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Puerto Vallarta
Mexico
July 2006
Report & Photos by Ruth Neufeld
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Early Saturday morning on July 8, 2006, I hopped on a plane in Winnipeg and headed for Calgary where I meet up with a group of agents from western Canada. About noon we boarded the Air Canada plane heading for Puerto Vallarta. We were about to leave the terminal, when Air Canada realized that had loaded the wrong luggage on our plane. Our luggage was on the plane heading for Cancun. It took about half an hour to ex-change the luggage. Then we were on our way.
The flight was good. When we neared Puerto Vallarta there was a thunder storm, so we had to circle above Puerto Vallarta for almost an hour, until the storm died down a bit. It felt like we had been on that plane forever.
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We went directly to the “Melia Puerto Vallarta”. After dropping our luggage in the lobby, we did a site inspection in the pouring rain. We then checked into our rooms, changed and went for dinner at the Italian Restaurant. I had the Lasagna but it wasn’t very good.
The “Melia Puerto Vallarta” was a nice resort. It is located right on the beach. We spent two nights there. I really enjoyed it. The Buffet was awesome. The rooms were nice. The bathroom was spacious. It had a nice big counter top and mirror. The grounds were very pretty. The beach was not very big though. They have a kids club (with a Flintstones theme) and also a program and activities for teens, including a rock -climbing wall, a zip line, batting cage, and video arcade.
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On our second day there, we went on a snorkeling tour. This was a big mistake on my part. It was an eight hour tour on a sail boat. My stomach was not impressed at all. We first went to Los Arcos to do some snorkeling. My stomach did not allow me to put on the snorkeling gear, but it was nice to get off the boat for awhile.
The water was gorgeous. We went to Yelapa (a small fishing village with no road access), and spent some time on the beach. On the return, they served lunch on board. After lunch I had a good nap. As long as I kept my head down I was okay.
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The next day, we checked out of Melia and spent the day doing site inspections of the Presidente InterContinental, Dreams Puerto Vallarta, Hotel San Marino, Villa Premire Hotel & Spa, and the Buenaventura. We had a very late lunch at the Buenaventura. After our lunch, we checked in at Golden Crowne Paradise, where we spent the next two nights.
Presidente InterContinental was a beautiful resort. The waterfall in the courtyard garden was very peaceful. The next three days we did site inspections of Golden Crowne Paradise, Crowne Paradise, NH Krystal, Hacienda, Puerto de Luna, Plaza Pelicanos, Shereton Buganvilias Resort, Vallarta Palace, Grand Velas, and Allegro Nuevo Vallarta.
The Golden Crown Paradise is a resort for adults only. It is a small resort. It was okay, but it wasn’t very friendly. Their sister property, the Crown Paradise, is for families. The people seemed a lot nicer there. The kid’s pool and activities were the best that we saw all week.
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NH Krystal is a very large resort. It covers 29 acres. It is almost like a little village in itself, with many buildings.
They have regular hotel rooms, deluxe rooms, suites and private villas with private pools. I found this resort a little too big. I don’t think that I would recommend it for seniors.
I liked the Plaza Pelicanos. It had a comfortable Mexican feeling. There are two sections to this resort. Section II, is definitely the better of the two. It is right on the beach. The Plaza Pelicanos has a large open park area between the two sections.
I did not like Puerto de Luna. It is very small. There are no elevators. It seemed a little run down to me.
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The Hacienda was nice, but it is not on the beach. They do have a private beach club with a shuttle. The beach was nice. I didn’t really care for the scenery on the way to the beach. It is also a very small resort. The spa is set in a beautiful tropical garden. It looked very romantic.
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The Grand Velas all suites and spa resort was gorgeous. It was the most elegant resort. The spa is an experience. Some of the suites are 2000 square feet. The last three nights were spent at the Vallarta Palace in Vallarta Nayarit. The Vallarta Palace was beautiful. The service was great and grounds were gorgeous, and the food was wonderful.
The out door theatre was just off the beach. It was nice to hear the ocean while watching the show. The one thing that I didn’t like was the Bathroom. It was tiny. The counter top was so small you couldn’t put anything on it. It was very fancy, but not very practical. There was no mirror or desk in the room.
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The resorts in Vallarta Nayarit are a little more modern and contemporary than those in the old Puerto Vallarta. They are also much newer. July and August are Mexico’s rainy season. It rained every day, mostly in the evenings, for about 2 hours. One night it rained all night. It was very hot all week, and it didn’t really cool off much at night. Because of the rainy season, it was also their growing season. There were flowers everywhere, the grass was very green, and the fruit was delicious.
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We took several trips into downtown Puerto Vallarta to do some shopping. One evening, two other agents and I took a cab downtown and got caught in a bad downpour. We found shelter at a restaurant called the “No Name Café”. It is owned by a guy from Calgary . We had supper there. It was nice to eat somewhere other than the resorts. We were there for about an hour and a half. When the rain slowed down, we hailed a cab, and headed back to the resort.
I really enjoyed visiting Puerto Vallarta. It is a beautiful MexicanCity. I loved the cobblestone streets and markets. The sunsets were awesome. On our last evening there, after the farewell supper, several of us agents went for a long walk along the beach, watching the sunset. It was so much fun. I will definitely visit Puerto Vallarta again. |
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