Puerto Vallarta – March 2025

This review is solely for the purposes of selling travel.  If any of these resorts in this Destination are of interest to you, I would appreciate that you contact me to help you book your wonderful Puerto Vallarta vacation! 

I have a rule, make sure all reviews are up to date before you take another trip.  So here I am at 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean on my way to Maui for a week with idol time to catch up on my reviews of our trip to Puerto Vallarta two months ago.  

It has been many years since our last trip to Puerto Vallarta, so it was time to visit some new properties and re-visit an old favorite.   We traveled in early March for 5 nights when the weather was very pleasant, 80 degrees most days with just one day of cloudy cooler weather to start but once the clouds burned off, we had great pool weather.

We flew United from Reno to SF to Puerto Vallarta.   We are still getting used to connecting to just about anywhere we want to go now that we live in Northern Nevada, but it’s just a small trade off for the slower pace of life we get to live now.   Our flight to SF was delayed but we fortunately had some cushion time on our layover and made our connecting flight with about 15 minutes to spare before boarding began.  Our flights were easy, and we arrived PV on time.  Going through the arrivals hall was also a breeze, we processed through automated machines that scan your passport and scan your face, then print out a ticket for you to keep and present when you are going home, though we were never asked for it.   My guess is that you probably must show it if there is any issue with it appearing linked to your passport, computer glitches can happen.   Our luggage came quickly, and we were out the door (past all the time share sharks) very quickly and outside was our local company with a sign for “Horst” who then took us to our car/driver.  A taxi is likely cheaper, but I would much prefer to have someone waiting with my name on a sign and and know that the service has been vetted.

We were booked for 5 nights at Hotel Mousai, which is located about 40 minutes south of the airport.  This is a luxurious, 6 diamond, adults only all-inclusive resort.   I will say that the roads could use some work, lots of bumps but our driver did his best to give us as smooth of a ride as possible.  We arrived at our resort close to 6pm and could already see the beginnings of a beautiful sunset, something that Puerto Vallarta is very well known for and if you know anything about me, this girl loves her sunsets.  We did have a little bit of a glitch with our check-in; the resort showed us confirmed for 4 nights when indeed we were confirmed for 5 nights. I showed my confirmation, and they took a photocopy of it and said they would make sure it was all sorted out.   Things can happen, even to me a very well-traveled Travel Advisor, it’s all about being prepared and making sure you have your trip documents so you can present any proof of payment/confirmation.

We were then escorted to our room by our Butler/Concierge, Diego.  We were in room 6102 in the North Tower, and we were instantly impressed with our room.  I particularly loved the purple design touches as that is my favorite color.  The room was very spacious, and we did not want for a thing.  We had a lovely hot tub on the balcony along with a hammock and a nice sitting area.   We thought the bed was comfortable but not for longer than normal sleep.  We tend to sleep in sometimes and upwards of 10 hours (you know “work hard, play hard” does catch up to you sometimes), but we found anything after 8 hours made our backs a little creaky.  

We had breakfast a few times at Noi which is the Italian restaurant at night but serves breakfast during the day.   They will sometimes change which restaurant hosts breakfast but during our stay it was at Noi, we thoroughly enjoyed our food and service both times.   The other 3 days we opted for room service for breakfast outside on the balcony and we were very impressed.  Everything was cooked to order, served warm and presented nicely on the portable table that they brought to your room.

Lunch for us was poolside each day and we were up at the North Tower pool each day.  The pool menu was what you’d expect with a variety of ceviche, burgers, nachos, salads, tacos, lobster tails – it was a fairly extensive menu for poolside and there were also some dining tables in the pool area so you could move to eat at a table if you wanted.

Dinner, we tried 4 different restaurants and enjoyed Noi for Italian twice.   We went to Noi on our first night and had such a hard time deciding what we wanted that we figured we would come back on our last night, when we ordered a few things to share so we could try the options we didn’t want to pass up. All pastas are homemade and were delicious.  I love a good Fettucine Alfredo and theirs did not disappoint one bit; the pizza was very good too. 

Our other nights for dinner, we tried Hiroshima for Asian Fusion.  I ordered the Chicken & Steak Teriyaki while Bill enjoyed all the Sushi and Sashimi he could eat.  Everything was so fresh and for things cooked, they were cooked to perfection.  Service was also on point; we did not want for a thing.   We also tried BocaDos which is a steakhouse, technically part of Garza Blanca Resort, which is the family “sister resort”, but guests of Mousai have access to this dining venue, along with anything at Garza Blanca.   This dinner was also wonderful; we both had rib eye steaks and shared a few sides.   The Macaroni & Cheese was so good.  Though there were families dining, we did not feel disturbed by any misbehaved children.

Our last dinner was at Blanca Blue which is the Mexican restaurant located at Garza Blanca, and it was probably our least favorite but certainly edible and we enjoyed our food, it just wasn’t up to the same level as the dining venues at Mousai. 

The North Tower Rooftop Pool was wonderful, we made quick friends with the pool concierges and the waiters/bartenders, and they always took great care of us and helped to get us set up with loungers.  I loved the loungers as they are built for two and super comfy with thick cushions and they put towels over the entire cushions.   The view is amazing of course with the infinity pool.  We met many lovely guests by the pool and enjoyed our days in the sunshine, listening to music, reading books, etc.

The evenings are quiet at Mousai and that is to be expected, they would have some live instrumental music in the restaurants during dinner and up until 9pm or so and then the Rooftop would also have great musicians playing each evening but it was not really a party atmosphere, except for one night there was a wedding party that took over and made it a party.   

Because Mousai is set back, you need to walk to take the shuttle to Garza Blanca for beach access but it’s a very quick shuttle and they run frequently.   We are not beach people, so we were just fine hanging out at the Rooftop pools.   

Located on the same property is the Tierra Luna Gardens, which are beautiful.  I’d say it’s about 200 stairs to walk down to the Gardens, but you can also take the shuttle.   There is a variety of shops, beautiful flowers all around and another restaurant which is an extra charge steakhouse.  We did not experience this dining venue but have heard that it is wonderful.   We walked down and walked back up and walked around the area – it seems that it might get a little lively at night but still not a big party atmosphere.

We loved this resort, and I would go back in a heartbeat.  We felt very well fed and well taken care of during our stay.  We also were not harassed to listen to their vacation club speech, which is nice.  Now perhaps it’s because I did mention that I was a Travel Agency owner and declined to attend but they did take “no” for an answer and left it at that.  I can appreciate that a lot.

HOTEL TOURS:

As is always the case, I try to visit some other hotels when traveling so that I can see what is new with favorite resorts and look at others.   I pre-arranged a few hotel tours with the local company Amstar who is fantastic at working out the logistics and providing transportation to/from, making my life easy!

On our first day, we went to visit two hotels:

Barcelo Puerto Vallarta is located on Mismaloya Bay.    This property has been around for as long as I’ve been an Advisor and for a very long time it was called “La Jolla de Mismaloya” and I sold it often and regularly.  I’m not sure if Barcelo was always the owner or not but it was renamed Barcelo many years ago and somewhere along the line, I stopped selling the property.   I have to say that I’m glad. It felt very dumpy to me.   The type of pool chairs a resort has tells a lot and these were the cheap plastic ones that will sometimes pop back at you if you sit down incorrectly.   The rooms felt dark and dated and musty.  I realize this is a tropical place and “musty” can happen, but I just did not find much appealing about this property.    The resort has a relatively small footprint, and it is more of a deep resort from Lobby to Beach vs a wide property along the beach.  Several pools, it is a family resort, and I did notice several families with small children.  The buffet was bustling when we got there as it was breakfast time.    I’m sure the resort is great for the right client, and it does have its perks of being along a more secluded Bay so there is a bit of privacy but overall I was not impressed.

We then toured the Hilton Puerto Vallarta and I have to say that I was super impressed with this resort.  I’ve heard it talked about in Advisor groups and was intrigued.   This resort is longer vs deep, so they share a significant stretch of beach.  The rooms were light, airy and fresh, great views from all the rooms as they all face the ocean to some degree.  Many dining venues and I felt as though all the employees we came into contact with seemed happy to be working there.   This resort used to be Adults Only but changed to family-friendly a few years ago and I think they have done so successfully.    Many venues for weddings at this resort and since they do cater to families, it makes it easy to invite all guests to your wedding.  Their beach dining are from food trucks that “live” on the property which I thought was a cool idea and way to set up.

The next day we visited the Hyatt Ziva.   This has been a favorite resort for many years.  I stayed at this resort back in the 90’s when it was Westin Camino Real and there was only one tower.   They have grown to two towers and again it’s a wide resort vs deep and is also located on a private beach because the only access is through the hotel gates. So, though beaches in Mexico are all public, the public has no way to get to this beach.   They have recently done extensive renovations, and the rooms have been refreshed and look amazing.  They were doing some more work in the convention center area and were set to close one of the dining venues for a re-branding soon.  I send clients here regularly; I have clients who return every year or every other year which speaks volumes.  I would not hesitate to stay here myself either with family, friends, or gal pal trip. 

I took plenty of photos on this trip and at these resorts- so you are welcome to view the photos here:

Hotel Mousai

Barcelo Puerto Vallarta

Hilton Vallarta

Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta