Looking for traditional street tacos in Puerto Vallarta? Are you wondering what traditional street tacos even are? This post is all about taco stands in Puerto Vallarta serving the more traditional style tacos and street food.
First, what are traditional street tacos in Puerto Vallarta?
- Asada (steak)
- Chorizo (a pork sausage)
- Adobado (pork chops)
- Tripa (intestine)
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This basically creates your own street taco tour for the best traditional street tacos in Puerto Vallarta!
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Street Tacos, Volcans, and Quesadillas
At many different street taco stands in Puerto Vallarta, you’ll find three different ways to enjoy the traditional meats, taco style, as a volcan, and quesadillas.
What is a street taco?
Street tacos are typically served on small corn tortillas. At the better taco stands in Puerto Vallarta, the tortillas are homemade, and pressed and cooked to order.
Traditionally, each taco is topped with chopped cilantro and diced onions. Then, you can put salsas on the taco (ranging from a guac salsa to extra spicy), fresh lime, and finish with sliced radishes and cucumber.
Typically, street tacos in Puerto Vallarta will cost right around 20-25 MXN pesos per taco.
What is a volcan?
A volcan or volcano is a tostada, that has melted cheese on top, then topped with your choice of meat and usually whole pinto beans.
The tostadas can be store-bought and served as is, or cooked over the grill fresh each night!
Similar to the tacos, volcans are topped with cilantro and onion, with your choice of salsas to individually put on top.
Typically, volcans are around 15 MXN pesos more than the tacos.
What is a quesadilla?
Quesadillas are large flour tortillas with melted cheese, and then your choice of meat inside.
At the better taco stands in Puerto Vallarta, the flour tortillas are homemade and are delicious even just plain!
Some quesadillas come with pinto beans inside as well as your meat, but most of the time, it’s just cheese and meat.
Similar to volcans and tacos, quesadillas are served with cilantro and onion, and then again can be individually topped with different salsas and lime!
Typically, quesadillas are right at 60-70 MXN pesos each. And they’re much more filling and larger than tacos.
Traditional Street Tacos In Puerto Vallarta
Taqueria Jaime
5 de Diciembre
Coordinates | 20.621105, -105.227801
Opening Times | Monday – Saturday | 6:00pm to 3:00am
Expected Price | 25 MXN per taco
Prices at Taqueria Jaime
- 25 MXN pesos per taco
- 35 MXN pesos per volcano
- 70 MXN pesos per quesadilla
This street taco stand in Puerto Vallarta has been around for decades. When we were telling our local friends about us eating here, they responded that Taqueria Jaime has been there forever and is very popular amongst the locals.
Jason ran by Taqueria Jaime a couple of times before we ate there, and each time he came home, he said it smelt so good we needed to visit.
We have been to Taqueria Jamie several times, and each time it’s as great as the last.
We’ve tried all their different meats, yes, even the tripa, and our favorites are the chorizo and the adobada.. but the tripa is really great too!
You really can’t go wrong with anything you order at Taqueria Jaime. Their tortillas are homemade, their volcans are delicious, and their quesadillas are large!
It’s always crowded, the food is delicious, and the service is quick!
Vamos Con Pepe
5 de Diciembre
Coordinates | 20.620072, -105.227894
Opening Times | Monday – Saturday | in the evening
Expected Price | 20 MXN per taco
Prices at Vamos Con Pepe
- 20 MXN pesos per taco
- 35 MXN pesos per volcon
Vamos Con Pepe is a fantastic street food stand in the 5 de Diciembre region of Puerto Vallarta. The name of this stand translates to “Go with Pepe” to remind his customers to go with him!
We had the steak and the adobada here, and are looking to return to try the shrimp tacos too! The reviews of Pepe’s shrimp are great.. and it looked out of this world good!
We lived up the street from Vamos Con Pepe’s and it’s a dangerous place to be. His volcans are so great and are priced just right!
We especially love this stand because Pepe is always smiling. Every time we run by he has a smile on his face, and it carries true through all his interactions with customers!
Pepe serves his tacos with just the meat and then has everything to top it with along the side of his taco stand. This is super nice because then each person can put just as much or as little of everything they want!
If speaking Spanish isn’t your thing, Pepe’s English is fantastic, so it’s a great place to go if you want to stick to English.
Tacos de Perro
Cheapest Traditional Tacos
Coordinates | 20.618824, -105.230095
Opening Times | Every day | 11:00AM – 8:00AM
Expected Price | 7 MXN per taco
Prices at Tacos de Perro
- 7 MXN pesos per taco
Yes, you read that right! The tacos at Tacos de Perro are only seven pesos! They’re small, but cute! The plate of tacos in the picture above only costs us 49 pesos, or, 2.87 USD!
And the name, don’t worry about it. Although it translates to dog tacos, they aren’t actually made from dogs! It’s because they are so cheap!
As you can see in our photo, the tacos are a little bit greasy from the tortillas, but they’re still super flavorful and are tacos not to miss in Puerto Vallarta!
EAT NEXT | These Al Pastor Tacos Right Down the Road
Taqueria Las Flores De Doña Cata
Super Delicious Near Malecon
Coordinates | 20.614595, -105.230748
Opening Times | Thursday – Saturday | 7:00PM – late night
Expected Price | 25 MXN per taco
Prices at Taqueria Las Flores De Doña Cata
- 25 MXN pesos per taco
- 50 MXN pesos per volcan
- 35 MXN pesos for large agua fresca
Freshly pressed tortillas and meats with extremely rich flavor away at Taqueria Las Flores De Doña Cata.
This taco stand is near the Malecon, just through the park and up the road from the Starbucks.
It’s run by a super sweet family, and their agua frescas are the best we’ve had in all of Puerto Vallarta.
Our first time in Puerto Vallarta, we stayed right up the street from this taco stand, and the smells every night walking home were heavenly!
The kindest family runs this stand, and holy smokes, the meat is always really tender and super flavorful!
We’ve had all sorts of meals from them, from quesadillas to volcans, to tacos, and shoot even just tortillas, — and it’s all excellent!
If you’re on the Malecon, walk the extra couple of blocks and grab some grub from Taqueria Las Flores De Doña Cata.
Taqueria Maria
Great Vegetarian Options
Coordinates | 20.614595, -105.230748
Opening Times | Monday – Wednesday | 7:00PM – late night
Expected Price | 25 MXN per taco
Prices at Maria Taqueria
- 30-50 MXN per item
Maria Taqueria is our favorite fish taco stand in Puerto Vallarta during the day. At night, it’s one of our favorite evening stands.
Mario is the head chef at this stand, and he truly is more than just a normal street taco guy. He only runs this taco stand at night on Monday – Wednesday, his family takes over the Thursday – Sunday nights with a different menu (listed above).
He always has a twist on the traditional tacos, and thinks outside of the box catering to people looking for vegan and vegetarian options, and the produce he carries each night is a great alternative to the norm.
We’ve grown to truly love this taco stand. Actually, I shouldn’t say grown, I think we loved it at first site!
The family that runs this stand is super friendly, happy to share their local knowledge with you, and speak great English.
We always pop into Maria Taqueria on the nights that we just need some veg and Mario is always happy to make whatever the customer wants!
We’ve had this taco stand multiple times, and every time it’s so delicious!
Check out this post on our favorite fish taco stands in Puerto Vallarta — Mario wins for the best fish taco made with a sourdough batter!
Tacos Los Pelones
5 de Diciembre Near Ley
Coordinates | 20.617247, -105.231603
Opening Times | Tuesday – Sunday | 7:00PM – 12:00 AM
Expected Price | 22 MXN per taco
Prices at Tacos Los Pelones
- 22 MXN pesos per taco
This taco stand kind of gets lost in the mix of everything going on around it. Tacos Los Pelones is right on the corner of a popular tourist restaurant, but trust us, skip the restaurant and eat here instead.
The sweetest people are running Tacos Los Pelones, and we love that there’s a no plastic zone with them. They don’t serve food with plastic utensils, straws, or the extra plastic bags like most other places.
Their tacos are served simple and then guests can top them with beans, salsas, and of course pile on the cucumbers and radishes.
If you want to try tacos de cabeza, they serve some styles of it here!
The Best Traditional Tacos in Puerto Vallarta
We’ve gone to our fair share of taco stands in Puerto Vallarta. It’s been a fun time “researching” and eating our way through the city. Not only have we had more traditional tacos than we can count, but we’ve been on the hunt for the best birria tacos, fish tacos, and al pastor tacos too. All the best of the best tacos in Puerto Vallarta can be found here!
We’re currently in Puerto Vallarta, if you have suggestions of traditional taco stands we’ve yet to visit, email us at contact (at) arboursabroad (dot) com and let us know!
If you’re not interested in finding these taco stands on your own, consider jumping in on one of the taco tours in Puerto Vallarta.
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