Honeybear

Hi,

We are going to go to PV for a week in Feb. w/my parents. We like the beach, my husband wants to snorkel and the guys want to play golf. Would also like to be close enough to get to the town, but don't mind doing breakfast in the room. An agent recommended two places: Villa del Palmar Flamingos which is 45 minutes north of town, and Barcelo La Jolla de Mismaloya which is 20 minutes south of town. Does anyone know these places, and would they recommend them, or give me more options? Is there a place in or close to PV w/good beach access, a kitchen, etc? Also, is the snorkeling generally good there from the beach or do you have to go somewhere else? Are the beaches good in town?

Thanks everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!

dmelo1

I have stayed at Mismaloya and its a nice secluded hotel with its own private beach. We upgraded to a large suite with a kitchen, not all the rooms had one. The other hotel sounds like it's in the new part of the city. There are numerous hotels out that direction with a few golf courses nearby. If you are not going to down town often then being that far out isn't bad, but 45 minutes away is a haul if you are going to the malecon often. I would do a little more research on your hotel options as there are so many to choose from. As for snorkling, there wasn't much of anything off the beach. There are some tour groups that take you to a few islands nearby where its better.

Reisender

I would pick the Barcelo of those two. The cab ride from the north side will eat you alive. We were told it would be $40-$50 US each way from the area of the Flamingos. If you only plan to go into town one time then no big deal, but if you plan to go often it will add up.

Plus the Barcelo is on a great beach and is a beautiful property.

suze

I would not pick either of those two, because they are both WAY too far away.

I enjoy the town of Puerto Vallarta so much, my suggestion is to at least consider some of the hotel & resort options closer in.

Dreams just to the south of town has the nicest beach and is an all-inclusive. It's only a 5 mins. taxi ride.

Villa Premiere and Buenaventura are sister resorts in the hotel zone that are very nice and walking distance to everything.

Hotel Playa Los Arcos (plus sister properties Los Arcos Suites and Dona Susana) is on the main public local beach in Old Town Playa Los Muertos and is a nice medium-budget kind of place with optional AI available.

Snorkeling is not good from the beach generally speaking. People go out on boats, or to beaches to the north or south of town. Beaches honestly are not all that great in the PV area.

People become frequent return visitors to PV because the local people are so friendly and welcoming, there's fabulous restaurants, shops, galleries, loads to see & do, the weather is gorgeous most of the year, the town is fun-filled... not so much because of the appearance of the beaches (which are adequate but not Caribbean style).

suze

I would read the reviews and forum (Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta) over at Trip Advisor (Barcelo has had some 'issues' in the past).

JPJH

Barcelo is a good choice. I have stayed there several times and was just there is August and the property is in very nice condition. I like the fact that most rooms are suites with seperate bedrooms and kitchens. There are places closer to town, but many are older hotels and all you get is a room, which gets cramped for me.

globetrots

I would agree with Suze for the most part. The beach was almost gone when I was at the Barcelo a year ago and the hotel was not very impressive. Dreams is far nicer, though Nuevo Vallarta to the north has the best beaches by far. It's certainly not 45 minutes away to Villa del Palmar though--more like 20. Shop around but you'll need to take a boat trip for snorkeling.

suze

I believe Villa del Palmar Flamingos is a different resort than plain Villa del Palmar, hence the further distance mentioned?