18 Nov Mexico
Puert Vallarta, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta is one of the most authentic tourist destinations in Mexico. It still has the beautiful beaches (especially if you stay in the Riviera Nayarit area), a really fun downtown area, the Sierra Madre mountains, amazing resorts, friendly people, quaint villages, and lots to do. Of course, you can also just relax on the beach or sit by their gorgeous pools.
We spent eight nights in Puerto Vallarta in October: five nights at the Riu Palace Pacifico, one night at the Palace Resort, and two nights at the Dreams Villa Magna. While we loved the Riu and Palace resorts, we were disappointed in the Dreams resort. Riu and Palace had amazing food, great beaches, gorgeous pools, good nightly entertainment, and were both just all around wonderful places to stay.
If you are looking for a price-friendly trip with plenty to do and beautiful beaches, consider Puerto Vallarta.
Palace Resorts in Cancun and Riviera Maya
I just returned from visiting several of the Palace resorts in the Riviera Maya, Cancun, and Cozumel. Each resort had similar restaurants, rooms, and amenities, but each resort had its own distinct personality. Each room had a huge double occupancy Jacuzzi and a mini fridge that was restocked daily. No matter what category you book, you receive 24-hour room service. The room service menu had three full pages of items you could order.
The food was excellent. I had some of the best sushi I have ever tasted at the restaurant Mo Mo No Ha Na. The thing that I loved about each restaurant was that they each had a large menu with a variety of meals to choose from. You could eat at the same restaurant every night and still try something new!
Playacar Palace had a beautiful white sand beach. The resort was located within walking distance to downtown Playa del Carmen, where there were several shops, restaurants, bars and clubs. This location is perfect for groups as well as couples. The resort is located next to the ferry dock, where you can pay $13 for a ticket to go over to Cozumel where you can enjoy all the amenities at Cozumel Palace at no extra charge.
Cozumel Palace is great for scuba divers. This area has some of the best snorkeling and scuba in the world. The infinity pools are beautiful. There were man-made sections of beach you could lay out on, but the majority of people were spending their time at the pool. This resort does share exchange privileges with Playacar Palace, so if you are a beach person, you can always take the ferry. My favorite part about this resort was their wedding gazebo located on the roof. They provide the wedding party with connecting rooms to get ready in. The bride has a secret door she can come out through and a long walkway to the gazebo. The location of this gazebo is perfect for wedding photos!
Aventura Spa Palace and Aventura Cove were beautiful properties located next to each other. This resort had an authentic look to it. In front of the resort are lagoons, with man-made beaches. The wedding photos we saw were very unique. In the background were large rocks where you can get great photos of the waves crashing against them. The wedding gazebos were all beach front! We were taken on a horse-drawn carriage ride through the property, which is an option for wedding packages. The spa was my favorite part about this resort. This is the only resort where you can use your full amount of Vacation Dollars on spa alone.
Moon Palace was a very large property. There are three sections to the property–Grand Moon, Nizuc, and Sunrise. the Sunrise section is the largest of the three. This area of the resort had the night club and the more active pool. The Nizuc section was beauiful. It is centrally located and has what they call the sporty pool. They had a volleyball net, basketball hoop, and soccer was being played on the beach. The newest section is the Grand Moon section. This side was quiter and has a beautiful and relaxing pool. They also have a gorgeous golf course on the property. For those of you who enjoy golfing, I would recommend staying in the golf villas. With this room, you are close to the golf course, and you get your own golf cart to use at your convenience. The beach was very long and narrow and the ocean was very calm. The majority of the water activities were taking place here. They have 15 restaurants and 16 bars to choose from at this property.
Cancun
Sun Palace is located in Cancun, and is a couples only resort. The white sand beach at this resort was beautiful. They have several pools to choose from at this resort. This resort only has 252 rooms so the service is very personalized. The resort is located within walking distance to shops, restaurants, and bars in the Cancun area. I loved the restaurant located on the rooftop!
LeBlanc was an extremely nice property. The spa at this property was the nicest spa I have ever seen. this resort is extremely classy. The beach is absolutely beautiful. There are three large pools and two of the infinity pools face toward the ocean. There are two swim up pool bars. This resort is a very nice, relaxing resort and is great for adults who want a truly luxurious vacation.
Royal Playa del Carmen in the Riviera Maya, Mexico
The Riviera Maya in Mexico is one of the best beach areas in the world. The second largest reef in the world follows the coastline from Cancun to Playa del Carmen clear down to the end of the Riviera Maya coast. One of the best places to stay if you want to be close to Playa del Carmen is the Royal Playa del Carmen.
One of our agents, Kristine, just got back and loved the rooms, the beach, the food, the location and the entertainment at the Royal Playa del Carmen. The food was amazing at all 6 restaraunts but Pelicanos and the Asiana restaruants at the Royal were her favorites. The free nightly entertainment included great live music and latin dancers that made for great shows. She really liked the rooms and the location of the resort. You can walk to Playa del Carmen and stroll the streets of Fifth Avenue. The rooms have in-room jacuzzis and are larger than the average room. The beach is large and there’s nothing better than having a long walking beach on such beautiful Caribbean water.
If you are considering a trip to Mexico, ask about the Royal Playa del Carmen in the Riviera Maya.
I just returned from an amazing and relaxing week in the Riviera Maya in Mexico. We traveled with three couples and had a great time at the Riu Palace Mexico. The entire staff was great from the moment we stepped in to the lobby, the food was amazing and the property was immaculate and beautiful.
This resort sits on an amazing beach. There are lots of palm trees if you want shade and lots of sun if you prefer that . I enjoyed everything about the beach here, from relazing with a good book, to a long morning walk or using the hobie cats and kayaks. The water here is so blue and crystal clear.
The food a t this resort was fabulous. We mainly ate at the main buffet because there were so many foods to choose from. i really enjoyed the Japanese restaraunt. For lunch there was a fabulous buffet restaraunt, which was easy to get to whether you were at the pool or the beach. the variety of drinks to choose from also was great. There are activities such as volleyball, water aerobics, Spanich lessons and more. Every night there was a show to enjoy after dinner.
This resort is laid out very well. No matter where you are, you are never far from food or drinks. It’s walking distance to Playa del Carmen and if you want to spend some time at the other Riu’s in the area you can. I would recommend this resort to anyone. For more information call Liz at Enchanted Honeymoons at 402-281-3022