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Q: What's the difference in buses?
A: Price, comfort, travel time and bathrooms. All classes of bus are clean, free of livestock and have a/c - bring a sweater. |
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| Luxury or Executive Class buses like ETN have separate bathrooms for Men and Ladies, extra wide, 3 across, almost fully reclining seats with full leg rests -- only 24 seats per full size bus. In the case of ETN the buses only stop at major terminals. ETN stops only in Barra not in Melaque. |
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| First Class buses like Flecha Amarilla's Primera Plus, Cihuatlan Plus and Elite have bathrooms, some have partial leg rests and theoretically they make less stops than do the second class buses. Some Flecha Amarilla schedules only stop in Melaque so check with the terminal prior to departure. |
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| Second Class buses like Flecha Amarilla's Servicios Coordinatos (though they call themselves "Primera" Coordinato these days) and the Cihuatlan / Autobuses del Pacifico buses are essentially the same as first class except that they do not have bathrooms and only have foot rests. They can make more stops than the first class buses and sometimes they are older and more run down. If you are not sure about a second class bus wait until it comes into the terminal and take a look at it. You can then purchase your ticket from the driver's assistant or the driver instead of the ticket counter if you want to ride the bus. |
| I do my best to keep this page current but things do change so if you notice errors or omissions please click on my name and drop me a line and let me know so I can update this page. Thanks, Nan |
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| Bus Travel - Available Service |
| Connecting Barra de Navidad, Melaque, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Colima, Guadalajara and points in between. |
| Barra de Navidad & Melaque: |
| Both towns are served by first-class bus lines, Flecha Amarilla Primera Plus and Cihuatlán Plus as well as second-class lines, Flecha Amarilla Servicios Coordinado Primera and Transportes Cihuatlán / Autobuses del Pacifico (no site). There is a terminal for both lines in each town however, you can not get a Flecha Primera Plus bus north to Puerto Vallarta from Barra you must go to Melaque. Barra de Navidad has a third terminal for Executive Class ETN. The Estrella Blanca line offer first class service on Elite or Futura buses once a day from Melaque only. Heading north on highway 200 they travel as far as Tijuana and heading south on highway 200 as far as Acapulco. |
| All of the above lines run north to Puerto Vallarta except ETN who 'temporarily' suspended this service on August 26/08. All lines run trips south to Manzanillo on Highway 200 but not all schedules go that route because Flecha Amarilla and Cihuatlán - both 1st and 2nd class - often go to Guadalajara on highway 80 from Barra and Melaque. Not all trips from Vallarta go on to Manzanillo or even Barra. From Barra de Navidad ETN run schedules to Colima and Guadalajara and back on Highways 200 and 54. |
| La Manzanilla, Tenacatita, Careyes: |
| None of the bus lines listed above offer service that leaves Highway 200 to enter these places. Second-class buses, Transportes Cihuatlan and Servicios Coordinatos, will drop of at and can be flagged down on Highway 200, 3km from La Manzanilla, 9km from Tenacatita and 1 km from Careyes. |
| Manzanillo: |
| All bus lines listed above run schedules between Barra de Navidad or Melaque and Manzanillo. |
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| Puerto Vallarta and Chamela: |
| All bus lines listed above except ETN run schedules between Barra de Navidad or Melaque and Chamela and Puerto Vallarta. |
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| Colima: |
| The ETN, Flecha Amarilla and Cihuatlan Lines have schedules between Barra de Navidad or Melaque and Manzanillo and Colima. Fletcha has one schedule between Puerto Vallarta and Colima |
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| Guadalajara: |
| All listed bus lines with the exception of Elite have schedules between Barra de Navidad, Melaque or Manzanillo and Guadalajara. |
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| La Huerta, Autlán & Hwy 80 |
| Flecha Amarilla and Cihuatlán lines have schedules between Barra de Navdidad or Melaque and towns on highway 80 to Guadalajara. |
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| Bus Schedules |
| Puerto Vallarta to Melaque, Barra de Navidad and Manzanillo |
Buses leave the Main Puerto Vallarta Terminal (Central Camionera) north of PVR Map, at the listed times and all stop in Vallarta's South Side AKA "Old Town or Romantic Zone" corner of Aguacate and Carranza, about 20 to 30 or more minutes later. JR's map of PV South Side with south bound bus stop/station clearly indicated. From JR in PV "You can buy a ticket at the corner of Aguacate & Carranza, from the lady with the clipboard, who you'll find on that corner. She will sell tickets for the next day and, if you have trouble finding her, ask at the Pizza Place across the road from the bus stop." Thank you for the update JR and the link to your map that shows the bus stop/station at Carranza and Aguacate! If you need to stay overnight in PV to catch the bus in the morning and want some really accurate general and hotel information click here The Insider's Guide to Vallarta
All buses are south to Manzanillo on highway 200 with stops in Melaque and Barra de Navidad unless otherwise noted. First Class $180 pesos to Melaque and $185 to Barra. We do our best keep this information accurate but Sea to Sierra take no responsibilty for errors or inaccuracies in the posted schedules. |
ETN Counter - Executive Class Service
SERVICE SUSPENDED AUG. 26/08 AND NOT BACK FOR WINTER 2009/2010 |
Flecha Amarilla Counter - Primera Plus (First Class Service)
7:45 AM - Express, no stop in Tomatlán.
12:15 PM - south to Melaque and Barra, then on to La Huerta and Autlán - NOT Express, this bus stops in Tomatlán. |
Pacifico/Cihuatlán Counter - Cihuatlán Plus (First Class Service)
4:00 & 11:30 PM - The 4:00 PM is an express, no stop in Tomatlán. |
Flecha Amarilla Counter - Servicios Coordinatos (Second Class Service)
7:00 & 10:30 AM & 1:30 PM Service to Melaque, Barra de Navidad & Manzanillo - the 1:30 PM ends in Colima. Service to Melaque then highway 80 (la Huerta, Autlan) at 4:30 and 10:00 PM. |
Pacifico/Cihuatlán Counter - Transportes Cihuatlán (Second Class Service)
Service every hour 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM plus one last bus at 5:30 PM. |
| Barra de Navidad & Melaque to Vallarta |
Flecha Amarilla - Primera Plus (First Class Service)
From Melaque Only 2:00 & 4:30 AM. Arrivals from highway 80 not Manzanillo. |
Pacifico/Cihuatlán - Cihuatlán Plus (First Class Service)
from Barra 9:15 AM & 1:15 PM, from Melaque 9:30 AM & 1:30 PM. Arrives from Manzanillo. |
Flecha Amarilla Servicios Coordinatos & Pacifico/Cihuatlán (Second Class Service)
Both lines offer service from Manzanillo, Barra & Melaque to Vallarta. You'll be here to take the bus so please check at your local station for times. |
| Barra de Navidad to Guadalajara and GDL Airport and return |
| ETN run 5 schedules per day from Barra de Navidad to Guadalajara; 7:20 AM, 12:20 PM, 15:30 PM, 16:40 PM, 00:45 AM. The 7:20 AM, 12:20 PM and the 00:45 AM go to the airport in Guadalajara before ending the trip at the main Guadalajara bus terminal (called el Central Camionero) in Tlaquepaque. They have 11 schedules per day with departures between 2:45 AM and 7:00 PM to Manzanillo. |
| They run 6 schedules per day from Guadalajara to Barra; 02:45 AM, 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 noon, 14:20 PM, 17:00 PM. These stop at Colima and Manzanillo bus stations and also now stop in Cihuatlan before Barra. I have seen the ETN stopped at their office in Santiago a couple of times now too. |
| Most recent update November 15, 2009 by Nan. |
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