This was my 2nd visit to Puerto Vallarta, but my first to Nuevo Vallarta and Playa del Sol Grand. Let me say there was good and bad to this resort but if you know what to expect you can capitalize on the good. I hope my review helps prepare you.

The grounds at this resort are truly beautiful. There was always someone tending to them; clipping hedges, sweeping, checking the pond area where the fish are, etc. You get the idea. The infinity pool and swim up bar are nice, and of course there is a nice stretch of beach that you can walk all the way up to the quaint little town of Bucerias (which we did, its a long-ish but a pleasant walk).

As you already know from the reviews, there is a LARGE hotel construction going on next door, but if you get the right room, you will never know the difference. We had a great room, as far away from the construction as you could get. I was in the 6000 building, and we were never woken by the noise (and it IS noisy). If however you are in the 2000 building your room directly faces the construction. But I suggest you check out your room before you say yes or no regardless. We had friends in the 2000 building and although the entrance door was facing construction, their room was sunken to the back of the building and they said they were not bothered by the noise.

The food at Cardinelli's was excellent! I had the best flank steak I have had in probably 10 years, YUM. Another night there I took a chance and ordered the 4 cheese ravoli, with a blue cheese sauce, and they were outstanding.

The staff here was very nice. Front desk accomodated us even though we checked in 3 hours early, they said our room would be made up and ready in 30 mins. We happened to have really crappy weather while there, so we asked the director of activities and he allowed us to use his cards/chips and a few people we had met at the resort held our own little Texas Hold 'em tournament. The Spa was soooo nice. My friend and I had really awesome Swedish massages, and the decor of the spa is clean, relaxing and elegant.

Ok, now the not so good...
The rooms were nice to the eye, but definetly showed their wear and tear once you started to use it. For instance the wood shutters covering our balcony doors were broken on one side so we could not close it, but so what? The TV remote was broken, but I was not there to watch TV anyway. Our refrigerator leaked and the door would open occassionally, but again are these things enough to ruin your vacation? Nightlife is minimal. The resort does have poker nigh, karoke night etc, but these are done and over by 11pm. If you are looking for a party hotel this is not it. Stay somewhere closer to downtown Puerto Vallarta. The closest town is Bucerias which I suspect has some nightlife but we never saw it. We did have a really good, looong nice relaxing dinner at Mark's Bar & Grill in Bucerias, and the day we walked from the beach we did some shopping at the market which was cool. Lots of trinkets, hats, beads, etc, but vendors are not overly aggressive and will back off if you say no thank you.

All in all, I am glad I went to the Grand, but don't feel the need to go again. I would probably try staying somewhere else. But if you are considering a stay there, know what to expect and you will not be disappointed.

While on vacation in Puerto Vallarta we were invited to a timeshare presentation. The gentleman who invited us told us we would only be there for 90 min. After five (5) hours of conversation we decided to purchase a timeshare, the sales person basically push you to purchase there membership. Our sales representative Jose Varga told us we could rent these weeks, make lots of money and we were told how easy it was! Lies! Lies! Lies!
I bought the timeshare on 4/4/08. After looking at the contract we discover that all the Playa Del Sol told us was lies. On 4/8/08 we decided to cancel the membership. I call the PDS office on that date and there was no answer. The next morning I call the Santa Rosa office and was told to send the original documents to there office. I certified mail, fax and email my cancellation letter to Nuevo Vallarta and Santa Rosa, CA office. I did this within the five business day. I thought I would received my refund, not happening. I got an email from Jennifer Almaraz the Loan Officer saying, we must have a letter in writing before the recessionary period expires and that they did not receive anything from us, not even a call to make us a ware the documents were on the way. Therefore full transaction has been finalized. Unfortunately cancellation is no longer an option. At this point I have sent a complaint to PROFECO, The credit card company to dispute the charges and posted my story on websites to warn about PDS Scam.

Before we left on our 2 week Spring Break - I decided to look at some reviews of the Playa del Sol Grand. I was a little disappointed to hear so many people complaining about this hotel, but I thought I should go with an open mind. I'm glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised.

When we arrived at the hotel - we were greeted with a Tropical Punch drink and asked if we could sit through a presentation and we indicated that we might later in the week, but we have a fractional ownership here so didn't think it was necessary - we did receive a call daily for the first couple of days in our room but we declined - never to be bothered again.

Check in was slow - which they need to work on but eventually we were taken to our room which happened to be on the construction side. A little disappointing but we weren't in our room during the day. They start to work at 7am and go till about 7pm. We noticed the noise the first couple of mornings but became immune to it after that - besides we don't spend our day sleeping in our room - we prefer to do that by the pool.

We were in a studio and our bed was hard and the sofa bed was something to be desired (new foam mattresses might be in order) but when we asked - they brought us "feather" bed tops which made a difference and our girls slept on the sofa bed on the floor - more comfortable. Our A/C broke but they fixed it that afternoon - all in all the staff was quite quick and addressed our concerns in an appropriate manner. We had no complaints with them. Very friendly.

The second week we moved to a 1 bedroom suite and the bed was much better and the sofa bed was 100% better. We had no complaints as far as the rooms were concerned. Our housekeeper added little touches everyday and even put flowers in our room. Nice touch.

The pool and beach are amazing - alot of people get up early to put towels out at the loungers - which is a little unfair of people to put them out and then leave. We got up every morning and sat out at the pool while our daughters slept in and waited for them to come down. I did witness security staff removing towels when no one was there first thing in the morning after an hour, which is fair in my mind. We enjoyed the quiet time watching the dolphins swim by and having a morning coffee - what's better than sitting looking at the ocean every morning with a cup of joe and enjoying the serenity of it all!

We didn't really eat at any of the restaurants other than the breakfast buffet once and lunch at Shipwreck Kellys. We usually cooked our breakfast/lunch and sometimes dinner in our room. We went to PV and Bucerias and Sayulita and had some incredible meals.

The Mega was great to have - we didn't walk but took a taxi - all taxis are governed by body that charges the same throughout PV and NV - prices are posted in hotels so you don't get caught off guard - always check with the driver before getting in if you are unsure. The Mega had all you could want or need, which cuts down on the eating out prices. We like to have the ability to go to the room or bring something down to eat.

Our girls were involved in the activities at the pool - great job Leo! You weren't bothered on the beach too much by the vendors - they were friendly enough. If you stayed by the pool you were never bothered.

Drinks were a little expensive at Shipwreck Kelly's but we brought our own drinks to the pool and waited til happy hour! 2x1 drinks.

We also talked with a few families who read reviews here and were pleasantly surprised with their stay as well. Hopefully they write in as well to overshadow the negative reviews.

Our flight was late in the day and the hotel allowed us to stay (we had to check out but only needed a change of clothes handy). We were able to shower in the washrooms next to the gym and get ready to leave.

We had a great time and were impressed after having read so many poor reviews. We are not "elite" travellers but we do travel quite a bit - maybe a trip to China would indicate that this resort is a better than anything you could find there - so maybe we are easier to please - everyone has their thing.

We have already booked next year's vacation at the same spot, with the construction being complete this fall next door - it should be that much better.

Hopefully your stay will be great! Ours was.

I ended up at this hotel for five nights through a friend's timeshare exchange.

This hotel is decent depending where your room is located. The first four nights we were in a dingy dark room on the ground floor that backed into the construction site and over looked a run-down part of the "gardens."

After noticing a large crack in our sliding glass door the staff insisted for our safety that we relocate for our last night. Our second room was much better: better lighting, updated kitchen and bathroom, cute patio. It's a shame we didn't have that from the get-go.

The staff was very friendly. The food was not great but okay. The drinks were way over priced for what they were. $10 for a sloppy margarita in a plastic cup and happy hour was for only one hour - between 5 and 6 pm. The pool and beach are the best part. There's a nearby super market where we loaded up on groceries for the week.

I've been to PV many times but this was my first time staying in Nuevo. This hotel is good because it's not too far from the marina - about 15 minutes and another 15 to 20 to town. There's a bus that's super easy to catch and it's one transfer to get into old town.

Overall, I think this would be a good hotel if you happen to get a great (cheap) deal on the room. Otherwise there are many, many, many better hotels to chose from in the PV/Nuevo area.