Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta

Great trip ! Worth the price and then some. Great staff, service. Plenty of things to do on site and good options if you prefer to go off on your on your own adventures.First trip to the resort and I must say looking forward to a return trip. I might add first time booking through CheapCaribbean and was happy with results.

We loved the HRV. Had the best vacation of our lives here last week. Service was 6 stars.. Best costumer service anywhere. Food was really really good. Better than any cruise I have been on. Pool was awesome. Beach is solid. Not a crystal clear blue water beach, but great for the kids and boogie boarding or any other beach activity that you would want to do. You are protected in the Bay of Banderas from the pacific ocean and the waves are very manageable for younger kids. Every other day pool parties were sweet. Pool staff of Manny and Amy were fantastic. And all the others. Drinks flowed freely. Food was fast and some of the best food I have ever had. Room we were in was the lowest level. We do this because we spend zero time in the room. We were at the pool or the beach all day long. Rooms are fine, but they could use the space better.. Again, not the reason we went. The staff and service was excellent. Can't say enough about how we were treated everyday we were there. The Spanish people know how to give you an excellent customer experience. If you want to be constantly entertained and have a lot of fun, then choose the Hard Rock at PV. We will definitely be back again. Trying the Hard Rock in Punta Cana next year.

We've been to quite a few all inclusive resorts in PV. Hard Rock rates average on my scale. The service was good, most of the staff were very friendly and helpful. The facility is clean and well kept, somewhat more modern than it's neighbors and the lobby and restaurants are spacious. It's fun to see some of the rock memorabilia from their collection. There are rock and roll details to be found all over including guitars in the bedding and rock videos playing in the sun bar. The activity staff were great, nightly shows entertaining (especially to the kids), pool side fun for both competitions like paper airplane toss and bingo to sports like water volleyball, aerobics, etc. The music at the pool is great, they play a wide variety of styles and had a good cover band one afternoon. (we stayed one week) The food gets old and we struggled to find yummy dishes — but we did find a few. The lasagne at the Italian spot was good, the fajitas and other grilled meats usually met or exceeded our expectations. Best to eat Mexican food while in Mexico. Try the mango daiquiris with the candy tamarind spicy straw — that rocked. They pour strong drinks if you ask. The beach is very clean and we swam with manta rays in the ocean which was very cool. Pools are fine but could be colder and cleaner, we hung by the quieter one rather than the busy bar with the waterfalls. Kids liked the slide but you need to bring a small slippery floaty to make it work otherwise you have to push yourself as it's not steep enough.

Quick Summary: Hard Rock Vallarta was incredible. The room was gorgeous, the beach and pools were perfect, the waves were big, the service was the best I've ever had at an all-inclusive resort. Quite simply, you will have a great time here! About Us: We're a couple in our early 30's and spent a week at the Hard Rock to celebrate my girlfriend's 30th bday. We wanted a blend of tranquility without being bored. We didn't want to party till 3am (a la Cancun Spring Break) but we didn't want to be bored either. We wanted the option to have some fun at night when we wanted to, but not be kept awake if we wanted to turn in early. HR was perfect in every way. The Details: I've stayed at many different brands of all-inclusive resorts and this was hands down the best. Here are our thoughts on the main topics: Staff: Incredibly friendly. Unlike several of our trips to the Bahamas and other caribbean islands where people didn't particularly seem to care that you were even there, the staff at Hard Rock were amazing. From the servers on the beach fetching cocktails and food to the room service and front desk staff, we always felt welcomed and appreciated for choosing their hotel. We never felt pressured to leave a tip for anything, but wound up doing so several times just because the service exceeded our expectations by a wide margin. 100 pesos a day to your server on the beach gets you VERY attentive service! They usually showed up with another round of drinks just as we were finishing the last and often brought chips and guac/salsa, wings, etc without even asking. Drinks: Top shelf everything. We're self-admitted tequila snobs, haha, which means we're usually disappointed with the selection when we travel. But that wasn't the case at HR. Bottomless margaritas and palomas from any of the bars and the "house" most of the time was Don Julio reposado. The brand of liquors in the room dispensers was okay (Absolut for vodka and Cuervo for tequila) but we requested upgraded bottles and it was no problem. :) Room: I've never stayed at a resort where the jacuzzi was right in the main part of the room, rather than being segmented off on its own or in the bathroom. But this was a real treat. My only negative comment about the room was that I didn't find the bed to be particularly comfortable, but my girlfriend did so it could just be a matter of preference. Pools & Beach: We're not much for the pool and prefer the beach, but there were a lot of people at both main pools, which are well divided. You have the swimup bar in the main pool with daily activities and music playing most of the day as well as another pool that is farther from the music and more relaxing. The beach was perfect. We never felt like we had to get out there super earlier to get a good chair. In fact, there's a second section in front of the Spa on the far end of the property and we were typically the only ones over there! It was like having our own private beach. We would get down there around 10am each morning, rearrange the chairs to be just right with the sun, an pull an umbrella over so we could get a break from the sun after a few hours without having to move at all. We spent a lot of time on boogie boards and the waves were perfect. Big enough to be exciting but not so big that you felt as though you were in any danger. Nightlife: They had nightly entertainment in the amphitheater from 9:30 - 11pm. Our room somewhat faced it and we could certainly here everything that was going on. Some nights we went down and enjoyed it, other nights we closed our room doors and used the jacuzzi, playing our own music. The one main bar/nightclub didn't ever seem particularly busy, so if you're looking for a wild spring break feel, there are far better options than HR. But if you're looking to dance for a bit after dinner, the nightly entertainment was great! The food: The restaurants were awesome! I was concerned about only having 4 places to eat, but they were all so good! FRIDA sits on the water, just next to the spa, and was perfect for snacks and casual lunches in your bathing suit. We could see our stuff from the restaurant so we never even felt the need to pack up our beach bag when we left our chairs. Their guacamole was amazing! THE MARKET is the main buffet style dining area where we ate breakfast every morning. Cook to order omelets and everything you'd expect. In and out quickly with great service, great espresso, and a mimosa bar in addition to the main bar. CIAO also sits on the water on the other end of the property, near the amphitheater. This is the most formal of the dining options and the food was amazing!! We had surf and turf on the beach for a romantic, candle-lit dinner and my girlfriend said it was easily a top 5 best meal of her lifetime. I couldn't disagree! Finally, ZEN is also an upscale place with sushi and lots of fresh seafood. We only ate there once. It was really, really good, but we couldn't get enough of CIAO and the night or two we stayed in, the enchiladas and tostadas from room service were delicious! Special Event: It was my girlfriend's 30th birthday and the hotel manager was so helpful in making the day an unforgettable one. They put a happy bday message to her in the daily activities printout, surprised her with balloons and a cake while we were out for dinner. They did a special breakfast in bed with a bottle of good champagne and even had a small cake delivered to our beach chairs! Bottom-line, guys, the hotel will make you look GREAT if you're celebrating an occasion with someone special. :) Location: We weren't in any way prepared for the overall beauty of the Puerto Vallarta area. We were surrounded on three sides by mountains which made for gorgeous sunsets and a very nice change of pace from the caribbean places we've stayed. The downtown boardwalk was really cool and you felt very safe. It was certainly a touristy kinda area, but we prefer the feeling of safety over the more "authentic" downtown locations. Summary: We hadn't previously stayed in PVR, but we're absolutely going to return and stay at the Hard Rock again. I suppose the best compliment I can offer is that by the end of the week I was a little irritated that they hadn't tried to pitch me on a membership! haha! I had to seek them out myself to get more information and rather than waste your time with a 2 hour presentation, as is the case with timeshares (which this is not), they ran through the program in about 20 minutes with me. We'd highly recommend this place to anyone. I'm sure I'm forgetting some great parts, but that's what stands out. You won't be disappointed.