Read Reviews of Vela Vallarta, a Family Beach Resort in Puerto Vallarta

The service is the best!!! Chef Miguel from Andreas, is one of the best chef we have known, he makes the dining experience so Amazing!!!! Victor our waiter for today's lunch at Andrea what a pleasant guy so friendly and goes above and beyond to serve !!

Great resort. Food is excellent and service is above expectations. There is always entertainment and events during the day and in the evenings. The staff goes out of their way to ensure their guests are happy and enjoy themselves. I would highly recommend Velas Vallarta!

This place is truly inclusive, and the staff is top notch! The food, the free tours, poolside fun and access to the beach was wonderful! We will definitely book a vacation here in the future! Also, Rodrigo, Paula and Dario deserve a raise for such wonderful service!

My family of four (parents, plus a 17 year old and an 18 year old) stayed at the Velas Vallarta for 5 nights/6 days, from 12/29/17 to 1/3/18. We had an AWESOME experience there! We’d never done an all inclusive before. It’s definitely pricier, but it’s really nice not having to worry about expenses once you get there. This is definitely a family oriented resort. If you’re a single or a couple without kids, and you want a party scene, this place won’t deliver what you’re looking for; however, it’s perfect for families and/or couples who want a non-party, lower-key experience. Our review below is long, but hopefully you’ll find it helpful! • Proximity to Airport: The hotel is less than 10 minutes from the PV airport. We really appreciated not wasting time commuting! Don’t waste your money booking a shuttle to/from the airport. It’s much cheaper to take a taxi. When you’re at the resort there is some noise from planes flying overhead, but it really didn’t bother any of the people in our party, and I never heard anyone else complain either. • All-inclusive: The all-inclusive is pretty true to its name. We were there 5 nights/6 days, and found enough activities such that we never felt the need to leave the property. Also, the only thing we had to pay extra for is that we ran out of sunscreen, so had to buy some from the gift shop. (Note: If you open an account at the hotel registration desk, and have purchased items charged to your room, you get a 20% discount on purchases.) Things we didn’t do/need, but that are additional charges are: motorized sports, spa services, and laundry services. • Guest Rooms: Since my husband and I were traveling with our two teens, we stayed in a 2-bedroom suite. Thank you to the other reviewer(s) who suggested getting a room on a high floor so that our view would be optimized. We were on the 6th floor and had a beautiful view of the pools and beach. If you’re below about floor 5 you’ll miss that, as the palm trees will block the view. The suite had two bedrooms, a comfortable living room, two full bathrooms, a kitchen and bar with bar stools (for eating at), and a very large balcony furnished with a table and 4 chairs at one end and another two chairs with an end table at the other end. All of the suite’s rooms were very spacious and clean. The bathrooms have been updated and are modern and nicely appointed. The other rooms’ décor is a little dated, but really not an issue. We’re pretty picky about sleeping on high quality mattresses that are comfortable, and the beds here delivered! The room had a fully stocked refrigerator (milk, juice, sodas, beer, water) and a plentiful snack basket (microwave popcorn, chips, nuts, etc.). The frig and minibar items are free if you are doing the all-inclusive package, and are restocked daily. If you run out during the day (which we did with two teens), they’ll happily restock it as much as you want (again, at no charge). • Service: Only one word for it—OUTSTANDING! Though we were at the resort during peak season (over New Years) there was plenty of staff around to attend to everyone’s needs. We never experienced having to stand in line, and the staff was always extremely nice, responsive and accommodating. Whether we were calling for help with a room issue (needed new batteries for the digital, in-room safe; no other room problems experienced), asking for a food item that wasn’t on the restaurant menu, or anything else, the service was unfailingly fast and extremely courteous. This place really knows how to hire and train staff to establish a very customer-focused culture. • Food: There are 3 restaurants on the property. Two are formal dining and require reservations unless you want to eat dinner early. You can get same day reservations, but should do so early in the day to get the timeslot you want. One restaurant is called a “cantina”, but don’t let the name fool you – it’s formal dining. The other restaurant always has a buffet, and also a menu to choose from. We ate frequently from both and found the food good. There are a lot of choices on the buffet and the menu for each meal (serves breakfast, lunch, dinner); however, the buffet doesn’t vary much from day to day, so that can get a little old. They also have a grill going pool-side all day (burgers, hotdogs, fries), which is very convenient and tasty. They also serve ice cream all day and evening near the pool, and it’s SOOO good! You’ll want to enjoy this multiple times during your stay! Whether in the restaurants or pool-side, the wait staff are AWESOME! Room service is available 24 hours a day, and consistently took only about 20-30 minutes to arrive at our room. All of the above (including room service) is included in the all-inclusive package. • Beverages: The resort appears to serve only top shelf alcohol. While my husband speculated as to whether they fill the liquor bottles with cheaper alcohol overnight, I don’t think that’s the case. The taste of the alcohol was consistent with the top shelf stuff we drink on home turf. The (non-alcoholic) fruit smoothies are also delicious! • Activities: They have lots of activities throughout the day and into the late evening. A daily schedule is posted by the pool, and a printed weekly schedule is included in the package you get upon checking in. Daytime activities include water aerobics (more fun than it sounds!), water volleyball, beach volleyball, Zumba lessons, and more. There are 4 ping pong tables in the pool area that are available all the time, plus they have daily ping pong tournaments. There’s a different indoor, after dinner activity each evening – ranging from casino night (they provide fake/Monopoly-like money for you to play with), to an “International Dance Show”, to karaoke, to a Michael Jackson tribute show. The shows were a bit cheesy (not professional caliber performers), but they were still fun to watch! There’s a family movie shown on a large screen on the beach each evening, with fresh popcorn served to complete the experience. There’s also a kid zone by the kid’s pool. Though our kids are too old for that, it looked cool. Our kids were able to connect with peers – making vacation friends – primarily by participating in the beach volleyball, water volleyball and ping pong activities. • Pools & Beach: The beach is better than I’d expected given the reviews I read. The hotel has a private beach, which wasn’t ever very crowded. The dry part of the beach (where you’d set up camp) ranges from medium-soft to course sand. As you enter the ocean it’s sandy, then you get to a section that’s small rocks for a couple of feet, then it’s sandy again for the rest of the way. There are 3 large pools, connected by a “lazy river”. All of them are great! One is focused on smaller kids. One is for all ages, but is quieter (no music or organized activities) and has some shade. The third is for all ages, is in full sun, has a swim-up bar, and has all of the organized activities, plus music playing. Wait staff serve beverages and food at all of the pools. • Security: I was thinking that our two teenage girls wouldn’t be able to venture onto the beach at night, thinking that “unsavory” people and/or activities might be going on there at that time. Not so. The entire resort is family-oriented, and even at night the resort’s private beach had that safe, family-friendly environment. • New Years Celebration: There was an optional (extra charge) event for New Years that we elected not to do. It was $200 per person, which was way outside our price range. It included a gourmet, on-the-beach dinner, with band/dancing and fireworks. The concierge informed us that if we didn’t want to do the formal package, we could dine as usual in the restaurants, then take lounge chairs to the beach and listen to the band and watch the fireworks (for free). That’s what we did, and it was amazing! What a great way to spend New Years as a family! • Condo/Time-share pitches: There is NO pitch! 😊 That was a factor in our selecting this property, as my husband and I HATE being subjected to unwanted sales pitches. We weren’t disappointed. It simply isn’t done at this property.