February 3, 2007

We loved the place! We had a two bedroom unit that was very clean with daily maid service. It was great for the whole family. The kids loved the pools, waterpark and amenities. The beaches were nice, we really liked Ixtapa Island and Las Gatas. Everyone at the Ixtapa Palace were very friendly and helpful. They gave us wonderful ideas on what to do in the area and places to eat. I would recommend this place for families.

We had received the 5 night stay at Ixtapa Palace as a bonus from the purchase of a timeshare the previous year. After reading some of the other reviews, I had not set my expectations too high, but we were pleasantly surprised. The Ixtapa Palace is set up to cater to locals, but a little preparation helped us 'gringos' fit right in ;-) The hotel is apparently in the midst of a remodeling program so a lot of the issues that others have had with the hotel have been upgraded (to about the standards of a good 1970s Holiday Inn).

A word of caution: when arriving at the Zihuatenejo Airport (ZIH) and clearing customs, go directly to either the "Ground Transportation" desk (directly in front of you) of the Rental Car counters (off to your right). Do not go to any of the guys holding signs and beckoning you over. These are time-share salesmen, and they are trying to get you to sign up for a sales presentation (not the friendly, warm and fuzzy boiler rooms like in Vegas or Florida). The folks at Ixtapa Palace would later warn us about these guys.

290 Pesos worth of taxi ride later we were on our way to Ixtapa. The road takes you through some very 'third-world' looking areas, but don't be too concerned by these. Keep in mind that the official taxi-cab of the third world is the Nissan Sentra, so plan on not a lot of trunk space for luggage.

The staff at Ixtapa Palace was friendly and helpful (in particular 'Gil' who is mentioned in some of the other reviews). The desk staff is a bit light on English, so the well-advised traveler would do well to learn some Spanish before going to Ixtapa. It helps in all transactions to understand a little of the language and culture before you go.

Gil (who speaks English well) helped us out to our room, ran an inventory of all the furnishings, and demonstrated the operation of the features of our room. Our accommodations were a full-size bed (extremely firm) and fold-out sofa (from the Wal-Mart dorm room collection), a small balcony, large bathroom, and kitchenette with dining area for 4. The TV pulled in about 6 channels, two of which (CNN International and HBO) were in English. DVD player hookups were available, for the electronically-inclined.

All the rooms overlook one of the three pools. Our room was close to the gym and bar, from which exuded loud music beginning at about 8:30 am and lasting until late evening. The gym looked adequate, but this being a vacation, we avoided it like the plague. The pools are clean and clear and picturesque, with waterfalls and fountains. One of the pools has a water slide, but adults be warned, it should be marked off-limits to anyone over 48" tall. There is an adjacent water park called 'Magic World' that Ixtapa Palace guest get reduced admission to. Again, this is an amusement park in the image of 1970s Florida.

The hotel is across the street from the main tourist area of Ixtapa, so there are restaurants and shops aplenty. The beach is less than 1/2 a mile away (if you cut through a hotel lobby), though we prefered the beaches at Isla Ixtapa and Playa La Ropa (short taxi rides away). Keep in mind that Ixtapa is relatively expensive compared to other resorts in Mexico, but we found prices not out of line with other vacations we have taken. Keep in mind, also, that those time-share salemen are **everywhere**. They will offer you free breakfasts and resort passes, but **do not** go with them! One time-share salesman in a white van (beware the white van with a resort logo on it) stopped on the other side of a roundabout, and ran after us across the street and the median, trying to get us to go with him.

Gil offered to set us up with tours and such, but we did most of our touring on our own. There are buses that pull up right in front of the hotel. The taxis are relavtively inepxensive, but there are no visible meters in them. The fares seem to us a "zone" system, but the drivers play fast-and-loose with it. After a couple of days we were able to figure out the layout of the area, so touring was easy.

The hotel offers breakfast buffet, but we preferred the Golden Cookie Co. in the Los Patios shopping center (1/2 mile away) (** do not** miss the Golden Cookie Co.). For dinner, try Emilio's (across the street) or Villa de la Selva (very expensive, but so worth it). Also, Nicolas, the bartender at the Ixtapa Palace pool bar, recommended Antonio's on Isla Ixtapa, where he works days. The seafood there was excellent.

We were there during the ramp-up to the high season (December thru April), so most of the services were in place and open. If you don't like crowds, November is the time to be in Ixtapa. They don't have American Thankgiving, so rates are low, weather is perfect, crowds are light. Summer is very hot. September-October is rainy/hurricane season.

Final words of advice:
-Learn some Spanish. The locals appreciate it.
-No ATMs (i.e. 'los Cajeros') in Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo take American Express.
-Have extra pesos available if you venture outside the tourist areas, because lots of businesses outside the cities are not set up to take credit cards.
-Go to Ixtapa. It's 'muy bueno'!

Taxi ride from the airport ($29) got us at the hotel Saturday May 20th at approx. 5:30pm. We were greeted by staff who got us registered quickly and Gil, took us to our room. We were able to understand him, though we knew very little Spanish, enough to get by. Upon showing our room to us, he checked the TV, showing us the English channel, and when he found the the screen was not clear he immediately called for a repairman to check it out; he arrived within the first 15 minutes. Though the hotel is older than most in Ixtapa, it's quaint, and we enjoyed it, the living room, kitchen and a full bath was down stairs, upstairs was the bedroom with a queen size bed, dressing area and again another full bath. There was a balcony on the first floor, and two upstairs, one had a jucuzzy (sp), which we filled with cold water and enjoyed it throughout the week. My hair dryer and electric curler did not work in the plug socket, which I reported and they immediately brought me an adapter. When we discovered the shower head splashed out over the curtain, they again immediately responded to repair it. What we didn't report at the beginning of our stay was the airconditioner near the bed dripped, we were afraid that if they started working on it, it would stop working, so we put a towel, under the drip, and the maid changed it daily, so she was aware of it. Speaking of the maid, she kept the place clean and bed made and we always had fresh towel, Like on a cruise, she'd make towel animals, which we took quite a few pictures of. The larger of the 3 pools is the one we used the most, it has a swim up bar with at waterfall, that they only started running about Wednesday after our Saturday arrival, it was nice but the water splashed up on the bar, which is why I believe they didn't have it on all the time. The other two pools, one for the kids, and the other somewhat smaller then the bigger one, were great; we didn't go to the water park next door, but had we brought our kids they would have loved it, we did take a peek at it. We liked the fact that at this time of the year we didn't have to fight for lounge chairs anywhere around the pools. Actually, the place wasn't crowded at all, maybe it was the time of year. One of the staff upon greeting us told us he was surpirsed to see Americans in the hotel this time of the year, that usually Americans and Canadians came around November through February, and that normally they only have Mexican families come during this time of the year. No matter we enjoyed ourselves and everyone we encountered even if we didin't understand each other everyone was nice. Like earlier reviews the beach is about a block & a half away, but for those like us, we enjoy walking and everything was in walking distance. Great places to eat, we'd recommend El Chef Josse, new Senior Frogs, they had great food, try the Chicken Parmeasan or Chicken Fijata. Watch out for all the street salesmen trying to get you to go and check out hotels in the area, offering you free tickets. We did take them up on visiting the Barcenlo Hotel, which was nice, however the $17K cost to buy into this time share was more than we wanted to spend, and did not add anything to what we already have., however we were treated to a free trip to Ixtapa Island; there you can spend $15 per person and snorkel, or just relax. This trip included lunch and drink. Besure to take your towels, and sunscreen, as it was very hot out there. We just kicked back and relaxed, taking a swim when we got to hot, don't worry the guides can speak English. We did take the bus to the next little town, but it was to hot and we only spent a short time there to buy a duffle bag., other than that the flea markets in Ixtapa had everything we wanted and more. We'd go back but only during cooler months. Actually, we though Ixtapa was nicer than Porta Vallarta, the streets were cleaner and we felt safer here walking the back streets.
We'd recommend this hotel, and have already checked out larger rooms, in the event we bring family or friends. Check out was on Saturday the 27th, they say that you must leave by Noon, however, they let us stay in our room until 2pm, since our flight wasn't until 5pm, which was great we were able to leave for breakfast, then come back and relax around the pool, before going back to our room to shower, and finishing packing for our home flight..

My wife, 2 daughters and I spent 4 days in a suite at the Ixtapa Palace. We had friends staying in a nearby resort on the water for quite a bit more money--and no suite. Being a 10 minute walk from the beach is the only downside to this resort. The kids enjoyed the pool and waterpark and walked the area around the hotel zone for pizza, ice cream and the main market. Being close to these in-town sites and amenities turned out to be more fun for everyone than the beach. The beach in Ixtapa is GREAT, but i can only spend so much time there.

But the helpfulness of the staff was truly amazing. We planned every day by telling the staff what we liked to do and they gave us suggestions and made all reservations for us.