I was in Vallarta for a conference for two days. The Velas was selected for this conference. It is held in Vallarta every year and they rotate hotels. I was thoroughly impressed with this hotel. They did not have my requested room level available, so they upgraded me to a three bed room suite for the same price! The service was excellent. The staff was constantly coming around asking about drinks and food. They even made up trays of little smoothies and appetizers and offered them to everyone. The groups are beautiful! The food was above average. I prefer to eat authentic Mexican food when I am in Mexico, so I was not a huge fan of the Italian, American, etc. food in the restaurants--not that it was bad, I just didn't prefer it. I told my husband that we will definitely go to this hotel again.

Great Property with everything you want to get away. 10 minutes from the Airport, $20 regulated cab fair from PVR. Check in is easy, AI service is great at both beach bars, swim bar, and restaurants. RCI traded, we had high expectations and they were met both times we stayed.

Stayed at Casa Velas last year and the private beach Clubhouse is amazing. Incredible food and views by the pool/beach for sunset dinners. We didn't like being away from the beach at the golf resort since we're not really golfers, but shuttles were there and always no more then 10 minutes to wait. While at Casa, we could stay/dine at the Velas as well and we did frequently. Any choice of restaurant, any day, anytime.

Lots for kids to do here, amazing pool. Chris heads up the pool patrol and has activities daily including volleyball and aerobics. Rooms are clean, stocked, spacious and staff is friendly and attentive. No problems with English. The lobby bar stays open till 2am I believe, and has live music and casino nights. Good times.

Scuba was murky, chilly but all right. It's not the caribbean. Sayulita is an hour north by bus and has much more gorgeous water because the river dumps sediment into the Pacific at Nuevo Vallarta. Great surfing in Sayulita, great pueblo atmosphere and dining. Good day trip, although it's trechorous in the hills, and we got backed up for an hour and a half behind a wreck. Other then that, I recommend the journey highly.

The Malecon in town is a must see, check out some Tequila tours to the distilleries. Good restaurants, but stay away from the "all inclusive" nights at the downtown bars that resort activity advisor's recommend. The foam parties and $30 cover will get you banished to an area of the club where no one hangs out to get your free drinks, and common mixers such as "cranberry" or "tonic" are unavailable. Unless drinking straight, well liquor is your thing, stick with the locals and ask where the staff would go.

Enjoy your trip anytime of the year, but best to avoid mid to late march. You could find yourself in the middle of a high school spring break...

My husband and I went to VV for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a lovely property - beautiful grounds!! The lush vegetation, beautiful peacocks proudly displaying their feathers, a cute little cat family that romped around everywhere (outside), and huge iguanas that laze along the streams that flow throughout the property (filled with fish) all made for fun viewing. We had a 1 bedroom suite located front and center in the main building, 8 floors up, and the view was magnificent - saw cruise ships coming and going, the pirate excursion taking off with it's loud cannon booms, dolphins swimming by in the bay - I just sat for hours in the early morning taking it all in with my coffee. The layout of this room was front to back - the bedroom immediately on the right when you enter, then bathroom, then kitchen, then living area, then balcony - so our balcony was shorter than others I have seen pictures of - looks like some 1 bedrooms run left to right, so their balcony would be longer with a sliding door coming out of the bedroom - ours did not. The only other thing of note, was we only had a shower, no tub, and the water pressure was next to nil. Other than that, I had zero complaints!!! Great food, non stop service (with a smile) at the pool. Upon check in, You are greeted with rum punches by a server walking around with a trayful of them - was NEVER approached by a time share person there, and never even called on phone in the room to try and set up a meeting. I was almost insulted (well, not really) but I couldn't figure out why they never even tried to corner us!! This was a first out of all my trips to Puerto Vallarta. My stay was too short to utilize all the perks that we could have - 24 hour room service, dinner at Emiliano's at the Casa Velas, but next time I will plan a longer trip and make sure I have the time to enjoy every piece of luxury they offer me!!! (oh, beach was very nice, however upon entering the water, the rocks were really rough on the feet) All in all, we really loved this resort, and had a wonderful getaway! Aside from one somewhat embarrassing moment that will give us a good laugh for the next 25 years of marriage (private joke only a few will ever know!) this vacation went off without so much as a blemish!!!

The hotel was situated along the nicest part of puerto vallarta (Marina area) adjacent to many high end hotels and very close to the airport. We booked transportation shuttles in advance and i am glad that we did this for convienence but we probably overpaid for the service considering the hotel was literally 5 minutes away. I would book a one-way shuttle and then just grab a cab on the return to the airport from the valet service at the hotel. Upon arrival, watch out for time share salespersons...you will be swarmed upon just beyond customs/immigration.

Once at the hotel, check in was easy. We were approached immediately by a Velas Vallarta timeshare representative, all were female the weekend we were there. We declined the tour and immediately began our vacation. The studios/suites were okay, they were clean, but very small. The beds were just fine, very comfortable and very cozy. Renovations have been made, but definitely on the cheap end because attention to detail was not visible in the modifications.

The beach was nice in the morning and evening, but during the day there are vendors everywhere. We sat at the pool each day and enjoyed the service poolside. Plan to get up early and try to reserve a spot at the pool before 7:30 am or risk not having a spot in the sun.

Now for the all inclusive part. In our opinion, it was not very good. Having stayed at MANY all-inclusives, this was by far on the lower end of the scale. Mixed drinks were not very good, stick with a beer (although they give only small pours). Food was moderate at best at all of the restaurants. The Alejandra was a joke...it was described as the "fine" dining option, but it was really a conference room transformed into a restaurant at night. They had a cheesy keyboard player and a dance floor set up, it was as close to a bad wedding reception as possible. The best meals were at Andrea for breakfast and dinner. Again, get up early to book dinner reservations b/c they fill up FAST, like before 8:00am.

Tips are definitely expected - the service is worth it even if the food is not.

If you dont mind a few inconvienences like having to plan your meals at dawn and having to keep a spot reserved at the pool, then this is okay for a weekend getaway. I probably would recommend a different hotel in the Marina area, or would recommend coming to the Velas on a non-allinclusive basis. Definitely if you are going to be in PV for more than 3-4 days, choose a different hotel in the same area. There are many to choose from.

Enjoy your trip, all in all Puerto Vallarta was the best city we have visited in Mexico. The city is clean, safe, and convienent. We definitely enjoyed the kind and welcoming people in PV. We will definitely return to PV in the future.