Mexico is a great destination for Americans to visit at any time or for any reason. When you only have a few days off, heading down south is perfect! Many places in Mexico are just a few hours away by plane, especially if you live in the southern border states of the US. I recently had four days off and decided on a quick trip to Puerto Vallarta because it’s warm in January, and because it’s only a 3-hour flight from Los Angeles (where I’m based). I had the opportunity to work with and stay at the luxury boutique hotel Casa Velas while I was in Mexico, and in this post I will review my time at the resort. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own!
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About the Resort
Casa Velas is part of the Velas Resorts family, which has several resorts in the major coastal tourist hotspots in Mexico. It is a small luxury boutique hotel in Puerto Vallarta, set slightly inland from the beach and surrounded by golf courses. With only 80 suites, it never seems crowded. It is all-inclusive (food and all beverages) and also is adults-only, which makes it nice and quiet. There are two other Velas resorts in Puerto Vallarta that are kid-friendly, if that better suits your travel needs. It is slightly unfortunate that the resort is not beachfront, but they do own and operate a small beach club that guests can use that is right on the ocean.
One of the best things about the hotel is the amount of amenities they provide! We wish we had had time to try them all, but here is a pretty comprehensive list so you get an idea of what they provide for you at Casa Velas
- All-inclusive meals
- All-inclusive beverages, including premium alcohol
- Wi-Fi
- A Private Beach Club (since the hotel is not oceanfront), including transportation once there, everything is provided such as loungers, sunscreen, towels, showers, food and drink, etc
- Included in-suite mini bar and snacks, restocked daily
- Golf! (included but you must cover cart rental if you want one)
- Taxes and tips
- Fitness Center
- An Extensive spa (surcharges apply)
- 24-hour room service
- A designer handbag rental (I wish I could have tried this one!)
Not bad, right? Anything you could possibly want is right there at your fingertips. I will attempt to give you an idea of how everything that we experienced worked out for us during our short stay at the resort.
First Impressions
Our stay got off to a slightly bumpy start. We requested transfer to the hotel from the airport, but when we arrived there was none to be found. I’m not sure what happened, but there was supposed to be someone there with our names on a sign and they would take us where we needed to go. When we arrived, we saw lots of signs but none of them were for us.
It was slightly confusing as well because you have to go through a third-party company with a different name than the resort. Once we called the hotel (thank goodness for having service in Mexico!), we got directed to the right airport desk and were quickly on our way. Luckily, it had been a short travel day and the resort is less than 10 minutes away from the airport. In reality, it was only a small hiccup during what would be a wonderful stay.
After all that, it was smooth sailing. Kevin and I arrived at the resort around 6PM, right when the light started to get soft and the lights throughout the grounds start to blink on. It was a magical first impression to see the hacienda-style buildings and tropical walkways during this time of day! Our bags were whisked away to our room as we were told to make ourselves comfortable in the lobby. We were brought welcome drinks (a refreshing light pineapple juice) and ice-cold wet towels. The towels felt so good after having been in the heat outside the airport waiting for the transportation.
Our Suite
There are eight different types of suites at Casa Velas, and we were given a Grand Class Suite. It was just over 600 square feet, and featured a small private plunge pool on the terrace and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. We had a large king-sized bed with a pretty cool shell-shaped alcove behind it, which was lit up with the turn down service.
There was also a mini bar which had snacks and drinks and was restocked daily, and included in the all-inclusive room rate. There was still water, sparkling water, and beer. We were also given a half bottle of red wine. I would have liked to see a white wine or champagne option in the fridge. I would guess that we could have ordered that from room service, but we didn’t order anything aside from a few breakfast items during our stay. If you didn’t have breakfast delivered, you could still have coffee from the Nespresso machine in the room. There was only sugar however; no cream.
If you like amenities, this place is for you
The suite was stocked with tons of amenities. There were robes and slippers, as well as a beach bag and a hairdryer. The selection of toiletries was immense, with all of them being L’Occitane brand. There were your standard shampoo and conditioner, but also a sewing kit, dental kit, personal hygiene kit, shower cap, and shoe polishing kit. There were so many little packages to look at, it was kind of fun! We were definitely never lacking anything. There was also a pillow menu somewhere, although I never saw it. It might have been in the information book, which I never perused. The pillows were to my liking, anyway.
We enjoyed taking advantage of having a few breakfast items delivered to our room, as we usually got up to shoot photos early. Then afterward we would grab breakfast at the restaurant, so it was nice to have a few things to hold us over beforehand. They give you a menu to check off the items you would like and what time you want them delivered, and hang it on your door before 2 AM. It’s all included, as well. That definitely helped with out morning munchies, and got Kevin some caffeine before taking photos!
Dining at Casa Velas
Casa Velas has only one main restaurant, called Emiliano. We ate there two of the three nights we stayed at the resort. They have a fixed menu and also a rotating selection which changes between different themes such as French and Italian, among others. The atmosphere is romantic and a mariachi band comes to play during dinner, which offered a nice ambience. You can sit either inside or outside, and most people much preferred outside. I was disappointed that one of the nights all of the outside tables were taken, so we had to sit inside.
As everything is included, you can order as many or as few courses as you want. And the food was excellent! It was very pleasing to the eye and also very tasty. I highly recommend the tortilla soup! Of course Kevin and I ate way too much while we were there, but hey, we were on vacation! They recommend making a reservation for dinner.
Breakfast
The Emiliano restaurant is also open for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is either a buffet-style, or you can order àla carte. Or both! We loved sitting outside by the pool and water features, it was a very nice and relaxing way to start the morning. It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect while we were there, either! The food was excellent and there was a great variety to choose from, both on the buffet and from the menu.
They offer lunch at the restaurant as well, but Kevin and ate our lunches elsewhere during our stay.
Casa Velas Private Beach Club
Although Casa Velas is a nice and quiet oasis, it isn’t beachfront which puts it at a slight disadvantage to competing resorts. To combat this, they have a small private beach club property that they shuttle guests back and forth to. The club offers drinks and dining, as well as a pool and beach loungers. We hung out by the beach for a while and we ordered some light fare for lunch. The food was accompanied by piña coladas, of course! We ate tuna tostadas, a shrimp cocktail, and ceviche and they were all delicious! Both of the resort’s restaurants offered a lot of fresh seafood options, which was great.
If you decide to take a dip in the ocean or pool, the beach club provides towels and also has showers to rinse off. There’s also a lounge area upstairs with a television and a pool table, in case you want to get out of the sun. Once the sun goes down, the patio turns into a romantic area on which to enjoy a dinner. The menu becomes more formal, with Mediterranean offerings. They highly recommend that you make a reservation, as it’s a small area and can accommodate only a handful of diners at one time. We ate dinner there one night and the food and service was on par with the main resort.
The Pool(s)
The pool at the resort is gorgeous! It is surrounded by palms and tropical greenery, which is then surrounded by golf courses. This makes it especially quiet. It has shallow built-in loungers and is a very refreshing temperature, which makes for a great respite from the Mexican heat. There are plenty of loungers and cabanas surrounding the pool, which are stocked with towels. There is also the aforementioned swim-up bar, Aqua Bar. We didn’t spend much time around this pool, because we opted for the pool at the Private Beach. I mean, who wouldn’t want to swim in a pool that’s right at the beach?
Service
The service at Casa Velas was excellent, definitely what you would expect from a 4-star 4-diamond property. It seemed that everywhere we turned, there was someone there to help us with whatever we wanted. I felt like there was more staff than there were guests! The main area where we encountered the service was at the restaurants, and it was impeccable.
I have a little bit of knowledge of the standards to which staff is held by Forbes and AAA (who give out star and diamond awards), and the staff held to them very well. It wasn’t intrusive or annoying, but our needs were taken care of very well and very promptly. We felt like royalty while we were there. One of my favorite parts was that the staff placed their right hand over their heart whenever they thanked you. It was a great touch in their training that makes guests feel very welcome!
Casa Velas Overall
Overall I would highly recommend a stay at Casa Velas. It’s a marvelous place to come and just relax, whether you stay at the resort the whole time or head to the private beach club. If you go out and explore Puerto Vallarta or the surrounding areas of Jalisco and Nayarit, Casa Velas provides a welcome respite from some of the chaos of the outside.
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