very bad hotel in my stay we had to deal with roaches and very very old rooms me and my wife are mexican and even we could not take it . we stayed at this hotel from jul 27-agust 2 and it was full of latin families that i dont mind but the pool belongs to the thousand kids they bring along. again i dont mind but sometimes u want to relax in the pool and it was packed from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm every day i was there. the front desk was not even nice to us that we are mexicans also very rude after half our stay there we asked for a diferent room and they did give us another one that was very new but there was a horrible smell from the bathroom like mold or something. the beach in front of the hotel is extremly rocky so it hurts your feet a lot, puertto has very nice beaches but not this one. the day u check in they give u a bracelet that u have to were and never take off very chaep and plastic, because of security they said ,for example that if u came in to the hotel late at night they would not let u in if u did not have it and well thats a lie i took it off the second i left the front desk and they never noticed ,one day before i left someone told if i had my bracelet and i said i did not and he said it was ok just to ask for another one free of cost and as soon as i went to the front desk one of the staff member said that he was going to charge me for it but i saw he was just trying to rip us off.
over all i spent a great time in puerto vallarta it has many tours and activities to offer great people and more tradicional than cancun but if i ever come back i will never stay in this hotel again , and dont get me wrong i have stayed in many hotels in mexico and i grew up verry broke so i have never had much but no person should go throug this i this hotel.

For perspective: My wife and I are North Americans. We are experienced world travelers and have lived as well as visited at all levels of accomodation. We are both 49 and appreciate good value but look for good neighbors and security. Our six night stay ended on July 23, 2006.
El Pescador was a fine place to stay and the staff was very nice. We do speak the language so that helped us. Check in and maid service was excellent. Our room was ocean front and the air conditioning was superior. The room fridge was not recommended to us and the advertising sign made it clear the expected cooling range was only about 50 - 60 degrees F. My only negative on the room was the same many others have said--the beds are neat and firm as concrete. We stayed six nights and stacked two bed mattresses after night number two. That worked really well, but no beds should be that hard. The on-site restaurant was nice and service was very good. We also enjoyed the convenience of on-site money exchange and internet access.
The location of the hotel is awesome. Great sight seeing, restaurants and a superior grocery store are just a few steps outside the door. The hotel is not new and you can easily nitpik the room conditions--bath is very dated and we bought and cleaned it with some Clorox on check-in. However, our hotel was very quiet and easy for sleep yet so close to the main night-life areas of town. A good value choice especially for about a two to four night stay.

Ola,

El Pescador is great in terms of location, it's very close to the Malecon and a large grocery store. The adjacent beach is lovely as well. However, the staff can be a little bit exasperating. When we arrived, we had to wait four hours before we could be checked-in. The menu items are very limited, so don't bother getting the all-inclusive deal. You'll get tired of it quickly. The rooms are basic, the air conditioner was a God-send maintaining a constant 17 degrees, maid service was pleasant.

However, if you go there BEWARE of a BELL BOY by the name of JIMMY. He attacked my friend, and when the manager was questioning us about the security tapes she used a very accusatory tone. We were told to stay in our room for further communication and received none. Bad customer service and even worse communication skills, if you ask me.

El Pescador is an older hotel located about 5 (walking minutes) from the Malceon. We were given a choice of a newer(renovated?) room facing the street, or an older room with an ocean view. We chose the ocean view, and even though we had some problems, who cares??? We looked out at the ocean and listened to the waves at night.
Our room was clean with a small dark bathroom. The mirrors were tinted(??) and it was hard to see what you were doing. (bring a hand held mirror and sit on the balcony).
We had the pool and the beach all to ourselves for almost 5 days. It was like staying at an older private resort. The beach was beautiful, we turned our pool chairs around and gazed out at the waves the whole time. The only drawback there is a green chain link fence.
THE STAFF ARE AMAZING. We were treated like royalty the whole time we were there. If there was a problem (toilet), it was fixed within minutes. THANKS CEZAR, JIMMY, JOVITA, and MIGUEL. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!