Villa La Estancia - Riviera Nayarit

We just got back from Nuevo Vallarta this week, and this is my honest opinion of Villa La Estancia Beach Resort & Spa Riviera Nayarit - All Inclusive Package. This was a short 4-night family vacation with a child. If you are staying there, you are also getting the benefits of a nearby Flamingo resort located next door. This is a condotel, or as we were told, a VRBO (vacation rental by owner). The check-in was fast and easy, and we were advised that we would have a personal concierge to help us navigate our stay. The concierge Sergio greeted us and walked us to his desk. He asked if we were celebrating anything, and we informed him that it was our anniversary. He said that he will arrange for a bottle of champagne and some fruit to be delivered to our room. Well, long story short, that never happened. There were a lot of print-outs, handwriting, and "we want you to go home and tell your friends about us." So, here I am, telling everyone about YOU. We were advised that the main restaurant needs reservations for dinner and that tonight they have a special Thanksgiving dinner. They assisted us with the reservation, but more about dinner later. During our information session, I realized that he is trying to sign us up for a sales presentation by telling us that we are eligible for a whole slew of discounts. But all of that will be discussed tomorrow when we meet up with a salesperson. We were not interested in any of that, and I told him right away that we have all our days planned out and are not going to waste time on any presentations. Sergio said, "But we helped you with the dinner reservation." So, all the services are contingent upon our agreeing to your presentation??? All that took about an hour after an early morning flight. Later, after dinner, he caught us in the lobby and offered an even better deal. But none of those deals were of any interest to us. Do you think it's maybe why we didn't get champagne? First dinner: We arrived on time at 6 pm, and the place was practically empty. More people started arriving around 8 pm. But the service was soooo slow that we ended up finishing our dinner after 9 pm. During dinner, they had a pianist playing. Well, more practicing than playing. This was not pleasant at all. Breakfasts, total 4: service is still slow. I asked for a vanilla latte, but not once did I actually get any vanilla in it. On the last morning, I was told that they don't have vanilla, maybe they didn't have it all along, but why didn't of the other waiters say anything? There is apparently a bread basket that people are offered. We were only offered it once when we were already done with our breakfast. Lunch: We had 2 lunches at the beach. Really hard to get anyone out there to place an order. But the food was nice, it arrived on time, and it was very convenient. Since we are talking about the beach, one day they ran out of beach towels. All while they set up lounges in the morning using two towels, and some people feel the need to use 4-5 towels on the lounge. No one had a clear answer when the towels would become available, just pointing fingers. La Creperie: The schedule clearly says that they are open until 10:30 pm. Ten minutes before ten, they informed us that they don't make crepes anymore, only ice cream. They closed the stand at 10 pm sharp and proceeded to make crepes for themselves. Pool Bar: can get busy, but you'll get your drink eventually. One day, we ordered drinks and the bartender accepted our order, but then the manager came over to tell us that they were closed and wouldn't even be able to make our drinks at the adjacent restaurant because it requires a reservation. Mind you, only one table was occupied, and that restaurant DOES NOT require a reservation. Later, we called the front desk to "make a reservation" and were informed that none was needed. The next day, we got to the pool bar at 5:50 pm, and it closed at 6 pm. The guy told us that they had already closed. He did, however, make our drinks after we told him what time it was. Last day, breakfast, ordered 2 glasses of champagne that never made it to our table. Had to ask for orange juice 4 times before we got it. After we were done with breakfast, I went to check out, and my husband went to the bar inside the restaurant where we just had breakfast, and was told that they can't pour him alcohol until 11 am. At 11 am, they told him no because we had already checked out. You are a stickler for time when it's time for opening, but don't mind sending people away 30 minutes prior to your official closing time. In conclusion, the facility and grounds are nice and clean, the toiletries are nice, but this place is very pretentious, and the service needs a ton of improvement.

I came to Villa la Estansia with my mother and sister, and we had an amazing week at the resort. The pool staff Jesus, David, Caesar, were so helpful and accommodating. My 90 year-old mother was taken care of so beautifully by everyone not just by the pool staff, but the restaurant staff and the front bell staff. Bryan and all the Bell men were so very helpful getting us cabs and taking care of our luggage. Our Elite Concierges Karen and Jessie helped us get reservations. Thanks so much to the swim pool bartenders; we had custom drinks and many smiles. thanks to everyone. I’ve been a member of the Villa group since flamingos was conceived pre-construction, and have never been disappointed in our experience here. Thanks everyone once again for a wonderful vacation Sharon.

Our stay was amazing! Our pool attendants were awesome. Thanks to Jesus Daniel and Cesar for making our stay so memorable that we didn’t want to go home.

I have nothing but high praise for the beautiful 3 bedroom Ocean Front, quite large accommodation. Although there was a couple of maintenance issues, they were quick to rectify the situation, and provide an above and beyond service. All six of us were struck by the beauty of the facility, the friendliness of the people, and the excellent swift response to our needs. I would highly recommend this resort.

We spent a week in Mid-November enjoying Villa La Estancia with a group of 11 ranging in age from 75 to 7. I’ll speak to Villa La Estancia first but also add some comments about VDP Flamingos next door as well as we spent time at both. With 11 of us traveling together I contacted the resort a few weeks in advance to make reservations for our suppers to ensure we’d have no issues getting sat together. I was put in contact with a butler, Juan, who worked with me to get reservations set up. He checked in through out the stay to ensure things were going well. Upon learning my kids all played soccer he brought his kit from home and played a game of soccer volleyball with them and gave them some pointers on playing keeper as well. We spent the majority of our time hanging around the pool. Jesus and Daniel took great care of us each day getting our chairs set up and checking in on us getting more towels or repositioning umbrellas for more sun or shade. It was great knowing that we didn’t have to wake up early or rush around for chairs as they would check with us about what we needed the night before and it would be ready for us to enjoy. Jesus was off the last few days of our trip as he was getting married that weekend. He was so excited about it, couldn’t wait to tell people. The day after the wedding Daniel made sure he had his phone out as people were getting settled so he could show some photos of the bride and groom. Congratulations Jesus!! Most days around the pool Josue was our waiter. He kept the food and drinks coming all day without issue. My kids especially loved the swim up bar and drank far too many smoothies but the bartenders were great with them and they never had to wait too long for a refill. We enjoyed the quiet laid back atmosphere of the pool. It was nice and warm and a great place to hang out. If the kids were looking for something a little more lively we’d head next door to VDP for some pool volleyball or check out some boogie boards to play in the ocean waves. The location was great and some of our family walked to Bucerias to view the market or enjoy a beach bar. All day there were people walking up and down the beach so plenty of people watching opportunities without straying too far off the resort. Food was pretty good overall with a few areas for improvement. La Casona for supper was very good. Everyone found something they enjoyed and the service was great. Steaks were cooked properly and sides were tasty and plentiful. Breakfast at La Casona was a bit underwhelming. Our family prefers a buffet over Menu for breakfast and the options were quite limited. We ate most breakfasts next door at El Patron. The selection of food was good though we found things weren’t always refilled quickly. The issue with breakfast was the service wasn’t great. It seemed like the majority of folks at breakfast were there as part of a timeshare presentation so likely weren’t great tippers so the service seemed more focused on cleaning plates away rather than trying to elevate the experience. No drink suggestions or things of that nature even simple drink requests would go unfulfilled. El Patron in the evening was hit and miss as well. Our server was prompt and attentive and the food was hit and miss. My wife loved hers, I wasn’t as impressed with mine. Yashinoki rivaled La Casona as our favorite meal destination. The service was great both times we went. Having the more family style service was great and the food was delicious. Trattoria had great food but our service was a bit spotty. The outdoor dining was great for us to enjoy the beautiful evenings. Tomatillos was my least favorite spot for supper. The service was slow and the meals weren’t consistent with multiple people ordering the same dish with varied results. The bar beside Tomatillos was our pre/post supper hangout spot with excellent service. While we had to sign bills for drinks and meals we found that this bar was a bit more forgiving in not worrying about each beer or drink being documented which was nice especially if you were just grabbing a drink for the road. We did find it a bit odd that VLE didn’t have a bar set up in a central spot that you could just pull up a chair and grab a drink. Your options were to either go to the swim up bar, order a drink from a server or use the bar inside La Casona. A stand alone lobby or terrace bar would have been a welcome option for a quick drink between activities or for a relaxing after dinner cocktail. Overall we really enjoyed our stay at Villa La Estancia. The rooms were large and well kept. Check in and check out were both a breeze. All the people working there were kind and pleasant to deal with. Our family had spent the last few years vacationing at Villa Del Palmar in Cancun and issues arose that we couldn’t get back this time so we decided to try a sister property in PV for a year assuming we would come for a year and head back to Cancun. After a great week the consensus was while we wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Cancun, all else being equal we’d likely prefer to end up back at Villa La Estancia next year.