Paradise Village Beach Resort and Spa — Hotel in Nayarit

This will be long but worthwhile to some. Arrived early afternoon on Saturday April 13th. Note: do not “fall” for the people at the airport holding signs with the different resorts on them that say they will take you to your destination. Those are sales people & they pay the airport to be there. Go past these people to the taxi stand that is right by the exit door. Quick & easy. It was 440 pesos ($25.00) for the three of us & our luggage, which fit just fine in the small car. Don’t forget a tip. We tipped 60 pesos. Resort does have a guard station & you do have to stop. Inside main entrance, turned to right to the three clerks check in/out. Yes, there’s a handful of ladies inside as you enter, these are more sales people. Our clerk was Enrique who had family in TX (where we are from). He said he had worked there many years, but we only saw him that one time. He was training a new clerk. It did not take long as a lot of reviews state. Believe me, I was dreading it, from what I read. Yes they need to see your passports, etc. My friend that was with me & my husband has a time share, so we were her guests. We had to wear green plastic bracelets. I joked with Enrique about them, what happens if we lose them, he stated it would cost $18.00. Thought he was joking, he was not! One of the ladies standing around said we needed our welcome drink & to know about daily activities, my friend said, later, please, we are tired. Maybe the lady should have said, let me show you where your room is, instead of already trying to “pounce” on us for a sale. Well, no one told us where our room was but we finally found it. Seventh floor. Very large, as my friend had a lot of points. Don’t understand & don’t want to! Maid service was still cleaning up the room!! Ugh. We tried not to get in their way as we sure were not going to go back down stairs. Plain, not colorful. Bed was comfortable. Appreciate ceiling fans in each room, including living area. |Went with my husband down to Tulum restaurant at 5, hostess said lunch or dinner? Lunch at 5? We said lunch. She could have told us that at 6, it would be a buffet. Ice tea is different. Note: no lemons only key lime limes used everywhere & no pink nor blue packets of sugar substitute only yellow (Splenda). No salt/pepper on tables. The homemade chips with what we call pico de gallo at home, had tiny pieces of cucumber added to the tomato, red onion & cilantro. Nice! We split a bowl of seafood soup. Shrimp, mussels, calamari in a nice broth. Fish tacos: grilled tiny pieces of fish in a thick red sauce, ok tasting. And a mix of shrimp, beef, & chicken fajitas. And a piece of cheesecake, not like the cheesecake in the states, of course. Nice meal. Get bill, saw a 20%, something on it, well, Roberto didn’t speak much English. Told him we want to pay with credit card not charge to room. No problem. Did find out that due to the green wrist band, we were getting 20%discount on food, but we said no each time that we were not with our friend, as it was her room/bill. Didn’t want to have to calculate things at a later time. The whole,place, inside/out is kept very clean. Landscape is nicely taken care of. We walked to the mall, did you know it is part of the resort? We didn’t but found out later. There is not a gift shop,of any size in the resort. Didn’t see hardly any golf carts in use. We bought air freshener, room didn’t smell good, well nothing did, that’s Mexico, plain & simple. Bought dish soap, & laundry detergent, not supplied in room. Nice grocery store, think they had everything imaginable. Nice mall, ice cream shops, souvenirs, etc. lots to choose from, almost don’t need to go into town. We didn’t like to see Daisy the tiger pacing back & forth in her cage. The caged Birds were colorful & loud. If this resort &others in area would concentrate on their websites, instead of trying to sell time share, what a difference it would make. We went there for vacation, rest & relaxation NOT to sit in any presentation. |They really should stop & consider that the guest might not can afford a time share! Stop asking & trying, etc. leave the guest alone let them go to you if they want to enquire about a very expensive time share. The website is lacking many things. How about a history section, more info on the room, there’s not one bathroom picture; security, about the tiger, birds, etc. menus. The bellboys are more informative than the sales ladies that’s for sure. |Isabel who has worked there many years ended up being our welcome home (LOL) lady. And she did it, she tried to get us to sit thru a presentation. She sat down with things to do brochure, it’s this price, but go to presentation for this discount. NO!!! She showed us a brochure about an Island show “Alma” said it was better than cirque du soleil, NO it was NOT! She said the boat goes along the coast, NO it did NOT, she said we only had to pay dock fee, nope we also had to pay an access fee. Go online & book events on your own as the resort made money by booking the show for us. Still upset about that. The only thing good she did was tell us about a driver for $35.00 an hour. Best thing to do. Completely worth it. We had Peppe, spoke good English, very knowledgeable, in fact told us about the resort & he has zero to do with the resort!! He told us about the owner a Canadian Italian, which being half Italian I liked hearing about. Sure won’t find this info in the resort nor website. Sad. There’s a statue of the founder, Peppe told us about that too. That should be in website AND a brochure at concierge desk, OR those darn sales ladies should tell about the resort. Received courtesy phone call that a huge convention of people would be in the resort, it didn’t bother us at all except the nice big breakfast buffet at Tulum was moved to Mayapan restaurant & it was smaller each day & not as good. We went to the BBQ& Shrimp buffet, what a joke. One hot dish of small grilled shrimp, & small shrimp,in a cold rice dish. No fiesta night due to convention. No bacon, had to ask for it, as only link sausage is used each day not even pan sausage. We also ate at Copan Sunset bar, it was ok. All in all, the food was just ok & not cheap by any means. We left a couple days before our friend & bell boy noticed our bracelets as we waited for taxi & said we must checkout even if it wasn’t under our name due to security, passports, someone would think that we were still at the resort. They make you take off bracelet, no souvenir unless you really want to pay $18.00 per bracelet! They actually cut it in 2 pieces. It’s numbered, so they cut that then in another section!|I couldn’t find the plastic “room key” you know the credit card type that almost every place uses & usually gets thrown away! Oh not at this place! Got charged for it!! RIDICULOUS. I’m sure I left some info out. Would be glad to give Pepe’s info so you could call him/email to set up using his driver service. I would not stay here again as there’s so many to...

The Pros:|- Great location! |- There's a market in a small indoor mall nearby so we were able to buy groceries and save money by making breakfast in our room (there's a 2 burner stove, microwave, coffee maker, toaster & blender). Make sure you buy water there and play it safe drinking, rinsing your toothbrush, etc. We used nothing but the bottled water and had zero issues!|- Nice little patio with a table & chairs to sit out and eat, have a drink, relax, etc.|- Gorgeous beach, with plenty of little covered palapas & chairs so we could enjoy sitting out while still staying in the shade. Waiters come by so you can order drinks, food, etc. right there.|- Typical vendors coming around to sell you stuff, braid hair, etc. But they took no for an answer without being pushy.|- The little mall had several really good restaurants, so we ate breakfast and dinner there a couple of times.|- The mall also had a lavandaria (laundry) where you can do it yourself or have them do it for very inexpensive.|- Every night at the outdoor amphitheatre there is some kind of entertainment, including a welcome night with free drinks, small appetizers, and a raffle. We thoroughly enjoyed the Legends of Music (the guy doing Michael Jackson was especially talented), and the fire dancers.|- We did the Wednesday night Western BBQ on the beach. Open bar, and LOTS of really good food.|- We didn't eat at the buffet or most of the other restaurants, just one night at the "sky bar." The food was good.|- The 3 pools were nice and very clean. It was nice having the adult pool without the DJ and all the kids.|- The grounds are kept very clean and pretty.|- While there is no shuttle, there is a taxi stand right outside the grounds so very easy to go other places. There's even a rental car place there as well, so we were able to rent a car and drive to San Sebastian.|- Do not use the ATMs closest to the mall. Walk a little further past, up to the hospital, and use the ATM there. The fees are cheaper. Also, do NOT accept their extra fee as you can say decline and save some money.|- On Tuesdays behind the hospital in the parking lot is a wonderful market with food vendors, souvenir vendors, etc. I bought quite a few items there (and they will bargain). It's the same vendors as at the La Cruz marina on Sundays. The food was excellent there too. I can highly recommend the TY clothing booth. They sell shirts, dresses, and skorts in a lightweight fabric that don't wrinkle and dry quickly. I bought one in La Cruz, then went back on Tuesday and bought 2 more. I live in Florida and they are so comfortable, and will take up so much less room in my luggage than shorts for future vacations.||The Cons:|- For the price, the room was a bit dumpy/tired. And the maids didn't do a great job on cleaning the floor - my feet got dirty right out of the shower even our first day there.|- Unless you do the "all inclusive" the gym is not included, which was an unpleasant surprise. But the all inclusive to me isn't worth it unless you plan to eat every meal there and do all the activities on property like the Western night and the Mexican night, and eat at all the restaurants there. For us the cost wouldn't have been worth it.|- We had issues with the TV - the remote worked intermittently, and the satellite kept going out. Not that big a deal as we really weren't watching that much TV.|- The hot tub at the adult pool had a great setup but only 2 of the jets actually worked. So we really weren't able to take advantage of it. And unlike the pools, it wasn't very clean.|- The water slide at the adult pool was closed the entire time we were there.|- I was pretty sad seeing Daisy, the tiger. Yes, she had plenty of food & water, a pool (tigers love water) and several den areas in the shade. And the double cage wasn't too tiny. HOWEVER, tigers, even at her age, need a lot more room so they can actually run, which this cage did not. Several times we saw her stress-pacing. (I know what I'm talking about as I used to volunteer at a GFAS-approved sanctuary). And the thought they once had TWO tigers in that comparatively small cage definitely was disturbing.||We really enjoyed our stay, and would...

May 17 - 24, 2025|Paradise Village|Nuevo Vallarta||As usual we enjoyed our time at Paradise Village, and it was a convenient location for my husband to have dental work done all week. ||Check in was quick once we finally got a bellman to unload our car of groceries and luggage. They seemed reluctant to do so. |Our room was a disappointment, and we do spend enough time in our room to make note of it. It was 2209. A one bedroom, two bathrooms. The two bathrooms were very convenient. The whole unit is very basic with the new upgrades, no raves on décor. TVs one in living room and one in bedroom, very small tv’s for this era where everyone has large screen TVs. ||The room was one of the smallest one bedrooms we have ever had with the worst view. The view was at the driveway and looked to the entrance, so if you were out there, people waiting for taxis or even bellmen were staring at you. ( we could have asked for a room change I guess but we did not). I would in future. ||The kitchen has basic kitchen supplies, very basic. No paper towels, napkins or such. A sign over sink reading maid not responsible for washing dishes. Okay, then where is dish soap, None, a sponge yes, but no soap so you have to go buy some ( thus using their store or paying a taxi, though we did not we took our car and went to another grocery store). If you are going to have this sign which makes perfect sense, then supply dish soap. |We also bought bar soap for bathrooms as they have shampoo, shower gel and such but in disposers attached to wall. Some folks like a bar of soap. No other amenities in the room, which all timeshares offer those, even low budget hotels do. ||Internet in rooms is sketchy if at all and channels on TV are lacking greatly. The tv in the bedroom had an option to change the language to English but not the one in the living room. |Parking is not sufficient for the amount of people who travel there by car, which is a lot. Getting a lounger by the pool with any shade ie : umbrella is almost impossible, so few umbrellas. We tried a few times and after that gave up and just used the palapas on the beach which is lovely. A great beach and lots of palapas. The vendors are a total nuisance here. After telling the same vender two days in a row about 20 times a day, No gracias, it becomes disturbing. They even would ask both myself and my husband, A couple times they actually woke us up from a beach snooze. I usually do not complain about venders trying to make a living, but these ones are literally a nuisance. ||This is a noncash resort so you charge everything to your room on a card you have given previously if you are not doing all inclusive. Worked fine for us. They have decent gelato at a stand by the beach but better gelato can be gotten over at Paradise Mall. ||The ??concierge?? timeshare hawks can be pretty relentless as well. Ours called and called until my husband told her we were not interested and hung up the phone. Then you are basically ignored for the whole rest of the trip in the lobby. ||Overall, our room served its purpose, and we enjoyed our stay, though no raves other than the beach. Food by the beach is also good and prices not too overinflated. |We are used to express check out or previous night check out but not here. In order to do that you have to write you credit card info down on a piece of paper and leave it with them the night before. My husband was having no part of that. Archaic rule for such a big resort, a huge drawback for us. We avoided lines by checking out earlier than we needed or really wanted. ||We will go back but hope they do change some things mentioned or at least we will be prepared for such next visit. We actually liked the units before the renovations….except the couches. More...