This is our third trip to Garza Blanca in Puerto Vallarta. My husband and I came here the end of January/beginning of February 2026, meeting friends of ours at the resort. This is a beautiful resort and the views are fabulous. In the past, we’ve stayed in both a high-rise and also the smaller units right on the beach. This trip we stayed in Building 2 on the beach. Previously, this area was all large rocks. They’ve made barriers to make more beach area here. Very nice. We had a walk-in closet, another closet and a large dresser – way more storage than we could ever use. Housekeeping was great! Thank you Almendra for taking such good care of our room every morning and ensuring we had everything we needed.
The views from the different buildings are breathtaking! Most buildings are up on the side of mountains, so you’re high up and get wonder views of the bay area. During the winter months the whales arrive – let the shows begin! There is a trolly that takes you around the resort.
Please remember to make your dinner reservations prior to arriving, as you may not got the restaurant and/or time you prefer if you wait. I made our dinner reservations, for 4, towards the end of November for our January/February trip.
There is a concierge here, but honestly, I’m not sure that there was a lot of value for the ‘service’. Because our friends had arrived a few days before us, they were able to make reservations for the 4 of us at the new Peruvian restaurant (which is very good). I asked the concierge to cancel the reservation I had made for that night online prior to arriving. My husband got a text message later that evening that said ‘we missed the four of you for dinner’, so obviously our reservation was not cancelled. We had a similar experience when we changed the time of one of reservations. We went ½ hour later, and later received a message that we never showed for dinner.
We found that if you’re at the pool or at the beach you can have lunch delivered to you. Very convenient and it was tasty! We were also grateful that the ‘get up early and save a chair’ game isn’t played here. You could find chairs throughout the day, at the pools and the beach. We spent a lot of our days at the roof top pool in the new Sanctuary building. Our waitress there, Mariam, took great care of us.
DAO, contemporary Chinese, was a very good meal. Our waiter, Alberto, was amazing, giving us excellent suggestions and providing outstanding service.
The Hiroshi restaurant has been revamped a bit. It’s been relocated to the new Sanctuary building. In addition to sushi, they now also have table grills for Korean BBQ dishes. Our waiter, Andre, who also did the cooking at the table, explained how the process worked and helped us in selecting a good variety of dishes. Thank you Andre for the very special meal. Hiroshi was also serving a la carte breakfast as well – it was fantastic food. I had the Quesa Birria – it was the best ever!!! Luis and Erik, our waiters, were a pleasure.
Bacados, the steak house, has very good food. They serve breakfast and dinner, with tables both inside and out. Our waiter Julian was very attentive.
Blanca Blue (Mexican) has a buffet available for breakfast, which had a large variety of dishes to choose from as well as an omelet and crepe station. We thought the buffet was very good. They are also open for lunch and dinner (a la carte). I had a disappointing dinner there. In the past the meals were very good, so maybe it was just an off day for them. Our waiter, Marco, was good and had someone from the kitchen come out to speak with us.
Thank you to Orlando, our waiter at NOI (Italian); you were fabulous and our meals were excellent. You will also find a nice bar outside of this Italian restaurant.
The lobby bar is small, though there are some chairs and tables.
Cons – My only complaint would be having to sign for your meals and drinks if you’re all inclusive. We kept forgetting that we had to sign. We’d get up to leave and the poor waiter would have to come running after us telling us we need to sign. We’ve never had to do this at any other all-inclusive resort we’ve been to. Bit of a bother, but not that bad.
A bonus is they now have a sports bar in the new Sanctuary building. HUGH screens to watch!
You will find live music by individual musicians throughout the resort at different places and times. It’s wonderful sitting in a lobby listening to the piano being played. We enjoyed an acoustic guitar during one dinner and the sax player at another dinner. Very nice touch if you’re able to time it right.
Extra Activities to do – While this isn’t part of the resort, this excursion is a must! Even though my husband and I went here on our last trip here, we once again took a cab to Jardin Bontanico, a beautiful botanical garden. It was lovely to walk through and look at all the plants. There’s paths and buildings throughout the gardens, with peacocks, chickens, and lots of other birds to see. You can also support their efforts by going to their restaurant. We had lunch there; the food was really good and very reasonably priced. Our waiter, Armando, was fabulous.
You can’t go to Puerto Vallarta without taking a cab to the Malecon and exploring the romantic zone. There is usually various entertainment as you walk along the boardwalk. People playing instruments, the Mayans on the very tall pole, spinning. There are lots of beautiful statues as well. There’s also a pier that looks like a sailboat in the distance.
