Club Velas Vallarta Reviews & Ratings

It was great...lots of room to swim, and the facility is very clean. Its located in a good area and the people are friendly and give exellent service. I have been there three times and would not hesitate to go again.

Club Velas Vallarta (do not confuse with the newer Grand Velas Vallarta at Nuevo Vallarta) is a grand old lady. The units are almost done being refurbished and the grounds are lush, mature and gorgeous for such a small property. The beach is not spectacular but at least was untouched by the hurricane that wiped out many beaches farther south near river inlets (especially Mismaloya).

Our unit was a two bedroom and had a large balcony onto which both bedrooms opened. Because of the tall palms, a 5th floor unit or higher is needed to see the ocean but it can be heard throughout the property. The living/kitchen area is rather dark but we spent almost no time there but rather on the balcony or pool area. There are 3 pools, one separate for small kids and the other two connected by an artificial river.

We traded a timeshare and all-inclusive was mandatory at $85pp per day but we'd heard it was worth it and it was. Andreas was the Italian restaurant and La Ribera (grilled steak, chicken, seafood) was beachside. Both had linen tableclothes and napkins, a nice buffet for all meals, and indoor/patio seating. Both also had ala carte menus with each restaurant alternating a specialty gourmet meal each evening (Italian, Oriental, Argentine, South Pacific, Mexican, Mexican gourmet, French). The fair trade agreement has opened up a new world of foods not before found so easily in Mexico.

The food was, in general very good to excellent, and the all-inclusive a bargain as it included drinks (name brand if asked for), wine list, and room service. We were a group of four and had coffee delivered every morning and a bottle of wine brought to our balcony every evening before dinner.

Every evening there was some type of free entertainment provided in the lobby bar area and Andreas offered a live keyboard musician nightly.

The staff was wonderful and although all- inclusive required no tipping, we tipped well and were treated like royalty.

There were the usual aports activity center, kids activity center, small mini-mart, small boutique, and also a salon/spa/exercise center on site. The concierge can arrange any excursions and car rental (about $70 day) is available on site. Taxis were inexpensive and the bus, practically right out the door, was only 4 pesos.

Club Velas is located at the marina area, once in glory and now now a little empty and down in the heals. The airport is quite near but the noise never bothered us during the day and we never were aware of planes taking off at night.

Be aware of the usual timeshare push here and elsewhere; we'd heard folks tied up as long as 5 hours at Mayan Palace!

The only reason I didn't rate this a 5 star is because of the beach and the fact that not all the units were refurbished.

My wife and I stayed here for a week on an RCI exchange. One of the most beautifull resorts we have had the pleasure to stay in.

The grounds, the rooms and and the pools were awsome. We stayed the week before at the Mayan Palace which is also a nice resort, but found the Club Velas Vallarta far superior.

Great place, only caution, studio units are small with no view, on the back hall. Otherwise, lovely visit.

ONE OF THE CLEANEST,FRIENDLY,PICTURE PERFECT RESORTS I HAVE STAYED AT IN A LONG TIME. WE CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK. THE STAFF ARE REALLY GOING THE EXTRA MILE FOR YOU. A PLEASURE TO ENJOY OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

We think this resort has all the others beat. It is absolutely gorgeous with 2 huge free form pools connected by a canal, lush gardens and great beach. The rooms are lovely and well equipped and air conditioned. Daily maid service. It is within walking distance of the marina which has some great restaurants and shops and of course wonderful yachts to see. The golf course across the street is really nice to walk around. The supermarket, about a 15 minute walk, is great. Bus transportation downtown is frequent and right outside the front of the resort.

This is a great place! Beautiful gardens and pool area. Very lush and relaxing. Staff is very friendly, good restaurants and nice facilities.

Units are good sized, airy and nice. Relatively clean and well equipped.

I would visit again

Nice property with good sized units. Pretty close to the airport, so you often hear the jets taking off which can get quite loud during the day/evening. Not too far from activities.

I am blown away by the other reviews on this resort. I have to believe that they were left by owners pitching what they have to sell. The photos of the rooms here on this site are totally bogus. We stayed the 2nd week of April 2008. The Velas has very rude staff, except for the pool service people that we came into contact with. The doormen never smile or greet you. They don’t even say hello or excuse me when they ask for your room number each time you walk through the front entrance.

The counter people are robots that seem to hate their jobs. Check in is a chore. The lobby decor is sparse and very non-descript. The vast majority of the guests are obese, and they graze on the "all-inclusive" food and beverage all day long while beaching themselves by the pool. It is both entertaining and disgusting to watch. The room decor and furniture are minimal at best, and there is not a hint of color to be found. There is a silly one-card-one-towel policy at the pool, even though they gave us 2 cards for 4 people. The staff at the towel hut is argumentative and rude. Thirty bucks for a lost towel or card.

There is no need to order any non-alcoholic drinks, as they all come that way. The food at "La Ribera" by the pool is awful. We began calling it "La Basura" or The Trash after our first and last purchase there. The evening dessert display is visually appealing, but is inedible. The prices are absurd and the good service is reserved for the locals only. I think that a big issue at this resort is the all-inclusive arrangement. We opted out of that nonsense from the get-go. Everything they serve is mediocre at best, except for La Andrea, the 2nd restaurant on the property. We started buying our 12 dollar burgers there. The all-inclusive guests reminded us that we could just get the pool boy to bring us stuff from La Basura. They had apparently never thought to extricate themselves from the lounge chair and walk 50 yards to get food that was 100 times better than what was available at their chair.

Another irritating thing is the pool-side music. Why in the world would I travel to another country only to listen to twenty and thirty year-old American rock songs by the pool? Where's the Mexican music? What they played was way too loud and it just drives you nuts.

There is an outfit called Vallarta Adventures that has an in-pool scuba thing on site and the teacher is an unmotivated potty-mouthed little American chick that really thinks she's something special. She dropped three "f bombs" within 5 feet of us when she thought she had lost her goofy sunglasses. It turned out that they were right there in her purse the whole time. No apology, but that's no surprise.

Walking to and from the marina for meals was a treat. The local people that walk toward you will absolutely not give you one inch on the sidewalk. They will run you off onto the grass without even a thought. This happened so many times that I finally realized that they really don't like us being in their country. They kiss up during the day because they have to, but on their own time, we are trash under their feet. Forget about taking a taxi, as they will charge you 4 bucks to drive 4 blocks.

The timeshare pitches and tour salespeople around P.V. are endless and extremely rude and annoying. You can't go anywhere without the calls from people trying to sell you this and that. Tours, atv rides, canopy zip lines, snorkeling trips, etc. All day, every day. When I was a kid, I remember a lot of cockroaches in Mexico. There are less of the little ones now, but I think they've morphed into timeshare and tour salesmen instead. Just like cockroaches, they hide in little spaces until its time to spring out on unsuspecting prey. Do yourself a favor and ignore these vultures, if you can. They are the plague of an otherwise decent place. Because of them and the ridiculous food prices, we are unlikely to return to Mexico any time soon. It's back to Hawaii for some real hospitality. Mexico used to be a bargain, and that allowed us to overlook the list of negatives, but no more. The prices are ludicrous and, frankly, all but one meal was disappointing. We have better Mexican food in Colorado.

Timeshare sales at the Velas are equally as annoying. They call your room daily and they won't give up. I told them that their place was so unimpressive that I would never buy there and they still kept calling! Well, we were ultimately able to ditch them, but barely.

Each night, the drunken, overfed all-inclusive guests drag themselves into the lobby/lounge for some very cheesy entertainment...and drinks of course. We began calling this the "adult summer camp" because of the immature nature of the entertainment. Mimes, casino night and mariachis, and always the ever-present free drinks. Alcohol-free that is! These half- dead zombies just sit there in the middle of the room on Target- quality chairs and tables, squeezing every dime out of there 100/day/person all-inclusive rate. These people are consuming 12,000 calories a day and not blinking an eye! Eat in the morning, eat and drink all day long at the pool, hoist themselves up in the evening and go to dinner and dessert, then to the lobby for drinks and cruddy entertainment! It is pathetic and depressing, but heck, it's "free"!

Oh, I must mention the blasted peacocks on the property. They wake you up at 5:30 every morning with their high-pitched squealing every 15 seconds. Who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to bring these things to a place where people overpay for rest and relaxation? I swear I was ready to strangle one of these dumb birds! The white one jumped up and attacked my son, leaving a permanent scar on his arm. Beware!

Another thing is the turn-down service, usually at 4:00 in the afternoon. You come back from the pool at 6:00 or 7:00 and mess the whole place up getting ready to go to town to search out some reasonably priced food (a hard task) and then you have to call down to the front desk upon your return because you have no clean towels left for the morning. Some days, the initial maid service didn't even occur until after 4:30 pm!

Anyway, you can probably guess that we would never, ever stay at the Velas Vallarta again...under any circumstances. My overall rating is a 2, rescued only by the immaculate condition of the grounds. If not for that, I would rate the place a 1 1/2, max. The rooms are a 2. The elevators are so small that only 4 normal-sized people will fit in them. You pay for every little thing. No free coffee in the lobby like everywhere else. No free internet access…anywhere on the property. Three dollar water at the pool. Charge here, charge there. It gets old really fast. If your vacation time and money are important to you, go elsewhere!