Puerto Vallarta in December

When to go

December falls after the eastern Pacific hurricane season, which the National Hurricane Center says ends in November. The Guadalupe festival fills the first part of the month with processions through El Centro toward the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, so check its dates against your trip. Christmas Day is a mandatory rest day under Mexican federal labor law, so check opening hours and tour schedules around it. Whale-watching dates are set each season by the federal environment ministry, and last season's window opened in early December, so check this season's notice before you plan a tour.

Trip facts

• The World Meteorological Organization's World Weather Information Service lists, for Puerto Vallarta, a mean daily maximum temperature of 29.9 °C (85.8 °F) and a mean daily minimum temperature of 18.0 °C (64.4 °F) in December, based on monthly averages for the 30-year period 1971-2000 from Mexico's Coordinación General del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. (worldweather.wmo.int, checked 2026-10-15)
• The World Meteorological Organization's World Weather Information Service lists, for Puerto Vallarta, mean total rainfall of 22.5 mm and a mean number of rain days of 1.9 in December (a rain day being a day with at least 0.1 mm of rain), based on monthly averages for 1971-2000 from Mexico's Coordinación General del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. (worldweather.wmo.int, checked 2026-10-15)
• The National Hurricane Center says the eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30. (www.nhc.noaa.gov, checked 2026-10-15)
• The Mexican government's PROFEDET page lists December 25 among the mandatory rest days in Article 74 of the Federal Labor Law. (www.gob.mx, checked 2026-10-15)
• The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board's events page lists the Fiestas Guadalupanas 2026 from December 1 to December 12, 2026, with processions through the streets of El Centro toward the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the heart of downtown and a peak at midnight on December 12. (visitpuertovallarta.com, checked 2026-10-15)
• Mexico's environment ministry (SEMARNAT) published a notice, dated October 2, 2025, that sets the 2025-2026 whale-watching season for Bahía de Banderas, in the municipalities of Puerto Vallarta and Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco, from December 8, 2025 to March 23, 2026. (sidof.segob.gob.mx, checked 2026-10-15)
• The Mexican immigration institute (INM) says that foreign nationals who enter Mexico by air do not have to fill out the electronic Multiple Migration Form (FMMe) or the traditional form, and that the digital form (FMMd) can be downloaded once, within the days granted, by scanning the QR code at the immigration review filters or through the INM Services Portal. (www.gob.mx, checked 2026-10-15)
• Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico says Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) is in the municipality of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, handles the air traffic of Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, and is 7.5 kilometers from the city of Puerto Vallarta and 10 miles from Nuevo Vallarta in Nayarit state. (www.aeropuertosgap.com.mx, checked 2026-10-15)
• The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board says Puerto Vallarta has its own international airport (PVR), which receives direct flights from many major cities in the US and Canada, and that visitors can alternatively fly into the nearby Guadalajara International Airport and take a bus or private transfer. (visitpuertovallarta.com, checked 2026-10-15)
• Article 3 of Mexico's Ley de los Husos Horarios puts most of the national territory in the Central Zone (meridian 90 degrees west of Greenwich) and puts Nayarit in the Pacific Zone (meridian 105 degrees west), except the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, which follows the Central Zone. (sidof.segob.gob.mx, checked 2026-10-15)