Nayarit Pueblos and Farm, Delicious Lunch, Great guide and driver - I booked the Pueblos Cultural Tour for Monday, March 11, 2024 and was delighted to see Fernanda (tour guide) and Fernando (driver) were our Vallarta Adventures team. I enjoyed an excursion to San Sebastian with both of them in January 2024 when I was a passenger on the Crown Princess. Fernanda remembered me, and she made everyone feel welcome as primos of her "familia" learning our names and where were from. We visited a chocolate garden, a honey store, a tortillaria, the plaza and church, then a farm with Tilapia fish pond, sheep and goats. She taught us how to work with masa and make mole and salsa. The lunch we prepared under her guidance was delicious! This was such a different type of experience and I recommend it to anyone wanting a break for touristy experiences.

Another good time - Small group. Wonderful learning experience - chocolate and honey. Hands on cooking. As always, the happy tour guides.

Mexican food and culture experience - Fernanda was a pleasure to have as our tour guide. Very knowledgeable, informative and friendly which made our group of 6 feel welcomed. Made a point of knowing our names and learning about us. The food experience was a lot of fun and we enjoyed making and eating the local dishes and experiencing Mexican culture. It would be nice if the tour company provided pick-up from hotels as planning transportation there and back was an additional expense to thier office where we departed from. I'd recommend this tour to my friends.

Food, fun good times - Excellent experience. This was a chance to see Real Mexico. There were Great guides. We prepared some of what we ate and it was all very good food. Very fun experience. Highly recommended

Highly recommend! - Such a wonderful and informative outing. We enjoyed our day so much. Amazing, knowledgeable staff and delicious lunch as well. We highly recommend!

Informative Cultural Tour - We really enjoyed the tour. We have about exhausted all of your tours! We’ve done zip lining, snorkeling, 4 wheeling. We’ve done Rhythms of the Night numerous times! We’ve enjoyed the sailing tours also! Getting older now, we would enjoy more tours such as these, to see more culture & countryside. Danny & Julio were great!

Pueblo tour with cooking class and cacao farm visit - We enjoyed a drive into the country where we stopped in a small town to witness a tortilla making operation. We sampled fresh tortillas and took some raw dough with us for cooking later on. Another stop in a town for a few minutes until we got to a cacao farm where we sampled, fresh cacao, chocolate drink, and could purchase chocolate bars. We arrived at our cooking location, a beautiful ranch, where we learned how to make mole. We also wrapped fresh veggies into corn husks, as well hand formed tortillas. They took everything away to grill on the fire where we enjoyed a fresh lunch. Compared to some of the adventure tours I really enjoyed this one as I felt safe and traveled into areas that I could easily navigate.

Great food, drink, agriculture, and cultural tour! - One of the best activities my family did on our vacation was the Pueblos Tour with Vallarta Adventures. We're cookers, gardeners, eaters, and drinkers, and this tour checked all those boxes. The tour is described as a set of shopping stops in some of the towns inland from Bucerías followed by cooking and eating lunch. I'll dive deeper into each of these activities below. After we left Vallarta Adventures (in NV), we headed out on the road towards Bucerías. The van was modern, clean and comfortable. We were offered water and beer to drink throughout the trip. I'd guess there were about ten guests in our van. Leading the tour was Danny and driving was Omar. Throughout the drive, Danny told us all about local history, agriculture, food, and geography. He was a pleasure to listen to and open and accommodating to questions along the way. Our first stop was a small demo cocoa farm. Billboards outline the history of cocoa, its importance to pre-colonized society, and its impacts on colonialism itself. Danny walked us through the demo farm where we tasted raw cocoa nibs, traditional chocolate drink and some prepared chocolate. There's a small market where you can buy chocolate treats, cosmetics, and knickknacks. From there we drove over rural roads, past farmers' fields of pineapples, corn and squash on the way to Valle de Banderas for a stop at a honey producer's shop. We could sample and buy their products that included everything from raw honey, to honey beer, and cosmetics. The salesperson and Danny walked us through the different kinds of local honey and how it's used. Next, we drove to San Jose del Valle where we stopped at a tortilla factory. We watched as corn was turned into masa, then into tortillas on a neat conveyor belt cooker that transported the raw tortilla from one end of the room to the other and back while it cooked, and finally deposited in a stack, right at the cashier's finger tips. We ate warm tortillas, straight off the conveyor belt. Danny described the importance of tortillas in the Mexican diet, and while we were there, many locals came by to pick up their daily supply. We then headed to the town square in Valle de Banderas where we had some free time to look around. It's a beautiful square with a bandstand, fountains and a large cathedral at its end. We looked around the square and through the cathedral. All around is imagery that reflects the importance of agriculture and various crops to the local people. It's a really lovely spot. After that, we headed to a Vallarta Adventures ranch. There was an outdoor kitchen where a couple of cooks were working. We sat down at the outdoor tables and poured ourselves a drink. There was beer, liquour, and refreshing non-alcoholic options. As a group, we were then put to work, making our own lunch. We made mole, salsa, and veggie tamales. The staff then used what we'd made in a lunch of tacos (with the tortillas we'd picked up), and tamales. We had a great chat over lunch with other tourists. Following lunch, there was time to hang around the ranch; lying in hammocks, feeding the goats, and having a drink. We piled back into the van and headed for VA home base. It was a great day and a real pleasure to have Danny and Omar as guides! We're looking forward to trying more of the cultural tours the next time we visit!

Relaxing and informative trip - We really enjoyed this trip. Getting to the countryside is always enjoyable. We went to 2 small towns and were able to walk around the cute square and do a little shopping. Then we went to a small outdoor restaurant with a beautiful pond setting and learn to make mole and salsa, the Mexican way!

Fun tour! - Great tour! This tour provided a peek.of Mexican life outside of the tourist area. The stops for chocolate and honey were fun. Preparing the ingredients and having a group meal was excellent! Great guide.