo street or a walk along the Los Muertos pier is a short taxi ride away, and from lower Amapas it can be a walk.
The trade-off is the slope. Streets are steep and narrow, many houses are entered from the top and descend in stairs to the pool and bedrooms, and walking back up from town at night is hard work. Parking can be tight, which matters for group arrivals in vans. Older guests and small children may find a multi-level house tiring, so ask how many stairs lie between the entrance, the bedrooms and the pool.
The beaches below
The shoreline below Conchas Chinas is made up of small, rocky coves, with tide pools forming between the rocks. Some villas have steps down to the water; many do not, and the nearest broad beach for a long swim or a sunbed is usually Los Muertos in the Romantic Zone. Conditions vary with swell and tide, so ask locally before swimming off the rocks, and see beachfront stays in Los Cabos for why beach access and beachfront are not the same thing anywhere in Mexico.
Questions to ask about a hillside villa
- Is the property in lower or upper Conchas Chinas, or in Amapas, and how long is the walk to the Romantic Zone?
- How many levels does the house have, and can any bedroom be reached without stairs?
- Is there parking or a drop-off point for a van at the entrance?
- Is there private access to the water, and is swimming from it safe in normal conditions?
- Which staff are included; see fully staffed villas in Mexico.
Conchas Chinas and Amapas suit groups who want a private house with a view and the old town close by, and who do not mind stairs. For the other options, compare where to stay in Puerto Vallarta.
