Mexican Holiday

Best Things Nearby:

All you need is available without leaving the resort: wonderful restaurants, pools, beach, shopping for jewelry or beach wraps, and activities for adults and children.

Best Things About the Resort:

Children's activities are great, with each day programmed from morning until 5pm, including lunch for $15 per child. Teenagers and adults can take Spanish or flower-making classes, make friendship bracelets, go on the beach and play water soccer, take water aerobics, or just relax by the many pools.

Resort Experience:

The Mayan Palace is quite large, with a number of fine restaurants as well as snack bars near the pools. There are also waiters who bring you drinks or a sandwich at the pool or on the beach. You don't have to be rich to enjoy the rich life. We lived like a king and queen while there. We had a bus all over the resort, could get a bus or taxi to town if we wished to go, and had shuttle transportation to wherever we needed if we chose not to walk or had difficulty doing so. From the back of the resort, you look over the golf course. From the front you look over the swimming pools and the beach. Even room service is like eating in a fine restaurant - both food and service were wonderful. On returning home from the airport, we stopped to eat a late dinner and felt like we had really come down in the world, as we had had gourmet meals there. And how I would love the recipe for that fantastic onion soup from the Mondo. It was as good as dessert. There is a little train to take the kids around the resort. The pools have areas where water is only 5 or 6 inches deep and others where it is chest deep. There is an endless pool looking out over the beach and ocean. And the spa!!!!!!!! Oh, the bliss. I had the special of three different massages, all for $175 during the time we were there.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Best Things Nearby:

The Grand Mayan is the height of luxury. You have use of entire Mayan Resort in Nuevo Vallarta, which is actually three resorts. It’s a short taxi ride into Puerto Vallarta and all the wonderful sights there. Tours can be arranged right in the resort.

Best Things About the Resort:

We felt truly pampered here at this resort. We had towels made into elephants and puppies. The rooms were extremely roomy. It was a paradise looking from our front patio. The suite had a sitting pool right outside, although I didn't use it. The children's activities at the Mayan Resorts were extensive, as were the adult activities. I took a Spanish class, flower-making classes, and water aerobics, and there were many others. There was water volleyball and water and beach soccer. The beach is very private and vendors don't bother you. They have a shop on the beach you go to. I got both jewelry and six pareos that were beautiful and very inexpensive. The restaurants were excellent. The lazy river, huge waterslide, and wave pool made this like a water amusement park. One doesn't need money, just the room number, whether it is in the restaurant, the grocery, the spa, or ordering via the waiters at the pool or beach.

Resort Experience:
The wonderful thing about staying at the Grand Mayan is that you have the use of three resorts. There is a little grocery right there in the complex with a complimentary bus shuttle there and back. There were a number of restaurants. We would have gone back to any of them, as the food was wonderful. I particularly liked the onion soup in the Mondo restaurant. I've never seen onion soup like that and never tasted any as good. I'd love the recipe. The tortilla soup, or Azteca sopa, was excellent as well and not too hot for this gringo.

 

 

The pool area is unbelievable. I enjoyed the lazy river. I wasn't adventurous enough for the waterslide or the wave pool, but my grandkids would have loved it and I hope to go again and take them. I did make big Mexican flowers to equal any in a craft shop. There were so many interesting activities, but doing nothing was also such a joy. We lounged by the pool and I did my water exercises. I took some classes but also visited the spa for three massages in 2 weeks there. I also got a pedicure. Everything except purchases from natives at the shop on the beach could be charged to the room. For my husband and I, all our meals, activities, and spa visits, the total cost was about $500 for one week and about $400 for the second week. Had we wanted to make our own meals, we had the kitchen and could do that, but we ate in restaurants and had room service. Even our groceries we charged to the room. Computers were available for a very nominal charge, which was great for me. The concierge was extremely helpful, as were the bus boys who drove us about in golf-cart shuttles upon our request. I had shiatzu, Swedish, and drainage massages, and each was different and fantastic. Shiatzu was energizing and removed the pain in my back and knee. The other two were very relaxing. I used a wheelchair in going to gate to gate on my flight down, but I walked between gates on my way home. It was a wonderful and healthy experience.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

This is a full-service spa with massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and it has a Jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, and exercise equipment. I enjoyed the steam room with the herbs that opened up my head and had me breathing easier. The massages were great. I had Swedish, lymph drainage, and shiatzu. I had them in that order, but they could be done in the opposite order or any order. Shiatzu is very energizing, and with pressure on my acupressure points, it decreased or eliminated my pain in the back and in my knees. The other two were very relaxing. The shiatzu is on the floor, and I wondered if I'd be able to get up, but I could. The other two were on the massage tables.

 

 

There is a relaxing room where one can re-hydrate with lime-flavored water or a special iced tea. Be sure to go early and wear a bathing suit if you’d like modesty for the Jacuzzi. For the sauna or steam room, you can wrap in a towel or warm robe they provide. Everyone is very helpful and friendly. They are also bilingual, and you will have no trouble with language there. They also have a hair salon and nail salon along with the wraps and massages, etc. If you have an exercise routine, they have machines of all types, and there is a wonderful jogging path around the golf course and near the beach. The costs are very reasonable.