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Driving to Puerto Vallarta...


DeborahM

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I'll be driving (with a visiting friend) friend from Lakeside to Puerto Vallarta in November. I've researched google maps, and researched current information here, but just wondering whether anyone has personal experience with that particular drive, and willing to share best routes. Thanks in advance for any advice.

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Areas along the coast have been hit by severe storms every night since last Thursday.

Homes along the river in La Peñita (about 90 minutes north of PV on Hwy 200) have been flooded or destroyed. While this may not affect Hwy 70 there is a chance that the recent storms were widespread and if so travel on that road could be iffy.

There might be other boards out of PV that would have more info about road conditions.

We just came back from Guayabitos Monday using the cuota and periferico with no problems. The Tepic cuota has actually been resurfaced in many areas around the mountain area and is very smooth. Unfortunately the bypass at Jala to Compostela is still no where near completion.

By November all should be clear on Hwy 70 but for now it would probably be safer to take the cuota.

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This topic has been discussed often here. Two basic routes... the one Sparks mentioned and the 15D Cuota through Compostela. I have driven both several times over the years. In my opinion they will both take about the same time although this is not apparent by looking at a map.

If you don't mind driving two-lane roads, the highway 70 route is fine. HOWEVER, I would see if you can determine if the sugar cane harvest is done by your trip time.... that road will be full of trucks hauling cane in season, especially if you take highway 80 over to 70/Ameca. That road also goes through some scenic areas (although I think 15D is real scenic in places also!) and parts of it can be designated 'mountainous' (especially if one is not from a mountainous region to know what real mountanous roads look like!) from east of Mascota to nearly PV. Also along the route are a couple of very interesting towns to visit.... Talpa de Allende and San Sebastian del Oste... if you have time to 'slow down and smell the roses'. One caution during the rainy season (which will be done with in November?).... the mountainous part of that road between Moscota and Las Palmas can be really bad or even closed due to poor engineering of the road causing mud slides, sometimes wiping out portions of the road.

Taking Cuota 15D will, in my opinion, be an easier drive for the most part, although once one gets to Compostela, highway 200 down to PV cannot be considered easier as it too is a very busy, winding 2-lane road especially if taken 'on the weekend'.

All in all, I've taken the highway 80/70 route once too many times... it is scenic but it just wears me out (and I like to drive!). I now take 15D exclusively. Others may/will have the opposite opinion.

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Hey Sparks, nice pictures!

I think your picture #5 is the old road (before the high bridge Picture #4 was built) that went straight down to cross the river... I mean you went right through the river bed.... and back up the other side similarly. Good ole days.

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We do this trip a lot every year. Mascota and Hwy 70 are very pretty once. Both routes are almost exact in time but the free route is tiring. We thought we would never get home even though was same time.

Thus we always do the cuota now and never do the other route especially in rainy season.

I have exact directions if you need them, send me a PM..cuota route..

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I've driven from San Antonio Tlayacapan to Puerto Vallarta and back many times, most recently in July, when I drove to P.V. via the cuota to Compostela and then the dreaded route 200, driving back via the free road through Ixtapa, Mascota, Ameca, and Cocula. I agree that the time required is about the same via either route. But I have never found a way to get on the cuota without going to Guadalajara and getting on Lazaro Cardenas, while you can get on the free route by going to Jocotepec, which is, to me, an advantage, and the free route is, in my opinion, more scenic. On the other hand, the cuota route is much easier to follow, as the free route is not well signed, especially between Ameca and Cocula and then to Jocotepec, and it is especially confusing at the junction with 54, where there are no signs for Joco. If you take the cuota route, you can save a little money on tolls, while sacrificing nothing on highway quality or speed, by exiting the cuota at Ixtlan del Rio and taking the free road from there to Compostela. The free route via Mascota, etc., is very hilly and twisting, and the road is sometimes quite narrow. But route 200 between Compostela and P.V. is also very twisting and made worse by the heavy traffic, with some drivers always wanting to pass on a curve or going up a hill on the apparent theory that "maybe there's nothing coming." So, each time that I take one of the routes I declare that I will take the other one the next time. You can get print-outs of both routes, which show, for the cuota route, the tolls and toll points, by going to www.sct.gob.mx and then going to Consulta Ruta. A new toll road that avoids route 200 is currently under construction, and it should make the cuota route both easier and faster.

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The new Tepic cuota bypass Jala - Compostela - Bucerias, is scheduled for completion in 2017. It is what they refer to as an A4 which is a high speed 4 lane divided highway. Jala is about 20km this side of the current PV exit at Chapalilla.

The first stretch Jala to Compostela was supposed to be finished this summer. It didn't quite make if but satellite images on Google Earth show a nice 4 lane highway gliding over the mountains toward Compostela. The interchange at Hwy 15 seems to be almost complete and while there is a nice road bed and obvious exits and entrances at the other end in Compostela, there's a lot left to do with not much visible activity.

The next exit appears to be near a little town called Altavista between Las Varas and La Peñita. It's very close to the entrance of the planned resort Costa Capomo which is supposedly being financed by the Mexican and Portuguese governments as well as Carlos Slim. There's no visible work being done on the road off Hwy 200 where the big construction sign has been posted.

Once the road is complete it should cut off at least 90 minutes off a trip from Guadalajara. It will certainly make the travel time for any trip to the coast much more predictable. Now one can breeze through the windy mountain roads when it is absent of buses and trucks or one can get behind a cement truck going 10mph for 20 or 30km and wait for an impatient :() try to cheat or meet death by passing on a blind curve.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have made this trip every year for the last 8 or 9 years.

I don't know why people tell you to go through Guadalajara. Take the Chapala highway up to the Periferico, which you will hit before you get to Guad. Go to Highway 15. The sign says either Puerto Vallarta or Nogales. Take it WEST. After about 15 minutes (?) the road splits to the free road (libre) and the toll road (cuota) after the west side of Guadalajara.

The free road is ok, but it does take longer... from a half hour to an hour longer depending on the traffic in going out of Guadalajara, and going through some local towns and how many trucks are on the mountain part. Most of the signs point to Tepic when either on the free road or on the cuota. Don't get discouraged, right before you actually get to Tepic, there is a cut off to Puerto Vallarta. It is at about this point where the free road and the cuota meet.

The last part is all mountain driving. So although it looks like it's close to PV, it actually takes 2 1/2 hours until you get into Vallarta.

If you want a guide to get there and take you to places in PV, contact me. I can take people downtown to the galleries, to the malecon, or to the beaches (like Punta de Mita... the free one, not the resort), to San Pancho, to Sayulita, to Santa Cruz, to Bucerias... all within driving distance from PV. 766-3025.

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