Velas Vallarta

The property has great food and friendly staff even it only has two onsite restaurants for an all-inclusive resort. I was hesitated to book this hotel since last time we were staying in Hyatt Ziva Cancun and everything was well-presented and organized. But the food quality, nice people and different activities each day really added a lot of points to it. All the people we met in the property were super cordial and polite. Jorge was super fantastic and amazing, who handled the mixology by the poolside. His hand-crafted drinks were superb and tasty. My girls loved to go to the kid's club which did offer all kinds of activities to kill their energy, such as tennis class, cooking class and all the crafts. It was a relief for me to be able to enjoy a little cocktail time with my hubby. In addition to the koi fish, peacock, iguanas, we also spied raccoons. Even though the hotel looks a bit dated, they did a great job in cleaning and providing best services. Although, our toilet and drain did clog in our room, they sent someone to fix the issues in a timely manner as well. Overall, it was a pleasant stay for our entire family.

Velas is always a solid pick for couple, families and friends. Only 5 min from the airport. Big, wide private beach. 500m walk to the private marina with its shops, restaurants, messages, massive yachts. Two very large pools, a lazy river and a kiddie pool / kids club. Only 350+ rooms here so you’re not wasting your days walking excessively or awaiting a shuttle. Either a well appointed studio or many 1,2,3 bedroom suites. All fave the bay and some also include city views or sunset views. Service here is top notch. Reception is fast, friendly and courteous. Housekeeping and restaurant staffs are both great. Pool waiters are some of the best you’ll ever find. Food and drinks are very good also.

I've been to many all-inclusives across the Carribean and Mexico, most of which I've created a trip advisor review for. This was first to a Velas property. We were there July 26 - Aug 2 (2025) -- we extended a day because we liked the resort so much. Our family is vegetarian, so I'll provide tips -- a key reason why I'm giving this resort 5 stars, along with very strong service. There were a few inperfections that I'll detail later, but they were in less significant areas. Booking: We booked directly via Velas for a 1 bedroom deluxe. Reason was the incentives -- $300 (but used less than 1/2 of it since spa is just a $40/session discount). Found the pricing was just lower direct --> however, some guests used Costco. Airport transfer: The incentives include hotel to airport, but not airport to hotel. We used a taxi at airport and that worked great - only 10 minutes away. Room 1 bedroom deluxe was very spacious. It includes a kitchen and dining table, that we didn't use, but heard from other guests that room service was great. Note: The sofa is not a sofa bed, but they provided a free roll away for our kid. Felt room had some wear and tear, but nothing that bothered us: tub had a few chips for example. Balcony was fantastic and spans both master bedroom and living room. View was partial ocean, but we took 6th floor so we were over teh palm trees. Glad we did that and recommend if you get same floor. Service - SUPERB Shout outs - and including detail for vegetarians - these are folks you want to know: Head chef Roberto - he met us upon arrival and took notes on our requests (esp about super firm tofu and to cube it, and make it crispy). He also has experience with Indian food and we had that twice. In addition, he customized Thai & italian including veg minestrone soup. Cristina - manager of Liberia --> She is the best manager I've ever come across in years of all-inclusive travel. She took care of our vegetarian wants for lunch daily -- including having tofu-cube tacos/fajitas that were seasoned differenty daily and other customized. Breakast manager of Andrea - took care of us well. Concierge - Otellio -- he was very prompt with our food requests and organizing for us. He's a get it done guy -- recommend him highly. Other: - Bernardo and others on the entertainment team -- thank you for hearing my music requests (80s new wave) - they made it fun. - Maids for room - room was always clean and appreciate evening night cap while we were at dinner Dining: The key to success was pre-planning by emailing the resort (guest services department) and making a request that they have super firm tofu on hand & requesting a meeting with the chef. IMPORTANT FOR VEG/VEGANS: Make the effort to communicate what you like eating -- this resort has very good capability to make it happen -- but you need to let them know with some notice. There are 2 restaurants on property: Andrea (air conditioned, indoor experience but has patio & Riberia (open-air next to pool/beach). There is also a hamburger stand and ice-cream stand, along with Crepe station in the lobby Andrea - very good breakfast buffet and menu --> omelette statino is solid. Chilaquilas are very good too. We ate dinner at Andrea often, because we made freiends and wanted a larger table --> most our meals were customized. Though this resort does not have 5-6 restaurants like many all-inclusives, I dind't feel disappointed because they could produce different varieties (Indian, Thai, Italian, and of course, Mexican). For Indian, chef made us palak paneer, very good dal makhani, and a version of garlic naan. Thai - garlic-pepper tofu (I showed him a pic), thai noodles and more. Pizza is tasty and they'll customize. Liberia / Hamburger stand -- they are right next to each other. The plant-based burger was very GOOD (I reaad other reviews from vegetarians and so I tried it). The patty is unique for me (not Beyond or Impossible) - my wife loved it too and she is a tough customer typically on veg patties . Also, they can prepare plant-based hot dogs --> Chef Roberto mentioned this and we had one time. Most days, I had spiced cubed cripsy tofu fajitas / tacos, because it was SO GOOD different daily. I think these were vegan too. Both restaurants have a very decent healthy menu with other vegetarian -- if I was there any more days, I would have tried even more -- there is that much. But b/c my requests were prepared so well, I was only using the buffets for salad and sides. Deserts were better than most all inclusives - Cristina at Liberia made sure to give me the best of chocolate cake, and I was happy. Ice Cream was disappointing -- its sorbet, but I didn't want to eat too many sweets so not a big deal for us. Drinks: The wine from Chile was good. Some red wines were misses. Mixed drinks were OK -- pool bar was average for all inclusives in drink quality. However, the bar tenders work very hard here and will try to satisfy, so just let them know if you are not happy. They do use the right kind of tequila Pool: Solid experience - my kid was happy - the main is large. Love that its heated and was always comfortable. Important TIP: IF you want covered chairs closest to beach (and the cvoered areas are great here), you need to play the towel game before 7:30am - that area is high demand. Other covered areas are not as difficult. Occupancy was 60% while we were there, so it may be even more competitive in peak season. Beach: Ocean water was warm and waves calmer, which was appreciated compared to Cabo, our typical place to go. BUT: the water color is brown (a bummer) because of a river that flows in. Beach sand is just OK too. However, liked that hotel has convenient cabanas. Again, the positives of the resort outweighed this item. There are other beach closer to old town of PV that have really nice looking aqua water. Tour included in package: I liked 70% of it (the only thing I didn't like was a stop at jewelry store), but city portion, tequila tasting (awesome place) and restaurnt with Aztec experience was fanastic (they had basic veg items). There is a swimming in the waterfalls at restaurant - recommended as its in the jungle and hot -- bring your swimsuit! Other guests - a big highlight: FANTASTIC - we made new friends including a family that we'll travel with in the future from a different state. Just very compatible other folks -- shout out to our new friends John and Liz, Reza and Ellie, BC Canada crew that my kid enjoyed, and others from our home Bay Area and California. Entertainment: They have a stage area in teh main lobby area (the lobby area is huge) -- its outdoors so a bit warm. Decent shows - I liked the cirque one the best. I think more live music would be nice. Clothes: - Shorts are highly recommended in evening instead of long pants (I never wore my long pants) - its hot in PV. Overall - I would come back because dining nailed it and would like to try other Velas (Grand Velas is very pricy though in comparison - like 3X more).

Accommodations were great. We were in a one bedroom condo with kitchen. It seems to have two air conditioners. The rooms were cool. The beds and linens were very comfortable. The shower had hot water. Twice a day room service. The services provided by the staff, cooks, waiters, bartenders, services were excellent. Friendly and helpful. The entertainment, pools, activities were fun. The resort seems family oriented. Great location. Close to town and the beach. Thank you. We will return.

We had a wonderful time spending a week in July with our 2 children! The resort was beautiful.. food was very good, staff was helpful and friendly, ambiance was 👌. Perfect family friendly resort- would definitely recommend!