Luxury Residences at Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa

I stayed here for 4 days with my wife and 2 boys and we are absolutely amazed and delighted by Garza Blanca. We are definitely going back, my wife and boys already miss this place and we just left 1 week ago. Food was great, staff very friendly, activities at the resort were amazing, kid friendly and rooms are beautiful.

We absolutely loved our week-long stay at Garza Blanca, which we booked using Costco Travel. Having been to many lovely resorts in other parts of the world, we can say that Garza Blanca was the most comprehensively enjoyable property we have stayed at, thus far. We were in Tower 5 on the 8th floor, in a 2BR/3 full bathroom panorama suite with wraparound views of both the mountains and direct ocean views, as well...just gorgeous!! On a clear, sunny day, we could see all the way to the Marietas Islands. The resort made a great impression from the first moments of our stay: attentive, easy check in and a gracious hello from Senor Quinones, GM of the property. Jose and Jorge did a great job settling us into our spectacular suite, which included a jacuzzi on the deck, a hammock, where we spent many relaxing moments enjoying the gorgeous view and ocean breeze, as well as a feature we really enjoyed-- a steam shower! We loved going out to the Garza Blanca beach and using the stand up paddle boards and kayaks, as well as snorkeling in the clear, warm water. Tip: snorkel close to the rock walls and you will see rays, puffer fish, eels of different types, and many colorful fish. My husband even saw a huge fish that was 3 feet long!! We also recommend that you go on the kayaking trip to Los Arcos with Roberto or Sergio, who are both awesome guys. Other tips to enjoy your stay: check out the lovely gym with the amazing views in the Hotel Moussai (which sites between towers 4 & 5), use the panorama infinity pool between towers 4 & 5, which are beautifully landscaped and much more private than the two infinity pools right by the beach, which are beautiful, just more crowded. For meals, we ate at Blanca Blue everyday and just loved the breakfast buffet, which included a large selection of savory and sweet breakfast items, as well as an omelette station. We also enjoyed room service and cooking our own meals in our well-appointed kitchen (we took a taxi to the Mega grocery store in town-- about 250 pesos each way). You can also get there via a couple of buses for less, but we didn't want to deal with the hassle of public transportation with bags of groceries. Other tips: if you do decide to take the orange and white buses, which stop just a few yards from the resort, wave your arm to indicate you want to get on. We did not know this and watched the first bus we tried to ride cruise right past our stop! When taking easy, 1-bus line itineraries, that orange/white bus is both convenient and inexpensive (8 pesos each way to Mismaloya Beach, for example). It's also a quick 10+ minute trip to Zona Romantica, in town. All in all, we were completely happy with our stay at Garza Blanca. We did not have the negative experiences described by other travelers with respect to time share sales pitches. We were asked only once, about halfway into our stay, to participate, and we politely and firmly declined-- and that was it; absolutely zero hassle and no pressure. We also did not mind the many stairs to and from Tower 5, situated up the hill, down to the beach and Blanca Blue breakfast buffet...given how much we ate, it was great to get some exercise, plus walking allowed us to really become quickly familiar with the layout of the resort and its lovely grounds. For those who prefer not to walk, there is a trolley that picks up and drops off at 15 minute intervals. We had a very seamless checkout with no accounting errors and an easy departure. It's been just a day since we left and we already really miss Garza Blanca-- muchas gracias to the entire team for a relaxing, fun, and wonderful stay. We really appreciate your hospitality!!

Visited Garza Blanca with my family in the month of May. The hotel grounds are beautiful from the views overlooking the beach and hotel rooms. Hospitality in regards to the bartenders and restaurants were amazing! We did the all inclusive and got the opportunity to try many restaurants including room service! I would have to say the Watermelon fresh was my favorite drink throughout my stay. The only complaint and where they fell short was at the check in desk. My family members and I were over charged for our stay, unfortunately I tried numerous times to speak with representatives until finally Paola Armendariz (front desk supervisor) recognized the error and promised the money would be returned. It's now been a month and I'm yet to receive my refund as promised. I've tried calling the last couple of days but no one seems to get back to me or they just leave me on hold for over 10 minutes. Although I have no complaints over my actual stay, this situation has put a damper on this resort.

We stayed at Garza Blanca for over a week for a family vacation. We stayed in a suite down by the beach as we enjoy hearing the waves crash. We have been here before because it is so beautiful and relaxing that we had to return. The hotel has three restaurants and we dined multiple times at the two up on the hill (the Steakhouse and Hiroshi) and Blanca Blue on the beach. The steakhouse had incredible cuts of meat and Hiroshi was an incredible experience in and of itself. The waitstaff was fun and wonderful. We mad our daily visits to Blanca Blue for their breakfast buffets which were incredible! Two of the employees named Brianda and Juan Carlos made our stay extra special and are worth highlighting! They were so incredibly attentive and kind. Brianda saw that my children liked soccer so she got them set up with soccer on the beach and we had a wonderful time playing some games as she even got us small goals! When we were headed up to play tennis on the mountain, Brianda got us some new tennis balls, too which shows her attention to detail. She was also always setting up our chairs by the pool and checking in with us at all times with a smiles as did Juan Carlos who could not be more personable. He always had a happy disposition and really seemed interested in how we were doing! Such wonderful employees that deserve to be recognized for going above and beyond and for being so incredibly attentive and thoughtful! They were far more valuable to us and attentive than our assigned concierge Marisol who paid very little mind to us at all. It never feels kind to write negative things but Marisol didn't seem to give a hoot about our experience. We had not had that experience with other concierges in the past so we were a bit shocked by this. Regardless Brianda and Juan Carlos easily made up for that disappointment! We just can't say enough about these two amazing personnel! We did the kayak trip with Roberto and we he was so much fun and made that trip over to snorkel incredibly fun! He's a testament to making the activities enjoyable with his humor and knowledge and for making guests of all abilities feel welcome and capable. We enjoyed going into caves and through tunnels all along the areas we were taken to including the snorkeling. A very nice adventure! Another activities employee named Tito was a fun guide who took us up the mountain for a hike and shared his knowledge about the area. We also recommend Vallarta Adventures zip lining with you can arrange on site. We love this experience and do it every time we visit the area! Off roading, donkeys, ziplining upside down, repelling into waterfalls, bridge walks and a water slide that required helmets and elbow protection can give an ideas as to the 'adventure' that it is! We took advantage of the spa with massages and the hydrotherapy session. Not to be missed! That experience was divine. After the massage, you are taken to an area to sit and enjoy a drink and snacks overlooking the water from the mountain. It's surreal. Not to be missed by any visitor!

My wife and I with our grandson stayed four nights at this beautiful resort. We can not say enough about the wonderful staff members here who are so friendly and go out of their way to make sure everything is right and that you have a wonderful stay. A special thanks to Jose, Ameida, and Carlos our butlers who made sure we had a wonderful time. A big thanks to our housekeeper Rosa who kept our unit clean and spotless. We had several nice chats about our families, a super nice lady. Thanks to Regina, our concierge who welcomed us and expedited our check in. For Tito who led us on a great mountain hike and to the Restaurant Manager at the Boca Dos Steak Restaurant, for the life of me cannot remember her name, who visited with us to ensure everything was right. There are so many other wait staff employees and pool employees who made our stay a wonderful time. The resort is beautiful, clean and well maintained. This resort is 15 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta, very quiet and a great place to relax and enjoy the beauty of this country. WE WILL BE BACK Adios Amigos