The beauty, tranquility, service and value of Villa Estrella cannot be found at any all-inclusive mexico destination.

Many people choose their vacation destination and accommodation based mainly on price. Economic times are tough, and our hard earned vacation dollar needs to be spent as wisely as possible. I would like to make the point that what seems cheap isn’t always so.

A vacation is a treasured, all too short precious week or two that is meant to be as special, wonderful and memorable as possible. Every detail matters, you want to be uplifted, pampered, and come a way with a huge smile and beautiful memories that last a lifetime. We at Villa Estrella on the Riviera Nayarit in Mexico promise you that precious uplifting and memorable experience. An experience far removed from assembly line, mass tourism, where guests are treated like a crop to harvested and stripped of their cash with the minimum of service that can be gotten away with.

I would like to share with you what the alternative can look like. One of our beloved guests, just spent a wonderful 2 weeks at Villa Estrella, and had the time of her life with a few of her closest friends (they come every year). After she checked out they had 2 days to spend in Puerto Vallarta before their flight back. Below is her first person account of those two days. The poor girl suffered some extreme culture shock. Here is her story of her all-inclusive Mexico experience.

If you are looking for a large, over-crowded, cookie cutter hotel with watered down drinks and the worst food imaginable; then welcome to the all inclusive. My husband and I have stayed at several all inclusives in Puerto & Neuvo Vallarta over the years and at this point consider ourselves veterans in the all inclusive experience. For this particular review we will examine our latest disappointment in detail. Oh and by the way we usually select a 4-5 star hotel, so we cannot be blamed that we get what we pay for. We usually spend $400-$600 per night at these places. We do not opt for the $2-300 a night places. I can only imagine what you might get there.

So were to begin- I’ll start randomly with the dinner reservations system and work my way through everything.

Dinner reservations: At the majority of these places you are required to make dinner reservations every day at one of their 3 or 4 hotel restaurants. Upon check in (we checked in at exactly 2:00) we were told that the girl who took the dinner reservations leaves at 2:00 and was now gone for the day and would be back tomorrow at 8:00 am to take our reservation for tomorrow. I said, “ok well we are only here two nights, and we just paid close to $1000 for two nights so do we not get a dinner tonight?” The front desk guy looked at me and just shrugged his shoulders and said “sorry no dinner.” I was fuming angry and vowed to wake up the next morning and get our reservation in before 10:00am (because apparently by 10:00 all the reservations are full.) So you can forget about sleeping in on your holiday because all the elderly people and all the people with kids are up at the crack of dawn and you have to beat them to the reservation desk if you want to eat that night.

So the first morning I was up by 8:30 and had got our reservation in. Not at the restaurant we wanted, but at least we got something. So because we were up early, we were able to go to the breakfast buffet with brings me to the food:

Food: The breakfast buffet was the most horrible, disgusting, un-edible food I have ever eaten. Period. Even my husband would not touch it and he eats A LOT. Enough said.

The Pools: Also because we were up early, we thought we would secure a spot in the sun by the pool. Apparently everyone else has this thought and they all put their pool towels and crap down to claim their spots. So again, all the elderly and people with kids who are up early get all the chairs. But are they anywhere to be seen near the pool? No, they are like 2-400 pound laboratory rats stuffing their faces at the disgusting buffet, crowding around and bumping into everything and everyone. The chairs we finally managed to get were at the back, in the shade. Once we got in the water, the rule is to never put your face or head in the water because all those people drinking ALL DAY at the swim up bar, you know that they are not getting up every single time they have to take a piss and walk to the bathroom which is not exactly close by. If you think they are not peeing in the pool you are dreaming.

The rooms: I could not have been more disappointed in our room. Fist thing I noticed was the horrible musty smell. The kind of smell you get when you leave dirty laundry for a while and it gets moldy. Our room faced the road and some dusty palm trees and the mega hotel beside us. For that kind of money I would have loved a glimpse of the ocean. The bed was as hard as a rock and the sheets stank. I did not want to put my face near those pillows.

Room service: This particular hotel did not have room service. I called down and the girl told me they had a sports bar with snacks so I thought well, at least that is something. So that first night when we were told we would not get a dinner, we went down to the sports bar. 7-11 would have been heaven over this place. All there was were some horrible nachos in a machine that had gone soft, with liquid cheese sauce and some pre-packaged hamburgers that I would not give to my dog, let alone eat myself, that you could heat up in the microwave provided. What?? If I wanted to heat up my own f”ing food I would not be staying at a fancy hotel.

Beach: I will say the beach in Neuvo Vallarta is very pretty and good for swimming. Other then that it is crowded and noisy with para-sailing, jet-skis, banana boat rides, kids and people walking by from all the other hotels on the strip. No peace and quietehere. Also same rule applies here that does with the pool: be prepared to have to fight for a lounge chair or get up before sunrise to claim one.

Landscape: When I go on a tropical holiday I want to be whisked away to a magical place with colorful flowers, footpaths, gardens, palm trees and ocean. I would like a bit of privacy and space, and not feel like cattle. These places consist of a lot of concrete with some palm trees randomly thrown in. They are all the same, a horseshoe shaped hotel, thousands of rooms, a pool in the middle and if you are lucky a beach on the end. No imagination.

Summary: If you like big crowds of big sweaty people and having to elbow your way through a crappy buffet or fight for a pool chair, or for a dinner reservation, then these places are made for you.

Liz Trenchard

Villa Estrella's gardens are lush, tropical and meticulously maintained, giving the whole community a dream-like atmosphere.

We woke to exquisite sunshine and blue ocean, clean clear air with crystal clear views of the beach all the way to Punta Mita in one direction, and North to San Blas. A perfect day on the Riviera Nayarit. The dinner party with the young folks at Casa Colibri last night was fun, they cooked up a blizzard of pasta. The dinner was followed by the Mexican train domino tournament, washed down with slightly excessive quantities of vino. Felix the cat trotted back home with us to Villa Estrella and is snuggled up tight by my side on the couch to keep warm.

Jaime, the Punta el Custodio handyman, finally got the new pool heater gas valve in to the Villa from Mexico City. Having a warm pool to float in every night is one of the MAJOR pleasures down here at the villa and we’ve been without it for a week (it even caused minor marital crisis). So it’s finally fixed. We are pouring fortunes of propane gas into the heater to get it cozy for tonight’s marine pleasures under the full moon, looking down at the ocean surf crashing below from our private, negative-edge pool. We love hanging out in the little cliff-side pool for hours, watching shooting stars, identifying the constellations, finding the north star. Tonight the moon is pretty much full and will illuminate the crashing surf below. When we’re not star gazing, the pool is also perfect for aquacise, and working off Rosa’s cooking (not to mention all the margaritas). We marvel at the wonder that is Mexico and at the magic of Villa Estrella and its stunning setting, surrounded by ocean, and nature.

This is an example of one of the many Mexican Tapestries that decorate Villa Estrella.

Rosa is sewing something for Jackie in the kitchen, I think it’s a cotton blouse. Soft jazz is filling the palapa, the sun is shining beautifully, the ocean is a stunning blue, the palm trees are swaying gracefully in the breeze. I hear the waves gently surging on the rocks below. I smell something good cooking from the kitchen – Rosa is cooking Comida (lunch). I’m looking forward to my nap in the hammock afterward, but for now it’s after 12 and time for my first icy Corona of the day.

You should see the lovely new hanging lamps we picked up for the villa on our trip to Guadalajara last week. We bought huge spherical basket lamps that are now hanging from the high palapa, plus some beautiful stars  that are now hanging over the tequila bar in front of the kitchen. The lamps were so huge we barely were able to squeeze them into the Suburban for the 4 hour trip back home. This type of decorating is so Mexican – using big bold elements, high spaces, fabulous dramatic environments. We like to give our renters an amazing villa experience with beautiful Mexican art, Mexico pottery, Mexican ceramics, colors and design.