In the Olas Altas neighborhood, try Vallarta Sun Suites (Gómez 169, tel. 322/222-6200, fax 322/222-4836). Perched on a quiet side street, four stories of comfortably furnished new one-bedroom kitchenette apartments ($65/day and $1,300/month low season, $90/day and $1,500/month high) overlook a sunny pool patio just two blocks from the beach. Make your reservations at Hotel Vallarta Sun (Francisca Rodríguez 169, tel./fax 322/223-1523, vallartasun [at] usa [dot] net), one block south.

Other attractive options are available at Casa Andrea (Francisca Rodríguez 174, tel./fax 322/222-1213, www.casaandrea.com). Here, friendly and helpful on-site owner Andrea offers 10 comfortable one- and two-bedroom balcony apartments and a view penthouse, overlooking an invitingly tropical pool patio. The apartments themselves are clean, airy, and artfully decorated in whites and pastels and Andrea’s tasteful selection of native crafts and paintings. Rooms include king- or queen-size beds and fully equipped kitchens, with fans, maid service, use of a library, small exercise room with treadmill and weights, and a community TV down by the pool. The eight one-bedroom units rent for about $350/week low season, $500 high; the pair of two-bedroom/ two-bath units are about $700/week low season, $900 high. Children under five aren’t ordinarily allowed. For the winter, get reservations in by June.

Back down on Amapas’s south end, the 10 white designer units of the Condominios Villa Blanca (Amapas 349, tel./fax 322/222-6190, www.stayinpv.com) stairstep artfully above the street. These are light, attractive, air- conditioned luxury apartments, rented out for the owners by the friendly manager Jose Luis Álvarez, whose office is at the streetfront. While the apartments vary from studios to two-bedroom units, they all have ocean views, modern kitchenettes, and vine-entwined palm trunks adorning the doors and walls. The best apartments occupy the upper levels; the least desirable are the pair of apartments at the bottom by the complex’s small soaking pool. Daily rates for studios run about $50 low season and $85 high, for a one-bedroom $55 low and $95 high, and two-bedroom $95 low and $165 high. Discounts are customarily available for weekly or monthly rentals.