Puerto Vallarta Museums

While we don't have a huge selection of museums in Puerto Vallarta,
the ones we do have are pretty darn interesting!

BURTON-TAYLOR MUSEUM: In 1963, Richard Burton and Ava Gardner came to Puerto Vallarta to film ¨”The Night of the Iguana” nearby. Until that point, Puerto Vallarta was a small town of just a few thousand or so inhabitants, with tourism just barely beginning to make an impact. But when Elizabeth Taylor (who was still married to Eddie Fisher at the time) showed up to carry on a very public affair with Burton, the town was swarmed with paparazzi who detailed the goings-on for the world press, and Puerto Vallarta was put firmly on the map.

 

Burton rented, then later bought a house on the hill above the church. Taylor’s digs were across the street, and soon they built a bridge across the street to make meeting each other easier. Taylor sold the houses, furnishings and all, in 1990 and has never returned.

 

It’s now a bed-and-breakfast (“Casa Kimberly”), and also a fascinating museum full of memorabilia and stories of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and the period that marked the launch of Puerto Vallarta as a world-renowned vacation destination. You’ll hear about the dish-smashing arguments; see Burton’s “escape route” for nights of drinking and revelry in town; and learn why the local nuns picketed the house (and why they stopped).

 

OPEN 9:00 AM TO 5:30 MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, 80 PESOS. LOCATED AT THE TOP OF THE HILL ON ZARAGOZA STREET, ABOVE AND BEHIND THE CHURCH DOWNTOWN.

 

ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM: This museum offers visitors an interesting panorama of the diverse groups of people who lived in West Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. From the study of ancient Mexico archeologists have defined different regions with shared cultural characteristics. One of those, West Mexico (which includes Puerto Vallarta), is distinguished by the skill of their potters; by communications along the Pacific Coast that made trade and cultural exchange possible; but also by its rich funerary tradition (which is without a doubt its most widespread characteristic) known as ‘shaft tombs’ named for the shape of the spaces where they buried their dead. However a variety of groups inhabited different geographic spaces of West Mexico throughout time, and their specific traits distinguish them from one another.

 

The cultures of this area also exemplified cultural diversity. The cultural heritage exhibited in this museum bears witness to these ancient inhabitants, and studying them makes it possible to reconstruct part of their history and culture.

 

OPEN 10:00 AM TO 3:00 PM MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, FREE ENTRANCE. LOCATED AT THE WEST END OF THE ISLAND IN THE CUALE RIVER, ACROSS FROM OSCAR'S RESTAURANT.