Hi all,

I'm taking my family of 4 (2 kids, ages 8 and 11) on a 4-5 night getaway. We live in Texas, so Mexico seems like an easy choice. We want to play on a beautiful beach in the mornings, return to a nice pool at our hotel that is clean, well kept and has good food. AI is a possibility but not a necessity. We would look for a day trip/excursion, whether a boat ride or a mountain hike, just something for variety sake. The main point is relaxation. We are spoiled by having visited Maui 2 years ago and Destin, FL last year, so we are wanting a beach that won't disappoint. We've been looking at Puerto Vallarta (Vela Vallarta and Garza Blanca caught my eye), or the Tulum area, though I've heard the beaches there are hit or miss seaweed/wise. Our budget is around $350/night. Probably less if not AI. The number of choices is overwhelming, so I would love your thoughts and personal experiences with resorts that fit the bill!

Thanks for any help!
Shannon

I just got back this week from Puerto Vallarta (i go 2x/year, been there 30+ times).

So when I was reading your request, PV is what came to mind! It has exactly what you ask for, and more. I think you are on the right track with those two resorts (i stay lower budget in a downtown apartment or hotel but know reputations of many properties from going to PV for so long, talking to people, and reading travel forums like this one and TA).

There is an active forum on Trip Advisor that could help you narrow down your resort location choices. Or maybe add a few more you haven't thought of that are similar.

I'd maybe pick Isla Mujeres, if you are going before mid-September you can go swimming with the whale sharks, Playa Norte has no seaweed. Maybe a nice condo at Nautibeach or Ixchel (you do not have to use the kitchen but it is handy to have a fridge for drinks and leftovers and a microwave). There are over 100 or more restaurants so plenty of places to eat in all price ranges.
Tulum is great but not many of the hotels have pools, maybe 10 or so on the beach road and it kind of defeats the purpose to stay in the Pueblo.

If​​​​, as the title of your post indicates, quality of the beach is a priority, then the Caribbean side is a far better choice. I've always found PV's beaches fairly dirty and not particularly swimmable compared to the Caribbean waters. That said, the visual backdrop of the hills at PV (and most other Pacific side resorts) is impressive.
I do echo what jaime99 says. Isla Mujeres has a fantastic beach, (Norte) probably among the best in Mexico. You can walk out some 200 feet and still be about adult shoulder deep in the water. The beach does get busy in the afternoons with day trippers from Cancun; mornings are the quietest. Day trips could include a boat trip to bird island (Isla Contoy) which includes snorkeling on the way at a small reef and grilled fish for lunch on the island. Also day trips to ruins at Chichen Itza and Tulum are popular. I too liked Nautibeach. You can walk to all the restaurants and shops easily, no taxis necessary, from anywhere in town, not just Nautibeach. In fact, you can walk across the island in the downtown zone in about 10 minutes. You can tour the island for a day by renting a golf cart. There's another reef at the south end of the island, and Playa Loncheros is known too for its grilled fish under a palapa.

You emphasized beautiful beaches... in that case I would second baldone and choose a location on the Carribbean side rather than PV. As mentioned, the beaches are fairly dirty and few people swim (except Mexicans) and are therefore not particularly swimmable.
Another comment was Isla Mujeres and playa Northe which I would also recommend. As a matter of fact, Cancun would most certainly meet your demands for a short stay on a turquoise white sandy beach...

The Caribbean side does have more classically beautiful beaches (yes even though I have not been there myself I know this is true) so agree with the above posts if postcard perfect beaches are important, that picks which side for you right there.

Why many people choose to visit Vallarta is not for the beaches, it's because they like the vibe of the city, local culture, arts scene, restaurants, friendly and welcoming mix of tourist & locals that happens in PV.

The beaches in PV are not "dirty" and plenty of people swim in the ocean there (not only Mexican locals or nationals visiting, but expats, snowbirds, families w/ kids vacationing). The beaches around the Bay of Banderas (of which there are many) are nicer outside the city, as you would expect. Here's a good map to show how things are laid out.
The Bay - Vallartainfo

My comment was: "I've always found PV's beaches fairly dirty and not particularly swimmable compared to the Caribbean waters." That's my objective observation and a worthy comparison, I think, based on actual visits to both places, not to mention other beach areas on both coasts and the gulf. I do think PV's beaches could be a lot worse, given it's a major metro area of nearly 400,000 right on the ocean, which often presents major water pollution problems. One thing the OP didn't mention was when they're planning on vacationing. If it's during the summer rainy season, PV's beaches and bay are downright fugly due to runoff from the 3 rivers that dump who knows what into the bay, and should definitely be avoided. That's true too of other Pacific Coast areas that have river mouths near their beaches. Often, villages upstream dump raw sewage into those rivers, not to mention the agricultural runoff, both of a chemical and animal nature.

For thee Caribbean side, lots of good info on locogringo.com

I've been to Puerto Vallarta several times, Cancun several times, Isla Mujeres once and Playa Maroma once. I would agree with the above posters regarding beaches - if you are looking for that postcard white sand, blue water beach, the Caribbean side fits the bill better than Puerto Vallarta. While I am not a fan of Cancun, I loved Isla Mujeres. It's a small island, fun to explore by golf cart, nice beach and lots of restaurants within walking distance if you stay on Playa Norte. We stayed at this hotel: https://www.privilegehotels.com/. We loved it but I would highly recommend booking the deluxe suite category (which isn't that much more than a regular room but incomparably better). If you search my name, you will see that I wrote a trip report on it. Also, I wrote a trip report about Garza Blanca in which I described my hotel experience there.

Best beaches we've found were near Puerto Morelos and Tulum--very wide stretches of white powder sand. In Puerto Morelos the town has the beach cleaned of seaweed regularly.

I was going to say the same thing. We did have a seaweed issue when we were in Tulum in March 2017, but then miraculously one day it was gone. The beach is beautiful, and we had a private hot/cold dipping pool, but no resort-type pool. Tulum has the added benefit of many great restaurants.