active family travel,  family travel,  Travel

The CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta #travel #PVpresstrip

June 12, 2014 /
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Let’s start at the beginning. I have so much to share about our mother daughter trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There’s the time my 12-year-old zip lined high above a Mexican canyon of sorts and then rappelled down the side of a mountain and swam with dolphins. But, you will have to wait for that. This is the story of our resort. The place we ate and swam and hung out at the beach and collapsed fast asleep.
The CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa, was located less than a ten minute drive from Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport Puerto Vallarta – PVR. The CasaMagna Marriott is between the Sierra Madre Mountains and Banderas Bay. It has earned the honour of being one of the top ten resorts in the Mexican Pacific Riviera according to Conde Nast Traveller.
 
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Beach and Pools: $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$. Beautiful and clean. The pool was the warmest pool I have ever gone swimming in, and it’s a perfect little slice of paradise. Only complaint here was that there should probably be a shady area of the pool. Mexican sun is hot and relentless regardless of the month you travel. This gorgeous pool at CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta is spacious, picturesque and has a perfect view of the beach. There is a swim up bar and several restaurants are nearby. There is also poolside service. As you can see, there is ample space. Towels are provided at a kiosk nearby and there was never any fighting to find a lounge chair in the shade. I loved the pool and I can handle a lot of sun. Plus there were umbrellas located everywhere, but if you are in the pool you are in the sun. Small decorative waterfall inside the pool and also a basketball net and numerous pool floating loungers.
 
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The grounds here impressed me. The foliage is lovely and colourful. Plus, the resort grows much of its own fruit. There is daily tequila testing and there is blue agave growing all over the front of the secure resort. There are dozens of pineapple plants. Did you know they don’t grow on trees? There were banana trees and coconut trees and many other fruits I tried to identify. There were a couple of turtles we looked for every morning near the deli/ cafe.
 
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Cleanliness: $$$$$ out of $$$$$ – The CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa was incredibly clean. That’s always impressive to me when I visit Mexico because we’ve travelled a lot of places and I can tell you several resorts we stayed in that claim to be clean are not up to my standards. This one was. The bathrooms were neat, tidy and spacious and we never ran out of anything. The room was tidied fast each day and we appreciated the nice touches. The housekeeper picked up our shoes and stacked them (we can be messy.) She also folded and displayed a couple of my daughter’s treasures she sometimes brings along for comfort away from home. That makes my kids happy when they see their stuffies getting some love on vacation too.
 
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Rooms: There are 404 guest rooms at CasaMagna and 29 luxury suites. We stayed in a room with a private balcony on the seventh floor with an amazing ocean view. The room was spacious, with a pullout couch, ample drawer space if you want to unpack and settle in for your stay. Our King bed room with ocean view started at $129 US a night. The elevators are well kept and there are enough so that you rarely had to wait to return to your room after a long day. Wifi was easily accessible everywhere on the resort (I LOVE That) The room had an iPhone alarm clock nightstand charger and it worked well. The TV had good reception. We rarely used it though because there is so much to do in Puerto Vallarta. Rooms are air conditioned and you will need it. More about this visit in the upcoming posts I have ready to share this next two weeks. 
 
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Food and Meals: $$$$$ out of $$$$$. The food in Puerto Vallarta is out of this world. It competes with any of the fine restaurants I have ever dined in. There is a breakfast buffet and a Japanese restaurant (sad that we ran out of time and were not able to dine there.) In fact there are four world class restaurants. I managed to eat at three of them. If you follow me on Instagram then you saw how crazy fresh and delicious the food was. The presentation was magnificent. The buffet was good, and the omelette station rarely disappoints. Las Casitas serves a yummy stuffed avocado. Oh and by the way the fresh fruit and vegetables knocked my socks off here. The coffee was rich and flavourful as well. And the pina coladas and various other cocktails are worth sampling. 
 
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Kids: $$$$ out of $$$$$ – There is a kids’ club. There is a kid’s area and a special pool with a climber and other play things. It was not overly busy this month, but it is also June so off season to travel with kids. The kid’s area looked clean and fun for small children.
As you might have known I travelled with my daughter who is 12 and we had a huge number of adventures off the resort. It was that kind of amazing, exhausting, active trip. There is a Marriott Kid’s club and kid’s club for teens that costs a bit extra depending on how you travel.
Also there is a really cool sea turtle release program that is seasonal. The sea turtles come lay their eggs on the beach each night and a biologist and guests can help gather them up so they are safely hatched off site in a conservation program. Later in the season they are released. My suggestion – before you book your trip find out when this happens and schedule to see it or take part in the program. What a brilliant experience that would be!!
 

 

CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta

There is a beautiful spa on the resort, and a fitness centre, as well. Many bloggers had great things to say about the treatments. I didn’t have time to test any out. Maybe when I return. (Wink.) This is a destination that is affordable. CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta also has an outstanding location and stellar service. It was close to shopping, golf, dining and outings. For me, it was at least a 4.5 out of 5. 
 
CasaMagna Marriott is on Facebook Follow them there for more pictures and details. 
We were guests of the resort as part of a travel bloggers trip. Many thanks to Marriott staff for a great stay. My opinion is all my own. 

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

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