Villa del Mar All Inclusive Beach Resort & Spa Puerto Vallarta

Although this isn't the nicest or biggest place I've ever stayed, I would still give it 3.5-4 stars. It was clean, the bed was pretty comfortable and the AC worked. It was a large room and we even had a small kitchen. The alcohol was great at this resort, they actually have Absolute Vodka or Jack Daniels versus 'clear and brown liquor,' which are all included in the all-inclusive. So that always helps the hangovers ;) The food was all delicious here as well, we had zero complaints there. There wasn't a huge variety of restaurants or buffets like some resorts have, but what they did have was all very good quality and fresh. The only real complaint we had was at the beach. Whether it's the resorts fault or not, there are people who walk up and down trying to sell you stuff, so literally every 1-3 minutes there's a new person who walks right up to you and asks if you want to buy their stuff. I don't think the resorts should allow this, but maybe they can't help it. It makes relaxing extremely hard though. We ended up only spending a total of 2-3 hours out on the beach because of this. We stayed by the pool for the remainder of our trip, as it was way more relaxing there. The beach area was very nice though, for Puerto Vallarta the water was decently blue in this specific area and the little cove the resort sits on was nice. The beaches were clean and we enjoyed the overall area a great deal. It was a 5 minute walk to the grocery store or to the malls and to quite a few restaurants and clubs. It was only a 10 minute cab ride to the Malecon as well. We would recommend this place and would even stay here again if we get the chance to return to the area.

Food is excellent! Service is great but Villa del Mar is an old biulding. I cannot remember reading anywhere when I was searching for a resort that this building has no elevator. Our room was on the 4th floor. I talked to the front desk on the first day for a room change but there would be a huge charge for a room upgrade. So I did not change anymore. Pick Villa del Palmar when you make a reservation. Do not pick Villa del Mar. Both are in the same resort. Villa del Mar is the first building in that resort. Do not go there. That was the only problem though. The resort itself is great. I enjoyed the food and nightly shows and daily activities!

Overall I would rate this a fair vacation. I particularly love few seafood dishes fresh and tasty, and the service in four restaurants is fine. But the weather is awfully hot during summer time, plus the beach water quality is poor in raining season. No Wi-Fi access from any room except the sport bar, it is a big draw back for kids. We bought day trip to Yelapa beach from the hotel's travel agent, that ended not happy for some members, since that beach water is badly polluted with yellow mud, and the crew left us on that hot muddy beach for over 2 hours. Choosing the hiking or horseback riding could gave a much better experience.

good for the price.. BUT! rooms need a major update.. staff very friendly