Dreams Bahia Mita Surf & Spa Resort — Hotel in Nayarit

We just returned from an unforgettable 6-day, 5-night vacation at Secrets Bahia Mita in Puerto Vallarta, and from the moment we arrived, we felt completely pampered and cared for. As Preferred Club members, the level of personalized service was exceptional throughout our stay.||||The Food: A Culinary Delight|| • Bordeaux: Our favorite fine dining spot. The escargot and scallop appetizers were elegant and full of flavor.|| • Market Café (6th Floor): Our go-to breakfast place! I couldn’t get enough of the French toast, crepes, and the nostalgic chico and chico mame. My husband enjoyed the fresh guayabano and refreshing green juice every morning.||Huge shout-out to the amazing team who made our mornings extra special:|| • Alexandra, Lulu, and Jair, Denise who greeted us warmly each time they see us|| • The sweet lady in the French toast station—you made my mornings!|| • Azucena of the omelet station, whose creations were always delicious.|| • Seaside Grill: My husband loved the whole fried red snapper—crispy and flavorful, served just the way he likes it.|| • Portofino: The lamb shanks were melt-in-your-mouth delicious—rich, savory, and satisfying.|| • Bluewater Grill: We were blown away by the very tender octopus served at dinner—so flavorful and perfectly cooked. Thanks to our server Cesar for recommending this dish.||||Unforgettable Drinks & Hospitality|| • Shout-out to Lupita and Ernesto, the fantastic bartenders on the 6th floor, who mixed every drink with care and warmth.|| • Nelly, the friendly bar barista on the 4th floor near Bordeaux, introduced us to our new favorite snacks: Peanuts with Tajín. We kept coming back just for another bowl—thank you, Nelly!|| • Special thanks to Roberto, the Preferred Club manager, for offering us authentic Mexican sweets like tamarindo, marzipan, and Mexican caramel candies—some of which I brought home as little souvenirs. What a thoughtful touch!||||Exceptional Service & Personal Touches|| • The Preferred Club Lounge (8th Floor) was our daily retreat. A big thank-you to Vanessa Herrera and Sheyla Gomez, who went the extra mile for us—not just once, but many times. When I told them that one of my bucket list experiences at Secrets was to enjoy a fresh coconut, they made it happen. Fresh coconut juice isn’t available every day, but on the day it was, they made sure I wouldn’t miss it. Because of their effort, I was able to happily check that item off my list. I truly appreciated how thoughtful and intentional they were in making sure even my cravings were satisfied.|| • Vanessa, Sheyla, Efrain, Victor and the rest of 8th floor Preferred Member pool also made our anniversary extra memorable with champagne and a lovely plate of sweet treats—another wonderful surprise.|| • Our butler Elizabeth was outstanding—always checking in, handling reservations, and attending to every detail with a smile.|| • A memorable moment: I complimented a staff member’s lovely smile, not knowing she was one of the butlers. On our last night, we were surprised with a bottle of rosé, delicious treats, and a heartfelt note. Her kind gesture meant so much. Thank you Rousse Ligaro, you’re beautiful inside and out!|| • Congratulations to Diego, a newly hired team member of Secrets! We met him on his last day as a trainee at Olio and the next morning he proudly told us he was officially hired. It was so heartwarming to see someone begin his journey with such joy and pride.||||Entertainment, Culture & Activities|| • The Black Sheep Vallarta Band and Bahia Mita dancers brought great energy during the Rock Show and they kindly stayed for photos after the show!|| • The Moulin Rouge performance was spectacular. The dancers, costumes, and acrobatics were phenomenal. The group also stayed for photo-ops. Huge thanks to Enrique, the entertainment supervisor, for ensuring every moment was enjoyable.|| • The Bahía Garden Tour with the spirited Javier of Entertainment was insightful and fun. We even tasted passion fruit straight from the tree with Edel, the farmer—our first time, and it was absolutely unforgettable.|| • Crafts with Sophia was peaceful and creative—I learned to make an Ojo de Dios, and I’ll always treasure that memory.||||A special shout-out to Miriam, who wore a beautiful authentic Mexican costume during Mexican Night and graciously posed for a photo with me. Such a sweet and memorable gesture that added cultural richness to the night.||||Accessibility & Sustainability|| • The resort is very handicap-friendly, with ramps and wide walkways that made it easy for guests with mobility needs to move around comfortably.|| • We also appreciated the resort’s eco-friendly practices. For example, no plastic straws are provided, so guests are encouraged to bring reusable ones—a simple step that reflects the resort’s commitment to sustainability.||||A Small Suggestion|| • The in-room safety box worked well, but we suggest bolting it inside a cabinet for added security and...

Both the bad and good reviews on this place are onto legitimate things. This place is not perfect, but has a lot going for it as well. It’s up to you to align your own personal vacation profile and preferences with the strengths and weaknesses of this resort. This place is a 5 star to one type of person, and a 1 star to another.

Preferred club. Your rooms are in a convenient and central location, it’s also possible to end up in this location by coincidence though. Location wise, it is pretty convenient. It’s a big resort so being further away could be a nuisance but it depends on your preferences. There are other small amenities like the rooftop pool though as far as I could tell nobody was actually checking whether the guests in that area were preferred members. The preferred breakfast spot is marginally better than the default one but they are pretty similar, although the preferred one does have a really nice view.

Dreams vs Secrets: The resort is a somewhat symmetrical cove, with one half being dreams and the other being secrets. There are a couple signs that say ‘secrets only beyond this point’, suggesting that half the restaurants are inaccessible to dreams guests. I can tell you as a dreams guest that no restaurant on either side turned me away. As far as I can tell, every sign that says ‘secrets only’ actually means ‘no kids’, as that is being actively enforced. If you don’t have kids with you then dreams and secrets have identical resort access.

Room: Junior suite was like a pretty nice hotel room. No complaints besides noise. Consistently clean, good housekeeping, comfortable bed, spacious bathroom. The AC was very powerful. Only real issue I can even think of is that sometimes there was a bad rotten smell outside of the room (never inside). Not sure why and didn’t experience this anywhere else in the resort. It is LOUD. There are 3-5 events happening simultaneously at the resort at any given night. On some nights I could hear 3 different events from my room. Loud doesn’t even begin to explain it, you basically cannot be trying to sleep in any capacity. That said, noise CONSISTENTLY stopped around 11-11:30 every night I was there. For the right person who is ok to be out and about until then, noise won’t be an issue.

Food: Everything seemed very clean and sanitary. The food itself is variable across the different spots in the resort. You absolutely can choose wrong and have consistently middling meals, or choose right and have pretty great food. I was always impressed by the Mexican cuisine (tacos etc), all of their beef at the resort was consistently tender and well flavored. There are other meals that are average to below average. For example at the Italian restaurant I found the pasta to be nothing to write home about (nothing wrong with it, just not doing much), but that same restaurant served a beef tenderloin that was by all metrics excellent. Another example: had a mahi mahi which was dry and sort of fishy, then later had a salmon from the same spot and it was very tasty and well prepared. Other highlights: fresh fruit almost always accessible at the world market cafe, guacamole almost always accessible at the taqueria. Find the good things that you like and you’ll eat very well. If you don’t put in that effort and expect everything to be great you will be disappointed.

Service: impressed me. Served quickly at restaurants and by the pool. Staff were kind.

Ambience: mixed bag. Some views are beautiful, others are construction. Some spots are relaxing, others are blaring music

Things to do: there are various resort activities, and I touched on boogie boards etc. there are a handful of other things not yet mentioned (pickle ball courts, ping pong, swim up bar). Honestly, there’s not that much to do. This is primarily a lounging around and relaxing style vacation. I didn’t leave the resort, which would also be relatively inconvenient location-wise. It was perfect for my use case which was to hang around with family.

Other delights: cafes, gelato, water park, gym.

I had a...

Unlimited Luxury Inclusions - NOT SO MUCH, don't waste your extra money We chose the Secrets side of the resort because we wanted an adult only experience and we chose to upgrade to the unlimited luxury inclusions because it included unlimited international and domestic top-shelf spirits, daily mini bar refreshed, unlimited concierge and room service, among other highlights. All of the aforementioned were considered "preferred club," benefits. The room and grounds were beautiful, however the extra money spent on premium liquor and preferred club amenities was a benefit that should not have been included at this time as it is quite clear the property is not ready for anything aside form a "soft opening" as they work out their kinks. *NO SEPERATATION BETWEEN DREAMS AND SECRETS - the Dreams side of the resort had more food options and restaurants open throughout the day than the Secrets side. We went in October so there weren't alot of children screaming and running around, but I can only imagine what our experience would have been like in the summer time. Since wristbands are not allowed, the resort relies on your room number and staff to keep the 2 sides separate. Although it was nice to have the flexibility to go to either side of the property, the options on the Secrets side were not as extensive and readily available as those on the Dreams side. *PREMIUM/TOP SHELP LIQUOR WAS SLIM TO NONE - when we requested Vodka we were always offered Absolute and Smirnoff. We had to request Belvedere, Tito's or Kettle One each time including at the preferred club lounge area. Once requested, the answer was always one of the following: that will be here tonight, we are out, give us 20 minutes. "Premium liquor" at the preferred club level, should have been readily available. It was not just for Vodka, but every other premium/ top shelf liquor requested. Had I known I would not get premium liquor or have to ask for it every time I wanted a drink, I would not have paid for this luxury. Several guests had the same complaint throughout our stay. One advised they had stayed at several Secrets properties, but never had such a problem with getting top shelf drinks. *PREFERED LOUNGE HOURS CHANGED DAILY - the preferred lounge is supposed to be where you get premium drinks and snacks. As mentioned before top shelf was lacking, but so were the snacks. Once a complaint was made about the snacks they began to appear. However, the hours the lounge was open changed daily and sometimes, hourly. The lounge closed early every day often at a different time than initially advised and it was closed for remodeling one of the days. *RESERVATIONS REQUIRED AT HABACHI GRILL - reservations were supposedly not required, however Habachi grill DOES, this knowledge was not clear to us prior to arriving at the restaurant. The staff did accommodate us as best they could with food from the grill upon complaining, but again I had to complain. *SPA - the massage therapists and staff on property were excellent. The architecture was beautiful, no complaints there. However, part of the unlimited luxury experience included a 25 min free massage, we were told we could upgrade for an additional price, but once check out came it was found that the 25 min free massage service was not included if you booked directly with the resort, only if you used a 3rd party booking service??? A manager was able to assist with this misunderstanding and allowed us to pay the rate we expected. *STILL AWAITING CREDIT - the manager who advised I could get a credit has failed to return my call or email since we left as we were unable to get the problem resolved prior to leaving. *OVERALL SOME THINGS SHOULD NOT BE OFFERED IF YOU CAN'T UPHOLD THE BRAND EXPECTATIONS - my experience would have been better if I did not have the expectation that I would receive certain upgraded amenities. PLEASE SAVE YOUR MONEY and enjoy the property without the unlimited...