Barcelo Mismaloya (AI)

Barceló La Jolla de Mismaloya, in Puerto Vallarta is an elegant, Mexican-style resort in All-Inclusive (5 stars – 5 diamonds). It has 304 spacious, comfortable suites on offer, divided into 179 one-bedroom suites, 109 two-bedroom suites, and 16 presidential suites.

Excellent service, leisure options, history, beautifullandscapes, exuberant vegetation and privacy.

This hotel offers some pretty good rates on select dates - check these out ...

Exclusive offers hotel Barceló La Jolla de Mismaloya

I stayed at this hotel with my fam when I was a kid. This one is on my list. Its an all suite hotel!

Here is the link to their website

Barceló La Jolla de Mismaloya - Best Destination Weddings

This are the (2006) Packages they sent me when I first began searching:

2006

SEA BREEZE

(20 people included staying at the Resort)

On site Wedding Coordinator

A Romantic set up ( Gardens are available for weddings)

One-tiered wedding Cake (for up to 20 people)

1 Bottle of Domestic Champagne

* Private served dinner in a banquet room with exclusive waiters for groups of 11 people or more and with a set menu. * In one of our A la carte Restaurants for groups of 10 people or less during one and a half hour.

3 hours Open bar (National brands during dinner in a banquet room)

½ hour massage for Groom and Bride

Celebrate your Honeymoon with Champagne Breakfast in bed the next morning

Up-grade to Ocean View Suite.

Food and Beverages per each additional guest: $28.00 USD over 20/ Children under 12 “Freeâ€.

** Guests not staying at the Resort and attending the wedding must pay a day pass of $ 77.00 USD per person.

Wedding Package $1,100.00 USD

Wedding packages cannot be exchanged or substituted

Price for clients staying at the Resort*

Only for clients in AI Package

2006

UNDER THE STARS

(10 people included staying at the Resort)

On site Wedding Coordinator

A Romantic, Sea view set up ( Gardens are available for weddings)

One-tiered wedding Cake (for up to 10 people)

1 Bottle of Domestic Champagne

3 Hours private served dinner on the beach with exclusive waiters ( 1 menu option of a selection of 4)

3 Hours Open bar (National drinks during dinner)

½ hour massage for Groom and Bride

Manicure and Pedicure for the bride

Celebrate your Honeymoon with Champagne Breakfast in bed the next morning

Up-grade to Presidential Suite (For Groom and Bride) (Subject to aviability)

Food and Beverage per each additional guest: $54.00 USD over 10/ Children under 12 “Freeâ€

* A Banquet Room will be used as back up in case of bad weather, subject to availability of the back up area.

** Guests not staying at the Resort and attending the wedding must pay a day pass of $ 77.00 USD per person.

Wedding Package $1,300.00 USD

Wedding packages cannot be exchanged or substituted

Price for clients staying at the Resort*

*** OUR OPEN AIR PRIVATE FUNCTIONS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED AND OTHER AREAS WILL BE USED AS BACK UP OF BAD WEATHER SUBJECT TO THEIR AVAILABILITY. ***

I just came across this review by francoise30 on Trip Advisor, posted 9/26/06:

I think this hotel is a great option if you have families who are traveling for the wedding (because of the suite). However the rooms do look a little out dated and I'm conserned that they don't have much of a beach. But I think the price is great and I feel that I could get more of my guests to stay at one hotel (I'm afraid of paying for the day passes).

Well anyhoo! Here is a link I found of candid photos of the hotel. There is even one album from a wedding.

I need HONEST OPINIONS, what do you all think of this?

la jolla de mismaloya pictures and videos on Webshots

Surprisingly, this hotel seems to be rated the same, or higher, than Dreams in a lot of places. Dreams seems more upscale in pictures - but I have never been to either one.

Amy - I am looking at the Barcelo for me and my guests to stay at, and for my WD the night before. Let me know what else you hear about it - I am reading very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor (surprise surprise!).

This is a very long, but thorough, review on . I got it from a bride-to-be from the Puerto Vallarta Brides Yahoo group. It's very helpful!

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I'd be happy to tell you about my experience at Barcelo de Mismaloya. I just visited PV over Thanksgiving and stayed there with my fiance, my sister, and my fiance's family. There were 9 of us total.

The pros -- the resort is large, but is located far from the main areas of downtown or the marina, and there isn't any other hotels within walking distance so the beach is pretty much all hotel guests. There are 2 large pools, one which is adults only (its not a topless pool or anything, its just so adults can enjoy one pool without kids. And its a bit deeper than the other pool, and has a swim up bar).

The rooms were definitely adequate, clean, comfortable, with AC and a nice balcony. We actually lucked out -- our group had several different rooms booked, we got a amazing deal through their website on the rooms and all inclusive. My fiance and I were to share a room with my sister -- a 1 bedroom suite, with a pull out sofa in the living room. But 2 days before we left, we inquired if there were any of the 2 bedroom, 2 bath suites. There was, and they gave us the most amazing suite. It was on the 7th floor (the higher floors are better, I think there are 9 total floors), and it was right next to the very last room on the corner overlooking the ocean. So that room was their Presidential Suite and we were right next door, so we had great views, a nice big room with lots of light and big balcony, etc. And no one was staying in the Presidential Suite when we were there, so we even snuck over the balcony ledge one night to view the sunset.

But the other people in our group got rooms on the lower floors -- 2 and 3. I didn't see the rooms, but they were on the other side of the hotel and didn't have views like ours since they were on lower floors and not towards the ocean as much but more towards the entrance of the hotel. I didn't hear any complaints though. The beds are a little stiff, which wasn't a big deal but my back was a bit sore during the stay. I think you can ask for a bed pad at the front desk for extra softness though.

So the hotel is located about 30-45 minutes from the airport. It's not that far distance-wise, but getting through downtown PV and dealing with the 2 lane highway takes a while. If you don't mind, and want to spend your whole time at the resort, then its fine. But we needed to go visit other resorts and villas for wedding planning, so we took a lot of cabs. It's about a $10 cab ride into town, so that isn't bad. We spent $20 for 3 of us to get from the airport to the hotel, but someone else in our group spent $25 or $30 for 2 people. So just make sure the rate you're quoted from the person selling you the taxi ticket at the airport is the same that the driver understands. We found all of our cab drivers to be fair, and safe drivers, so that shouldn't be a problem.

As far as the hotel itself....its hard to describe it because I don't know what you have in mind for your wedding, but for us, it was the perfect place for our scouting trip but we would not have our wedding there. There isn't any sort of private area to have a wedding -- if you wanted to do it on the beach, the beach can get very small (when high tide comes in there isn't much beach left at all), and the beach is out in the open for all hotel guests to use. They do have one platform/balcony type area that overlooks to beach, but its right smack in the middle of the hotel by the 2 pools, so you'd have an audience. The hotel had live music out there on the balcony during different nights.

The hotel itself is a bit dated. The grounds are pretty, there's lots of flowers and trees and plants and it feels jungle-y but everything is well maintained. But it doesn't have a modern feel, it has more of a older, nice hotel but past its heyday feeling.

As far as food.....I don't recall our exact rates but we got a great deal for all inclusive plus hotel rooms, but the food was not fantastic. There is 1 restaurant that's open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no reservations needed, and its buffet style. There's lots of options, Mexican specialties (quesidillas, tacos, the typical Mexican food that Americans are used to, but also Mexican specialities like different chicken dishes, soups, fish in Mexican style, etc.). I am not a picky eater, so I was fine with what was offered. We had a couple picky eaters with us though, and they didn't like the food much. Then there's another restaurant by the pool, which is kind of a snack-bar lunch spot during lunch, and then during dinner they make it nicer and its a nicer outdoor dinner spot with seafood and steak dishes. It was decent during lunch, they have tacos, hamburgers, burritos, wraps, salads, pizza. The night we went there for dinner was pretty good, but nothing outstanding. But again, its all included. My fiance's brother ordered 2 appetizers when we went there and 2 entrees -- its included so might as well eat what you want. The pizza at the lunch cafe is pretty gross though -- its like they give you the pizza when it still needs about 10 minutes left to cook. The cheese has barely melted (or hasn't totally melted) and they pull it out of the oven and serve it. But then again, its Mexico, and if you want pizza you get what they give you.

There is another restaurant that requires reservations, that is Spanish, with tapas and traditional Spanish options like paella. It was interesting, not amazing, but not horrible. That's how we felt about all of the food. Decent variety, nothing to write home about. And a good deal considering the price. But nothing ever wowed us, and I wouldn't reccomend that anyone stay there who is really seeking excellent food. If that's the case, pay the extra to stay at Dreams or one of the other all inclusives.

We ate out a couple times though, to check out different spots for rehearsal dinners. So if you'll be doing some of that and don't care too much about breakfast and lunch being amazing, its a very good option in that respect.

The Barcelo is also about a 8 minute cab ride to Le Cliff. We went there one night for dinner and it was amazing. I've heard that the view is awesome but the food isn't, but we found both the food and view to be amazing. Worth every penny. We went to the Vista Grill the night before, which is very pricey as well, and while it was good and the view was incredible, I thought the food at Le Cliff was better when we went there. We had lobster at Le Cliff (although PV isn't known for lobster) and it was amazing, whereas someone had it the night before at Le Cliff and I thought it was chewy and tough.

The Barcelo is also very close to the canopy ride you can do through the jungle, a tequila factory where you can do a tour and tequila tasting, and also the movie set of Night of the Iguana, where I think you can do tours. We didn't do any of those, but they were all across the street from the hotel it looked like.

We never made it to Nuevo Vallarta, because we were staying on the other side of town at the Barcelo, and once we saw the Conchas Chinas area (the hills above PV, by Dreams) we fell in love with the feel of the part south of town. It's very old-town Puerto Vallarta, where everything began. From what I'd seen online and heard about Nuevo Vallarta, there are nice resorts and hotels but not very much of a authentic Mexico feel, so when we found Dreams (where our guests will stay) and the villa we're getting married at in Conchas Chinas, I didn't think it was worth looking into Nuevo Vallarta.

Anyway....I'd also reccomend looking a the Intercontinental. We didn't go inside, but saw it from the outside many times driving past, and it looked very nice. It was a little past Dreams, and looked like it had amazing views from the rooms facing the ocean. I think it may have a all-inclusive plan available, but then also rooms only rates, so that may work well for your guests.

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