TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Great time always at Barcelo!!!

Alejandra was amazing! Very kind and fast service at the pool! We enjoyed her company! Barcelo was fabulous, we will be back!

First time at the Barcelo PVR and lot to love. This resort was clearly very luxurious when first built and they are working hard to maintain the luxury. The rooms are a little dated in style, but they have new TVs, new bedding, plenty of outlets. A really large and nice room. Checking in was easy, the main entrance is beautiful everyone nice, everyone speaks english well enough. Rooms always kept clean, cleaners seem to know your families schedule so room get clean at the right time. They do a great job, even have fun with the setup for the kids bed Pool is awesome, fun to have the palm trees and waterfalls right by the pool. Service at the pool bar is great. Never had to wait too long for a drink. They keep the area pretty clean as well. Customers are what they are. Some are noisy and make a mess but most are well behaved. Our family group went out with the Jack Sparrow boat company they have by the beach with Alfonso and had a great time cliff diving, snorkling and hanging by the beach. 100% great time there. Beach looks small but its perfectly fine. Never too busy, good sand, calm water. For pacific side you really can't ask for more. The only weird thing, and it makes no sense why they did it this way is how they handle the on-resort restaurants. 1. Despite staying 5 nights you only get 2 nights included at the speciality restaurants. This WAS NOT disclosed on the Barcelo, Hotels or Trip Advisor sites its felt like a bait and switch. We enjoying dining out and not just the buffet so this was very disappointing. 2. You have to wait in line 20 minutes before 9am to maybe get a reservation. It seems like they only have 10 or so total to give out as the "premium" guests seem to have more than half the restaurants available for them to walk in. 3. If and when you go to a restaurant it turns out its empty. Like 25% full. At first I thought maybe it was staffing but something else is going on. Why keep it empty when there is a line 50+ people deep in the morning trying to get a reservation. Whatever is happening here Barcelo corporate needs to look into. I don't think anyone has ill intentions but it seems like the front desk is not checking in with the ground reality at night of the restaurants being mostly empty. If they can fix the restaurant situation this would have truly been a perfect vacation.

We stayed at the Barcelo PV in early March with 2 other couples and had a wonderful 10 day vacation. This marks my 4th time staying at a Barcelo/Occidental property. Overall, our time here was great and I'm happy to say we did not experience some of the complaints others have shared here. Property: Absolutely beautiful location with mountains on either side and gorgeous ocean views from our suite (friends were on each a different floor and also had lovely views). The sounds of birds and roosters is ever present in the hallways and i loved it. The grounds are clean and stunning with beautiful foliage and flowers along pathways and pools. The 2 large swimming pools are surrounded by large rocks and foliage and are some of the nicest I’ve seen (temperatures great). A third pool is small and used for water sports, and there is a small children's pool with slide. We also enjoyed the 2 hot tubs. The beach and boardwalk a little further down are nice to walk. We also were able to float in the ocean within the roped off area with floaties we brought from home. Location: Its about a 30 minute drive from Puerto Vallarta. Bonus is that you drive along the coast for a good part. We took a bus into town for 10 pesos each (a first for us). Felt safe and it was so easy from in front of the hotel. We also took a walk into Mismaloya which was rustic and quaint. We stopped at the Mama Lucia tequila distillery for a free tour and tasting, which was a nice little activity and educational. Suite: Pleasantly surprised to find it so large! It had a lounge area when you walked in with a large picture window with a view of the mountain. Another front living area with large balcony completed the space and provided more than enough room. King bed was very comfortable, but pillows were a bit firm for our liking. The room is somewhat dated but it was very clean and we had very consistent and timely housekeeping service. Food: We enjoyed almost all the food we tried (so it’s hard to understand the negative reviews). Breakfast at the buffet is very consistent and you can’t beat the fresh egg and omelette station like most resorts! We mostly ate at the snack restaurant for lunch. Good variety and we really enjoyed the shrimp burritos, tacos, club house sandwiches and decent burgers. The wood fired pizza is pretty good. Tip: ask the chef if he can make you a parmesan crusted stuffed calzone - it was really good. We tried all the a la cartes and enjoyed our meals. Cocktails were good - watch out for the long island ice teas - delicious but very boozy. A word about illness - i had read several reviews about guests getting sick and citing food as the culprit so as a person with stomach sensitivities i was a little concerned going in - happy to say we stayed well during our entire stay. Entertainment: We only went to Karaoke and a couple of the night shows, which were decent and somewhat typical for AI’s. Live entertainment follows at about 10:15 in the Cantina (which is very small) but we found this too late to stay after a full day (wish it could start earlier). Excursions: We booked a trip to Yelapas and Majahuitas (wonderful day and delicious buffet lunch) through the Nexus rep at the hotel. A smaller boat picks you up out front and takes you to meet the catamaran further out (so no need to go to PV to partake). Note, however the small boat is brought close to shore but you still have to jump in from the water with waves coming in. Would not be easy if you have mobility issues. Last and definitely not least- the amazing staff: Friendly, helpful and so hard working, almost always with smiles on their faces. Some stand outs were Jaqiline, Anahi and Denise. Shout out to all the restaurant wait staff too whose names I can’t recall. Front desk staff were also friendly and always helpful. I would definitely recommend staying here, especially if you enjoy natural surroundings and want a relaxing, low key vacation.

We loved our time here. We were especially grateful for the service provided by our waiter, Francisco.