The week was great
RIU's are pretty nice places
The Riu Varatta was about 20 min bus ride from the airport
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g154267-d625275-Reviews-Riu_Vallarta-Nuevo_Vallarta_Pacific_Coast.html click on map and you can see the beach
I only reason I can think why there is bad reviews is that the people where there over Xmas and spend big money, we talk to people who paid over $1400 / pp for the week and we paid $1500 all in for 2 people
Nice big and long beach to walk , you can walk over an hour each way
There is a small town about 1/2 walk up the beach, it has a market for the junk stuff,
Went ziplining
http://vallartainfo.com/tours/canopy/book.php cost was $144USD for 2
They had 14 different lines longs was about 400 meters
Did a day of whale watching
http://pegasochartering.com.mx/whale-watching.htmlAt one time we did have about 5 whale including cafes around the boat and one did breach in front on us
then one surfaced about 5 meters from the boat , it blow hole was huge
We did not make into Puerto Vallata will save that for another trip. people who did make in had a good time
People on the plane stayed in PV and felt safe the whole time
I would go back to the PV area again and stay at the Riu depending on price