Puerto Vallarta · Mexico
Sierra Madre fairways, Pacific sunsets, one address.
Puerto Vallarta is our first Pacific destination: two championship courses at Vista Vallarta in the Sierra Madre foothills, one by Jack Nicklaus and one by Tom Weiskopf, plus the Joe Finger course at Marina Vallarta minutes from the airport. We plan the stay around Casa Velas, a boutique hotel for adults beside the golf. We handle the tee times, the rooms, and the transfers.
Because it concentrates what a group week needs into one address. Two championship courses share one clubhouse in the foothills, and a third waits five minutes from the airport. The Sierra Madre rises behind the town, Banderas Bay opens in front of it, and direct flights arrive from dozens of cities across the United States and Canada.
Punta Cana set the bar for what we ask of a destination: golf worth the flight, a stay worth the golf, and logistics quiet enough that the group never thinks about them. Puerto Vallarta is where we take that standard to the Pacific. Vista Vallarta holds a Jack Nicklaus course and a Tom Weiskopf course on one property in the jungle foothills, and down at sea level Joe Finger's Marina Vallarta threads the lagoons of the marina district, with Casa Velas set directly against its fairways.
One thing we will say plainly: we have not hosted a group week in Puerto Vallarta yet. This page is the case for the destination and the plan we built for it, not a recollection. The facts about the courses, the hotel, and the seasons are the destination's own, checked against public records; the week itself is described as we plan it, and your group's confirmed itinerary is what turns the plan into a promise.
Two different games about ten minutes apart. In the foothills, the Nicklaus and Weiskopf courses at Vista Vallarta climb through jungle ridges, ravines, and creeks, with the mountains above and the bay below. At sea level, Marina Vallarta is Joe Finger's flatter design from 1989, where lagoons crowd fairways lined with palms, five minutes from the airport.
Vista Vallarta is the marquee. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf each signed a course here, both opened in 2001, and the property earned a world stage almost immediately: the 2002 EMC World Cup was played on the Nicklaus course, with Shigeki Maruyama and Toshimitsu Izawa winning it for Japan, two clear of Phil Mickelson and David Toms. The Weiskopf course concedes nothing to its neighbor, winding deeper into the canyons, and the argument over which of the two is better is half the reason to play both.
Marina Vallarta is the change of pace: flat underfoot, lined with palms, busy with the wildlife that lives in its lagoons, and framed by the Sierra Madre behind every green. It sits in the middle of the marina district, five minutes from the terminal, which makes it the round a group can play on arrival day or fit in before the flight home. Which courses your week plays, and in what order, settles into your confirmed itinerary.
The dry season, November through May, is the golf season: sunny, warm, and reliably dry, with winter highs in the low eighties. June through October is the green season, hot and humid, when rain arrives in brief afternoon and evening bursts and mornings play best. The Pacific storm season runs June through November, so we plan those months with room to adjust.
the golf months, sunny and dry
humpbacks winter in Banderas Bay
morning golf, afternoon showers
planned with room to adjust
December through March is the postcard window: dry days, warm evenings, and the humpback whales that winter in Banderas Bay, which hands the companions a boat day the golfers may skip a morning for. It is also when demand peaks, so the best dates go early. November and May carry nearly the same weather with more room on the calendar, and they are worth asking about for a group that can travel then.
The green season is real weather, and we treat it that way. June through October is hot, humid, and dramatic, the hills turn deep green, and rain tends to arrive in short bursts late in the day, which is why summer tee times belong to the morning. The Pacific storm season overlaps those months; the curve of Banderas Bay and the mountains behind it shelter this coast and direct strikes are rare, but rare is not never, so a summer or fall week is planned with contingencies and our cancellation terms protect you if a storm disrupts a hosted trip.
You fly into Puerto Vallarta International Airport, PVR, which has direct service from dozens of cities across the United States and Canada. The Marina Vallarta course and the marina district hotels are about five minutes from the terminal, and Vista Vallarta is roughly ten minutes further into the foothills. On a hosted week, as we plan it, a private car meets the group and handles every transfer.
Land at PVR
direct from dozens of cities
Met at arrivals
a private car for the group
Minutes to the hotel
the marina district is next door
First tee
as your itinerary sets it
Puerto Vallarta barely has a ground game to speak of: the airport, the marina, the hotel we plan around, and one of the three courses share the same corner of the city. Even the far courses are a short climb into the foothills, close enough that a morning tee time never demands an early alarm, and the drive itself trades runway views for jungle ones.
On a hosted week the ground is handled end to end: a private car meets the group at arrivals, runs everyone to the hotel, and covers every transfer to and from every round until the flight home. No rental counter, no ride apps, nobody navigating. You land, and the week simply starts.
As we plan it: land at PVR, settle in beside the Marina Vallarta fairways, and build the mornings around the three courses, one flat and two in the foothills. Afternoons belong to the pool, the spa, the old town, and in winter the whales. Companions travel the same days with a plan of their own, and your confirmed itinerary sets the specifics.
Arrival day
PVR sits beside the marina district, so the drive in is minutes, not an afternoon. Settle in, find the pool, and if the flights land early there is daylight enough for a first walk around the marina.
The playing mornings
A typical plan pairs Marina Vallarta, flat among the lagoons, with foothill mornings on the Nicklaus and Weiskopf courses; your itinerary confirms the rotation. Golf ends with most of the day left, so the afternoons stay open.
The extra round
A week with a fourth round can return to the course the group argues about, and at Vista Vallarta the argument is the point: two designs, one clubhouse, no agreement. Evenings are for long dinners, in the old town or at the hotel.
Alongside the golf
The Malecón and the old town, the spa and the pools, boat days on Banderas Bay, and from December to March the humpback whales. One honest note: the hotel we plan around is reserved for adults, so this is a week for the grown side of the group.
Landing to last putt
A concierge on the ground, tee times confirmed, tables held, transfers waiting, and the small problems fixed before the group notices. Puerto Vallarta is a new address for us, and it opens at that same bar.
That is the plan; your confirmed itinerary is the promise.
The golf
The courses we build Puerto Vallarta trips around, each with its designer and the numbers that matter. Your itinerary confirms your exact rotation. Facts from our verified course library.
The championship
The higher and harder of Vista Vallarta's two eighteens. Jack Nicklaus routed it along the ridge, and the 2002 World Cup was played here. Jungle, arroyos, and the Sierra Madre on every horizon.
The counterpoint
Tom Weiskopf took the lower ground - deep ravines, running creeks, dense jungle - and built the more forgiving of the two. Fewer blind shots, more receptive greens, and no less beautiful for it.
The home course
Joe Finger's 1989 layout wraps around Casa Velas itself: flat, mature and at sea level, the bay on one side and the mountains on the other. Crocodiles and iguanas share the lagoons - follow the course's posted guidance and enjoy the wildlife from the fairway.
The stay
The resorts we place our groups in, chosen so the golf, the dining, and the beach are all a short step from the room. Your itinerary confirms your group's resort.
The home base
An adults-only, all-inclusive hacienda of just eighty suites, set inside the Marina Vallarta golf course. Arched courtyards, koi ponds, a garden spa, and Emiliano for dinner. Forbes Four-Star, five minutes from its own beach club.
On the calendar
The dates we're running now. Every golfer books and pays for their own spot.
Good questions
