Jalisco and Chiapas · Mexico · 1986
The 1987 film was shot in Mexican jungle over the spring of 1986. Six real places are in the dark below. Switch on thermal and they show up one by one. The photograph is a jungle trail near Palenque in June 1986, the month the shoot ended.
Thermal
West is on the left, east on the right. The field is a sketch, not a map. Turn on thermal, then lock each signature to read what the sources say.
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Thermal is off. The jungle hides everything.
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Every signature is a real place. The fan-list ones are marked as such in their sources.
Two jungles
The main jungle set stood by the Mismaloya River on the Pacific side. The fan list puts the waterfall leap in Chiapas, about 1,437 km away in a straight line from El Edén to Misol-Ha.
Jalisco coast
The fan list places the main jungle set at El Eden, a half-hour drive from downtown Puerto Vallarta on Highway 200, then about 15 minutes into the jungle.
A travel page says the crew watered the jungle around the restaurant and added artificial trees, rocks and vines.
Chiapas
The fan list gives Misol-Ha as the place of Dutch’s waterfall leap. It describes a drop of about 100 feet and says the leap may have been done by a stunt double.
The fan list gives Cascadas de Agua Azul as the place of the final-confrontation swim.
A user-submitted page, which itself calls the entries unconfirmed, says Misol-Ha was used for the main jump and for a night fight near an unusual tree. A travel page says Puerto Vallarta photography started on 14 April 1986 and stopped after six weeks, with much of the shoot then moved to Palenque. Wikipedia gives a different order, so the sources disagree.
Extraction
El Edén, Mismaloya and Puerto Vallarta are a short drive apart. Palenque, Misol-Ha and Agua Azul are a separate trip in Chiapas. The two waterfalls rest on a fan list and nothing more official, so treat them as the best lead there is.
6 places you can visit in Jalisco and Chiapas.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A jungle restaurant and canopy-line site up the Mismaloya River. The sources give no hours or prices, so check before you go.
Area reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A village and beach cove on Highway 200, with restaurants and boats to hire. El Edén is across the highway.
Area reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The resort town on Banderas Bay, and the base for the jungle sites to the south. The photograph shows the Cuale River reaching the bay.
Jalisco coast · In the hills above Mismaloya, inland from Highway 200, south of Puerto Vallarta
The fan list places the main jungle set at El Eden, a half-hour drive from downtown Puerto Vallarta on Highway 200, then about 15 minutes into the jungle.
A jungle restaurant and canopy-line site up the Mismaloya River. The sources give no hours or prices, so check before you go.
Jalisco coast · Mismaloya, on Highway 200 south of Puerto Vallarta
Wikipedia puts Mismaloya on the coast of Banderas Bay in Jalisco, on Highway 200, south of Puerto Vallarta.
A village and beach cove on Highway 200, with restaurants and boats to hire. El Edén is across the highway.
Jalisco coast · Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, on Banderas Bay
Wikipedia says most of the film was shot near Puerto Vallarta.
The resort town on Banderas Bay, and the base for the jungle sites to the south. The photograph shows the Cuale River reaching the bay.
Stay
A beach hotel at Mismaloya, across the highway from El Edén.
Mismaloya, Jalisco
A beach hotel at Mismaloya, a short way from El Edén across Highway 200. Its page showed no rooms for the dates offered when we looked, so check dates first. Pictured: Mismaloya Beach, 2014.
Check datesGo there
Canopy tours at El Edén and day trips to the Chiapas waterfalls.
Mismaloya, Jalisco
Live marketplace results for canopy tours at El Edén, the jungle by the Mismaloya River. Check each itinerary for pickup and what is included.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursPalenque, Chiapas
Live marketplace results for day trips from Palenque to the two waterfalls. Check which stops each tour includes.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the film is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
6 of 6 places · 7 of 7 stories
In the hills above Mismaloya, inland from Highway 200, south of Puerto Vallarta
The crew waters the jungle by the Mismaloya River and adds artificial trees, rocks and vines.
Mismaloya, on Highway 200 south of Puerto Vallarta
A 1963 John Huston film is shot on the cove below El Eden; its ruins remain.
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, on Banderas Bay
The production arrives with more than 200 people and shoots for about three months in heat, heavy rain and mud.
The shoot stops on 25 April so the star can marry, and resumes on 12 May.
Palenque, northern Chiapas
Principal photography begins in the jungles of Palenque, Chiapas.
Misol-Ha waterfall, just over a mile west of Highway 199, south-west of Palenque
Dutch’s waterfall leap, per the fan list; it may have been done by a stunt double.
Cascadas de Agua Azul, a flora and fauna protection area in Chiapas
The final-confrontation swim, per the fan list, among the smaller cascades.
Every place in Predator leads somewhere else.
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