Barcelo Puerto Vallarta

The resort location is quiet and isolated from the city. The resort atmosphere is calm and oriented to families with children. The room was very clean and well maintained and well stocked and serviced throughout our stay. The dining options were excellent and the times available were also excellent and not restrictive. Tower 1 facing the party pool was excessively noisy for long periods of the day. Maybe turning the thumping speakers away from the guest rooms?! The grounds were kept beautifully and the beach was very clean. The staff were very attentive and kind and seemed genuinely happy to help with whatever was needed. Perhaps the resort would consider a daily shuttle drop off and pickup into Puerto Vallarta for guests to access the city with reliability. Also creating more shaded areas around the pools, some day beds or shade sails would be a lovely addition to the pool area.

We have been long time Barcelo and Occidental club members. Puerto Vallarta is actually where we bought our membership and it is always good to be back. We have been to many Barcelo locations in Mexico, they were all quite impressive. We stayed in 1315 from MAY 9-14, here is the quick breakdown. Location: 50 min drive from the airport, min. There isn't really anything around, you will need a car. Free parking. Grounds: Clean, bugs free, big iguanas by the pool. Pool: North side pool is adults only, ok size, dipping pool, nothing deep. There are smaller pools for kids and water volleyball, jacuzzi. Clean. Beach: if you count a short 35 yard-ish coarse sand beach that is blocked in by 15 plus boats, then you are good. Otherwise, you will need to drive about 15 mins north for a perfect public beach. There is no drink service on this small beach, only by the pool. They also allow people to smoke on the beach even though it was prohibited since 2023. Staff: professional and friendly, above average. Customer driven. Room: my 1315 suite was very spacious, clean, bed room AC stuck on one fan level (loud), the door lock frame plate is broken, balcony lock is broken, partial Oceanview since it is only on the 3rd floor. Mini fridge with beer, pop/soda and some water, refilled daily. Plenty of closet space. Single sink bathroom, functional, but water temp fluctuates if other people are showering and/or flush toilet. Don't get scalded! Buffet: the buffet serves Mexican food mostly, not to bad. The menu changes out daily but not a whole lot of variation. The coffee machine and the ice cream machine break down all the time. I enjoyed the breakfast the most. Restaurants: Capri the Italian spot, I give it 3/5, not bad, but the cream base pasta are to bland, too much sauce. Armando and Iveth are note worth servers. The Cabernet was actually pretty good and I am quite picky with my reds. Don Quijote the Spanish joint deserves 4/5, the meats need better seasoning and the lamb needs a better cut. Way too much connective tissues, couldn't eat 50% of it. Larcos steak and seafood, 3/5, the lunch is relaxing here. Kyoto Japanese, 1/5. The 1 star is for the view during sunset. The menu is not edible. Overall, we had mixed experiences here, I will let you be the judge if you decide to come here considering the Pros and Cons.

Been meaning to get on to write a more comprehensive review because I have a lot of opionoins but long story short, I knew there was a noro problem but the price was so good I couldn't resist. We ordered room service for breakfast, ate lunch offsite, and had dinner at specialty restaurants every nigth to avoid shared touchpoints at the buffet. I thought i was SOOO clever (I work as a lab scientist in a clean room, so I know about contamination) but it got us. 3 or 6 in our party had vomiting and diarrhea. I've only puked 3 times in the last decade, so no, it's not from "stress of travel" lol. Another family we spoke to had 4/6 get sick, another had 4/8. It really ruined the trip for us because I was so scared of getting my kids sick, my husband had to cancel his fishing charter because I was too ill to care for our kids. I was warned and disregarded the warnings. I even searched ALL the reviews before leaving and it had been 2-3 months since anyone had mentioned GI illness, so I hoped the outbreak was over. Lesson be learned, Noro is hard to get rid of the and hotel was NOT helping. Bathrooms were regularly out of soap, door handles had to be turned to get out, this was the bathroom closest to all the dinner restaurants. A developmentally disabled child also spread feces from her swim diaper ALLL over the main pool area and staff did not alert swimmers or anything. It smelled so bad. I had to tell a woman that her hand was resting in a puddle of feces (on the edge of the pool). Ughhh. It would have been SO worth it to spend 20-30% more to have avoided this illness, lost vacation days, and all the stress and anxiety this virus caused our family. Hopefully someday the hotel will get it under control, the property has so much potential!

My friend and I came for a relaxing few days. It was slow season , so I could see it being much more crowded with families. Staff stood out as being very helpful. Particularly, Moises was very attentive throughout our entire stay.

Apolania made the trip the worth it. Definitely will come back because of her great service.