The Huichols, one of Mexico's oldest ethnic groups, used to live where Puerto Vallarta stands now. Spanish conquistadors came on March 1525, ed by Captain Francisco Cortes de San Buenaventura, a relative of Hernan Cortes. When Spaniards landed here, they found Indians holding banners made of motley feathers. The conquistadors also brought their own banners with the Spanish symbols and the image of Virgin Mary. But the shining armors of Spanish soldiers probably scared natives, who eventually ran away and left their banners behind. From that moment on, the place was called Bahia de Banderas (Bay of Flags).

All through the 16th century, Spanish soldiers kept on coming to its beaches. That was a safe haven for ships sailing back from the Philippines at a time of constant pirate attacks. In the 18th century, people began calling the place Bahia de las Jorobadas (Bay of the Humpbacks) as larger numbers of such whales were being sighted on the premises.

In the 19th century, Puerto Vallarta -as we know it now- was used to load and unload supplies headed for mining companies in Cuale and San Sebastian. At that time in history, the place was known as Las Peñas (The Rocks).

In 1851,Don Guadalupe Sanchez Torres -born in Cihuatlan, Jaliscostarted making regular salt deliveries to San Blas to refine the silver extracted from the mines. In the late 1851,Don Guadalupe decided to bring his family to Las Peñas de Santa Maria de Guadalupe. As more families began to settle down, the town started growing little by little and the local economy set sail to lands of prosperity. While some families remained bringing in salt shipments, others took on farming and stockbreeding.

In 1880, Las Peñas had a population of 1,500 inhabitants. In a twenty year stretch from 1890 to 1910, the city prospered gradually thanks to the combined efforts of the people and to Don Guadalupe's enthusiasm. The discovery of silver deposits in the U.S.made the price of the precious metal crumble down and forced local miners to till the land again.

In 1918, Las Peñas became a municipality and got a new name, Puerto Vallarta, in tribute to Don Ignacio L.Vallarta, the illustrious lawyer who served in office as governor of Jalisco.

By 1930, national and foreign tourists began swarming over Puerto Vallarta. Little by little, the destination became the talk of the town. In 1954,Mexicana de Aviacion made its first flight from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta, thus coming up with a destination that could square off competitively to Acapulco. Among others,Guillermo Wulff came to Puerto Vallarta and the town's second construction phase soon started out. It was Mr.Wulff who introduced domes as architectural elements and who talked John Houston into shooting a film there in 1963.

In 1968,Puerto Vallarta won the category of city thanks to the efforts of Francisco Medina Ascencio, governor of Jalisco from 1965 to 1971. Between 1980 and 1990, the population doubled from 57,000 to 112,000 inhabitants. This leapfrogging pace brought about the building of new hotels and of the Vallarta Marina.However, the year 1993 marked a period of decline as the inflow of international visitors dwindled sharply.

The Joint Tourism Fund was created in 1996 in an effort to boost and promote the destination, both inside and out of the country. As we speak, Puerto Vallarta is going strong as one of the world's premier travel destinations and that pedestal position is owed to its natural beauties, the incredible amount and variety of activities it has to offer, and to its determination to keep Mexican flavor and culture very much alive.