I was turning 40 and needed a place for me and my friends to celebrate. I wanted a place that was economical, but nice. It also had
to be warm as I live in Raincouver and need a break. I settled on Golden Crown for two reasons. One it was all inclusive and two it was Adult only. It was easy enough to make reservations but I did have to leave a one night deposit on each room reserved. I already knew getting to PV was going to be an all day venture. So needless to say I wasn’t happy about the bombardment at the airport. I wish the hotel had a shuttle. I really enjoyed the open air lobby. It was refreshing.
I did feel a bit rushed while checking in but any questions I did have
were answered. We were also greeted with a nice fruity drink- if you wanted alcohol in the drink you needed to ask for it. The room seemed typical. Our view was ok, it was of the courtyard. The beds as everyone has indicated are very hard. The room had a strange smell to it. The property itself was fairly basic, but it had all the things you need. It was beachfront, it had a pool, and it had food. The regular restaurant food wasn’t that great. It was the afternoon lunch that was the best! Get the tacos at the poolside grill. You will not regret it. The drinks were watered down depending on what you ordered.
We started ordering champagne which made things easy. I have to say the champagne wasn’t that bad. For my birthday dinner we ate at Salvador’s. Besides the food being phenomenal, the service was outstanding. Once we told them it was my birthday, they catered to us all night. I felt so celebrated. The beach vendors weren’t so bad if you kept your eyes closed. And if you said no, they would keep on walking but they would come back within minutes of asking you. The nightclub associated with the property is not really a nightclub until 2am. They have a dance show –which was pretty good and then karaoke. The location of the property isn’t really near anything so if
you are looking for a night life you have to go downtown. And although
downtown isn’t that far it is a $40USD taxi ride. The bus is better at
.50 cents. But I’m not sure you would want to take it if you plan on club hopping. On our last day, one of the waiters was extremely attentive. I’m sure it was because we were tippers. But it was really nice how he took care of us. Overall, we had an amazing time. Mostly because the group we had was an outgoing group, but also because the hotel allowed us to enjoy ourselves.

My best friend decided to celebrate her birthday with a trip to Mexico and we choose the Golden Crown Paradise based on reviews. Also, everyone was a on a different budget, so all inclusive seemed to be the best way to go. Drinks, food, beach, your girlfriends in one place - what can be beat?

Reservations were fairly simple. We'd seen prices of $200+ online so my best friend emailed the hotel directly. We got a great price by doing this. They did charge my friend for the first night for each person as a deposit. About 3 weeks before we left, we saw a bunch of ads online advertising the Golden Crown for like $110 a night. Even though we did get a deal, a sale is a sale. We immediately contacted the place again to see what they could do for us. A week goes by and no response to email. We try again and wait a few days. Nothing. Finally, we get one of our spanish speaking friends to call the hotel and find out about the deal. The hotel says they will have to cancel and rebook the whole trip and recharge the first night on my best friends card AND they didn't know when she'd get her credit. Needless to say, we didn't get the discount after hearing that. I did think "Ok, it's Mexico, the technology is different, you're still going to have fun." But it did feel kind of shady at this point.

A week and a half later we all make it to Mexico and are able to check in quickly. All the girls arrived at different times and we were last. Check in was pretty smooth, but after my roomie and I were like "Wait, they're charging for the remote, safe key, and what else?" (In case of loss of course) We had to laugh. It was all said so fast!

When we first walked into our room, we loved it. No it's not 5 star Ritz Carlton, but it was still nice! We had an ocean view and were stuck on the 2nd floor. At first we were bummed, but as we relaxed on the patio after our journey we thought it was great. We were right above the pool, so we could talk to the other girls when they were down there. Again, we could still see the ocean, so it was all good. The beds were amazingly hard. My second night there I could NOT sleep to save my life and I was amazingly drunk. I should have passed out immediately.

The restaurants are ok. I loved the tacos at the poolside bar and Salvadors. The rest, eh. Typically mass produced food, kinda like wedding food. The midnight snacks are pretty good and my friends were always ordering room service, just because. They loved it. The wait staff was ok the first night and got better the more we tipped. Not that I'm surprised, but just putting it out there. My girl friend says she remembers reading somewhere on the property literature that you did not have to tip as tip was included in the all inclusive price. Not sure if this is true, but we tipped anyway.

As other reviewers have said, this place is somewhat sedate at night and full of mostly older travelers. We're all young 30 something females who were let loose on Puerto Vallarta. This is the kind of place where you have to make it a party, which we did. Well, for us anyway! LOL We decided to stay at the property and to have a ball with each other. We got the musician to play some upbeat songs and danced with each other. Other people started dancing with us and joined our group. We got the place hopping and so we had a great time. After a long night of drinking and sunning and being crazy, we called it a night and waved good bye to our new friends. They seemed sad to see us go, as the atmosphere died down once again. I do have a special shout out to the creepy Canadian guy who kept trying to get all the ladies to "walk on the beach" with him. Come on guy, don't you see we're having a good time minus you???

The beach itself was nice. It would have been nice had the resort comb the beach each morning as they do at other 5 start Mexican hotels. But hey, I'm not that picky. We did get in the water, but around calf deep, the sand gets very rocky and so it was a bit uncomfortable. The vendors were always there, but I was asleep most of the time and they didn't bother me. Most of the time saying no was sufficient and so it didn't kill me as it did other people. The pool is nice and heated. Whereas the vendors didn't annoy me, the towel savers did. I went to breakfast at 8 am and half the lounge chairs were saved already. Did these people get up just to save a spot and then go back to sleep? Come on guys, show some manners. Let other people use the chairs if you're sleeping.

All in all, we had a great time. We made the trip what we wanted it to be, and we were all there to celebrate a friends birthday. Next year, we'll probably go back to the Gulf of Mexico side, but we'll always have good memories of this place.

I'm going to be honest with you, the Golden Crown Paradise Resort Puerto Vallarta is NOT worth your time. The beds are hard, the room doesn’t get cool enough at night, the chemicals/coloring used in the pool end up dyeing your hair and skin blue/green, the restaurants onsite do not offer anything worth eating and the beach peddlers harass you as you lounge in the pool. I am not interested in returning to Mexico due to this experience. Honestly, I'm not a picky person, I tend to go with the flow, but this place leaves little to rant and rave about. I will say the wait staff at the pool bar and tikki hut was extremely nice.

My girlfriend and I had a wonderful time at the Golden Crown Paradise. The Staff was friendly and the food at the 6 restaurants was exquisite. Our favorite was the sexy coffee made by Poly at the Paradise restaurant. We loved watching him deftly pour those blue jets of fire into our glasses. He is a true magician!

We definitely recommend this resort to anyone interested in staying at an adult resort in Mexico.