Working in the corporate world, a few days of rest and relaxation becomes an essential part of the vacation schedule. And while we did just hit up a cruise to the Bahamas, we opted to get in a few more days of R&R in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before starting 2023. We stayed at Melia Puerto Vallarta all-inclusive resort for this trip. Having stayed at several other Melia properties over the last 5 years, we knew the general standards and quality of the Melia resorts. Let’s see how this property measured up!

Melia Puerto Vallarta: The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Trip

1. Location
2. Guest Services & Hospitality at Melia Puerto Vallarta
3. On-Site Restaurants & Bars at Melia Puerto Vallarta
4. Rooms at Melia Puerto Vallarta
5. Activities & Entertainment at Melia Puerto Vallarta
6. Final Thoughts on Melia Puerto Vallarta

Location

Proximity to Airport: Melia Puerto Vallarta is located a quick 10 minute drive from PVR international airport. We took an Uber to get from the airport to the hotel. Pricing was reasonable for the transfer and all of the Uber drivers have been incredibly friendly and safe for transfer purposes. Local taxi is also an option, but you at least know pricing upfront and know you can pay by credit card (to be fair, I didn’t check if we could pay local taxi by credit card). Otium transfer in PVR was coming to $30 USD per person one way (vs $8-12 USD for the Uber that we could split).

Airport Insider Tip: Uber can’t enter the airport pick-up area. You will need to walk across a pedestrian bridge to the other side of the main road for pick-up from one of two spots – either “The Pedestrian Bridge” or “The Restaurant.” To get to the bridge, walk left from the airport exit (away from the Corona Isla Bar). There are ramps (thankfully) going up and down from the pedestrian bridge. If you need help with luggage, there are porters available at the pedestrian bridge that can help you, but be prepared to tip them ~$5 for large suitcases.

Guest Services & Hospitality at Melia Puerto Vallarta

Much like other Melia properties, the reservations agent will email guests several weeks in advance to start thinking about on-site activities (spa, a romantic date, etc.). The email came 29 days before arrival, giving me plenty of time to consider what I wanted to do. I was also able to ask them questions about airport transfer, restaurant reservations (which I made in advance of arrival at other Melia properties), and scuba diving options for Sanjay. Responses were quick; sometimes things were lost in translation, but they continued to clarify responses based on my follow-up.

Staff on-site was friendly overall. The bartenders serve drinks with a smile and are attentive to make sure your beverage is getting replenished in a timely manner. The restaurant staff was sometimes a bit slow to come around and bring beverages. Moreover, we’d sometimes ask questions about which food was vegetarian, and frequently wouldn’t get follow-up responses.

Most staff spoke some English, but if you speak Spanish, it will serve you well (no pun intended).

On-site Restaurants & Bars at Melia Puerto Vallarta

Restaurants

The on-site restaurants at Melia Puerto Vallarta left something to be desired. Definitely not on par with other Melia properties, there are only two true restaurants:

• La Palapa, an Italian restaurant
• Mole & Tacos, a Mexican restaurant
• Quetzal, a buffet-style restaurant

La Palapa and Mole & Tacos require reservations, which can be made at guest services in the lobby from 10AM – 12PM daily. The first day we arrived (checking in around 3PM), we were told reservations weren’t possible because the restaurants were booked up. We made it to La Palapa twice during our stay and there were plenty of tables available both evenings.

Most notably (to us), vegetarian food was seriously lacking. Moles & Tacos, the Mexican restaurant, had nothing on the menu that was vegetarian-friendly. One night, the chef at the buffet made us vegetarian burritos, and the chef at the Italian restaurant brought us food to Quetzal.

Another night, at La Palapa, the chef made us special requests, including a pesto pasta, stuffed bell peppers, and a beets-tortilla salad. This was after a few hiccups of serving us food with ham mixed in, even after specifying we are vegetarian, and raising concern with guest services with the lack of vegetarian options.

Breakfast and lunch are served at either Quetzal or La Palapa, both buffet style. Pasta stations were available on some days. There is also a pool-side stand available for lunch or afternoon snacking. Beside the build-your-own nachos or patty-less burger options, the food was, again, not very vegetarian-friendly.

In terms of the quality of the food, the consensus amongst guests was that the food was bland. However, I have never been to an all-inclusive resort (including Melia resorts) where the food was excellent, save for Melia Serengeti.

Bars

There are three bars onsite at Melia Puerto Vallarta:

• The first bar is in the main lobby. With plenty of tables and a few couches, you can get some work done (but hopefully you’re not working on vacation), read a book, play some games – even a round of billiards, while enjoying the fresh air. This bar also has the widest selection of liquor and cocktails (we couldn’t get an espresso martini at any of the other bars).
• The other two bars are located by the pool – one towards the north end of the pool and the other at the south edge of the pool with a swim-up bar. Both of these bars tended to attract long lines intermittently as pool goers ordered several, complicated drinks to take back to their parties. A bit frustrating to deal with, as getting a simple drink (like beer on tap) could take 20 minutes sometimes. Fortunately, the swim-up bar service was more likely to be fast. It was the perfect spot to park in the afternoon after a few hours of sweating it out in the sun.
  • Many parents allowed their kids at the swim-up bar which was frustrating for some of the adults at the bar. Be aware, if you’re looking for a child-free trip.

Insider Tip: Your bracelet indicates to staff if you are eligible for top shelf alcohol. While we believe it is the staff’s responsibility to inform you of this, we were not told by any staff till halfway through our trip. Be sure to ask the check-in concierge or guest services to share the list with you to get the most value from your package!

Rooms at Melia Puerto Vallarta

With relatively spacious rooms, having two or even three people to a suite felt reasonable. We fortunately were able to get neighboring rooms with our friends – with three buildings/towers, it could mean quite the trek to get to each others’ rooms otherwise. The decor / furniture in the rooms varied slightly between our suites. We had a couch, while our friends didn’t (likely because there was more space taken with two double beds). Most notably, we had a newer TV (56″ across) in our room sitting on the dresser. Our friends had an older, wall-mounted TV (32″ across).

The bathrooms are definitely in need of a remodel, primarily for safety concern. The hotel has soaker tubs installed. The shower head /shower drain side is closed off by a 2 foot-wide wall, separating the tub from the sink. The other end of the soaker tub–from where you would step in–has a decent incline, likely so you can lay down for a soak. The side of the tub has a 2 foot clearance. Sanjay and I both slipped (a little) and were afraid that an accident was bound to happen. (Not to be morbid, but Sanjay’s cousin died at age 45 last year slipping in the bathtub.)

Our rooms also had a small balcony with two chairs to enjoy the view of the bay. Caught some amazing sunset pictures out there!

Activities & Entertainment at Melia Puerto Vallarta

Activities

The property offers a lot of on-site activities, including kid-friendly ones like batting cages, tennis courts, mini golf, and basketball courts. They have a list of scheduled daily activities; the board is by the pool and updated daily. Some activities repeat daily (like the yoga*). There is a “Kids Zone” available with a playground for kids. The mini-golf is open daily with morning and afternoon playing windows. With 18 holes, the mini golf course will definitely take some time to play through.

The property is also set up with a few pool tables, foosball tables, and ping pong tables.

*Our friends tried the yoga and said it was more of a stretching class than actual yoga. I say some movement is better than no movement (especially if you will otherwise just be laying by a pool all day). Definitely temper your expectations.

Fitness Center

There is a small on-site fitness center with two sets of dumbbells (up to 30 lbs), cable machine, leg press machine, treadmills, ellipticals, a rower, and stationary bikes. While not the largest or most impressive of hotel gyms, it was still something to get in some exercise.

Spa

My favorite part is always the spa. The massage rooms are all located in outdoor cabanas. With reasonably priced services, we opted for the 75 minute massage. I definitely fell asleep during my service. A relaxing experience, I am always ready for a massage!

Pool and Beach

And the main attraction – the pool and beach! The beach private to Melia Puerto Vallarta is about the length of a football field. With a number of beach chairs, you can easily spend the day relaxing to the sound of the waves. There is only one pool at this resort. It is very large and did not feel crowded at any point. There is a volleyball net set up in the pool as well.

Pool chairs were hard to find. A lot of folks would mark a chair with a towel and leave the area, which was a bit frustrating. Note that the property does also allow for people not staying at the hotel to get a day pass. With big cruise liners like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean parking at the port down the street, we saw an increase of day visitors early on in the morning through the afternoon.

Final Thoughts on Melia Puerto Vallarta: 7/10

Overall, this was a relaxing yet inexpensive trip to another Melia all-inclusive resort. While we didn’t 100% love everything about this property compared to other Melia resorts such as Playa Del Carmen, we were able to enjoy the resort and the local attractions without breaking the bank.

Furthermore, if extracurricular activities are of interest to you, we’d recommend Belize, which has its fair share of all-inclusive resorts around the country at a reasonable price!

I would definitely be open to returning to Puerto Vallarta, but may shop other resorts before booking this resort again.

Have you stayed at Melia Puerto Vallarta? What did you think? Leave a comment!

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