The once sleepy fishing village of Puerto Vallarta gained notoriety for the headline-grabbing affair of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor during the 1963 filming of The Night of the Iguana. Hugging 40 miles of pristine coastline along Banderas Bay, the resort town is now defined by its humming malecon (promenade) that stretches several beachfront miles from the Romantic Zone to the fringe of the Hotel Zone. Fireworks illuminate the sky nightly from a Spanish galleon just offshore. Nature attractions here are as wild as was the Liz and Dick romance, with whale-watching tours, trips to the secluded beaches of Las Caletas, diving at Las Marietas Islands, sportfishing for marlin, horseback riding to waterfalls at Hacienda el Divisadero, and zip-lining through a jungle canopy at Los Veranos.