I stayed at Villas Vallarta for a week in February and it was a good experience but did have a few drawbacks. First off, Villas Vallarta and Canto del Sol are one in the same property, just two buildings. If you are staying at Villas you have full access to the amenities at Canto. The buffet and snack bar menu is always the same at both places, just usually less crowded at Villas.

First the good: The hotel is in a great location as far as being accessible to other things. It took me 30 minutes to walk to the boardwalk and would have only been a $5 taxi ride if I hadn't wanted the expeince of exploring by walking there. There are several shops located in the direct vicinty of the hotel where you can pick up jewelry or souveniers. There is also a very large grocery store about a five minute walk south from the hotel where you can get anything you need. I found a great litte restaraunt about 2 blocks south of the hotel. Not sure of the name but it had gates across the front and was an open air building and the food was incredible. The hotel itself was pretty good. I am a very picky eater but never went hungry during my stay. The buffet had plenty of choices and while I do have to say that some of them didn't look too appetizing served buffet style once I tried them the flavor was great. The bartenders are extremely generous with the booze when they are making drinks. The chips, beef tacos and cheeseburgers at the snack bar were great. The staff was incredible. Everyone went out of their way to be helpful and often wanted to chat for just a minute to see if you liked the hotel, Puerto Vallarta and just to get to know you. The waiters went out of their way to make sure you had drinks while dining and were especially friendly. Leave a one or two dollar tip for their help and you will get incredible service all week. You get full access to the amenities at Canto del Sol so I could choose which building I ate at for each meal. The food was always the same but I found that Villas was much less crowded during meals. The activities staff at Canto were amazing. Jerry and his buddies that worked the poolside activities each day kept the laughter flowing and everyone entertained. Very charismatic and engaging group and they made it a lot of fun. At night, the shows were a little corny but still very entertaining.

The bad: The walls in the rooms at Villas are very thin and the bathroom is against the exterior wall for the hallways with an opque slatted window that does not fully close. So, as you walked down the hallway, you could hear everything going on in the bathrooms. You could hear the showers running and even smell the different soaps that people were using. The air conditioner doesn't have a temperature setting that cycles on and off to regulate the temp. You can chose from high, medium, low or just plain off. Whatever setting you put it on, it stays that way, running all the time until you change the setting. I had to leave it on at night to keep the room from getting too warm but then even on low, I ended up being very cold during the night. You can hear people coming back late at night and when the staff shows up in the morning around 7 you can hear them moving around. The pool at Villas is very small but usually not very crowded. I spent most of my time at Canto and the pool there gets very crowded. People were coming out early in the morning and putting shoes, towels and books on chairs in prime spots and then not coming back for hours if not all day. There are signs up asking people to not reserve chairs but they get ignored. It got so bad one day that there were no open chairs and I went to the snack bar and came back to find that the people that had been sitting next to me for a few hours were about to dump my stuff off my chair and take it. I think this was the most annoying part of the experience for me. I am used to smaller hotels that cater to divers and have never had trouble getting a chair before. The only other drawback to the hotel is the beach. There is a very small beach with a few palapas on it and those go quickly each morning. The tide changes the beach line drastically each day. There is a good wide beach space in the morning but it climbs higher each hour until around sundown there is room for one row of chairs and that is it. The water tosses rocks all over the beach one day and takes them all away the next so you never know if it will be sand or rocks. The undertow is way too strong to really get in the water here. Only a small handful of drunk people attempted it and those attempts lasted only a few short minutes. The hotel can't do anything about it, It is on the Pacific Ocean after all. Just don't think that you will be going someplace with clear calm water you can swim or snorkel in.

Overall I enjoyed my week but I think I will be headed back to the Cozumel area next time for a quieter vacation with calmer water. If you are looking for a vacation where you hang out poolside and have lots of activites going on this is the place for you. Plenty to entertain you during the day, good food and drinks lots of people to watch.