How It Began, Way Back? Paradise Kingdom

Recorded history about Puerto Vallarta starts around 621 BC, when it was part of a large kingdom called Xalisco, ruled by a King called Nayarita. Obviously it was known as one of the most beautiful spots in the entire kingdom. As time moved on, tribes including the Toltecas and the Aztecas migrated to the area and opened up a trail to the Nahuatl Empire located in the valley of Mexico that today is known as Mexico City. During the early 1500?s an explorer from Spain, Francisco Cortes officially stumbled the bay surrounding Puerto Vallarta, but the settlement remained relatively unknown to the outside world for hundreds of years.
The luster of the Bay of Banderas finally reached international global attention in 1963 when John Huston directed the infamous film called "The Night of the Iguana" which began the creation of the mystique as well as mass attention to this area. Soon afterwards Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton purchased adjoining homes in the Gringo Gulch area of Vallarta, forever changing the reality of this small village. Now Puerto Vallarta boasts more than 250,000 citizens yet has retained the charms of a small village..