Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

With an average high temperature of 86 degrees, it’s a given that this lovely coastal resort, halfway down Mexico’s Pacific Coast, is ideal for outdoor pleasures. What was once dubbed “the friendliest city in the world” remains a charming tourist hub for travelers in search of good food, shopping, boating, fishing and the chance to do nothing but snooze on a sunny beach.

While signs point to settlers around current day Puerto Vallarta as early as 500 B.C., most of the area’s history remains hazy prior to the 1500’s. That’s when the Spanish (missionaries and the military) arrived, taking the Ameca Valley by force in 1524 from the natives and renaming it Banderas.

During the 1920’s, the current moniker, Puerto Vallarta, took hold. American artists, writers and expatriates arrived in droves during the 1950’s, but the resort really took off 20 years later with the advent of luxury hotels and bargain prices.