What time zone is puerto vallarta

What time zone is puerto vallarta

North of the Ameca River Bridge is the state of Nayarit, where Nuevo Vallarta, Flamingos, Bucerias, La Cruz, Punta Mita, and Sayulita are located. South of the Ameca River Bridge is the state of Jalisco, where the international PVR airport and the city of Puerto Vallarta are located. Formerly there was a one-hour time difference between the two states, but now the entire Puerto Vallarta region is in the Central Time Zone, which is the same time as Texas, two hours ahead of California, and one hour behind New York. Having the whole large tourist area of Banderas Bay operating within the same time zone just makes good sense. It has done wonders to eliminate confusion over the subject of time. Travelers no longer have to worry about missing their flights back home, or missing scheduled adventure tours and restaurant reservations during their stay.

Learn more great facts about the new Puerto Vallarta time zone from the site Time and Date.

What time zone is puerto vallarta
Mexican Time – Just relax and go with the flow!

And speaking of time, in Mexico there is often a reference to “Mexican Time.” In Mexican culture people are not overly consumed with promptness and punctuality. There is a definite sense of being very relaxed and casual when it comes to the overall concept of being timely and punctual. The whole “Mañana Syndrome” is something that often can be very frustrating for Americans, Canadians and other international visitors who expect promptness as a matter of common courtesy. Locals are not being rude when they say that something will get done “mañana” and then it doesn’t happen the following day. In many cases “mañana” doesn’t always mean “tomorrow,” it simply means in due time, or that the particular issue will be addressed sometime in the near future but just not today. So when on vacation just try to relax and go with the flow! If something really needs to get done it will most likely be attended to…eventually.

PUERTO VALLARTA TIME ZONE: CURRENT TIME IN BANDERAS BAY


TOWNS WITHIN BANDERAS BAY: Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Punta Mita

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The goal of every vacation is to make time stand still & memories to last a lifetime – difficult things to achieve you left without planning to lose or gain an hour or two. That’s where this quick guide to time in Puerto Vallarta comes in handy.

Plan Your Getaway with Our Puerto Vallarta Time Zone Guide

What time zone is puerto vallarta

One of the most confusing things about international travel, understanding the time zone you’re headed into is an invaluable. It helps you plan your sleep schedule to adjust for any jet lag before your trip, while keeping you aware of timely commitments back home, as well as the schedules of family and friends you may want to share details about your journey with along the way. So what is the time zone in Puerto Vallarta? The answer is Zona Centro, same as Central Time in the U.S.

Don’t Let the Maps Fool You

What time zone is puerto vallarta

Online time zone maps can be deceiving, as the Mexican states of Jalisco (where Puerto Vallarta is located) and our northern neighbor Nayarit (home to local destinations like Nuevo Vallarta, Sayulita, and San Pancho) are technically in different time zones. Imagine how confusing it would be if you scheduled a tour ten minutes away, and it was actually an hour earlier when you got there. To avoid this, all of Banderas Bay switched to Zona Centro in 2010, from Puerto Vallarta to Lo de Marcos.

What Time is It Back Home?

If you live in places like Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Winnipeg, or most of Mexico, it’s the same time in PV as it is back home. Travelers coming from Mountain Time (Zona Pacifico) in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will lose one hour, while those from states / provinces in Pacific Time (Zona Noroeste), such as California, Oregon, and British Columbia, stand to lose two hours. Only the Mexican state of Quintana Roo shares Eastern Time (Zona Sureste) with major cities like NYC, Toronto, Boston, and Miami – meaning PV vacationers hailing from here get an extra hour in paradise.

When Does Daylight Savings Start & End?

Unlike the U.S. and Canada, daylight savings time in Puerto Vallarta lasts from 2am on the first Sunday of April until the last Sunday of October.

  • Currently Central Daylight Time (CDT), UTC -5
  • Standard time (Central Standard Time (CST), UTC -6) starts Oct. 30, 2022
  • Puerto Vallarta is 15 hours behind Melbourne.

The IANA time zone identifier for Puerto Vallarta is America/Mexico_City.

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  • Sunrise: 07:46
  • Sunset: 20:13
  • Day length: 12h 27m
  • Solar noon: 14:00
  • The current local time in Puerto Vallarta is 120 minutes ahead of apparent solar time.

The city of Puerto Vallarta is located on the coast of Mexico’s Banderas Bay area. Banderas Bay is divided between two different Mexican states: the north part of the bay falls within the state of Nayarit, and the south within the state of Jalisco. The Ameca River demarcates part of border running between the two. Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta Airport (Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International) are both located just a stone’s throw to the river’s south, in Jalisco.

Maps can be deceiving. On paper, Puerto Vallarta’s time zone and that of Jalisco as a whole (Zona Centro), is an hour behind that a short hop to the north in Nayarit, which lies within Mexico’s Zona Pacífico time zone. However, as of Sunday, April 4, 2010, the time zone of the area of Banderas Bay that falls within the state of Nayarit was changed, bringing the entirety of the Banderas Bay area under Puerto Vallarta’s time zone.

The time in Puerto Vallarta’s time zone, Zona Centro, is the same as it is in America’s Central Timezone. This means that if you are traveling to Puerto Vallarta from a city in Central Time Zone, such as Austin, Chicago, St Lewis, or New Orleans, there will be no need to adjust your watch when you arrive. Those departing for Puerto Vallarta from a US Mountain Time area lose an hour, and those traveling from the US Pacific Time Zone lose two. Travelers arriving in PV from US Eastern Time are the lucky ones—they gain an hour.

Why has the Whole of Banderas Bay Adopted Puerto Vallarta’s Time Zone?

Puerto Vallarta and the wider Banderas Bay area rank among Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations. There is something here for tourists of almost every creed. Bucerías and Vallarta are favored spots for family getaways, Punta Mita is a glamorous resort for the A-list jet set, scores of surfers are drawn to Sayulita’s waves and laid back atmosphere, and the scattering of smaller scenic seaside towns are beloved by visitors of all variety.

Prior to the change in 2010, the time zone in Puerto Vallarta used to create problems for tourists and locals alike. Tourists were hampered by the confusion that often accompanied forgetting, or simply being unaware of the two different time zones that straddle the bay. Many were arriving an hour earlier or later than scheduled for tours, meals, simple arrangements of all kinds across the divide that were often as little as 10 minutes drive away. Significant numbers were dismayed to discover that they had inadvertently arrived at PV airport an hour late for their flights home.

For the many Banderas Bay area locals living in Puerto Vallarta’s time zone but working in that of Nayarit or visa versa, the hassle of the daily time zone transition meant many chose to permanently adopt the time of the zone in which they worked. As you can imagine, living an hour ahead or behind your local shops, friends and even family was hardly practical. In order to allay the confusion befuddling tourists and the impracticality burdening locals, the Mexican government decided the best solution would be simply to bring the entirety of the Banderas Bay area in line with the time zone in Puerto Vallarta (Zona Centro), and that is what they did.

The Impact of Extending Puerto Vallarta’s Time Zone Across the Whole of Banderas Bay

Since the change, local businesses have had to deal with far fewer tourist arriving an hour earlier or later than arranged, and tourists have successfully boarded many more flights home free from panics and mad dashes induced by unwitting tardiness. Unfortunately, however, not every repercussion of bringing the whole Banderas Bay under the Puerto Vallarta Time Zone has been positive. On the Nayarit side of the bay, the sun now rises an hour earlier and sets an hour later than it did prior to the change. Many local breakfast restaurants claim the darker mornings have diminished their revenues. Similarly, bars and nightclubs have had to adapt to the later onset of darkness having shortened the area’s nightlife hours.

Puerto Vallarta Time: Daylight Saving

It is useful to know that the whole of Banderas Bay has been brought under Puerto Vallarta’s Time Zone, but there is a further quirk of Puerto Vallarta’s time you will want to be aware of. Mexico, like many other countries, observes seasonal daylight saving. Here, however, daylight saving takes place on different annual dates than in the US, and Europe, which uses different dates too. Mexican clocks go forward on the first Sunday of April and turn back again on last Sunday of October. Be aware of this because it means that for two short windows of time each year the time difference in Puerto Vallarta is likely to differ from yours at home by an additional hour.

Puerto Vallarta Time: Mañana

It is not just politics and geography that determine Puerto Vallarta’s time. Culture exerts its influence too. Visiting foreigners will often hear Mexicans explain that a task will be done ‘mañana’. From Spanish to English, the direct translation of “mañana” is ‘tomorrow’, but when used in the context of when something will be done, it can generally be taken to mean ‘at some unspecified point in the possibly distant future,’ or, in some instances, it may even be used as a polite euphemism for ‘it won’t get done.’

The concept of ‘Mañana’ can be difficult to grasp and a little exasperating for those arriving in Mexico from cultures with a penchant for punctuality. Rest assured however, a Mexican is not being rude when they break what those unversed in Mexican culture are likely to interpret as a promise to do something tomorrow. Time, simply, is a loose concept in Mexico. Chatting with friends and family, relaxing, attending to personal matters—all such things take preference over getting trivial tasks done at a stated time in this part of the world. So when mañana arrives and you find you are still waiting, the best course of action is to do as the Mexicans do: relax. Worry about it ‘mañana’.

The key thing to remember about time zones in Puerto Vallarta’s wider area is this: although the vast majority of the state of Nayarit falls within Mexico’s Zona Pacífico time zone, the area of Nayarit that encompasses half of Banderas Bay does not. The whole of Banderas Bay falls within Puerto Vallarta’s Time Zone, that is, the Zona Centro time zone.

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