Went to Velas Vallarta for the 3rd time April 16-21. We had my wife and I plus 4 kids ages 6-14. Everything went great. Our condo was a 3 bedroom private owner that we booked through www.vrbo.com. The rate for the condo was great and it was on the 3rd floor looking at the pool and ocean. Plenty of room for our gang.

On arrival my wife and I discussed the AI and the cost. After going to lunch somewhere in town and dropping 70 bucks on bad food the AI seemed the way to go. It was pricey for adults but reasonable for the kids. They ate their moneys worth at the ice cream bar and pool bar with banana smoothies. The food was good. Went out 1 night on a date to Casa Velas and it was very nice with an upscale feel. No extra cost with the AI and we paid for our daily fee with 1 meal there!

The staff is what makes the Velas properties first class. Everyone calls you by name no matter where you are on the beach or pool, in the restaurants or room service. They are professional, speak excellent english, let you practice spanish, and don't treat you any different whether you tip or not. We always tip as their wages are poor and we want to take care of the staff b/c they are great. We have seen the same faces year after year, that tells me something.

It was a great 5 days of vacation. We will go back and I would recommend this resort to families or young people. If you want a luxury place with 5 star service and price, go to Grand Velas in Nuevo Vallarta. It is a top class resort and worth the price for a couple. My wife had a 3 hour massage there on this visit and she loved it.

Safe travels, vaya con Dios!

I was in Vallarta for a conference for two days. The Velas was selected for this conference. It is held in Vallarta every year and they rotate hotels. I was thoroughly impressed with this hotel. They did not have my requested room level available, so they upgraded me to a three bed room suite for the same price! The service was excellent. The staff was constantly coming around asking about drinks and food. They even made up trays of little smoothies and appetizers and offered them to everyone. The groups are beautiful! The food was above average. I prefer to eat authentic Mexican food when I am in Mexico, so I was not a huge fan of the Italian, American, etc. food in the restaurants--not that it was bad, I just didn't prefer it. I told my husband that we will definitely go to this hotel again.

Great Property with everything you want to get away. 10 minutes from the Airport, $20 regulated cab fair from PVR. Check in is easy, AI service is great at both beach bars, swim bar, and restaurants. RCI traded, we had high expectations and they were met both times we stayed.

Stayed at Casa Velas last year and the private beach Clubhouse is amazing. Incredible food and views by the pool/beach for sunset dinners. We didn't like being away from the beach at the golf resort since we're not really golfers, but shuttles were there and always no more then 10 minutes to wait. While at Casa, we could stay/dine at the Velas as well and we did frequently. Any choice of restaurant, any day, anytime.

Lots for kids to do here, amazing pool. Chris heads up the pool patrol and has activities daily including volleyball and aerobics. Rooms are clean, stocked, spacious and staff is friendly and attentive. No problems with English. The lobby bar stays open till 2am I believe, and has live music and casino nights. Good times.

Scuba was murky, chilly but all right. It's not the caribbean. Sayulita is an hour north by bus and has much more gorgeous water because the river dumps sediment into the Pacific at Nuevo Vallarta. Great surfing in Sayulita, great pueblo atmosphere and dining. Good day trip, although it's trechorous in the hills, and we got backed up for an hour and a half behind a wreck. Other then that, I recommend the journey highly.

The Malecon in town is a must see, check out some Tequila tours to the distilleries. Good restaurants, but stay away from the "all inclusive" nights at the downtown bars that resort activity advisor's recommend. The foam parties and $30 cover will get you banished to an area of the club where no one hangs out to get your free drinks, and common mixers such as "cranberry" or "tonic" are unavailable. Unless drinking straight, well liquor is your thing, stick with the locals and ask where the staff would go.

Enjoy your trip anytime of the year, but best to avoid mid to late march. You could find yourself in the middle of a high school spring break...

My husband and I went to VV for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a lovely property - beautiful grounds!! The lush vegetation, beautiful peacocks proudly displaying their feathers, a cute little cat family that romped around everywhere (outside), and huge iguanas that laze along the streams that flow throughout the property (filled with fish) all made for fun viewing. We had a 1 bedroom suite located front and center in the main building, 8 floors up, and the view was magnificent - saw cruise ships coming and going, the pirate excursion taking off with it's loud cannon booms, dolphins swimming by in the bay - I just sat for hours in the early morning taking it all in with my coffee. The layout of this room was front to back - the bedroom immediately on the right when you enter, then bathroom, then kitchen, then living area, then balcony - so our balcony was shorter than others I have seen pictures of - looks like some 1 bedrooms run left to right, so their balcony would be longer with a sliding door coming out of the bedroom - ours did not. The only other thing of note, was we only had a shower, no tub, and the water pressure was next to nil. Other than that, I had zero complaints!!! Great food, non stop service (with a smile) at the pool. Upon check in, You are greeted with rum punches by a server walking around with a trayful of them - was NEVER approached by a time share person there, and never even called on phone in the room to try and set up a meeting. I was almost insulted (well, not really) but I couldn't figure out why they never even tried to corner us!! This was a first out of all my trips to Puerto Vallarta. My stay was too short to utilize all the perks that we could have - 24 hour room service, dinner at Emiliano's at the Casa Velas, but next time I will plan a longer trip and make sure I have the time to enjoy every piece of luxury they offer me!!! (oh, beach was very nice, however upon entering the water, the rocks were really rough on the feet) All in all, we really loved this resort, and had a wonderful getaway! Aside from one somewhat embarrassing moment that will give us a good laugh for the next 25 years of marriage (private joke only a few will ever know!) this vacation went off without so much as a blemish!!!