First, a shout out to Rodrigo the hike leader and Javier the server at Mizika. You made our trip amazing and Garza Blanca is lucky to have you!
My husband and I stayed for five days for our tenth anniversary, at the Garza Blanca on the beach with the all-inclusive offering. We ate at most of the restaurants, explored all of the hotels, did a couple of excursions, and spent time at the pool and on the beach. Overall, it was definitely a 5 star experience, but some experiences/restaurants were way better than others, and there are certain things that are worth actively avoiding. Here’s goes:
Garza Blanca “honeymoon suite”: The room was super nice. There was a double-vanity, hot tub, walk in shower, and separate toilet with frosted glass door. The room had a king size bed, small sofa and table, TV, and separate wet mini at at the entrance. The bed faced one of two double sliding doors onto a wraparound corner balcony with a hot tub, two lay-flat lounge chairs, and a breakfast table. It was comfortable, and the view was incredible. We saw whales and a pod of dolphins just standing in our balcony. Despite one side of the balcony facing the pool, we never had an issue with guest noises except sometimes hearing others in their balconies but the roar of the surf generally drowned out all the other noises.
Room service was included in the all-inclusive plan. We had breakfast on our balcony one day, ordered it and they came and set it all up on the balcony for us. The food plus view was perfect. The minibar gets re-stocked daily but also on demand and includes canned juices, flat water and mineral water, gatorade, and a variety of beers. There is also a snack basket that is refilled only once a day, with a snickers bar, m&ms, salty and spicy peanut bags, a snack mix and a granola bar.
There are two pools at the main Garza Blanca hotel, right next to each other. We didn’t go to any of the other pools because I prefer to be on/near the beach. We generally didn’t have trouble getting lounge chairs but if you’re picky about where exactly you sit, you’ll want to go early (by 9 am, latest) to reserve your spot. You get waiter service poolside and can order food and drinks to eat right there. The beach is just a few steps down from the pool deck. It’s pebbly/rocky in parts and will tear your feet apart when a big wave comes in, but they also have a small all-sand area that they appear to be trying to expand. Like all beaches, it’s publicly accessible so there are people trying to sell you stuff but they aren’t pushy and there are plenty of wait staff around to shoo them off if you need help. Beach has umbrellas and lounge chairs reserved for guests only.
Attached to the lobby is the Blanca Blue restaurant, which serves breakfast (buffet), lunch, and dinner. We ate breakfast there every day but one, and the buffet was good and had a zillion varieties of food. Don’t miss the french toast, it’s delicious. You’re also offered mimosas and special smoothies that are considered “premium” which means not included in the all inclusive plan. You do get 20 percent off if you’re in the all inclusive plan, but just double check when you order a smoothie or mimosa that it isn’t premium. They’ll make the mimosa with sparkling wine instead of Moet (which, IMO, should never be in a mimosa anyway!) so that it isn’t premium and is included. In general, all the lobster and scallop offerings were premium and not included, but never more than 10 percent of the menu at any place was premium. The juice is fresh squeezed and service is great. Lunch at Blanca Blue is just ok. The tacos are good, the tostados are both not tostados and not great. The chilled seafood is so cold it basically has no flavor. Dinner is good and comes with a great view. Service here is great. It can get crowded at breakfast time, we went fairly early every day (before 10 am) and never had to wait.
We had lunch poolside twice, which is a slightly more basic menu but actually has great food, better than Blanca Blue. The pizza was good, the chicken caesar was delicious, and my husband and I both loved the tacos.
In additional n to Blanca Blue, we had dinners at DAO (Chinese), Noi (Italian), Mizika (Peruvian) and BocaDos (steakhouse). First the good: DAO was delicious and a very cool, trendy looking place. It was our first night and I was tired so we ate early and it was basically empty except a very loud piano player. Hands down best experience though was at Mizika. Huge shout out to JAVIER at Mizika who encouraged us to practice our terrible Spanish, recommended the best food to order, took service slow and didn’t rush us, and just generally made sure we had a good time. I would have eaten there again if we had had time. Absolute 10/10, the food was incredible for every single bite from appetizer to dessert.
The not so good: Noi was not great. It was so loud that we were shouting across the table at each other. The food wasn’t great, and entrees were served before we even finished our appetizers. Then our waiter got caught up in some big production of a dessert and we had to sit and wait for our bill for over 20 minutes. It was the only bad service we had but it was noticeably lower quality than anywhere else we ate. BocaDos was similar, if quieter and better-ish service. The food was just ok and all happened very quickly. I barely finished one glass of wine during appetizers and dinner because everything came so quickly. The orange tree dessert was very cool, especially in the setting. But the food was just not worth the experience overall.
We went on a hiking excursion with the amazing RODRIGO who took us to a waterfall where we got to swim. He was entertaining and informative, and remembered us every time we saw him the rest of the rip. They should probably do a better job warning guests about the physical requirements of the hike, there were a few elderly folk who couldn’t really safely keep up. But do the waterfall hike if you can, it was a beautiful experience. Expect to get wet.
A couple other thoughts: getting around the resort can be confusing at first. You ride a little shuttle from place to place and it goes the same route and makes the same stops every time, so you do learn it eventually but depending on where you’re going it can take up to 15 minutes to get there. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for the shuttle, often just 3-5 minutes. If you tell the shuttle driver where you’re going, they will make sure you get off at the right stop. Some of the newer rooftop pools are off-limits to Garza Blanca guests. Another weird thing is the “shopping area” which I think must be relatively new but reminded me of Dubai or something. It was very artificial seeming, and basically empty the entire time we were there. I went once to browse while my husband worked out and the first shop I went into was completely empty, not even staffed. Eventually a young woman came in to ask if I wanted to try anything on. When I left and went to the next shop down, she followed me in because she was also working there. It was super weird and uncomfortable, which is not her fault but just felt phony. We went to the shops again after dinner one night to buy some sunburn lotion and waited so long in the empty shop that I was tempted to just take it and go. Finally we went to the gelateria next door and found the woman who was supposed to be in the drugstore chatting with the workers there. Kind of annoying.
Overall though, the service, views, and room made it 5/5. The staff was kind, generous, and proactive in helping with everything you could want. Every order of sparkling water was accompanied by a tray of freshly sliced citrus fruit to garnish the water, they spread your napkin in your lap and scooted your chair in for you, had purse stands at every table. Just very thoughtful, luxurious service. I highly recommend doing the all-inclusive package, food prices are absolutely insane to pay as you go and there is enough variety for at least 3-4 days worth of good meals. Any longer of a stay and I’d spend half my time there and half my time at a hotel in the zona romántica to enjoy the street food and restaurants there.
