Mexican cooking classes in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is where Cookin' Vallarta started in 2012, and the class here still runs the way it did on the first day: a walk through a working neighbourhood market, a stop at a tortilla factory for fresh masa, and then cooking in Chef Enrique's family home with his wife and sister in the kitchen.

The city eats across two very different halves. The Centro and Zona Romántica side is where visitors spend their evenings — the Malecón, the seafront, the restaurants. Inland, neighbourhoods like Pitillal and Versalles are where families actually shop and eat, with market stalls, tortillerías, taquerías and bakeries that have fed the same streets for decades. Our class sits in that second half, which is the point: you learn the cooking from the people who cook it every day.

Puerto Vallarta is also the easiest destination for cruise passengers. The meeting point is a short walk from the cruise terminal, and the four-hour class fits comfortably inside a standard port day. Guests who are staying in a resort in the hotel zone or in Nuevo Vallarta can reach the meeting point by taxi, or book the private class and have the chefs come to their villa.

If you want more than one food experience, Puerto Vallarta is the destination where you can pair a class with our sister company's food-walking tour through Pitillal, Versalles and El Centro. One shows you the city's kitchens from the street; the other puts you inside one.