Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa Puerto Vallarta

I just returned from my stay and wanted to write a review since I always rely on reviews to make good holiday choices. I was at Viva Vallarta for a week with my wife and 2 sons (10 & 12). We had a pretty good time but there where many things that we were not expecting based on the reviews that I have read. I have ben to many resorts through out the carribean so I feel I can write on honest review based on my past experiences. Viva was a nice clean resort but not that upscale or lush and tropical. I find that the side of Puerto vallarta that it is on is rather desert like. The older part of Puerto Vallarta is much prettier. The food was not that great. The lunch area by the pool needed a bigger selection of foods. The restaurants were the best part of the eating experience. And a BIG NO NO, was the lack of a beach bar. By the time you reach the beach your drink is hot. They do have guys that will bring you drinks on the beach but the drinks are simply not good by the time you get them. It is simply too far to the bars from the beach. The beach is rocky. The rocks are hidden under the water so its pretty tricky while swimming. They need to install more fans in the dinning areas because it is very very hot. The part I was most surprised about is the fact that the resort is more a vacation spot for Mexican families. While I do not have anything against mexican people it was strange to find very few american speaking guests at the hotel. If you are going expecting to meet a bunch of fun people to party and mingle with don't go to Viva. There are two pools , one is a quiet pool and let me tell you it is dead. Elevator music is playing all day. The other pool is the activities pool. It basically wall to wall screaming children. They do play better music at this pool but there needs to be a happy medium. I do want to say one really good thing about the Viva Vallarta. The staff is ecellent! We made alot of friends with the activities directors and the shows are very good. Great service is the best part

I would not return. It is really far out of town as well. I would recommend something closer to town and more tropical.

My family and another went to Club Viva Vallarta over Spring Break. We had a fabulous time and enjoyed every minute of it. The food was amazing and the staff was wonderful. It was a very clean hotel with a gorgeous view and lots of fun activities.

While we were there, us adults were able to leave our daughters for the day without worrying about them and we met up again at dinner. After dinner we went to the entertainment which was very well done, and then our girls would go to the disco while us adults went to bed. During the day, beach volleyball, water aerobics, water polo and dance lessons were activities we always attended. It was the best vacation we've been on and our girls are begging us to return. They interacted well with the staff and met many new people.

I recommend this resort to anyone who is looking for an enjoyable holiday, one they will never forget.

My husband and I just returned from a week at Viva Vallarta, and we were very pleased with almost everything (with very few exceptions). The resort was very clean, including our room, although we had only been there about one hour when the toilet in our room backed up...but they were there immediately to fix it and clean up. The gardens are beautiful, full of tropical plants and flowers. We had a garden view room,

but from our patio we had a great ocean view. The weather was perfect, but I did not have a good hair day the whole time I was there (high humidity!). The staff was wonderful, and the shows were entertaining...be aware that the people at the concierge desks just off the lobby are not there to help you, they are there to take 30 min. of your time before you realize that they want you to join their vacation club, and if you give them a vague answer, they will call your room every morning and wake you up! Also, the resort is so far out of town that it is a pain to go anywhere, also quite expensive unless you take the bus, which takes about an hour (two pesos one way). If you do take a taxi, set the price before you get in. We got taxis a couple of times for 20 US dollars one way. The food was very good at the buffet restaurant, but the other two were not that great, Viva Mexico better than Portofino, in my opinion. The adult pool is very nice with a beautiful ocean view. If you want to go out on the catamaran, which we did, you have to sign up early in the day, and reserving for early afternoon is best. They book up fast. My husband wanted to windsurf, but the guy that was supposed to teach him never showed up, and no one was very apologetic about it...oh well. We thought it was great, and are looking forward to returning in the near future...I would highly recommend it!

Just returned from Viva Vallarta 10 Jun 02. If you are expecting to party, forget it. Seems like a nice place to bring your kids though. The resort itself is very nice and spread out too, which can be a pain especially if your carrying your own bags. The food was ok, not great. Didnt get to eat at the ala carte restaurants. Eric, if you read this, it was your fault. The drinks were not that great(not strong) and it was a long walk/hike up from the beach if you were thirsty. At times the service was far from good, especially at the buffet. Seems like they catered to the older crowd a little more than the younger ones. It was way to far from Puerto Vallarta, approx a 1 hour bus ride, or a 35 minute cab ride if you tell the driver to step on it( just dont tell him to do that when its raining, eh Eric.) Overall, it was alright, but I dont think I'd return.

The Club Viva was a lot of fun. I was there with my girlfriend at the end of April. The service was great and the food was excellent. The drinks were fair. However, what I have found in the past is that Americans (which I am myself) expect too much for nothing. TIP, TIP, TIP!! If you tip the bartenders the drinks seem to get A LOT stronger. The adult 'RELAX POOL' was great after you went boogie boarding on the bay. I would visit this resort again with no hesitation at all.

Excellent food. Excellent servic. The animation team was the best group of people around. They absolutely made the holiday. Very, very clean rooms. They couldn't do enough for us. No request was inconvenient. Did I mention the animation team... talented, funny, dedicated, charming, talented, funny, entertaining, did I mention that they were great. Lots of activities to join in for free. boogie board, catamaran, tennis, gym, archery, bocchi ball, water aerobics, dancing, dancing, dancing.We give it a 5 star. Will most assuredly be back as soon as possible!!!

we visited from 5/21/02:

The viva vallarta is a nice resort. The food is very good and the ala carte restaurants were very nice. We could sign us for the special restaurants when we checked in which was very nice (no getting up early and waiting in line when you are on vacation). The adult quiet pool was especially nice. The other pool had lively music and acitivities is that is what you want. The hotel was very clean and the rooms were very comfortable. The only negative was the beach. It is very rocky and there is a lot of seaweed on shore. We took care of that by going about 3 miles down the road to a beautiful stretch of beach at Rancho Banderas and rented boogie boards and we had a blast with the sandy beach and wonderful surf. I would recommend the resort for the money. It is 50 min. to downtown Puerto Vallara (which we did one night) and rented a car. It can get expensive with the cabs. The staff was very nice. Great massages and the fitness center was adequate. Only one treadmill, but a lot of free weights and machines. Enjoy!

Awful swim beach, too rocky and rough.

Too remote - excursions take a half day

of transit and a lot of money.

Food and drinks - just so so. Buffet is

the same everyday and too mexican.

My family and I just returned from a vacation at Club Viva Vallarta. We had a wonderful time. We had our 4 year old son and 11 month old daughter and they both had a great time. My son spent hours in the kiddie pool which was deep enough for him to have fun but not so deep that he was unsafe. He also went to the Kids Club some of the time which he really enjoyed - the only negative to the Kids Club is that when they are not at the beach or pool with the kids, then the kids can spend their time playing video games. The food was really good, with a great salad bar every lunch and dinner. The alcohol was pretty bad but you did get used to it and after a couple of days it didn't matter. There were plenty of activities, my husband played beach volleyball everyday, I played water polo. The activities staff were very friendly and at night they put on shows that actually were pretty good. Everynight they have the kids go up on stage and dance, my son loved it and wanted to go to the shows everynight. There are lots of families there and it was very safe. We felt comfortable with our son going to the snack bar by himself to get a juice, a couple of times we even let him go to the pool ahead of us. We went into Puerto Vallarta one day but with the kids it wasn't worth it. The resort is pretty new and still in good shape - aesthetically very pleasing. They have filtered water which I was hesitant about, but none of us got sick. I would highly recommend Club Viva Vallarta. (They do try to push a time share presentation on you - we avoided it, a couple got roped in while we were there and really regretted it).

Club Viva Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta Mexico was the best!!! I had the funnest time and the food and activities(especially the shows at night) were the best!!! Also the disco was fun to!! I would go there again in a secound! Plus all the staff were very friendly and I met a lot of nice new people!! And the weather was amazing all the time! if your thinking of taking a vacation to mexico this is the resort to check out!!!

Dana