Puerto Vallarta Mexico by UTMB® 2027

Let’s make things clear from the start: Puerto Vallarta, in most people’s minds, is a Mexican seaside resort with all-inclusive hotels ⛱️, margaritas on the pier, and whales poking their noses into the bay between November and March 🐳. That reputation is fully deserved—and absolutely incompatible with what the Puerto Vallarta by UTMB is doing here. Because this race doesn’t start from the beach to follow the seafront in shorts and flip-flops 🩴. It starts in the mountains—those of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and drops through the jungle down to the Pacific Ocean 🌊.

To understand the terrain, you first need to understand the geography of the State of Jalisco, and it’s dizzying 🙄. The course crosses the largest mountain range in Mexico 🇲🇽, the Sierra Madre Occidental, before dropping into the Cuale River and cutting through the jungle to Puerto Vallarta. Runners get to run among peaks rising above 2,500 meters ⛰️, high-altitude pine forests, agave plantations on the slopes... and more 🫨. In a single route, you cross everything that Jalisco has to offer in terms of vertical 🔝. And this land is far from devoid of history. It is the cradle of the Wixárika (also known as the Huichol), a people whose presence in these mountains dates back to long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors 🇪🇸. Wixárika literally means “the sons of gods” in their Uto-Aztecan language. Their community life comes from a deep spirituality reflected in their colorful clothing, their ancestral shamanic practices, and their mystical ceremonies. They are considered the last tribe in North America to have preserved its pre-Columbian traditions.

Each race also bears a name in the Wixárika language, and the meanings are truly worth knowing. Wixárika translates as “the person with a deep heart,” reflecting how the course is designed to take participants through ancient Mexican heritage. Hikuri means “the wise one,” Nakawé “the mother of waters,” Ereno “sea foam,” and Pata Salada “salty feet,” the affectionate nickname given to coastal people 😌. As for formats, the range is complete and well built. The “Hikuri 81K” is the flagship event with 81 km and 3,900 m of positive elevation gain and 3 Running Stones toward qualification for Chamonix 🏔️. It largely follows the route of the Wixárika road from the town of Mascota, through the Sierra Madre and the surrounding jungle, before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The Nakawé 53K with 2,500 mD+ starts and finishes on the pier of Puerto Vallarta—a start and finish by the Pacific that will earn 2 Running Stones. The Haramara 37K (1,600 mD+, 2 Running Stones) is the perfect introduction to the terrain for those who don’t yet want to commit to the unknown for hours, and the Ereno 20K (1,050 mD+, 1 Running Stone) lets you run through the tropical jungle without emptying all your reserves 🌴. And to finish, the icing on the cake 🍰, the “Pata Salada 5K” is 200 mD+ for families and for people who still want a bib without mortgaging their knees for the summer 🦵.

What’s truly unique about the Puerto Vallarta by UTMB experience is the number of ecosystems you cross in just a few hours. You start in a colonial village perched over 2,000 meters, San Sebastián del Oeste, and you finish in the city on the water’s edge, your feet (literally) in the Pacific. In between: high-altitude forests, agave fields stretching as far as the eye can see across the slopes, waterfalls in dense vegetation, rivers to ford, and a tropical jungle as humid as your hair will remember 💇.

April in Jalisco is the tail end of the dry season, with temperatures between 25 and 30°C on the coast, cooler at altitude, and a Mexican brightness that gives photos a quality of light Instagram filters can’t reproduce 📸. For the Huichol who have been running in the Sierra Madre for centuries, it’s just everyday life. For trail runners showing up with their waterproof jackets and GPS watches, it’s one of the most disorienting adventures on the UTMB World Series calendar 🤩. These two truths coexist perfectly—and that’s exactly the charm of this race. 🌅