ekh

My husband and I will be traveling to PM end of the month to celebrate our 5yr anniversary and first night away from our 1 year old- hooray! Just looking for some serious sleep, relaxation, and peace and quiet (looks perfect for this).

Looks like the shuttle/limo service 4Seasons offers from PV is very expensive. IS it best to rent a car and drive? We also will not want to eat all meals at 4S as it sounds very expensive. Thinking car may come in handy for trip to the small town for dinners?? I have read several threads on here but any additional comments would be much appreciated. Thanks!

welch

Just returned last night from the Four Seasons and think I'll post a trip report, but I don't understand why more people don't book rental cars. We got ours through Dollar and it was right at the airport, reasonably priced and there when we wanted to get away from the hotel. We ended up in town twice (a good hour's drive)- once for dinner/shopping and once when we had a rainy morning. The roads are very easy to drive and it's difficult to get lost going to the Four Seasons. It's easy to find your way into town. Parking was difficult but we found a parking lot by the beach and street parking, with a little persistance.

ekh

Thanks welch. I think we will rent a car although I don't think we will drive into PV, but maybe into the town of Punta Mita for dinner. Would be very interested in your trip report- please post! I understand it is scorching hot this time of year, but I think we can take it. I also see a few posters have been upgraded on room category (we are in the partial oceanview)- any comments on how to get this upgrade?

welch

Be aware that the restaurants the hotel recommends in Punta Mita are closed now (Vito's and Casa Las Brisas). There was one concierge who had quite an attitude and wouldn't suggest anything else (she has braces-avoid her)but I think you might get good information from someone.. I came back from Cabo with a nasty parasite in May so I wasn't anxious to push my luck this trip, as I usually would.
As far as an upgrade is concerned, check on line to see how busy they are (try to rebook your nights and see what availability comes up). That will tell you what you have to work with. Hopefully you've let them know it's your anniversary- if not- do now. When you check in, remind them of your anniversary and ask, really nicely. If they say it isn't available ask if an upgrade is available for part of your stay. I think they benefit from the upgrades as people book the better rooms next time around.

StanKase

The cost of FS car is $200+/-RT as I remember a year ago from airport.The trip is 30 minutes. The food at FS was poor except for breakfasts which were good but even there not up to FS standards. The food and beverage manager said he was going to make several changes in suppliers. I suggested it was the Executive Chef who might be the source of many of the problems. He took 4 dinners ($100-$140) off our tab which we thought was very commendable but I would rather have had FS quality dining.
To get to PV takes 45 minutes and driving at night in an unfamilar area is not what I enjoy on vacation. Therefore, you spend $70 plus tip RT before the cost of the dinner or $150 at the better places.

ekh

Bummer those 2 restaurants are now closed. So does that mean we really should not venture and try the other local restaurants in PM? Maybe we will go to Puerto Vallarta one night then after all and maybe suck it up at 4S for the other nights and hope for better food quality, Stan. Looks like good availability for all room categories so maybe we will luck out with the upgrade like others... Welch- did you post trip report?

Stan- is it $70 for 4S to take you into PV? I still think we might be best renting car. Is there anything special you have to do to drive in Mexico or is a US driving license sufficient?

garyrbeck

EKH~
Please do not give up on traveling north! You have not touched upon Bucerias or La Cruz de Hua. Both have wonderful spots for dining and some offer great music. I always stay in OldTown PV but we drive up there at least once per trip and will this Oct/Nov again. I have a guide I can send you and anyone else by email which lists a bunch of ideas for you to avoid being stuck at a resort for your dining experiences, which I beg you to avoid!

Gary
San Francisco, CA.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Puerto...Town_SouthSide

welch

I did post a trip report although I've had no comments to it as of yet. I'm not familiar with travel to the north of PV at night but I'd have to think it takes a little time...

eileen

Hi, we were there in April, did not rent a car and glad we didn't. Driving just a little too crazy for us, roads dark and narrow at night. FS has two shuttles a day into PV one about 10 - 2 and one 6 - 10 for dinner. The cost is $30 pp roundtrip. We went once into town for dinner and shopping, probably wouldn't do it again as it was more than one hour each way (it's shorter from the airport). You don't need a car to go to Punta Mita for dinner. The golf shuttle would drop us off at the employees gate, then it is only two blocks to town. Very casual properties on the beach but the food was good and reasonable. I thought the food at FS was good and reasonably priced, some things were expensive like bottled water but the fixed price dinner for 560 pesos (choose any appetizer, entree and dessert I thought was a great deal). That's about 53 dollars for a three course meal. Yes, they could use another dining option but the night of the manager's cocktail party which was such a big spread, we didn't even go to dinner so we only had four dinners there for the week so we weren't bored. We loved the property, see my review on tripadvisor.com, "Heaven on Earth".

judibur

We just returned last week from PM. We had dinner 3 times in Punta Mita at Tino's. First of all, we took a car for $12 rt to the restaurant - Front Desk arranged it - when done with meal waiter will call up hotel and car will pick you up.. Tino's is a seafood restaurant - excellent! It was very very inexpensive. Very good lobster, excellent snapper, guacamole, salsa etc - though it is really a place to have shrimp (i am allergic unfortunately) - they must have 20 shrimp varieties). It was authentic mexican - very good service and about 4 minutes from the 4S. Personally I did not see any need for a car there -AND Puerto Vallarta was a turnoff. People trying to get you into very uninteresting teeshirt shops - hawking you calling names - just aggressive salesmen. Sorry I lost one day at beach to go into PV - except for seeing the Elizabeth Taylor house it was completely a waste for us. Could not even find decent Mexican pottery. My advice would be that if you decided to go to PV - a nice lunch would be at Las Palomas (hotel recommends and it was good) and to definitely stay off the main street - and maybe walk up side streets because main st is full of teeshirt shops and uninteresting jewelry shops - (ripoffs).

ekh

Thanks to all for your thoughts. So glad to hear there is at least one restaurant in PM we can dine at. We'll for sure try Tino's. Still undecided whether we will venture into PV. We decided to rent a car since it was only $18/day x4 days and other travelers felt the driving was easy. We have driven in many countries and kind of enjoy the freedom of being able to go whenever we want.

Gary, I'll check out the places north you mention and your guide. Welch- I finally found your trip report- thanks. It does not seem to come up under threads but I clicked on your name and got it. Eileen- how did you score the manager's reception? Sounds fun! I loved your report on tripadvisor- thanks!

We leave in 4 days and I can't wait!!!

welch

I would love to hear about the manager reception at Punta Mita- as we certainly missed it staying Friday- Wednesday! Also- we were advised by the hotel NOT to go into Punta Mita for dinner.. so really interesting that Judibur (who was there when we were, but we didn't have the pleasure of meeting) some how got more information than we were able (and believe me- we tried!!). Judi- how did you do it??!

suze

for judibur's disappointing experience... Sorry to hear of your impression of Puerto Vallarta. As a regular visitor there I can understand and agree with what you saw at first glance on the main street.

To really get into the heart of things you MUST get off The Malecon (which is most likely where you mentioned with t-shirt shops and bad jewelry) and into the neighborhoods. The parallel streets of Juarez and Morelos in El Centro behind the Malecon have some good shopping, both tourist and local. The Cathedral is lovely. Then go down "south of the river" to Basilo Badillo for great inexpensive restaurants and more nice shops and galleries.

There are good pottery shops and a handmade tile factory also down on the south side, but you'd need to have an address ahead of time, you wouldn't stumble upon them on the main tourist path.

I'm not trying to talk anyone into leaving Punta Mita if you are not interested, but I hate to hear PV get such a bad rap just because one person took a quick sweep thru the most obnoxious part of town and (rightly so) was not impressed. That is NOT all PV has to offer.

As for aggressive salesmen and timeshare, when you stay at a local hotel downtown, they get to know you as a regular and don't bother you much. I think they can tell the day-trippers and folks in off cruise ships and hit them extra hard. My experience with the locals has always been friendly and positive.

ekh

Just thought of a couple more questions- welch maybe you can help me. We did reserve rental car but I was not sure what or how much insurance to cover us. My USA policy is not effective in Mexico and credit card covers worldwide up to $25000 for collision only, not liability. Does anyone know if rental car company has policy for just liability or what options there are? Also, is there only valet (ie expensive) parking at FS or a free lot? Thanks!

welch

No charge to park at the Four Seasons. We always feel it's smart to take insurence in Mexico - the cost of peace of mind..

eileen

Re: manager's cocktail party at Four Seasons -- I thought everyone was invited! If this is not the case, then I guess it was because we had e-mailed the concierge back and forth a few times because it was a special occasion for us. So we had quite a bit of communication in advance so this may have been why we were given a great upgrade, additional goodies in our room and the invite to the party. I can't quite remember, but it may have been Thursday night. It was great, full open bar for two hours and so much food we didn't feel the need for dinner.

judibur

Hi Welch: I found the restaurant in Punta Mita only because I actually thought it (Tino's that is) was one of the restaurants (the italian restaurant) that had been mentioned by another poster. We approached front desk and simply said we wanted to the restaurant in Punta Mita. Hotel obviously not happy about this. The concierge told her that the 4S could not endorse the restaurants there and it would not be 4S service - but as we insisted they told us of either Tino's or one I think called El Dorado. Anyway as I thought Tino's was the previously mentioned italian restaurant - we went there. It was very good - and as I said we went back 2 more times. I wish we had also gone there on our last night - because we had a terribly disappointing dinner at Ketsi's (?). The waiter was incompetent, the manager was offering us humble apologies by the end of meal and we were not charged for some food (though to tell the truth, Hotel would have been better off to write off this last meal of ours).

welch

Well, we stayed Friday- Wednesday so missed the Thursday cocktail party! I was disappointed by the food at the resort this time around (5 years ago when the property opened it was very good!). We had some very strange service at Aramara, particularly on their lobster night. We heard lots of complaints from those we chatted with about both the quality of the food and the lack of choice. I'd just gotten over a really bad stomach bug and had finished taking 2 different antibiotics less than a week before the trip so I was more cautious than I might have otherwise been with food elsewhere!

vitos

Hi all
VITO`S Ristorante is the name of the italian restaurant, it is authentic as you will find, my husband and i are from the south of Italy, we began this venture 3 years ago, and all our dishes( pasta, ravioli) are handemade, homemade, antipasto( eggplant, red peppers wood charcoaled) We have the wood burning oven nightly( foccacia, bread, Osso Buco) cooking magic in our italian courtyard under the ceiling of stars. our menu is daily according on what we find at the markets, we are located 1 minute from the Four seasons and are on their referral list. That is very important as health standards are highly observed, Our food is bought, transported, cooked and handled only be Vito( fusy italian chef
Email if you need any further information on us, Ciao a presto!

StanKase

While the FS car service is a lot of money and a taxi is $90 RT we found no need for a car for our 8 night stay.