Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit

We traveled to Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit in July 2025 with four kids (ages 2, 5, 13, and 16), and it was one of the best vacations we’ve ever had. The resort is absolutely beautiful, but what really stood out was the incredible service. Every staff member went above and beyond, and by the end of our stay, they all knew our kids’ names—it truly felt like a home away from home. The little ones lived in the pool, sipping (way too many!) strawberry daiquiris and splashing for hours. The older kids made fast friends and had a daily routine of poolside basketball and volleyball matches in the mornings and pool, ping pong and air hockey games at night. The kids’ club was a hit in the evenings, and we were grateful for the wonderful babysitter arranged by the hotel—she was a lifesaver and allowed us adults to unwind. The food was exceptional. We especially loved the French restaurant, while our teens kept asking to go back to the Asian spot. Cocktails were spot-on. Our concierge, Dolce, made the whole experience seamless—she was phenomenal, and we highly recommend requesting her. We stayed in both ocean view and garden view rooms. The ocean view was breathtaking, but the garden view had its perks—being on the first floor made it easy for the kids to run around safely just outside our patio. The only downside was the intense heat and humidity (we’re from Santa Monica and not used to that kind of climate). While we won’t return in July again, we will absolutely be coming back! This resort was everything we hoped for and more.

TLDR: Get Perla as your concierge, only sit in the loungers by the pool in Leonel's section, Lucca has the BEST steak ever! OK so this was hands down one of our best vacations. Perla made everything so seamless! Also you get a massage upon arrival!!! Gluten Free: We are a gluten free family, and I can tell you the food was amazing! They made it where my son could have gluten free pizza for breakfast! Frida has the most GF options, but Lucca is the BEST restaurant at the resort! We tried the Asian one but they had limited options and it wasn't as great as the other two. For lunch I discovered at the buffet they have gluten free sushi. I live in a desert so my opportunity to get good sushi is low! It was pretty good! I would say if you're a big sweets person, the options are not as great. They have ice cream and sorbet, but other than that it's not like here's your creme brulee and here is this super interesting gf dessert that you thought impossible! Don't expect that. But SOLID good food! Kids Club: The kids club is truly so much fun. My son had a great time and didn't really want to be with us, LOL. As a family we have 0 screens rule, so while the kids club DOES have options for them to stare at a screen all day, I told my kiddo that was not an option. He found plenty to do and was tuckered out at the end of everyday! I really can't say enough good things about the resort! Room: We stayed in a room with two queen beds. I think it was the Parlor Room Ocean View. So we like to wake up before our kiddlet and have some quiet time, so this room REALLY worked out well. The beds are in their own little room that you can close off from the "living room" area. At night we would turn down the AC in the little room with the beds, leave the AC for the rest of the room up a little so we had a nice cool dark sleeping area. Then when my husband would get up he could leave the sleeping "room" and potty and make coffee and read and whatever all without waking anybody else. I wake up about an hour later. So we got to have some quiet one on one time before it was "go" time. I think the only other option is to get a bigger room that has two complete bedrooms. That was double the pice/night and it didn't get us any additional services, i.e; a private butler, special room with snacks/drinks. If we had more people then it totally would make sense. We were on the 4th floor and had a direct view of the ocean! It was marvelous. Don't worry about the nightly entertainment. You'll hear them as you leave dinner and all the way back to your room. I was worried the first night as it was the fire show. We got to watch from our balcony! As soon as we closed our main door and cocooned ourselves in our little "bed room" there was 0 sound from around us. Only Con Maybe: We have a tiny portable sound machine. One night some kiddos on our floor were playing in the hall, which is open air and echoey. Everybody had fallen asleep except me and I heard the kids. When I turned off my book I turned on the sound machine, no big deal. But if you sleep light, you might want to download a sound machine app or buy a travel one.

I wanted to give recognition to Carlos at the boogie board check out station. He gave my daughter lessons and was so fun and kind. He is always smiling and goes above and beyond to make sure our beach sport experience was exceptional. We love you, Carlos!

When everything goes so perfectly, why go anywhere else!? This was our third visit to Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit, and it certainly won’t be our last. We do extensive research before choosing our annual vacation destination, and no other resort compares to the exceptional service provided by Grand Velas to every member of the family. We are a family of 4, traveling with our two boys (8 and 1). This year, we spent 12 days at GVRN and feel incredibly fortunate to have enjoyed such a wonderful vacation experience. GVRN makes everything so easy, consistently delivering reliable top-notch service. From the moment we arrived and were greeted with warm smiles, welcome drinks, and relaxing massages, we knew we had made the right choice in returning. Throughout our stay, we felt genuinely cared for and enjoyed every moment. The staff went above and beyond to ensure that every member of our family had the best vacation imaginable. Each request was handled promptly and kindly. This place is truly magical and holds a special place in our hearts. Each visit has been relaxing, memorable, and phenomenal. We absolutely can’t wait to return! Resort: Each visit, we notice that the resort is thoughtfully updated and improved in some way. This year we enjoyed the newly added Amat coffee shop in the lobby and stayed in a recently renovated Ocean Front Master Suite, which was gorgeous and so peaceful!! The beds were super comfy!! As we have been to all three Grand Velas properties, these are the reasons we love and keep returning to Riviera Nayarit: The sunsets are breathtaking; Enrique Perez at Sen Lin treats us like royalty and we look forward to seeing him each visit; The beach is stunning, the water is warm and swimmable, and there is no seaweed; The pools are heated (which we love even in the summer); The Spa is one of the highest rated in the world and is extraordinary; The gym is excellent and the aerial yoga is a unique highlight; Summerland is perfect for the kids; The Show de Fuego is a family favorite and the evening entertainment is great for the entire family. Service: The service at Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit is exceptional. Every single employee we came across was friendly, welcoming, and eager to help in any way possible. Even the gardeners will pause their work as you pass to say hello. Every request was met with a smile and “it’s a pleasure.” While the service has been consistently stellar all three of our stays, it is still amazing to witness the high level of service the moment you step foot on the resort. A special thank you to Luis Mateo, who was our concierge this trip. We were so lucky to be under his attentive and thoughtful care. He checked in on us daily, provided helpful information about local tours, ensured all our dinner reservations were perfect, and even arranged for baby food puree to be ready at each restaurant so our 1-your-old son could dine with us each evening. He was so warm and friendly! Luis even coordinated the daytime cleaning of our room to coincide with when we were at the pools and timed the turndown service to happen when we were at dinner each evening. This was amazing and so convenient! Luis also organized a beautiful and delicious dessert to celebrate our 12-year anniversary. Luis, you are a gem, and we are so appreciative of everything you did for our family! We thank you genuinely for making our trip so special and look forward to seeing you again on our next vacation. Pools: The pools are stunning, all offering amazing ocean views, and all are heated to the perfect temperature. We spent hours in the pools each day and had so much fun together. Poolside drinks and lunches were delicious, especially the hamburgers, which my husband and older son declared were the best ever! We also enjoyed crudité, French fries, and nachos. The pool concierges are attentive, thoughtful and work so hard. A standout for us was when a concierge moved an umbrella to shade our young son while he played in the pool. We were in awe of this and so appreciative. Thank you greatly! Restaurants: Every single restaurant at this resort is incredible. We want to extend a special thank you to Grand Velas for making us feel so cared for. Chef Raúl Hernández met with us at check in to discuss our allergies and made sure he knew what precautions needed to be taken throughout our stay. This was so impressive to us, and we had zero issues throughout our entire stay. A huge thank you to the entire restaurant team! We also had the pleasure of meeting the chefs at each of the restaurants we dined at. Chef Abigail Pérez Rojas (Frida), Chef Adrián Aguayo (Lucca), and Chef Carlos Solis (Sen Lin) met with us when we dined at their restaurants to go over their menus and recommended certain dishes we could eat or that they could modify for us. They each ensured that our dishes were prepared with our allergies in mind. We thank you all greatly! It was so impressive meeting each of you and was a highlight of our stay! The food at this resort is phenomenal! My husband and I thought every single meal we had was delicious, and our 8-year-old son was more adventurous than we have ever seen and raved about all the food! We dined at Sen Lin every other evening and the food was scrumptious. Our son loved the Tom Yom soup, Udon noodles and coconut ice cream. We enjoyed the Pad Thai, Dumplings, Fried Rice, and Lo Mein. Hats off to Chef Carlos Solis, Enrique Perez, Uziel and Ramiro for making every dining experience at Sen Lin perfect. A special thank you to Enrique Perez who runs the restaurant with such high standards, organized special drinks for us from the bar, made our kids feel so welcome and comfortable, and was so friendly. Thank you, Enrique, you are remarkable, and we greatly appreciate your hospitality and attention to detail!! At Frida we enjoyed the shrimp appetizer, carrot cream soup, various tacos, walnut crusted filet, and churros. Mauricio, Miguel and Celso took amazing care of our family at each dinner. A huge thank you to Chef Abigail Pérez Rojas for spending time with us to go over her menu in detail. It was such an honor speaking with her. Her time with us was so special and meant the world. At Lucca we enjoyed the calamari, mushroom soup, mushroom risotto, filet, and tiramisu. Thank you to Chef Adrián Aguayo, Celso, Hector and Marvin for consistently providing phenomenal and friendly service at every meal. A highlight at Lucca was our older son asked for a steak, and Celso arranged for the chef to butterfly a filet for him. He loved it so much that he requested more steak at each dinner. Thank you, Celso, for making all of our dinners with you so special! We ate at Azul a couple of times and Francisco took amazing care of us. We loved the omelet station, and our older son loved the selection of donuts and pastries. Room Service: We ordered room service multiple times a day, sometimes up to 4-5 times throughout the day, and every single time the order arrived within about 30 minutes. A special thank you to the staff members who answer the phone and take the orders so friendly, accurately, and patiently each time. While our children were adjusting to the time change, we ordered breakfast at 4am the first couple of days, and it was not an issue at all. Lorena delivered our room service orders multiple times, and she was so warm and friendly. She was phenomenal with our boys and always so cheerful and helpful. Thank you, Lorena!! Baby Concierge: Traveling with our one-year-old son was seamless thanks to the baby concierge services offered. Grand Velas provided a stroller, high chair, baby bath, bouncer, crib, and baby toys. Our young son was so happy and content the entire trip! Grand Velas even offers a special baby concierge food menu with different pureed foods which was very appreciated. Spa: The spa at this resort is one of the best in the world. We highly recommend getting a massage during your stay. The massages we had at Se Spa were by far some of the best we have ever experienced. We enjoyed the hot stone massage as well as the Grand Velas massage. Both were incredible. We recommend the Grand Velas massage as it was the most comprehensive, and dare I say, perfect massage we have both ever received. Our massage therapists were glorious and provided such a relaxing, calming, and soul healing experience. A huge thank you to Carmen and Norma Viramontes. You both were incredible, and we are so grateful for the peace, relaxation and healing you provided. This trip I tried the hydrotherapy for the first time. It was very relaxing, and a perfect start to the massage experience. Araceli guided me through the sauna, steam room, ice, Jacuzzis, cold plunge, and shower experience. A sincere thank you to Araceli for making the hydrotherapy experience so enjoyable. I cannot wait to do it again on the next trip! Coffee Shop and Bar: The Amat coffee shop is a welcome addition to the resort, and we went there multiple times a day. Linda and Benito were astounding!! They made us coffees, lattes, frappes (including decaf frappes for our son), and served us any pastries we requested. Linda and Benito, you both are wonderful, and your coffee creations were delicious! Thank you as well to David at the Koi bar. We went in there a few times to get drinks and David was always so friendly and willing to make whatever drink we were craving. Thank you, David! Kids’ Club: Our 8-year-old son loved spending time in the kids’ club playing video games. We sat with him while he played and noted that the staff in the kids’ club were phenomenal and very attentive with the children there. Gym: My husband went to the gym every morning and greatly enjoyed it there. David Perez was very pleasant and helpful! I participated in the aerial yoga a few times and it was very fun. I highly recommend giving it a try. Summerland: They set up activities for the kids on the grassy area during the summer and we love this play area! Our older son did the zip line multiple times, and also loved the rock wall and archery stations. They had a trampoline and inflatable water slide set up as well. Mariano in particular was amazing! He was wonderful with our son, kept him safe, and helped him go down the zip line over and over and over again. Thank you, Mariano! We look forward to Summerland when we return and look forward to our younger son being able to participate in the activities in a few years. Ocean: The ocean is gorgeous at this resort! We loved wading into the ocean waves and had so much fun in the ocean water. Carlos leads the non-motorized water sports station. Carlos was so helpful with not only ensuring our safety but was so friendly and playful with our older son. Thank you, Carlos! We can’t wait to go kayaking with you on a future trip. We want to extend a special thank you to the Grand Velas booking team. Our vacation got off to a rocky start this year as our flight was canceled and rebooked for the following day. We messaged Grand Velas to let them know we would be arriving a day later than planned, and asked if we could extend our vacation an extra day so we could stay for the same amount of time as originally planned. There was no issue in making the change and they did this so quickly and painlessly for us! Vanessa Palomera you are greatly appreciated!! We wish to thank every single member of GVRN. We apologize if we did not personally mention you by name. When writing this review, we realized that we completely disconnected and were spending time together as a family. It was joyous and so peaceful. Consequently, we did not write down every person’s name that provided outstanding service. We want to emphasize that every single staff member we encountered made us feel welcome and cared for. We thank your entire team for providing such an amazing vacation and overall incredible experience. We are so grateful and appreciative of all of you and are looking forward to a return trip!!

A perfect experience to recharge and relax. This is our sixth visit to this wonderful resort and we will continue tor return. A genuinely nice and considerate staff that makes you feel welcome and at home. We see the same amazing people every year so it speaks very highly of the GM, Pilar, and her management team. So nice to stay at a property that is not owned by a major hotel chain. The difference is definitely felt !