We just returned from Puerto Vallarta Mexico where we had one of the most relaxing and luxurious vacations EVER! We stayed at Casa Velas Boutique Hotel and it was everything it claimed to be and more. It’s hard to know where to begin, so I'll just dive in!

The location is absolutely beautiful. The resort itself is not overly large, which is nice, it feels very intimate. There are no kids! We have 2 kids, and this was a vacation just for the big people - PERFECT!

The view was amazing, and the amenities as well (an outdoor shower as well as a full private shower inside the washroom facilities). The only downside was that they really didn't get going at the Beach Club until 11am. We like the early morning sun, but they accommodated us everyday despite our early hour!

Dinners there were breathtaking - a very intimate and luxurious setting. There is also a wonderful media room upstairs in the Beach Club that is a great place to hide from the heat of the day!

Tasty Mexican cuisine

About the Food:

Casa Velas itself has one restaurant in addition to the pool bar and spa menus that can be ordered from. Reservations must be made each evening for the restaurant you want to eat at.

Options include:

• Restaurant at Casa Velas that requires dinner reservations. The restaurant is lovely - you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner at this restaurant. The service was also wonderful, although the menu remains the same all week (International cuisine)
• Restaurant at Velas Vallarta that requires dinner reservations. This restaurant has a different dinner theme each evening, so check with the front desk to find out which nights you would prefer and plan accordingly.
• Restaurant at Velas Vallarta that does not require dinner reservations. This restaurant offers a breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner. You can stop in here at any time. Food was Ok here.
• Restaurant at the Beach Club that requires reservations. Food at the Beach Club was wonderful. It is a sushi bar although there are some non-sushi options. The lunch menu was a bit varied, but not a wide range of options. The dinner menu was even more limited, however, we tried several of the meals and each was wonderful.
• The pool bar (on Casa Velas property) food menu is only available until 6pm - food is good and has a good selection available.
• The spa menu was also wonderful, lots of health options and you could order from this menu at the Spa or at the pool area.

For all restaurants the wine selections were good, although not extensive. We're wine-drinkers primarily, so we can't speak to the other beverages, but the wine selection was quite good and we were able to enjoy a wonderful bottle with every dinner. One thing that did surprise us is that we had to hunt for Mexican food. If others are looking for great Mexican, go to Pipi's in Old Town. It is a long-established restaurant and any taxi will get you there.

About the Service:

The people were wonderful at the resort. They were very patient with my attempt to learn simple phrases in Spanish and really seemed to appreciate the effort to speak their language. You can get by with very little Spanish and they are most helpful.

They were always pleasant and helpful and, in fact, proactive. It was like they could anticipate what we needed and would be on it even before we realized we had a need. I was most impressed and felt totally pampered. Truly relaxing when you are so well taken care of.

About the Spa:

INCREDIBLE! My husband and I both had 2 treatments at the spa - one was the Volcanic Thermal wrap and the other a specialty massage. Both were absolutely to die for. The girls who did the treatments did not speak much English, if at all - but truly, it was not really relevant. You knew what you needed to do and believe me, it was totally AMAZING and worth every penny and more. We tipped those ladies very well! For those who like to work out, there is a good sized gym facility and at Velas Vallarta there is Yoga on the beach most mornings. We did this and it was beautiful!

Downtown Puerto Vallarta

The Resort

Casa Velas Boutique Hotel (#8573)
Pelicanos Numero 311
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, 48354, Mexico Phone: 322-2266-688
www.hotelcasavelas.com

About the RCI Representation:

This is where things start to get a little off-track. The first thing that really set us off was that at the airport, which we since learned is privately owned, in order to arrange transportation to the resort, we had to obtain a VIP ticket where you pick up your luggage.

We were warned by the flight attendants that as soon as you enter the airport area you would be inundated with people trying to sell timeshares. We heard this and thought we understood - boy were we wrong.

When you get your luggage and move through the doors, there are several men there who are all wearing "Supervisor" or "Manager" badges. They "seem" like they’re trying to manage the inflow of traffic - oh no! They keyed right onto the VIP card (we were looking for the VIP room where we were supposed to get our transportation to the resort) and led us over to a man who they said would arrange our transportation. What a crock! 10 minutes in (we're tired and hungry and getting really cranky), we realize we've been duped. So we finally shut that down, head through the next set of doors and were almost led away again until I told the guy I was going to the VIP room, which we could now see. As soon as I got there, we were fine and they arranged our transportation for us promptly.

I will say that people should definitely pay attention to the information provided as we did know we needed to get the VIP card and go to the VIP room, which ensured we had free transport to the resort. We met another couple who did not know that and had been dinged $15 USD for the cab ride - literally no more than 4 minutes down the road. We could get from the resort to the Old Town and back for less than $15 USD!

About the Transportation:

As indicated above, the taxis at the airports will gouge you big-time! However, after that you don't have a thing to worry about. We took taxis everywhere and not only were they always friendly and relatively safe drivers, they were also always consistent with their pricing (zone pricing) so you knew what you would pay. Nobody took advantage of us and it was most appreciated not having to barter for pricing.

Another Jewel We Found:

We went to the Marina (ask to go to the Lighthouse) and when we got there we turned left at the lighthouse and found this amazing little, newly opened restaurant called Tikul Pacific Grill (close to that anyway). Please, if you are looking for an amazing meal and entertainment experience (very romantic) go here, we cannot recommend it highly enough. An amazing wine cellar, amazing food, amazing service and the singer was out of this world. Make the effort - it won't be cheap, but it will be worth every penny!

Hope this is helpful for someone. We'll definitely be going back here!

- Trish Bishop