Behind the beach, Puerto Vallarta runs a serious art economy: 30-odd galleries selling Wixárika yarn paintings and contemporary Jalisco painters, a 19th-century hacienda turned arts school across the bay, and stage seasons from folk ballet to cabaret.
Puerto Vallarta's largest gallery, in a 1920s hacienda on Basilio Badillo with a walled garden of bronze and stone figures by 50+ Mexican sculptors. Open Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00, Sat to 14:00; closed August–September. Browsing is free.
A specialist gallery on Juárez dealing directly with Wixárika (Huichol) families from the Sierra. Yarn paintings and beaded jaguar heads carry the artist's name and community; small pieces from MXN 800, museum-scale tablas run past MXN 60,000.
The parish church begun in 1903, crowned by a fibreglass replica of Empress Carlota's crown after the 1995 earthquake felled the concrete original. Interior columns are local river stone; open daily roughly 07:00–20:00 between Masses.
Contemporary indigenous and folk art from Nayarit, Oaxaca and Guerrero — Wixárika masks, Ocumicho ceramics, alebrijes. Kevin Simpson curates the collection and gives impromptu talks on provenance. Open Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00.
Small archaeology museum at the western tip of Isla Cuale, showing shaft-tomb ceramics, obsidian blades and Aztatlán-culture figurines from the Banderas Bay region. Open Tue–Sat 09:00–17:00; entry is a symbolic donation.
The city's 1,000-seat proscenium theatre in Zona Centro, home to the Vallarta Film Festival, touring Mexican theatre and Ballet Folklórico seasons. The box office opens weekday afternoons; check the marquee for tonight's cartelera.
Municipal arts school under the fig trees mid-island: free-to-watch classes in painting, guitar, ballet folklórico and Wixárika beadwork, plus a rotating exhibition hall of local painters. Gallery open weekdays 09:00–19:00.
The open-air amphitheatre facing the Malecón arches hosts free municipal folkloric dance, mariachi and Papantla flyer performances several evenings a week, seating on stone steps with the bay behind the stage.
Elizabeth Taylor's 1963 villa on Calle Zaragoza, connected to Richard Burton's house by the pink 'Puente del Amor' bridge. Now a boutique hotel that admits visitors to the bridge, terrace bar and the couple's memorabilia rooms.
Two-storey market at the Insurgentes bridge: talavera, leather huaraches and Wixárika beadwork downstairs, a comedor of family fondas upstairs serving pozole and birria for MXN 90–150. Trading daily from around 09:00 to 20:00.
Gallery running since 1987, representing Ramiz Barquet and other bay-region sculptors and painters. Also runs the free Malecón Sculpture Walk each Tuesday morning in season, led by Gary Thompson. Open Mon–Sat 10:00–20:00.
Two-theatre venue in Zona Romántica programming cabaret, Broadway revues and drag performance nightly through the November–April season, plus the Red Room piano bar upstairs. Tickets typically MXN 500–900.