We just returned from our honeymoon at the Mayan Palace Puerto Vallarta (Mar 28 - Apr 4). It was a week in true paradise. The entrance is beautiful with three huge 2-story wooden columns with Mayan carvings to greet you. After that is the lobby, which looks out onto a grand pond. Check in went smoothly, and we were given a room on the top floor (7th). The second we opened the door we were overcome with joy because we were staring right out through the balcony door at the beautiful ocean and skyline. The housekeeping staff had also shaped all the towels into swans and hearts and sprinkled the room with cute artificial flowers. It was a wonderful touch. Our amazing welcome continued when we heard a knock at the door and answered it to discover that the conceirge had sent up a complimentary fruit basket.

Although we loved the view from the room, we quickly changed and headed to the beach for a closer look at the water and to get some food. We ate at the poolside restaurant (delicious hamburgers and nachos) and then spent the rest of the day on the beach playing volleyball and drinking cocktails under the palapas.

Overall, the hotel exceeded all of our expectations and we had a simply perfect trip. The food at the resort was overall quite good and very reasonable (compared to the US - for example the breakfast buffet was $6). We didn't eat dinner there very much because the marina was very close by and had about twenty restaurants to choose from, but we did attend the "Moon over the Mayan" beach buffet which had great food and amazing entertainment. The drinks were also reasonable and they frequently had 2 for 1 specials. The hotel staff was amazing; the waiters would come by frequently to take your order whether at the pool or on the beach, the cleaning staff came by no less than three times a day to ensure your room was in tip top shape, and the conceirge answered all of our questions quickly and completely. The grounds were very well maintained and the location can't be beat. The resort was not very large, which was nice and added to the relaxation. They have a place to get massages on the beach, a bar on the ocean for sunset cocktails, and an internet lounge if you need to stay connected to home. Also, for those wondering about the timeshare presentation, we didn't sign up for one when we arrived and not a single person approached us at the resort pressuring us to attend.

To sum up, our honeymoon could not have been any better. This is a highly recommended resort for adults, couples, and families without small children. Since there weren't a lot of activities for little ones, we'd recommend the Mayan Palace in Nuevo Vallarta which seemed to offer much more for small children. Other than that, enjoy your stay in heaven at the Mayan Palace Puerto Vallarta!

I recentlly returned from 7 days / nights at the Mayan Palace in Puerto Vallarta.
I should start out by mentioning that I stayed at the Mayan Palace in Playa Del Carmen 3 months earlier and went on the time share presentation last year at the Mayan Palace in Acapulco. I am not a time share owner at the Mayan Palace but i do belong to a vaction club that gives me heavily discounted trips. The first thing I noticed about this hotel which is located in the middle of the Marina area, is that It's a small property that is contrary to the other locations that are massive compounds. The entrance is very basic and the lobby is very plain and could use some remodeling. The view once in facing the water is beautiful. The Mayan Palace has very beautiful and well kept grounds. There is something charming about the size and layout of the grounds. When checking in I asked for an ocean view room on a higher floor 4 or 5 close to the ocean and pool. I was told this was not available, even thought it was obvious that the place was not full. ? I even offered to tip the person checking me in which usually works well in Mexican hotels. I did get a room that was on the top / 5th floor that faced the Marina and was an end unit lock out. This view was nice and provided a large balcany with 2 chairs. This is something that is not available with the ocean front rooms in the other buildings that have about 1 foot to open the glass doors and look out. The check in went badly due the counter person not being able to correclty run my credit card. The person remained calm and polite but kept swipping the card multiple times and repeatedly asking me if i had another card, which I replied No and I have used this card throughout Mexico including your other locations. I asked to speak to a manager after about 10 minutes of getting no where. I called my credit card company and had the phone rep speak with another counter person, which was Not a supervisor like I requested. 10 minutes more and several attempts later after keeping the credit card company on the phone the card worked ???? Not the way to start off a week stay and a major hotel. This property is exclusively a time share resort. The buildings are dated and lacking some remodeling. The grounds were well cared for and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The pool is nice but not large like other Mayan resorts. We were fortunate that the place was not crowded with people. This is usually high season but the threats in the news coupled with the bad economy would account for this and proved to be an advantage for us. One thing we noticed about being at the beach is that the bar staff did Not consistently come down to ask for drink orders ? not sure why this is.... Also at the beach it's all public in Mexico there are a string of vendors that will come right up to you all day and everyday.
They are decent about taking NO for an answer but this gets tiring the same people trying to sell you the same things all week long. I stayed at the Fiesta Americana 3 years earlier and they had their papala's and lawnchairs roped off from the vendors, ( nice touch) We ate at the hotel for dinner buffet 1 night and the prices are now heavily reduced due to supply and demand. The food is good not great. There are several restaurants in the Marina and they have to compete for your dollars. We also had the breakfast buffet which was good, not great. The offer drink specails ( 2 for 1 ) most of the days and its a fair deal. We agreed to do the time share presentation in Nuevo Vallarta their new big location. They gave us 1000 pesos ( around 80.00 U.S. dollars) off our bill, free breakfast buffet and 10 percent off our bill for purchases along with transpertation. We invested 3 hours but there was no real high pressure to buy, not the same for all according to people i spoke with. The bottom line with time share presentations are that if you dont want to invest time and are not good at saying NO then dont agree to go. i met a couple that did a presentation tour and were given 4 thousand pesos, which is over 300.00 U.S. dollars for 4 hours of their vacation. I would not pay top dollar to stay at this hotel, but I get such great prices on the rooms, basically paying the maintenance fees for the unit that i have the benefits of being a time share holder without any large payment or mortgage loan and no long term commitment. Victors is a nice place to eat in the Marina as mentioned by other people on this site, but not mentioned is that they do NOT take credit cards. The exchange rate is the highest i have ever seen around 13.5 to 14 pesos per 1 U.S. dollar, this will translate into some good deals with shopping and dining.
There is another restaurant in the Marina that has every thing on their breakfast menu half off on Tuesdays. The food was very good and we opted to sit outside. The name is Las Palomas Doradas and the summer specail of 50 percent off on all breakfast Items on Tuesday is the way to go... We ended up doing another time share presentation next door for the Westin Regina and received gifts totaling around 200 U.S. dollars for 3 hours of our time. A cab ride downtown is around 70 to 80 pesos and you can take the bus right out front on the other side of the street for around 5 pesos. You can get off half way at Walmart of Sams club or even the hotel zone which is on the way to the Malecon / boardwalk downtown. The exchange rate machines around town close early around 4pm but give you a much better rate that the hotel. I would recommned the the rythems of the night tour and the Pirate ship. Both include entertainment, dinner, drinks and transpertation. Happy Travels. I would recommend this hotel if you are not looking for 5 star and want a really beautiful and peaceful place to stay. They have 1 bar with pool tables and sports Tv's but the place was dead, no night life at this hotel. The biggest difference between Puerto Vallarta and a few years ago is the overwhelming amount of people and the lengths they will go to in regards to trying to rope you into taking a time share presentation. The people are everywhere and will not let up. This is not a way to relax. The government is about to outlaw this from happening at the Airport, but it's still big business and the poor people pushing these are desperate for any cut and any money. They will literally beg you to go so they can survive. Its really say and frustrating all at the same time. Happy Travels.

My husband and I just spent a wonderful week at the Mayan Palace Puerto Vallarta Marina. Last year we stayed at the Mayan Nuevo Vallarta, and we prefer the Marina location. The Mayan at PV Marina is much smaller than Nuevo and we enjoyed the more intimate surroundings where we ran into familar and friendly faces throughout the week. First, the complimentary transportation from the airport worked liked a charm. If you haven't been to the PV airport, you just have to follow instructions and go through TWO glass doors before agreeing to transportation. There were no lines at check in and the bellmen delivered our bags immediately. The beauty of the Mayan PV is that you can walk to fun restaurants at the Marina within 5 minutes. Victor's has good Mexican food and breakfasts, and the breakfast at the little pizza restaurant across the street is inexpensive and good. We had the continental breakfast and the weekend brunch at the hotel as well as the Seafood buffet -- and all provided a wide selection of food that was fresh and delicious. We took the bus to and from Puerto Vallarta without any difficulty, and ate at a local Seafood restaurant called Cuetos, behind the ballparks, that was authentic and good. Cheeky Monkeys in PV not only has the best $1 margaritas you'll find but outstanding lasagna (surprisingly) . We played golf at the Marina Vallarta and Vista Vallarta courses and both were challenging, beautiful and most enjoyable. We've stayed at 5-star hotels and the Mayan rooms don't have the amenities and comforts of those, but we don't stay in our room much during our vacation and we had a wonderful week and would definitely return to the Mayan PV.

We traded our timeshare for a week at the Mayan Palace in November 2008. Given that that time is not busy tourist season, the hotel was only about a third full. Even though there were plenty of empty apartments overlooking the ocean, beach, and most importantly, the sunsets, we were given an apartment that looked straight into a bunch of bushes......and above that, a high-rise construction site.

Further, none of the units have balconies. All have large glass doors that open wide and a railing so that you can step out about a foot from the apartment, but there was no such thing as being able to sit on one's balcony and enjoy the weather, view, or fresh air. What on earth was the architect thinking?

Our apartment was so far away from the main lobby that it required a golf cart ride in order to get there, get a cab, and get off the Maytan Palace property.......at least a half hour ordeal just to get out of there. Even then, waits were often required for the ride to the lobby, the cabs, and then a ride back to the apartment upon our return.

We chose this resort because it is NOT all-inclusive and after many trips to Puerto Vallarta, we know the town to be chock full of varied and wonderful restaurants. However, due to the difficulty in even leaving the property, we might as well have been at an all-inclusive because we really felt trapped there...and with farly high prces to boot.

While the grounds (those that are not under construction) are well kept and the pool was nice, it was not enough to make up for the other deficits. And while the pool was lovely and large, it was not heated and in November, the water is very chilly in PV. Last November at another resort in PV, we spent our entire time in the water because it was heated.

We would never chose to stay at this resort again.