La Cruz de Huanacaxtle Hotels

We loved our stay at the Grand Velas and plan to go back there again. The property is so clean and elegant and it sits on a beautiful beach that you can see from almost any angle in the hotel. As an all-inclusive resort, you have your choice of four or five restaurants from Italian, French, Mexican and American. The pool was sublime -- but you need to reserve your lounge chairs early in the morning. The food was surprisingly good and the wait staff friendly. The concierge was not as helpful as we would have liked - we wanted to dine one night outside of the hotel and had to research our own restaurants and it took the concierge forever to make a reservation for us. That is why we gave the staff four stars instead of five. Overall it was a beautiful, quiet and elegant hotel -- only 20 minutes from Puerto Vallarta and from other quaint towns in the hills.

Beautiful resort, very private, with excellent service, and great food. You get the feeling of being pamoered the whole time you are there. The staff is there to make sure you have everything you need to relax and enjoy. Great restaurant choices, as well as a wonderful buffet by the beach.

This resort is one of a kind. We have recently traveled to Hawaii and Mexico and I thought I was going to dislike Mexico. After our stay at the Grand Velas, my mind was changed quickly. This resort is stunning and clean. The staff became our friends and waited on as if we were royalty. Our room was luxurious with a fabulous view of the ocean. The pool was beautiful and always clean...with restaurants and bars at your fingertip. Often we would not make it inside to eat because our poolside waiter Miguel was amazing and we had no need to ever leave our lounge chairs....except to take our delicious drinks into the pool for a dip and/or partake in a water aerobics class. The food in all of the restaurants was divine. I even enjoyed sushi by the pool one day for lunch. We never left the resort because we were there for sun and relaxation. The room service is like no other. They bring in your own table and either put it on your balcony or in your room and we would always do that for breakfast. We were in HEAVEN. I cant wait to go back again. At night after eating, we would sit in the open airy entrance of the resort and have cocktails and listen to music. The bar and entertainment was a lot of fun, we also danced. Like I said before, do not overlook Mexico but specifically this resort. We stayed in the Mayan Riviera a couple years ago and that hotel did not even come close to this one. 5 Star all the WAY!

This is a superb facility. Spacious, beautifully decorated rooms, lobby, all other facilities. The staff was the best we ever experienced. The service was superb! The only thing which would not make this a five-star facility was the food. It would rate a very good, but not an excellent. A couple of tips for getting to the facility: Tukari will try to provide you, through the travel website, with limo service from and to the airport. Taxis are plentiful and cheaper, plus you won't have to try to coordinate your return with them. There are plenty of taxis at the hotel. Inside the airport is a circus with all the people trying to sell you something, time-shares, tours, whatever. Ignore all of them. Go outside and just get a taxi. But ask the driver first what the price will be.

If your well-being and health are a priority for having a great time while in Mexico, this is the place for you. I ate and drank everything I wanted without getting sick. From what I was told, even the tap water in the hotel rooms are purified - and I believe them, as I accidentally brushed my teeth with it once. The staff is courteous and helpful, and treat you like a million bucks. The food is wonderful - especially the buffet overlooking the water. The grounds are pristine, the spa is fabulous, and the pool is fantastic. But my favorite part of this hotel is the open lobby: a huge thatched vaulted ceiling, with beautiful plants and trees and breezes. This hotel isn't the cheapest place to stay, but is worth EVERY penny. Will definitely stay there again.

Our family of 7 and a baby were here for a week and did not want to go home. The views beautiful, the food very good and the service wonderful. For the prices they should have free internet in the rooms, but they do have a business center. Evening entertainment wouldve been nice, there was none.

This was our second stay at Gran Velas and we loved it again. The grounds are beautiful, the heated infinity pool with swim up bar is amazing at sunset. The staff are funny, courteous and prompt. Service at the pool, beach or anywhere! Great food (we ate at all 3 restaurants), not stingy on drinks or only offering bottom shelf liquor, super friendly staff, great rooms--you even get a massage when you check in instead of standing in line!

I really enjoyed my stay at the Hard Rock. The facilities were amazing, the rooms were clean and comfortable, and the food was great. There are only a few things I would suggest to the management to improve customer service: - Encourage employees to go the extra mile; the pool bar ran out of Cognac and didn't bother to restock it for the rest of my stay. This is something small, but it is the small details that make a good resort a great one. - Have servers present comment cards with drinks/meals. I had some of the best servers and some of the worst servers at the hotel. I was surprised how inconsistent it was. If servers presented comment cards it would give management a way to reward those employees who do go the extra mile. - Get rid of the service charge on the 'free' resort credit. If it is free, let it be free. Otherwise call it 'discounted rates' on tours, excursions, etc. - Make sure beach warning flags are updated. During my stay the flags were red on one part of the beach, yellow on the other. I wasn't sure if it was safe to swim or not. - Have managers walking around and asking guests about their experience. This would be a great way to solve small problems, quickly and prevent lists like these. Overall, though, these are small things and I was pleased with my stay.

Service was excellent...staff gets to know you and greet you. Food was terrific...Oriental 5 * try the wonderful sushi outstanding, Italian 5* wonderful mahi mahi, Mexican has great selections, buffets have selections that vary from day to day, everything fresh and delicious. Pools were beautiful, spa way fabulous and friendly, tours were terrific, shopping and views in PV were fun, Room views and daily service were 5*. Cannot wait to go back in 6 months!!! Don't miss the nightly shows...there are first class, fun, lively, and very professional...don't miss the circus show...jaw dropping performances, hysterical clown performances, and just wonderful. Don't miss the silver shop in the airport when departing...great choices and bargains.

We had a great time on our stay at Vallarta Palace/Hard Rock Hotel. Staffs were attentive and very accomodating. Food were great and various selections available. Hotel credit was used for some of our day trips and spa and it was great. The only draw back is it is so secluded that no public transportation but taxis were available.

My wife and I stayed at the Vallarta Palace to celebrate our 25th wedding aniversary and in general we were very satisfied with our stay. The hotel staff could not have been more friendly or attentive and the room, although not palatial, was very comfortable and had a beautiful view over the ocean at sunset. The pool area had plenty of loungers so space was never an issue and the beach was great, although probably not suitable for very young children due to the intensity of some of the waves. We only went on one of the ''free'' excursions, the sunset cruise, and I can thoroughly recommend that as three hours well spent. The only slight disappointment for us was the buffet dinner at the Mexican restaurant and the ''a la carte'' at the Brazilian restaurants that came nowhere near the standard of the other two.

First time for us to Puerto Vallarta and we had a great time. We absolutely loved the hotel and will certainly be back. The area is actually called 'Nuevo Vallarta' and is within walking distance to a mall and a short cab ride from downtown which is very convenient. We tried all the restaurants (Brazilian, Italian, Mexican, Asian) in the hotel (all-inclusive) and the food was amazing! Brazilian & Italian restaurants are outside, so no AC. Mexican & Asian have AC. Wine bottles of your choice at dinner from a wine list at all restaurants, which was nice. We were never disappointed. The staff was extremely attentive and all very pleasant and willing to help always. Rooms, lobby, pool areas are all kept very clean. We loved the rooms and never wanted to leave - huge double-jacuzzi tub and full liquor dispensers. Waitress service by the pool was also great. Nothing disappointing, however watch out for the rainy season which is from end of June through Sept./Oct. Also, lots of kids while we were there.

This was our 3rd stay at Vallarta Palace and we had a great time once again. The hotel was a little busier than our previous stays but we never had any wait for pool/beach chairs, restaurant seating. Our only wait was for a room upgrade which we wanted to use our hotel credits for - claiming a 95% occupancy rate - there were no upgrades available until our last 2 nights- the hotel didn't seem that full to us - we did upgrade although it was kind of a pain to repack for that short of a time, but the rooms were nicer with a much better view - the upgraded rooms were noisier than our rooms without a view however. We found the food to be much improved over previous stays. Service was always great and the staff very friendly and eager to please. The hotel and grounds are very clean but some maintenance was lacking (we were told that they are being bought by Hard Rock this year so we wondered if they are just waiting to make those needed repairs.) You may be dissappointed with the entertainment offered - it is pretty lame - but we knew that going in and that was not why we chose Vallarta Palace . It is a great place for families - very comfortable and laid back and we never felt unsafe.

We just returned from a weeks stay. The staff is extraordinary polite and service excellent -''its my pleasure'' is their standard responce to every thank you. The Itialian resturant Mar Intimao is the best - six courses - we mixed and matched over the week to keep it interesting. My wifes favorite was the 5 pepper seared tuna - I liked the Fillet over risotta. While the wine wasn't great, they wer more than happy to open a bottle of white for my wife and red for me. The selection includes wines from mexico, spain, chile and france - for both whites and reds (white zin from the USA). Desserts were excellent. Fresh fruit and eggs your way for breakfast, and lots of choices for lunch at poolside or in the resturants (always fresh guacomole and salsa.) Room service is available - included in the all inclusive. We didn't use it but our teens did. Spa in the room was great after a day on the beach, and when we returned from dinner the towels replaced, the bed turned down and music playing. The room was very clean. Excellent safe beach, wonderful activities staff engaged the teens and us all. The nightly shows are fun. My son released sea turtle babies at sunset one day - a memory he won't forget Security was always there, keeping an eye on our things, but almost invisible. We met lots of snow-birds from the midwest and canada. We'll go again next year. Location is ~ 10 miles from PV on a huge - safe beach. Boogie boarding and beach volleyball were my favorite - daily activities.

We really enjoyed our stay at Vallarta Palace. As far as all inclusives go, this one has it all. The restaurants were all fantastic and there are no limits to what you can or can't order. The service throughout the entire resort was also great, everyone was there to make sure you had what you needed to enjoy your visit. The only con that we experienced is that there seemed to be a glitch with the fire alarm and it went off two of the four nights we stayed. It's not fun waking up in the middle of the night to a fire alarm, but oh well.