Palladium Vallarta is NOT a 5 star hotel. It’s a 3 star hotel with potential. Poorly managed - the A/C is minimal, drinks watered down, food is fair. Beautifully landscaped grounds are sullied by a constant sewage stench from the “zoo” – a cluster of small, over-crowded cages. Rooms never adequately cooled smell musty. Beaches covered with thick piles of sea weed need cleaned more than weekly. Dirty pool decks need hosed off at least weekly (daily?) and dirty pool chairs need wiped off as well. Hello, Apple, are you listening?!

The good news? A spectacular view! The cliff top resort overlooks a surfer’s paradise with giant, crashing Pacific waves. Dusk to dawn, surfers are always present, and surfing lessons are free – as well as boogie boards and kayaks. The regular staff is very helpful and friendly – bartenders, maids, waiters, and entertainers. A better manager and a little elbow grease could easily elevate Palladium to the status it deserves.

Excursions are misleading too. Vallarta Adventures’ zip line canopy tour forbids cameras in order to charge $17 per digital photo (not even printed!) and $79 for a CD of all the photos. Vallarta Adventures’ La Caletas Island tour is a ridiculous $90 “day in paradise” to a dingy, jelly fish-filled lagoon that also has a nasty stench.

Lastly, Travel Agents and Apple should warn guests about the excessive stairways before booking the trip. Numerous stairs were a hardship for elderly and less athletic guests. We met a couple who left early because the husband was on crutches, and some members of our group experienced sore muscles from doing stairs.

In summary, our group decided that Palladium is a perfect example of “you get what you pay for” since we only paid $1043 for the all-inclusive. We laughed off the problems and enjoyed the gorgeous landscape for an overall nice vacation.

Would we go back? No.

It started with yes being caught by condo reps. Ignore them as you walk through the airport-unless you want to spend your next morning listening to them. The ride out to the resort is long-about an hour drive by taxi. Palladium is a nice family resort as it has lots of activities to do all day. Snorkeling was not good as the waters were rough- the last two days we were able to snorkel and saw stingrays- and lots of little fish. When the tide was out we were able to walk for miles along the beach- (felt safe). There was no vendors on the beach except for hotel ones and they were good. Had my hair done there and it was great. We were on the third floor and had to do stairs as there were no elevators. Didn't gain any weight :). The food was awesome- always lots on the buffet. The night shows were not family orientated - and very loud. The place was clean and the people were very friendly. It was good except for being far from the tours and shopping. Long bus rides. We combined a tour in the morning(awesome canopy tour) and had them drop us off at the market place , did shopping, and we took a taxi back to the hotel. Taxi prices $30- $40 back to hotel.
Overall- nice secluded area for relaxing.

May 31-June 7 2008 - I'm 19, my boyfriend is 22 & the Palladium was our first vacation together and we felt pampered. I must say that the negative reviews I checked out kind of scared me, but once we arrived I knew those people must have had some reallly really high standards because the place was amazing! Nothing bad to say.

Once you arrive to the airport, collect your luggage, head to the exit where there'll be agency rep's all lined up, just pass them all. Say Palladium resort & they'll head you outside to one of the busses that will take you to the resort.

The landscaping provides such an exotic and luxurious feel to the Palladium. There are main walkways to use but if you like to walk the unbeaten path they also have ways that take you around the resort through the lighted botanical garden. The little zoo is neat to check out. However the Peacocks wander throughout the resort. Very pleased with the Resort grounds and layout.

We upgraded to the Royal suites which offer an adult only & much quiter surrounding. If your planning a relaxing, laid back vaca without kids splashing & screaming than I suggest you upgrade. It was well worth it. 24/7 room service, your own jacuzzi in the room, a private pool, bar, and restaraunt (Punta Mita). The rooms were large & the bathrooms were exquisite. Our air conditioning, fans all worked properly, & the bed's arn't as bad as some say. Just don't expect a sleep-numbers and you'll be fine. Leave a small tip for your maid & you'll see a few extra beer in your fridge. Very pleased with the room.

There are different bands every night then the Entertainment Team puts on a show at 9 pm. These performers really love what they're doing & they do they best to give you a great show. You have to give them kudo's for putting up with the heavy costumes & stage lights when it's already 30 something degree's outside. We were sweating just sitting in the theatre area watching them! Very pleased with the nightly entertainment.

Bars. Oh the bars. The Sports Bar has several TV's (which my boyfriend was thankful for as the Stanely Cup final was on & he was able to watch Detroit take the Cup), pool tables & it offers nachos, popcorm,& hotdogs at certain hours of the day. Check out Hemmingways bar too! If you see a bigger bartender named Victor, do me a favor and tell him Darbie sends his love to Victoria! The waiters at all restaurant, bars, & by the pool go above and beyond there. If they see your cup is getting low they're on it! And they will remember what drink you ordered the night before off by heart- we were impressed. VERY pleased with the bars and service.

The beach wasn't our favorite place to be anyways so the fact that it's not a beautiful white sand beach with bright blue water wasn't a huge damper. Down at the beach on our side there were chairs to layout on & the salt water pool (which was not very nice) but it was fun to walk along the walls and watch crabs scamper around. Not pleased with the beach, but we knew ahead of time what to expect. If you are longing to spend your days swimming in the ocean and tanning on beautiful beaches, I suggest you go to Cabos or Cancun.

Excursions are offered by the Resort & the travel agency rep you're with. They can range anywhere from 500 to 3000 pesos, so 60-300 USD. They have many outtings for all types of guests. As a younger couple we did the Zip-lining & quading tours which I highly recomend. The Zip-lining also includes a Tequila Tour which was pretty neat. Also we check out the Rythm of the Nights where you go into PV, I wont give out too much info but I will say it was very romantic. TIP: Compare prices between what your rep offers & what the Resort offers. Very pleased with the Excursions the resort offered.

Overall it was a perfect vacation minus my boyfriend losing his wallet in the airport, my newly died blonde hair turned green from the pool, we got sunburned and I got a nasty heat rash. My boyfriend also got sick mid vaca but we agreed it was a result of the non-stop corona and limes he downed. As long and you keep mixing up your meals you won't get sick of the food, try and avoid large helpings of fried foods too. Hope you have a great time there like we did, it really was above our expectations.

My husband and I stayed here for 2 weeks May 23-June 6. Like many others we got a free upgrade to The Royal Suites, and it's the only way to go at this reosrt - the main part is much too crowded, even at low season. The Royal Suites pool area was almost empty in the mornings, filling up only for a few hours after lunch; then quiet again. And it is open later, until midnight.

Our check-in was smooth after we found our way to the Royal Suites lobby, a short walk away. There were only the 2 of us from our flight so there was no wait. We were in room 5012, third room from the Royal Suites pool area and the Punta Mita a la carte restaurant exclusive to Royal Suites guests. It would have been an ideal spot if we didn't have a thin connecting door in the room. As others have noted you can indeed hear everything, even when people are not being loud. We were lucky that we had a young family next door the first week - so nice and quiet after the baby settled down. The second week was a little worse, when 2-3 chatty women moved in - they thought nothing of talking at the top of their voices right by the connecting door. Luckily they didn't use the jaccuzi at ungodly hours. If you prefer quiet, ask for even numbered rooms, facing the edge of the resort property. Otherwise you would face the main resort which is only separated by a chain link fence on the other side of a narrow drive. (See the resort map photo I've posted)

Another issue we had was the absence of toilettries at check in - no soap, shampoo, nothing. It took 2 reminders before they finally brought some. One amusing theme throughout our stay was that the daily supply ALWAYS varied!! Over the 2 weeks we got sewing kits, soaps, conditioning shampoo, bath gel, combs, vanity kits (cotton pads) and shoe cleaners. But never a complete set, and the combination changed daily!

We did not like the Mexican pop in the fridge and after I left a note requesting diet coke, we were supplied with that every day from then on.

Overall we were happy with the service, decor, food and cleanliness of the room and public areas. The only difference I would have liked to see was a cleaner cobblestone ground in the main courtyard. During our stay we only saw it mopped once - half one morning and the other half the next morning around the end of May. Judging from the stains and stickiness it might have been a monthly event!

We tried all the a la cartes - for a 2-week stay we were allowed 4 reservations; they offered us a 5th one when they had an opening our second week there. I agree with earlier reviews that they are all quite adequate, though not like high end restaurants in Toronto/Vancouver. If you have to choose I'd suggest you skip Bambu because they really can't make good sushi and the rice side dish is soaked in soy sauce! If you arrive and depart on Fridays you will not be able to try their beach BBQ which take place on Fridays. At El Bosque, the main buffet restaurant, you would not go wrong with their chicken and fish dishes, especially if they happen to be the grill item of the meal. We heard from some East Indian guests that they had a very good goat curry one day for lunch - we missed it because we went to town that day. We really enjoyed the food, service and convenience of Punta Mita - continuous a la carte all day. I had chunky guacamole and fresh spicy salsa every chance I got! And the self-serve soft serve ice cream was a perfect treat on hot afternoons. With food and drink so abundantly and conveniently available we only tried the 24 hour room service twice - once after the unsatisfying dinner at Bambu.

We used the Royal Suites pools almost exclusively because the main pool was too busy, especially on weekends when many locals come for weekend getaways - they're mostly gone by Mondays. We also found the Royal Suites pool much cleaner.

If you like walks on the beach I'd suggest water shoes because there would be wading involved when the tide is high. The lava rocks, sometimes encrusted with shells, make walking barefoot quite hazardous. The resort is built on a hill but we quite enjoyed the terraces that lead down to the beach. Each level also offers unobstructed ocean views and some privacy from other areas.

One unique feature of Palladium Vallarta that I came to enjoy, quite unexpectedly, is the zoo located in the centre of the property. Check out the monkeys, the pile of ostrich eggs (watch out for the ostriches crossing the bridge - that's where they can get closest to you!!) and the peacocks - 3 blue and one lone white one - that fly over the fence and roam the resort! Look for the orange hula hoop in the monkeys' compound - are they still playing and sleeping with it?!?