One&Only Mandarina

We came here to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and enjoy a wellness retreat. What an incredible place that feels majestic like Costa Rica. Everything about this property is a 10/10 even with it being nine years old now. Everyone is very friendly and the food is great. The spa is very natural and holistic, we never experienced anything like this. They will take you over to the Rosewood for dinner/lunch anytime too! This place is surreal. 🤍 The Shahs

Let me just say this to summarize our stay at the One and Onlly Mandarina in Nayarit and; having been to many 5 Star hotels throughout the world. The Mandarina bar none, was my favorite in every way! Here are a few things you should know, honestly, if you go. Also, please excuse the length as I am only hoping to help families and provide some details and insight that we experienced while staying here. Hopefully, this will help you at least a little bit. TRANSPORTATION: Flew into Puerto Vallarta. Went through Customs and Immigration within 15 minutes, out the exit door, turn left and they will have several hotel employees holding signs up that say "Mandarina." And that is it, check in with them and then they will take you ($500 round trip from airport and back or $250 one way) in a nice large SUV with water, snacks and beer if you want directly to the hotel. Ride was all highway (just actually built a few months ago) and took about 1 hour door to door. There are Ubers, taxi's and the like but the convenience for us was well worth it. Also, on the way to the hotel from the airport, you will pass the Sierra Madre Mountains. They are stunningly beautiful and if you need to use the restroom, your driver will stop at a safe place. When getting close to the property, you will see dozens of pineapple farms. Have him stop so you can take some photographs. Ask questions as everyone was so willing to share their beautiful heritage and country with you. ROOMS: My family and I (wife and two daughters in their 20's) stayed 4 days 5 nights. It was the perfect amount of time to unwind, get to know the property, eat their amazing food and have a great time. My wife and I had the Jungle room with an ocean view. The room was literally incredible with an insane view of the ocean. My daughters stayed 2 villas down in the same room also with incredible ocean views (they made this happen for us as they knew we were a family and got 2 rooms). The rooms have everything you need including a large beach bag to put all your goodies in and bring to the pool/beach, amazing rainfall showers, hair blowers (Dyson), irons, steamers, plenty of towels, a fridge to put your cold drinks in and the most comfortable bed you will ever sleep in. Each of our rooms also had a plunge pool which was wonderful. The outside deck is huge and has lounge chairs with an umbrella. Since you are higher up in the jungle, the breeze in the afternoon was amazing and will put you to sleep. There was not one thing missing from the rooms and in short, the rooms were simply beautiful and amazing (and they have AC which was wonderful after a scortching day at the beach). Anything you want, they will bring to you. Also, every morniing at about 6:30, all the jungle birds will wake up and make alot of noise. In fact, every morning the wood peckers would knock on the door or your sliding glass patio window. We happened to love it but just be aware of this. They stopped after about an hour but it really brought the true essence of the jungle to your room. Sunsets are exceptional from the patio as well as sunrises. SAFETY: Zero issues with safety and not one second, did myself or my family feel "unsafe." In fact, I even gave our host Alejandro a few thousands Pesos to break up into smaller denominations for tipping. He took my money and personally brought it all back with small amounts. There is a safe in your room if you need it and in short, exceptionally safe property. In fact, at the pool and beach, they have lifeguards watching over everyone the entire time. It is a well oiled machine in every sense, 24/7. KIDS; We saw "some" children but not alot. But no question, this is also a kid friendly property with all kinds of fun activities for the kids: zip lining, jet skiing if you want to book it, a butterfly garden, nature trails, a kids center where the kids can climb through the jungle with beautiful tree houses, ropes to walk across, the pool, beach and a zillion other activities. Do dont hesitate if you have children. There is alot of fun stuff to do that allows the kids to have a great time. HOSTS Upon check-in, we sat with "Pedro" who was amazing. We were given fresh towels with Lavendar scents to wash our face and hands as well as all natural fruit juices. My family also were given shots of local Tequilla which they said were "so smooth!" Pedro went over literally everything with us; the property, our assigned hosts and what to expect. It was a great, informative opening. And next thing you know, you were on a "buggie" (e.g. a golf cart) and taken to our rooms. My family and I were (again, 4 of us with two separate rooms) assigned two hosts, Alejandro and Andres. Alejandro had a day or two off and as such, Andres had taken over. Every couple/family will be assigned a host. The property is huge and not necessarily entirely walkable. Hence, you need to have the Whats Up app (they will set you up in a group chat) and all your communications will go through your host. For example, in the morning, we wanted to go to breakfast, we would Whats Up Alejandro or Andres and they would respond immediately and advise they are on their way. They never made us wait and on average, you should Whats Up them 15-30 minutes beforehand as they have to drive their "buggies" to you and may be on the otherside of the property. After breakfast from the Alma, I walked 10 minutes to the beach and my family would Whats Up Alejandro to pick them up and buggie them to the beach. He was always there when we finished breakfast waiting for us and was truly incredible, communicative, reliable, kind and unbelievably helpful. Alejandro assisted us with our reservations, transportation, dinner reservations, cashing of Pesos to get smaller denominations and any other essentials needed throughout our stay. He also booked our "Butterfly Garden" experience; the Discovery tour of the entire property and literally anything and everything you want. Alejandro was so professional, very courteous, and extremely knowledgeable about the native trees and animals on the property. Since we were surrounded by lush jungle vegetation, it made learning about the property especially enjoyable. It was truly a pleasure to have both of them as our hosts and without hesitation request them as your host. They work exceptionally hard all day and both are unquestionably, a huge asset to the ownership of this property. They go over and above for you without questions. Keep in mind, many of the hosts are from the local area and some drive from their homes 1 hour to and from work, from Puerto Vallarata. Additionally, twice a day, the house keeping service would come and tidy up our rooms. Outside your front door, there will be a rope. If you dont want anyone knocking on your door and/or dont want tidy up service, you simply put the rope up and that tells the hosts and housekeeping, not to come, disturb you or knock. But the housekeeping was excellent and it was nice at the end of the day to have our rooms refreshened so nicely. PROPERTY The property is huge throughtout a jungle. From our room to walk to the beach would be honestly, too far. Although from the top of the jungle to to the beach to walk is all downhill and admittingly, the walks are beautiful, paved and safe through the jungle, it is far. So we called our hosts and always took the buggie to and from the beach/pool and restaurants. There were a few times we walked just because and were able to see all kinds of beautiful birds and the wildlife just walking. But again, this is not a typical "hotel" by any stretch of the imagination and although the property was 80% at capacity, the entire stay literally felt like we were the only ones there. In short, the buggies were exceptionally efficient and you will need them to get around the entire property. But the ownership of this entire property, I believe thought of every little thing you can desire or want for its patrons. If you have time (maybe an hour in total), request from your host to do the Discovery tour. We had Yuri who drove us around the entire property and she was absolutely incredible. She drove us to the Equestrian Center and made the experience especially enjoyable. Along the way, she shared interesting information about the property, vegetable garden, and other insightful details, making the ride both pleasant and informative. It was wonderful learning more about the area through her knowledge and hospitality. She even allowed us to walk through their huge garden and pulled some Passion fruit off a tree and we ate it. It was incredible. You will be able to feed all the beautiful horses (carrots they cut up and give you in a bowl) (some of which are children of prominent Kentucky Derby winners!!). They have plenty of trails and zip lining if you want to do that as well and also, if you want to take a boat out to go fishing or chilling; ATVing through the jungle, tell your host and they will set it up and make it happen. BEACH/POOL We were there in the middle/end of May 2026. Be advised, the sand on the beach is HOT! Bring flip flops or you WILL burn your feet. We saw way too many patrons running from umbrella to umbrella as they were burning their feet.There were dozens of lounge chairs with huge umbrellas on the beach and within the 5 days here, we never had any issue getting a set of 4 lounge chairs for myself and my family. The water was bath water (even though you are in the Pacific side and would assume it would be colder, it is not). The beach (called the "Jetty") was literally incredible, relaxing and amazing service. We chillaxed on the lounge chairs for half of the day, eating, drinking and playing in the ocean. They have boogie boards, kayaks, paddleboards and all kinds of things; all free you can get at the beach. Shout out to "Diana" who allowed me to use the single kayak everyday and was so helpful. Take a kayak out, you will love it! The ocean floor is all sand so you dont need to worry about rocks or coral. While lounging, you can order drinks, food and whatever you want. They have exceptional bar tenders and whatever you desire, they will create for you. They have numerous beach attendants and we had "Mauriano" (excuse spelling). He is 23 years old and this young man was the BEST!! In the blistering hot sun, I have never seen such a hard, kinder, worker. He is a huge asset to this company and property. We absolutely loved him. He would even bring us ice cold face towels soaked in Lemon and Lavender to cool us off. But all of the beach/pool attendants were truly incredible including Miguel and Antonio. Also, they provide you if you need it with bug spray and sun tan lotion if you need it. And by the way, they even brought us sliced ice cold cucumbers to put under our eyes! The service at this property is bar none, beyond exceptional every single day! RESTAURANTS: Let me start by saying YES, the food is expensive and somewhat overly priced even for a 5 Star property; no doubt about that. However, I will tell you that every single restaurant had spectacular food, service and an amazing atmosphere. We ate at them all and each one was better than the next. The portions are generally large and everything was made to order and extremely fresh. Even the restrooms at the restaurants and the entire property, were beautiful. Our favorite was the breakfast every morning at the Alma. All buffet but fresh fruits, smoothings, green juices, local homemade Mexican breakfast dishes that were incredible, salmon with capers, cheeses, croissants and literally everything you can think of. And if you want, you can order a la carte. We tried something different each breakfast and the food was beautifully presented, fresh and incredible, truly. Do try their pancakes with berries. Best ever! Avocado toast: amazing as well as the breakfast salad. Shout out to our morning breakfast server "Pedro." Ask to be served by "Pedro" and you wont forget it. He is simply said: amazing! MONEY/TIPS Please know that this property is "cash less." We brought a bunch of Pesos and used them for tipping. You are NOT obligated to tip per se. However, all of the employees work exceptionally hard (and in the hot blistering, humid sun) and our host, Alejandro found a way to break up some of larger Pesos for tipping. But the employees prefer Pesos and truly appreciate tips. You can either tip as you go or wait until the end to give your host a larger tip denomination. Up to you entirely but they were truly so amazing they deserved every penny. There is an ATM on the property (at the Alma restaurant) and we pulled out some Pesos from there very easily. We also tipped Mauriano our beach attendant every day since he was incredible. Otherwise, all expenditures will go onto your credit card and at the end, you will get a complete breakdown of your bill. After reviewing our bill, it was 100% accurate with zero discrepancies. Again though, try to get to the bank before you leave and grab some Pesos and on your phone, get a Converter app which helped us alot. Pesos to US dollars and vice versa. TREETOP BAR: Every evening around 5:30 ish, we went to the Tree Top bar for a drink. The view is incredible and the sunsets even more so. Great place to enjoy a cocktail and watch the sunset after a day at the beach. Our bartender Bryan and Antonio were amazing. Ask Antonio to make you a hibiscus coconut cocktail- it was delicious! I told him what i liked and it was so amazing we now named his drink as the "Antonio Special." CONCLUSION: Again, please excuse the length of this email. I only hope something above helps you. You must stay at this property for complete and utter relaxation and unwinding. The service is beyond 5 star; the food is spectacular; the employees are beyond incredible; the rooms are literally breathtaking and the entire property was nothing less than wonderful. We will definitely be going back! And would also like to try some other worldwide properties in the future.

The One & Only Mandrina is gorgeous. Everyone we encountered that worked there could not do enough for us to make our trip amazing. We stayed in the panoramic Oceanview cliff villa, which was lovely and completely private. It had all the amenities, Dyson hair dryer, nice soaps, towel and pillows. The one thing you really can't do is walk anywhere as the property is on the hillside, you take buggy's everywhere. In our case, they came within 10 minutes every time. Our butlers were Jorge Jimenez and Anglito. We spent the most time with Jorge, and he was without a doubt, on it and took very good care of us and anticipated everything we needed. Although I'm mentioning a few names that were exceptional, everyone there was. Antonio and Irma at the Treetop bar, were fantastic. Abraham at breakfast would see us and bring my husband a big glass of ice every morning without us asking. Juan Pablo at breakfast was very attentive and helped us a lot even though I think he's management. The pools and beach were lovely and everyone that worked in those areas were very attentive to our needs. You can also go over to the Rosewood, which is part of the same property. They will take you over there and make any reservations at those restaurants. The reason I gave it 4 stars is that the food left me unimpressed given the prices.

Loved everything about the resort. Beautiful nature, luxury amenities, stunning views, best team and exceptional service. I would like to thank Jesus and Rodolfo for taking great care of us. Brayan and Louis at the tree top, Tree top became a special place for us, and guys made it truly memorable, they gave a true Mexican hospitality🩵 Ulisee from Alma and Juan Pablo and his team at Carao. All those mentioned people went above and beyond to make this trip truly unique and a complete One&only experience. Happy to get engaged at a place like this. Thank you O&O Mandarina 🩵

We had the best family trip (5 and 8 year old) to O&O. Jorge our host (basically villa concierge) along with the entire O&O staff were incredible. We are so grateful we traveled and were originally hesitant with the news out of PV. We felt super safe, secure, and well taken care of. We will be back.