11 Best Places to Shop in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

The 300 or so potters from the village of Mata Ortiz add their touches to the intensely—sometimes hypnotically—geometric designs of their ancestors from Paquimé. At this shop pieces range from about $60 to $10,000, with an average of about $400. Stop in during an afternoon walk through downtown.

The beauty of its glistening glass-bead Czech jewelry in iridescent and earth colors may leave you weak at the knees. Sometimes a Huichol artisan at the front of the store works on traditional yarn paintings, pressing the fine filaments into a base of beeswax and pine resin to create colorful and symbolic pictures. Sales support the owner's nonprofit organization to promote cultural sustainability for the Huichol people.

Here the Huichol are treated as a people, not a product. At their downtown Vallarta shop, the owners— a Mexican-Canadian couple—are happy to share with customers their wealth of info about Huichol art and culture. They work with just a few farming families, providing all the materials and then paying for the finished products, amazing and colorful handicrafts that represent the most sacred elements of their culture. Huichol imagery is so colorful because they actually see these images when they eat peyote, an hallucinogenic cactus, as part of their religious rituals.

This is a large store with a ton of red-clay items traditional to the area—in fact, their predecessors were crafted before the 1st century AD. Rustic pottery and glazed ceramic pieces come in traditional styles at reasonable prices.

Ancestral sells local handicrafts and Mexican products of Nahuatl (ancient Aztec) origin. You can even buy beautifully hand-painted bull skulls. From time to time, they also offer workshops and embroidery, painting, and Nahuatl-language classes.

The assortment of handicrafts here is huge: Huichol yarn paintings and beaded bowls and statuettes, real Talavera ceramics from Puebla, decorative pieces in painted wood, and many other items. 

The gift items here include small housewares and tin frames sporting Botero-style paintings. The classy selection of Talavera pottery is both decorative and utilitarian. An extension half a block down the street has an even larger inventory including leather settees, lamps, desks, and other furnishings as well as pieces from various parts of Mexico. Neither shop is for bargain hunters, but prices are reasonable given the high quality.

The inventory of folk art and utilitarian handicrafts is large, and each piece is unique. Scoop up masks and pottery from Michoacán, textiles and shawls from Guatemala, hammocks from the Yucatán, and lacquered boxes from Olinalá.

Buy machine- or handmade tiles starting at about 20 MXN ($1) each at this large shop. You can get mosaic tile scenes (or order your own design), a place setting for eight, hand-painted sinks, or any number of soap dishes, cups, saucers, plates, or doodads. Around the corner and run by family members, Mundo de Cristal has more plates and tableware in the same style.

Relatives of the owners of Mundo de Cristal and Mundo de Azulejos own this shop. Attractive, lead-free items in modern and traditional designs are sold here at reasonable prices. The practical, tarnish-free pieces can go from stovetop or oven to the dining table and be no worse for wear.

Near the north end of Banderas Bay, Hikuri is run by a British couple who pay asking prices to their Huichol suppliers and employ indigenous workers in the adjoining carpentry and screen-printing shops. The workers initially have little or no experience, and the training and jobs here give them a leg up to move on to more profitable work. The excellent inventory includes large and small fine yarn paintings, beaded bowls and jewelry, and feathered prayer wands. An on-site patio restaurant called Abalón (closed Wednesday and 2–6 pm) is another good reason to visit, for its international dishes and sometimes live music.