Villa del Palmar Flamingos

Great location; family friendly and quiet after 10:00 pm. Time share sellers are on you right from arrival but just say you are not interested. Bell hop was a little snarly over his tip even if it was generous by Mexican standards. Food and beverage pricey but this is a high end place after all. Just stock the refrigerator with your own stuff.

We stayed here in a1 Bdrm unit for two weeks in Nov 2009. We are owners in the TShare company that includes this property plus others. This was our first time to this property. Location is nice...20 minutes north of airport - 30 minutes into downtown Puerto Vallarta.

Resort is beautiful - nice rooms, great pool area, nice beach. Rooms are well furnished - everything you need including coffee maker (bring Mr coffee style filters with you from home), washer/dryer. Daily maid service...tip early in your stay for best results. All rooms have view of Banderas Bay. Rooms include roomy balcony with cushioned lounge chairs as well as table and chairs (1 and 2 Bdrm).

Beach out front is supposedly 17 miles long...didn't walk it all to verify, but you can walk a long time in either direction without interruption. Very nice beach...surf wasn't bad when we were there...very swimmable - some local vendors but not as bad as other locations in Mx and they are all very friendly. Long walk (for me...about 2 miles/30 minutes north) to nearest non-resort beach bar/food - place called Karen's - good food.

Staff was very helpful and personable. Front desk worked with us to accommodate a change in our scheduled stay with no problems. Concierge made a number of excellent restaurant suggestions. Pool wait staff was fun and friendly...of course over two weeks you may need a cervesa or two :) Keep an eye on happy hour specials around pool bar and sunset bar.

Resort offers an all inclusive option but we didn't sign up for it. We like to go off campus for most of our dinners. Nice restaurants on site...as guest you have access to restaurants nest door at Villa La Estancia. Try the pool bar there for a change of pace for lunch. La Casona is good upscale steak place. There is a very small, limited market on site. Better yet, there is a big Mega Store a short distance away...a walk for some, a taxi for most. Take an hour and stock up your kitchen the first day you arrive at the Mega...

There are nice restaurants in Bucerias (70 peso taxi one way) and surrounding area. We recommend Mark's Bar and Grill, Aduanto's (on the beach) and Sandrini's. If you need to follow your local sports team there is an excellent local (don't be put off by the outside looks - tons of expat's gather here) sports bar called YoYo Ma's...they've got satellite, big screen HDTV's we were able to catch Viking/Packer football game on a Sunday afternoon ... best margarita we had entire visit.

In La Cruz (bit further north) we liked Frascatti's.

In downtown Puerto Vallarta (200+ peso taxi each way) we can heartily recommend Café Des Artiste - sit outside for the view...outstanding food...bit of a foodie place. For touristy mexican try Pipi's in downtown. Don't bother with the Marina in PV...it's dying.

Enjoy

We returned to Villa del Palmar Flamingos for a second Christmas week. It was once again fabulous and we love it! We will be returning next year.

I did not stay at this location but did the time share thing so my rating is based only on that. For the record the place is gorgeous. I did the presentation for the right reasons, not just the freebies, I really wanted to consider buying. When I wasn't so sure with the first guy, they bring out the next guy who can make the offer a little sweeter. When I still didn't budge they brought the big guy out who all but put the pen in my hand and forced me to sign. I am a very strong, independent, not-easily-intimidated woman but I was running to get out of there. If you go to it be prepared for pressure. I know that's their job but I'll never do another time sale presentation again.

We have owned timeshares for almost 20 years and had many experiences but I have NEVER felt the need to post a negative review prior to this one. I tell you this to be sure you understand how disappointed we were at Villa Del Palmar Flamingos.

Overall the frontdesk staff was uncooperative and disinterested. The supervisor, Rosario and the General Manager, Fernado made no attempt to resolve issues, even after repeated attempts on our part to try. The GM refused to even speak with us to hear our side of the problems. When a GM will not speak with guests you can be sure the guest's experience is NOT important to the resort.

The room rate we were quoted by their US reseravations company in California for our extra nights was NOT honored. When we returned today and called the office in California they again confirmed the price we were suppose to pay but could not arrange a credit for us. I think it is a scam because they never give it to you in writing. Shame on us for believing them in the first place. We had to pay an additional $300.00 over what we were quoted or they would not have given us the slip the bellman requires to order you a cab to the airport.

Additonally the room key stopped working everyday so we had to go to the frontdesk in the middle of everyday to get new keys. When they made new keys they failed to tell us the balance of the keys we already had would become inoperative. We had to figure that out on our own after the frist couple of days!

I cannot stress how unfriendly and unapologetic the staff was about our problems or other people's issues we overheard at the desk. I would not recommend staying because they ruin your vacation with their lack of concern.