A friend and I wanted a quick getaway to mexico for a few days. Here is what we paid: 2 adultsFlight + Hotel Price: USD 766.38Taxes and Fees (Flight + Hotel): USD 261.02. As you can see we got a flight and hotel for 766.38, so assuming a flight cost of 200-250 each we stayed for under $40 each per night. I'm sure there aren't many beachfront hotels with a pool and a restaurant that have those kind of rates, but let me know if you find them.

Positives - Free safe deposit box, plenty of fresh drinking water on every floor, decent hotel restaurant, cheap drinks, friendly staff, non-heated pool, right on the beach, less than 5 minutes to malecon (boardwalk), grocery store across the street, taco stands on the corner, quiet (not next to clubs), friendly staff, good water pressure/temp in the shower, plenty of good restaurants/bars within a 5 minute walk, powerful air conditioner, plenty of pool chairs.

Negatives - Beds are small and hard, towels are thin and rough, the room had a musty odor (went away after running the air conditioner), elevator is slow and small, non-heated pool

General thoughts - The pool isn't heated. This is nice in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is baking. A swim in the pool is cool and refreshing. The pool is probably a bit too cold to really enjoy a swim after the sun goes down, but not so cold that you couldn't go for a midnight swim if you really wanted to. There are several large (5 gallon) bottles of drinking water on every floor. Buy one normal size bottle of water and get all the free refills you want from those big bottles. Tips will get you stronger drinks, fuller shots and more attentive service. There is a great taco joint called Pepe's about two blocks away. Just ask any of the staff to point you in the right direction. This place is cheap if you want pillow-top mattresses, 1000 thread count sheets and plush towels this is not the place for you. I read some review that said this is a dangerous area and i actually laughed out loud. You are right of the Malecon which is as safe as DisneyWorld there were plenty of people out and about not to mention the hotel security. I never felt threatened in any way and dont even recall seeing any shady characters around (unless you count the taxi drivers that try to sell you pot). There is a TV in the room with about a dozen english language stations which is nice if you are hungover and sunburnt like my buddy. I have to admit that the hotel was probably only half full, but there was always plenty of room around the pool. They had normal chairs and the lounge type chairs and i didn't notice any of them being broken as one traveler suggested. A little advice if you are going out drinking in PV. Saturday is the night when everybody walks along the malecon after sunset. I recommend getting a six pack from a little store and strolling. The people watching is a lot of fun, you are allowed to drink on the street and beer is pretty darn cheap from the store. If you go to one of the really touristy places like senor frogs or carlos obrien's you will pay nearly $5 a beer. There are other places along the malecon that are less than half that price, so don't do your drinking at those places just go there to be around lots of people and dance and get liqoured up elsewhere. If you are on the beach and you see a guy selling fish on a stick - get it...it's really tasty. The taxi to/from the airport should only be 10 US dollars, but they will try to charge you more especially on arrival. If you can't find a ride to your hotel for 10 i would say 20 is ok but anything over that is robbery. Taxis anywhere in the malecon area are unecessary but about $5. Sunsets are beautiful and street vendors negotiate. If you like tequila go to one of the shops around and try some of the free samples. We bought a bottle, but its not necessary to do so. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments.
Cheers -
Matt

Listen to me.

Before booking the El Pescador hotel, I read all the reviews I could find. Most were positive, saying it was basically an older hotel with a beach front hotel and clean. All the pictures I looked at convinced me that it looked good enough for us. We figured that's what we were looking for. We are a two to three star type of people, like Super 8's, Comfort Inn type of hotel renters.

We'll let me tell you this hotel is a one star. The room was the worst we ever stayed in. It would be like a downtown Canadian hotel where you would never stay.

The outside of the hotel is horrendous. I just about cried when the taxi pulled up. If you don't get a oceanview you will be loking onto the back of an old street. See the attached pictures.

It was one of the oldest hotels in PV, shower was never cleaned before or during our stay, I neer saw a face cloth or hand towel, ran out of toliet paper, some days we were given no towels or only one. We initially left money for the maid to entice her and for two days she even came and got the money but never cleaned the room. Oh I should also mention our balcony door
had a 4 inch gap at the top so all the cool airconditoning could nicely make its way out. They took a $200 peso deposit for the TV remote, which they did give us back. It was about 8-10 US for a taxi to the airport.

Do not stay at this hotel if you want a "vacation". It put us in a bad mood from day 1 and thinking we paid $100 cdn for this crap even made us more angrier. I suggest that one looks at the room before booking it or checking in as when we booked with expedia, the minute we checked in we had to pay for the full 8 days.

I wouldn't even stay here if I was a poor university student. Spend the extra money and stay somewhere else, you are on vacation. The rosita, a sister hotel, may even been a better choice, if you had to stay cheap.

The web pictures look way better than the actual hotel. Even when we took our pictures it didn't that bad but it was. The outside is horrendous. This hotel is right downtown so you have to be careful at night that is why the hotel staff only let people in with a bracelet.

The pool is old and cold, not heated, never went in once. They only had about 20 chairs to lay on of which 16 were broken.

Only positives:
The restaurant wasn't bad. The waiters were nice. They did have cheap internet, 10 pesos per half hour. It is beachfront, with and no rocks I will give it that but the waves are pretty strong to go into the ocean. It does have a great supermarket about 20 steps away and it is within walking distance to all the restaurants and boardwalk. I can see why people stay here but it is just not a good hotel.

Take my advice or you will be regretting your choice. As the one review from a Mexican, I read on trip advisor, this hotel wasn't even good enough for him.

If you don't book this hotel and are going to PV, walk by later and you'll think oh my god thank god we didn't stay there and you'll thank me for my advice.

Here's some PV advice, bus is 50 pesos. If you want to go to Neuvo Vallarta then go to Walmart and in front take a bus that looks like a greyhound. It only costed us about 70 pesos to get to the Sea Life Park, $19 plus $4 for a tube, which had waterslides and was awesome. If you were ever going to swim with the dolfins, this place was very interactive. The Zoo was awesome, 60 pesos, got to touch a bear. It is by Mismalyhoa, you take a bus from the end of town for about 60 peso about 7km out of town. We did the Canopy tour zip line at Eden, by Mismalyhoa also. There were only about 6 zip lines. It is good for a first timer like me who was afraid of heights. We did a ATV tour for 4 hours which was very long and we toured into the back country which
was full of poverty. It was not scenic but glad we did it to see how people live. It was really dusty. Was about $110 per couple. PV has good weather but I much prefer Cancun and its activities, won't be going back.

Similar to a previous reviewer the room we were taken to at first had that same horrible mold/mildew odor. However, in defense of the hotel we were given a better and larger room within less than 30 minutes. Let me say first that I actually like quaint hotels. However, even with a different room other deficiencies remained. First, we found the beds to be very hard and uncomfortable making it difficult to sleep. Second, I expect a place to have the basics like a washcloth, hand towel, and a
bath mat, however they only provided three bath towels. Lastly, noise from partying hotel guest under the influence of mas tequila ruined sleep on a couple of nights.

Beachfront: Yes, it is a beachfront hotel, however, the beach is rocky and it wasn't safe to swim in when we where there. If you enjoy sitting on the beach and swimming on the same beach of the hotel you are staying, this is not the place for you.

Poolside: Limited lounge chairs, cold pool, and poor towel service. Towel service was available starting at 10am, don't try and ask for one at 9:50am because you won't get one. We also found that even after 10am it wasn't a guarantee that you would get one.

Lastly, I can only recommend this place to a college student on spring break looking for a place to pass out in after drinking all day and night.

Pluses: Great location; Friendly and accommodating bell service staff.

I consider myself to be a savvy traveler and did a ton of research on this hotel before I booked it online. I've been to Puerto Vallarta in the past, but had always stayed at an All-Inclusive, or at a condo far north of downtown. This time around I decided to be where all the action is and stayed at El Pescador for 4 nights with 2 of my friends. We booked an ocean view room and enjoyed listening to the waves while we slept. The hotel is nothing fancy - but everything is there that you need in order to have a comfortable stay - clean pool, clean room, beach, and restaurant at the hotel, grocery store close by. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The restaurant staff even helped us cut up fresh fruit that we had purchased ourselves at the grocery store 1/2 block away. We went out every night on the Malecon and ate great food and enjoyed the fun bars (Zoo and HILO are fun dance places after midnight). We ate at some of the restaurants suggested on tripadvisor like Pipis, Le Kliff, etc. - but our favorite was "Fajita Republic" located in the Romantic Zone. The atmosphere is awesome and the food is amazing. Reasonably priced too! Many of the bars have all day happy hours which we took part in everyday.:) We did a whale watching tour, and the Canopy De Los Veranos zip line tour. Both highly recommened! When we were in PV it was cloudy everyday - but we had a fabulous time since there is so much to see, do, eat, drink, and enjoy! I will definitely stay at El Pescador again!