We've stayed here many times. You do have to negotiate for a better room and we ended up with a corner room, ocean front, with two sets of patio doors, awesome! We moved the bed partially out onto the patio to enjoy the out of doors.
This is old town Mexico and if you're looking for plush, overly clean and polished, go to Nuevo Vallarta and book an all inclusive, where you will have nice weather, but not the true mexico experience. Old town is to be enjoyed. Relax, have a leisurely breakfast at Langostino's, watch for whales and fun people on the beach. Then merge right into drinks, a snack for lunch, they never rush you and we spend about 5 hours just at breakfast. Where else can you do this, with your toes in the sand? then take a leisurely walk, dont' forget your siesta to get out of the burning sun, and head out to Joe Jacks for the best food in town.
Taxi from the airport is $22, buy a ticket from one of the girls at the taxi counter, do not deal directly w/ a driver. It's $16 on the way back because you will not be in a federally owned taxi, but a yellow, locally owned taxi. THEN RELAX. The work of getting there is over and now it's up to you to enjoy every sandy, moldy, smelly, wonderful minute of it. Check out the hummingbirds that will come to plants right next to you on the beach, try a mojito(rum drink) or happy hour at Cuales and Cuentes. Guacamole is good there also,and people all along that area of the beach are more than friendly. Sit and talk, it's Mexico, it's what you do in Mexico. Nothing downtown will be squeaky clean. that's part of the charm of the city. If you don't accept that, there is always Nuevo Vallarta.

Arrived in PV 12:30 on a Friday. Several flights in at the same time, but got through all very quickly, collected bags, ignored time share area, and got cab to Playa Los Arcos. We paid $32 for 2 of us with 2 bags. Arrived at hotel by 1:45. I had e-mailed the hotel before we arrived to request a particular room, refrigerator and coffee maker (thanks PVDeb & Margarita at PLA). Greeted immediately by hotel staff and quickly checked in. We did pay an additional $15 per night for room upgrade. Refrigerator and coffee maker were delivered while we were having lunch. Note about coffee maker – they do not furnish coffee or filters! We ended up just going down to the restaurant for coffee each morning.

I think anyone booking/staying at Playa Los Arcos must realize that it is a 3 star hotel, not everything will be perfect. That being said, we really enjoyed the resort. All of the staff members went out of their way to help, say hello, or just chat. If there were any problems, they were addressed immediately. Our room, #3, was fine for us. King bed that was very comfortable, dresser with drawers, large closet with drawers and nice size bath with large shower. Be prepared – lighting in bath is very poor, but I have found this in many 5 star hotels also. Lots of light in room and large sliding glass door leading to large patio right over the spa. The resort has a great beach, nice pool area, large restaurant, but no real bar to sit at. There is a nice area you can sit in and order a drink, but no true bar. One of the best things about Los Arcos is the fantastic location. You can walk just about anywhere.

We ate most meals in the downtown area. Ventured to Malecon one day and had a great time. Based on reviews, tried LaPalapa. We found the service and food much better at less expensive restaurants. Loved the taco stands and fresh fish on the beach for lunch. Pie in the Sky for brownie that was unbelievable!

Unfortunately, this was only a 4 night trip for us. We tried to squeeze as much in as possible in that time. Mainly walking and stopping at local restaurants and bars. Did a little shopping at the beach and Malecon. We are definitely going to return to Playa Los Arcos and would recommend it to anyone. I did hear a few complaints about molding smells, but we did not experience this. We looked at a junior suite, but preferred the room we had. The location was just better for us.

Some of the restaurants/bars we stopped at were: Cheeky Monkey, Andeles, LaPalapa, Fajita Republic, MiQuerencia, Fredy’s, Daiquiri Dicks, Langostino’s, Blue Shrimp, Pie in the Sky, Café de Olle, Burro’s, & Steve & Carmen’s Taco Stand.

If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them. We really had a very enjoyable long weekend in PV and can’t wait to return.

We booked our trip through Expedia. I was a bit nervous reading all the reviews. One even said, "if you like camping, you'll love this place".

Upon check-in, Marta was pleasant. We gave her a gift from our city to hers, a Chicago Cubs shirt. We had heard about the $20 trick and I thought this might be a nicer gesture. Well Marta must not like the Cubs. Our room was so so tiny and smelled horribly. It faced the street side and was noisy as all hell. We spent one night and then I went down to complain. They had assigned us an Economy room when our reservations said Superior. They know their game and those icky economy rooms must turn over every night because people complain, as they should. They told me to come back twice. Finally, we looked at two different rooms and picked the one we wanted. Francisco told us it was available but for $15 more a night. Go figure! He said it was a superior ocean view room. The other one we looked at had just as much view of the ocean, but the air didn't work. I was fuming. Finally, we gave in and he gave us the ocean view for $10 a night more for a total of $50.

The new room had a mild musty smell and the tub never drained. We had to wait 20 minutes between showers. The houskeeping could have been better. The tile floors were dirty most days after she cleaned. We sometimes put towels down to walk on. We will not stay here again. We travel often and don't have expectations that are too high.

Pool and grounds were nice, but that is all I can say for Playa Los Arcos. Look elsewhere or enjoy overly priced camping!

we needed a hotel for one night-because we left chicago due to an incoming snow storm--they said no problem--nice suite for $152--so onto pv--got there at 10pm-late due to flight--they gave us a closet--it was so small i had to put bags in front of door so we could walk around the bed to get to the bathroom--which by the way had a giant step up to get in and down--and on top of it all one floor above street level--and loud noise until 2am---the only good thing was that i got to learn a new song--who the.... is alice-----so don't even think about this place for a short stay--they could care less---i would have been better off sleeping on the beach--and paid someone $152 to watch over me--what a lousy way to start a vacation--we had rented a condo for two weeks and it was great--pvrpv.com--if u are looking for good old town condos/villas--