We spent a most memorable week in Manzanillo with our family at the end of January. Manzanillo is a port city located in the mountains on the west coast of Mexico a few hours south of Puerto Vallarta. We had never visited this resort area before and were pleasantly surprised by what it had to offer.

Our flight was with Westjet and left a very decent hour of 8AM. Flying Westjet into Mexico is so much more enjoyable than some of the other airlines in that it is much roomier and has the individual TVs on the seat backs. The flight was about 5 hours and we were very well looked after including a tasty boxed breakfast/supper in both directions. When we arrived the Air Transat representative welcomed us and very efficiently got us on the shuttle to our hotel, The Tesoro Resort.

The Tesoro is located on a very steep grade in that you enter the lobby at street level and then need to go down 6 floors to the pool/ beach level. We were assigned rooms in the 3 storey section of the hotel versus the high rise and we were most happy as these rooms have been repainted more recently and were just a few flights of stairs away from the pool and other action area of the resort. Now this resort is rated as 4 star but we would say that is probably overrated. This is largely due to the fact that it is 16 years old and although extremely clean and well kept, the rooms are a little tired looking. Again one makes these judgments based on other resorts one has been to. However, there were a lot of very positive aspects to the resort. The staff was all just great, especially the waiters in the dining rooms. The hotel was located close to the ocean which meant one could hear the waves breaking on the beach and there were no long walking distances to get down to the water. There were 2 pools, one large and the other a smaller kiddy pool. There were a lot of activities happening all the time including water and beach aerobics, water and beach volleyball, even some beach hockey! The resort also offered a kids club and an additional kid’s play zone which included pools, waterslides, and picnic area with play structure. The latter was at an added charge of $8 per child per day.

     

As is common, Manzanillo also offers a variety of tours and we took in a city tour which lasted about 3 ½ hours. The tour guide spoke a very good English a showed us a variety of sights including the huge port and the downtown area. Two adults in our party spent 4 hours on an exciting ATV adventure tour. This tour was more inland and took you up into the mountains. Back at the resort we took in a private snorkeling tour where the guide was most accommodating in finding and showing us a variety of sea life including sea urchins, blow fish and sea spiders. He made things very interesting for the young children in our group! We were then also given a tour of the area beyond our resort in which he pointed out homes of celebrities, caves and other interesting things. The Tesoro is located in a quiet cove which means there are no really large waves but then also no dangerous undertow. It also means there is not a long distance of beach to be walking. The sand was a golden color with some areas of black sand which was something we had not experience before. One afternoon several jet skis were rented and that was a lot of fun. There is also a modern mall about a 25 minute scenic walk from the resort. Needless to say, the females in our group were enthused about that! There were no vendors on the beach but a little flea market in the public area at the far end.

    

The food at the Tesoro was very good with a lot of variety. The main buffet restaurant was located close to the ocean and offered wonderful selection for all meals. There was also a delightful beach grill which offered burgers and fries etc and in the evening it was converted to an elegant Italian a la carte restaurant complete with white tablecloths and Spanish coffee. On two occasions the main buffet was closed for dinner and an elegant buffet complete with linens was offered upstairs in the semi open theatre area. One could then just stay on for the evening entertainment which was very good every night. Another restaurant available by appointment was also very classy with excellent food and piano entertainment.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our week spent at the Tesoro and would not hesitate to go back. If one is traveling with children it would be best to book the suite as the regular rooms have only ¾ beds instead of double. The weather was warm with alternate days being cloudy without rain, but that could be different at any other time. Our flights were right on time, in fact, on the return we arrived back in Winnipeg 50 minutes early!