Has anyone been to Riu Jalisco in Nuevo Vallara/Puerto Vallarta.T.A. talked us into this hotel for 1st time to P.V.

No, but we stayed beside it and went through it one day. Very large and a little more upscale than we wanted for a March family vacation. The property looked very nice and well kept. You can look up the reports in www.tripadvisor.com. Each hotel is rated. We REALLY liked the Nuevo Vallarta area-much quieter and great beaches.

To my mind the problem is it is WAY out of Puerto Vallarta downtown (more than 1/2 hour drive)..

I love to stay right in town, so I can walk to everything, go to the local beach, restaurants, shopping, etc. But it IS noisy, busy, crowded, with lots to see and do.

Nuevo Vallarta is completely different, mostly newly built, high price, self contained resorts. It is certainly beautiful along the coast, no doubt. But you would hardly know you are in Mexico.

Just a matter of what you want from your trip, what you'd be most comfortable with. Nuevo is nice, but hardly "PV" is my point.

We stayed at the Riu Jalisco in July. It is very large - 740 rooms. Food and drink were generally very good, except for the specialty Brazilian restaurant (by reservation only), which we did not enjoy. At breakfast there are wonderful freshly squeezed juices. If you want activity there is lots of organized exercise, sport and entertainment. We did not and it was not a problem to avoid these. You can take a bus into PV, but we took a cab - about $15 each way, I think. There is only one elevator in the centre of the hotel. Our first room was at the end of one of the wings and had a poor view. A quick trip to see the reception manager for a room change was a terrific success and we were given a fabulous room on the 5th floor right in the centre of the hotel overlooking the fountain and the ocean - well worth the $10 tip. If you have specific questions about the hotel, I will be happy to try to answer them.

just came back from the riu in june second trip to p.v. the riu is a beauiful hotel the food was great and the brazilan restaurant wonderful, went twice..beaches in nuevo are better than down town.. if its just a relaxing get away holiday the riu is great..if you want to party or shop alot you should be down town... when we were there sunday till thursday were great.. but i found it quite crouwed for the weekend with the locals..but they were also on there summer vacations...i also stayed at the velas vallarta marina district.. again great place beauiful grounds and pool crappy beach .. a little closer to town.. to me one day in town is plenty any way its to hot to shop... pool beer food thats my kind of holiday....... have a good trip i dont think you will regret the riu..

We have been to both PV and NV and are aware of the pros and cons with each. In reading tripadvisor.com, I found the reviews of this resort to be mixed at best. Do you have specific suggestions as to highlights as well as what to avoid?