Although Puerto Vallarta wasn’t high on our list, when you can get $86 flights and a nearly free place to stay, why not?
We’re glad we went. Collectively, we’ve been to Mexico 12 to 15 times, and Puerto Vallarta is officially each our favorite Mexico destination so far. (Videos of our cooking class, tequila tours, pictures and more later.)
One of our favorite activities was when we rented a car for the day and went to San Francisco (Nayarit), and Sayulita. Both are REALLY cute surf towns about an hour North of Puerto Vallarta and are well worth the visit.
On our way back, we dropped in at Mayan Palace by Vidanta resorts because I occasionally have the opportunity to get vouchers for 5 or 6 complimentary nights. If I’m going to give them away to my subscribers, I may as well know the resort. (I have a voucher myself and definitely intend on redeeming on our next Mexico visit, but we had already booked our flight and room by the time I learned about free stays at the Vidanta.)
I must admit, home-made video testimonials from other recipients of these vouchers don’t do the resort justice so I wasn’t expecting much. And my wife (who is very selective about where we stay) was expecting even less.
Man, was I pleasantly surprised. Michelle (my wife) and I both agreed that between our combined 12+ visits to various cities/resorts in Mexico – this was one of the nicest.
- Tons of restaurant options without leaving the resort
- Never a problem at all finding a chair at the pool or the beach (at least not when we were there.)
- Beautifully maintained grounds
- And unlike almost every resort I’ve been to in Mexico – the majority of employees spoke excellent English. (Although it’s nice to practice our high-school Spanish, but it’s better to know that when you don’t know how to order fresh towels, that they’ll know what you’re talking about.)
I interviewed several people in management about how they are able to give away such valuable rooms, and there were two main reasons.
- Although no timeshare presentations are required at all, they know that some people will be interested in coming back. (I don’t endorse timeshare ownership in any way shape or form, but I certainly plan on checking availability of Vidanta properties any time I travel in Mexico, so their free lodging vouchers paid off on me.)
- They have employees and other fixed costs to pay, so any time they are not completely sold out, they’ll gladly let visitors stay for free knowing they’ll eat their, drink, buy their souvenirs, pay for additional activities, and give tips their staff wouldn’t otherwise be getting.
If you have a chance to stay at a Vidanta resort in Mexico, I highly recommend them. Here is a video from Vidanta’s website displaying all of their locations:
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