I just came back from a 5 day trip at Puerto Vallarta staying at La Terraza Inn.

Firstly I should say La Terraza Inn is at a great location. At the south edge of the 'Romantic Zone' it's a short walk to restaurants, cafes, shops and nightlife. However it's just few blocks away from the action and is quiet. It's also literally one block from the Blue Chairs beach, where you can sit and be served drinks and food (you don't need to be staying at the Blue Chairs Hotel).

The managers Cecy and Chava (aka Salvador) were both very friendly and helpful. Cecy looks more after the accounts and Chava can help with tour bookings etc. He makes a small commission but it's reasonable and he'll give you better prices than you'll get most other places.

The rooms were good sized and in an attractive Mexican style. I originally stayed in room 8 and then moved to room 4 after a few days. The rooms, whilst both very workable, were a little below my expectation.

Room 8: This is a few levels up and has a partial ocean 'glimpses'. My main disappointment with the room is that the 'sun deck' was really too narrow to sit on, and without any shade or patio furniture I didn't end up using it. The deck is more accurately an outdoor walkway giving access to room 7; which also means that guests walking to this room will pass by your window / patio door. The actual room itself, whilst attractive, was in need of some updating. The curtains, kitchenette and lamp were all a bit tired. The bed though was fine and there were no musty smells.

Room 4: This is quite a bit larger than room 8, and probably one of the best in the hotel; and has separate living and bedroom 'areas'. It's on a lower level so has no ocean views. However the deck is a proper size with some patio furniture and shade, and I enjoyed sitting out on it. People will still pass by the deck to get to the adjacent room, but that was fine. The room, whilst in better condition than room 8, still did have a couple of problems. The bed was a bit musty and probably needs replacement, and the shower did not drain well.

Both rooms had good A/C that worked fine. The maid came in daily to mop the floor. Whilst I would describe the rooms as reasonably clean they were not spotless. Particularly room 4 the floor tiles were visibly grimy and needed a good hands and knees scrub. Towels in both rooms were a bit thread bare.

So in short La Terraza Inn was perfectly workable but the rooms could do with some more attention to get them up to standard.

However after a few days on the beach and a couple of Margaritas it didn't seem a big problem!

We just got back from a very relaxing week in P.V. thanks to the Terraza Inn. Upon arriving Cecy (property Manager) did everything she could possibly do to make our stay here comfortable and stress free.

We booked last minute and Cecy made sure that we had her second favourite room in the hotel (her favourite was allready booked). The rooms are all very unique and different. We were in room 6 this time and found it to be extremely clean , bright and airy.

The rooms have been redone recently by the new Canadian owners. They have far exceeded standards for any of the hotels in the Zona Romantica area. The furniture is brand new and so are the beds. The matresses are new Serta perfect sleepers. The linens were clean and fitted the beds. They are by no means percale but more than adequate.

The kitchenette area had a new fridge, coffee maker and toaster oven. The only suggestion would be to put in a microwave, more cutlery and dishes.

The bathroom was extremely clean. With new tiles and pedestal sinks and more than adequate towels.

We did not experience any foul smells or mustiness in our rooms.

This is our 16th time to P.V. and Old Town and have stayed at pretty well all of the hotels on and off the beach.

We have had bad experiences with bad smells and hard beds in our travels here in P.V. but NOT at the Terraza. We were down last month for 2 weeks at another hotel around the corner and slept on old mattresses on concrete slabs and gagged at the smell of sewage. This place is the best we have found .

The grounds are very lush and well kept. The maid did a great job every day. She washed our dishes and swept and washed the floor everyday. A small tip of a few dollars every day is well appreciated and deserved. We asked for a vase so we could buy some fresh flowers. Cecy gave us a choice of a vases and had the maid wash it and had it in our room when we came back with the flowers. Other hotels we had to use the water pitcher. We had 2 loads of laundry to be done. The maid washed and folded our laundry and had it back in our room within 3 hours.

There is no pool on the property, but that is not a priority to us since the beach is just a block away.

Great Location close to the Blue Chairs on Los Muertos Beach , restaurants and clubs .

The stairs are not for people that have disabilities, but do give this place charm with the central courtyard and lush gardens.

This was our favourite place to stay in Old Town P.V.
Before leaving we booked our next holiday in Feb 2007 for 2 weeks.

Job WELL DONE Terraza Inn.

This Inn is built on the side of a steep hill but is only one block from the beach and has 10 rooms on 5 levels going up steep stairs. It is nice to look at and the rooms are large. Ours (#3 and 4)had a deck but no view of the ocean. There are apparently views from the top 2 units. The price was right at $75 per night USD. The best feature of this hotel is location, especially if you want to be near the gay beach at Blue Chairs which is a 5 min walk away. The beach is also arguably the nicest one in PV. The staff at the hotel were very nice. The cleaning was substandard though.

The 2 main problems made this someplace we would not return to: the tiny uncomfortable bed and the smell. The beds were billed as Queen but definately were doubles at best. Every room has the same sized beds. We could not fit 2 people anywhere near comfortably. I am 6'2" and my feet hung out the end of this hard pedestal style bed by at least 6 inches. The sheets were also rough and thread bare and barely wide enough to cover the width of the bed. There was a strong and pervasive musty smell in our room that was present in the other rooms we visited as well. It was present regardless of use of the Airconditioning and mitigated only partially by keeping the ceiling fan on and the patio doors wide open when you were in. Because the patio door was the only entrance and open to the public if they so wished during the day you could not leave it that way and came back to shockingly musty air in the room. Our friends in an adjacent room risked it and left their doors open when they were gone anyways because it was so bad.

The management could make this place so much better with some relatively inexpensive upgrades: It is actually quite a nice place otherwise. It needs new larger beds and at least new linens that fit the already too small beds. There is lots of room for king sized beds in these rooms, or at least Queens. Somehow fix the air circulation and smell. Provide some extra and softer towels. How about some cheap (or not) shampoo instead of none and decent soap. Actually clean the floors every day properly. Provide proper lighting (after fixing the cleaning problem).

I would actually like the this place a lot if they fixed these problems. The woman who checked us in was extremely nice and helpful. The (presumed)owners were around a lot and seemed nice. In summary: it has potential.