My husband and I just came back from a few days visit at this magnificent resort. There was absolutely nothing that wasn't perfect, from the greeting we got when we checked in, to drinks and guacamole served in our room while we unwound from the trip, dinners in our room and the absolutely fantastic view.

The food was fantastic and presented beautifully, the privacy you couldn't ask for better, and just the total relaxation was exactly what we were looking for. Everyone that works at this wonderful place, goes overboard to assist you or to leave you alone which ever you are needing at the time.

We enjoyed this so well we have cancelled our Jamaica trip to spend another unbelievable week in this romantic spectacular resort.

What can I say? It was the perfect honeymoon. My wife and I just got back from Zihuat and we had a blast. Amuleto was the best option for us as a new couple. The price was great and the services were better than other options. We felt like we came home everyday after doing various activities in town, eating, fishing, etc.

Amuleto is a place where you can go and not be bothered, feel isolated, and RELAX. Everyone there is as nice as can be and speaks English very well. I was just looking at other properties in Zihuat and I am so glad we picked Amuleto because they all do not compare.

The service was excellent. The Food was amazing. The property was very, very clean. 5 stars for everything at Amuleto. Have the Shrimp tacos and the guacamole......so good!! Amuleto has the best sunset in town for dinner. Not only was the food amazing but the scene was awesome.

If you have any questions call Lucio and he will hook you up with anything you want.

By the way....When I was doing research I always wandered what age and what type of people posted the reviews. That way you get a sense of their prespective. Well I am 28 and my wife is 24 and we are fun, party type people. Believe me if you are going on a honeymoon, you want to relax and chill, and thats what we did. If want to go and party try Ixtapa. Remember...you trip is only as good as you make it.

I did a ton of research on Zihua and the options for places to stay. My travel agent did not know the Amuleto and wanted to send us down the path of traditional resorts, but I found this wonderful site to help me find something perfect for us. I took the advice of one of the posts on either TripAdvisor or the Zihua Rob website and we stayed at two different places. I am so pleased that we decided to spend three nights in one location and three nights in another as it gave us a real taste of the city and the people. It also showed us how very different the experience can be. Our first three nights were at Amuleto. It is the start of the slow season in April, and we kick-
started our honeymoon on a Tuesday as well. So, it was as if we had the place all to ourselves for the first two days. The view is breathtaking. The service of the staff, in particular the wonderful Lucio, was superb! We felt completely spoiled. But as the site only has six rooms, even with every room full it would still be very private. We tried a lot of food in Zihua. All of which we loved, but our favorite meals were at the Amuleto. That is because it was quiet, private, did I mention the great views, and the food was fantastic! Breakfast is included and well worth it. Some people have it delivered to their rooms, in fact most mornings we were the only ones out in the open. For dinner there are more people, but it is still so intimate. I highly recommend the parmesan tuna with black pepper sauce and the lobster and shrimp risotto. If you decide that this is not the place that you will stay, you MUST have dinner or breakfast or both there! And have a margarita, they are lovely too. Oh and the guacamole was the best we had there. Oh I miss it.

We stayed in the Palapa Suite. It was huge and amazing. Our room was always left in amazing order and well-cleaned. They did a lovely job of knowing when we were gone, so we did not have to worry about maids knocking or a door notification. The place is so small that they know when you are gone. I liked that a lot in comparison to the bigger resort where we would get a knock at 8AM if we forgot the door sign for the maid. The bigger resort did do a better job with flowers and candles on our first night, but I am sure that could have been arranged if requested (note to the new husbands). Lucio and his staff were amazing. I can not begin to express how much we enjoyed our time with Lucio. He even offered to take us into town to show us the artists market. That was very helpful in terms of our first introduction to interacting with locals and bargaining for goods. But, even if he is too busy for a personal tour during a busier season, he has wonderful suggestions and guidance. He made our reservations and just really made sure we had a wonderful time. I recommend dining at La Cala and also taking a tour with Fernando. Another huge difference between the locations we stayed was the cost of the food, especially provided food in the fridge. It was twice as much at the resort. Everything has a cost and it is four times as much at the resort. There is a mark-up at Amuleto but it is reasonable and do-able. I did a lot of research and always appreciated honest insight. I hope that this one helps you and that you make Amuleto your destination if you are like us.

Now, I know that there are some lesser reviews on this site as well. People who are not glowing and raving as much as we are. I think that it is important to know what you are looking for in a place to stay and asking the right questions before booking. It is important to know your priorities. If five more minutes in a taxi cab is too much, then this location is a bit further from town and activities. But, to us the additional time and dollar was worth it to come back to a secluded and private place away from all the other tourists. And the view is amazing to look down on everything. For us, we wanted a quiet place for us to spend time together alone and for us to shed the chaos of our life in Houston. We were able to relax, read a book, eat well, swim and do nothing if we wanted. But, the little bit of additional drive time does not make the activities difficult to get to. If people want activity to come to them, like the resorts where they have a DJ play music on the beach overshadowing the sounds of the ocean, then this might not be the right place. But if you want to seek out things to do on your own terms and have the best guide (Lucio) there to make the perfect suggestion just for you, then this is the place. It was great for our honeymoon. Certainly, we did also enjoy moving closer to the activity during the second half of our trip too. Still I would stay at Amuleto again. I would not stay at the bigger resort again.

The other criticism has been the noise and construction. The funny thing about that is that is not a problem at the Amuleto; that is a problem in Zihua. The whole city is growing rapidly and there is construction all over the place. The restaurant Kau Kan is no longer the best destination because construction has ruined the view. The Tides will have major construction of the Viceroy next door soon. Construction is everywhere. But to us, it was all background to the wonderful ocean view, the wonderful hospitality, and the lovely architecture. We did shut our doors at night so we would not be awakened by trucks. We did have a crane in our view at some points during one day. But, at night is when Zihua really lights up and you can only hear the ocean. At the Tides, we had to deal with street vendors constantly approaching us on the beach. We had DJs. A group of drunk college tourists hogged the pool bar and whooped it up for hours. We felt like one of many, and there were other noises much more disturbing than a truck. Zihua is in a state of development. You can see that the trees are being taken down to create roads in some areas. To me, that means that we are lucky to have come at a time when it is still so real and not yet too overcome by tourism. I also think that it is much much quieter than my life in the US. So, yes you should expect some construction in Zihua, but that is not a downside to Amuleto alone.

And finally, the other criticism has been the no-tipping policy which has confused people in the past. I am not going to say that I think the system is perfect, as looking back we realized that we under-
tipped when we intended to over-tip. We got a little confused too, but we never really mastered the peso conversion and we checked out after two farewell margaritas. So, we are at fault for not understanding it as well. I think that the policy is good overall and should remain. It allows you to not worry about small bills and to have genuine experiences with all staff. At the Tides, you felt like people expected a dollar if they greeted you. Having change is also a huge pain. Having to always think about tipping is a strain. Amuleto allows you to not think about that and just have a good experience. However, my husband and I did leave and have a long conversation about the final bill as we disagreed on how we tipped. I thought that we were giving over the suggested tip amount, because I thought that most was already included in the total. Dave understood, which after doing the math I realize he understood correctly, that the meal tips were included and not the other service staff tips. So, that did throw us for a little bit as we intended to be generous. The staff services a small group of people, so they deserve more than the generic tips at resorts. I do think that "suggesting" a tip puts on some pressure but at the same time it was nice to have a target. At the Tides, they just put 18% on room service automatically. I almost wish that a low range suggested tip was automatically put in the total, and then people were just allowed to be generous if possible. I don't know. I think that it could be perfected, but overall I really preferred it. I just regret that we did not understand it. Hopefully this email can be our contribution to a tip of a different kind in that I want to make sure that my appreciation of our time is known.

My wife and I have had a wonderful experience at Amuleto. We made our decision to stay there based on the reviews on this site, and we were not disappointed. If you like the pictures, you will love Amuleto. But the pictures do not do it justice; they cannot capture the excellence of the staff. Either Lucio or Iris was always available for anything we might need. They were extremely gracious and hospitable. The attention to every detail was amazing. We were welcomed with a margarita, and guacamole, and things only got better from there. The complimentary breakfasts are fabulous, and the sunset at dinner cannot be beat.

Our only concern prior to the trip was the distance to the beach. But it turned out not to be a big deal. A simple 3 minute 3 dollar cab ride and you are there. We were there during perhaps the busiest week of the year and we still were able to secure chairs on the beach. One day we splurged and bought day passes at The Tides ($25 per). And as so many others have said, it is great to retreat back "home to Amuleto" after a day on the busy beach or in town.

My wife and I were here to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We couldn't have picked a more perfect place than Amuleto. The only sad thing is leaving. Thanks again to the wonderful staff who made our stay "picture perfect."