By Morissa Pawl
Front of Melia Puerto Vallarta
The all-inclusive Melia Puerto Vallarta has 321 lovely rooms with a great location, minutes from both the airport and downtown, yet in the quieter area of Marina Vallarta. The
resort offers a children's play area and activity center, as well as a large pool with a convenient swim-up bar. The property has four restaurants and a snack bar.
Wows and Woes
Wows: Guest rooms are large, many with sweeping ocean views from a balcony. They are well-appointed, with flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet access. Prices are good, especially for an all-inclusive, and most importantly, the air conditioner works well.
Woes: The beach area is not well-attended-to by the service staff, but then neither is the pool area. In addition, though the restaurants are good and the service excellent, there is not enough variety for guests staying longer than three days. The final straw was that the Internet was down for three days out of a four-day stay.
Insider Tips
Take a ride to the local Wal-Mart Supercenter to grab sunscreen, souvenir T-shirts and pool toys; the price is about a third of what you will pay at the resort, and there's much more variety. Once you have your goodies, make sure you get to the pool early enough to get a good spot, because shade is not easy to find.
Author's Most Memorable Moment
The rooms are spacious and cool, but I needed the Internet to keep in contact with my office, and it was not working. Add to this the fact that the pool bar ran out of ice in the middle of the day, and I quickly lost my enchantment with this lovely place. The coup de grace was the missing mango margaritas, which I have come to savor when going to Mexican resorts.
Bottom Line
The four-star standard may not be worth the lower price, but for those looking to get away for a few days without breaking the bank, this is it.
Resources
About the Author:
A professional in the travel industry for 20 years. She has worked with companies around the globe, and has been writing for fifteen years. She is published in travel magazines, Petersen Publications, eHow and Travels to name a few. Morissa has an MBA and teaches at a distance education institution.
Photo Credits:
Morissa Pawl
