Jungle Paradise!

This resort was wonderful and very unique from our other experiences in Mexico. The grounds are a lush tropical rain forest, complete with a small zoo in the middle! If you like natural wildlife, this is your place. Great for kids! The staff was amazing... warm and friendly, and always willing to help us without being over-bearing. Of special mention is the Smile Team, led by Vicente - who on learning that we were all there (19 of us) to celebrate our parents' 60th anniversary - arranged  [... read more]a special private 5 course romantic lobster dinner on the Royal Pool deck. The whole thing was video'd, from their surprise at the start, a walk on the beach mid meal, right to our entire family's entrance from the beach just before dessert, where we were all provided a rose to present to my mom (17 total!) as we filed up the stairs. It was amazing and so very kind of them... we were overwhelmed. A great place to visit!

Beyond amazing!

It was in my estimation one of the best hotel/resort I have ever stayed in. Clean, easy access to all the venues...friendly staff...wonderful food and great programs.I would certainly return in a year or so - God willing.

Nice Resort

Great location, lots of activities for kids, service was good. Rooms could have been better. Pools were good. Liked the kids pool and mini club. Also liked the mini zoo at the resort. Food was okay...

Excellent Service

This resort is well kept and the pools are excellent. My kids had a great time playing in the kids area. The rooms were a little small so upgrade if possible. However, the service of the staff was excellent. Enough can't be said about the staff (waiters, bartenders, lifeguards) and their attention to details. I would recommend this resort to anyone looking for a relaxing trip

Amazing Time

Our 2nd time to this resort. Our first visit was in 2010, 2nd visit April 21 to 28, 2017. Four of us travelled together. My husband and I booked through TC and our friends through WestJet. This was a WestJet flight, Sunquest tour, booked though TripCentral. As this was our first Tripcentral booking we were a little worried going in. No need. From booking with Matthew Allen at TC - who was very helpful and knowledgeable - to our transfers with Royale Tours - everything went off without a problem. [... read more] In fact, we were picked up and dropped off 20 minutes to 1\2 hour ahead of the WestJet travellers. Once we arrived at the resort we did get offered a couple of upgrades, for a price. When we declined, we thought we would be stuck in a dumpy room, but not so. We received a third floor room in building 2 that was very nice, and renovated since our last trip. Beds are quite comfortable, housekeeping was excellent and our fridge was stocked daily with beer, water, and pop if we wanted it. Staff was amazing. Our favorites were Guillermo at the lobby bar, Enrique at the beach bar (yeah baby), and Victor at the adult pool. Food was excellent, with very much variety. Had lobster for my birthday and it was probably the largest I had had anywhere. Was served birthday cake with candles and a song, as well as receiving champagne in the spa on my birthday. There is a lot of stairs and walking uphill (both ways), but was it great exercise. Cannot find a single negative about this resort, except maybe to serve Bailey's in all the bars, not just Hemingways. We are already looking at booking a family trip here for November.

Great beach for a getaway!

The 3 best things about the resort? Staff Beach Food We especially would like to acknowledge Jorge and Roberto for checking us in and out with ease and introducing us to the features of the resort. And Adriana in recreation for being so fun. One of the best beaches for playing and boogie boarding. The rocks are a bit of a nuisance but the waves were great.

Great Starter Resort!

It was my Husband and I's very first Vacation and we were quite happy with the Resort. The staff was friendly and the grounds were well kept. The entertainment and food at the Restaurants were alright, nothing spectacular. My only real complaint was the smell of septic that constantly lingered. Other than that we had a great time and loved the beach and sunshine!

Loved this resort! We will be back!

This resort was very clean. There were cleaners everywhere and always alvailable. The food choices were amazing and delicious. There was always live music at the main pool. There are multiple activities you can do either with the people of palladium(POP)or on your own down on the beach. The POP were fantastic and friendly as well!

Beautiful resort

The resort was amazing If anyone has a disability it is a good idea to upgrade to the Royal Suites as there is a lot of stairs. The royal suites are kept spotless the service was amazing, food for all palettes.

'Good' stay

Overall good experience, clean rooms, pleasant staff, beautiful grounds, food was good (wouldn't want to stay more than 7 days same food, but variety of options gets boring after a few days). What I didn't like was the way you were treated by color of bracelet. We had a purple bracelet.. this means we waited for dinner (about 1 hour-1.5 hours). Also this hotel is far from the airport and excursions.

Grand palladium Feb 6 /15 2017

The hotel was fantastic . The food, the rooms every thing was as a 5 star hotel should be. The ala carte were fantastic, enjoyed the steak house the most. The only small complaint were the amount of stairs .If your a senior or have any mobility issues then stay else were. I lost count of the times helping people with baby buggies . There are no elevators the resort is about 50 min from Vallarta with little or no buses .

Excellent resort!

This resort was quite nice, and set up excellent for families. Perks- -loads of activities for the kids (we have pre teen boys age 12/13) -staff gets everyone involved in fun & games -lots of relaxing for parents. -the spa -the staff, bell boys carried our luggage up three flights of stairs! No matter what you're after there's both here. Surfing, boogie boards, sup boards, volley ball, water games. Or just a lounger and amazing sunshine. Downfalls- -smelly (sewage smell in some a [... read more]reas)o -lots of stairs and hills, so bring chaf cream if you use it (no elevators) Overall we all had a great vacation here!

Resort was fine food above average, service was average, did not like timeshare pitch

Fair won't go back to far from town. Ended up buying the travel membership trying to cancel. Had conference call to resolve. Pitched me again. Customer service was hit and miss. Alcohol seemed watered down. Pushed for tips on every transaction. Signed up for imperial service never used because shop would not accept.

Great Family Resort

We stayed at the Grand Palladium from Jan 21-28. Overall we really liked this resort. Pros: - People of Palladium keep you very entertained whether it's at the beach, pool or theatre. - the kids club was great. They have a great guide that lays out what the children do daily and they have things for the kids to get involved in at night. My daughter loved the "Mini Shows". - loved the beach. The water is very pretty and if you walk further down the beach there are surfers and pebbly beach [... read more]es. - the bell boys always went above and beyond. Always smiling and willing to help out with whatever you need. - buffet food had a lot of variety. - loved the Bamboo and Mexican restaurants. - absolutely loved that it was outside of Puerto Vallarta. There are so many cute smaller towns around to check out. - pools and kids watersliding - awesome! The kids didn't want to leave the pool because of the slides. We never got to hang at the adult pool but it looked really nice and a more quiet place to hangout. Cons: - rooms are not that nice. For a family of 4, we had 2 double beds. Beds were super uncomfortable. They are getting a little run down but honestly we didn't hang in the room that much so it really wasn't an issue. - reservations at the restaurants were non-existent or at least it was for us. Heard you could download an app for reservations but it wouldn't work for me, always saying they were fully booked. In saying that though, we did get to go 4 times. What we found was because we had the kids we had to eat earlier so we would go between 5:30 - 6 and always get in. - service at the main buffet was very hit or miss. One day it would be amazing and the next we barely got a drink to go with our food and plates would be piling up on the table. Last note: There are so many comments about the resort being hilly and spread out. It definitely is but they do have ramps for wheelchairs access. The resort has a lot to offer that is why it is spread out. It was nice to walk and get some exercise.

Beautiful location

Loved our stay at the Grande Paladium. Good food with good service most of the time. Lots of activities to participate in. Great place to take kids, with the Kids Club and the kids pool. Our room left a little more to be desired. From a dirty tub and sink, to a floor that was never swept or washed the whole week. The room smelt musty, that got worse when the air conditioner was turned on. We asked to be moved closer to our daughters family and were told to return the next morning. Upon returning [... read more] the next morning we were told to return the following morning. Then we were told that we could not be moved due to Booking thru tripcentral. They didn't want tripcentral to think we had been unhappy with our room, lol.

Amazing location

Loved the setting & surroundings from the first day on. With a few disappointments the first day, the food just got amazing afterwords. The people were amazing, the friendliness of the Mexican people was just great. :) The ocean was sometimes a little "rough", but just so amazingly beautiful. Our Favorit was the beach and the ocean, that's why you go there... ;)

Family vacation

We had a great family vacation at this resort. We loved how geared to kids it was, and the kids loved the hotdog cart and popsicles by the pool! The salt water pool was nice for us although it was far from all the bars and food so we had to pack everything up that comes with two toddlers for meals. Staff were friendly and resort was well kept. Our stroller did not fit through our room door which was a hassle, coffee is no easily accessible if you are an early riser. Unless you like machine coffe [... read more]e ( like you'd find in a hospital ) other than that you have to wait for the buffet at 7. Bar service was exceptionally slow even more so if you didn't tip. I often found myself waiting at the bar 15-20 min before getting to order and that was with pesos visibly in hand. Balconys are small especially 3rd floor ones. My inlaws were on the third floor and their balcony had one chair. And it hardly fit. Food was good, the buffet repeated itself nightly. In order to reserve alacartes they tell you to use the app which didn't work. So we'd wait in line to get a table. The small zoo was great entertainment for the kids as well as the splash park with pools ! Overall a great holiday as it is what you make it :)

Great hotel!

My family and my kids very much enjoyed this hotel! It is very geared towards families and there is plenty to do. The nightly shows aren't the greatest but you can tell they work very hard and it was enjoyable. The adult infinite pool is amazing as well. We would go back!

Fine, not awesome

This is the second time we have visited GPV, the first being about 5 years ago and this most recent from Nov. 27 - Dec. 4, 2016. We did not stay at the Royal side, although we contemplated it. For us, it's not really worth the extra cost because we don't care about the rooms that much, just the beach. For some, the cost might be worth it. This resort has a lot of kids. We don't have kids, but we stayed at the beach mostly or the adult pool. But, there are kids all over the place in the buf [... read more]fet or restaurant and so many at the main pool. The rooms are entirely adequate for the 4 star rating of this hotel. The beach is good, but note there are some rocks which can cut feet. The water is turbulent, not good for snorkelling and probably not that great if you aren't a decent swimmer. But it is good for body boarding and there is a big surfing contingent at this resort, surf boards are part of the all inclusive. We tried surfing, but found it very scary! We stuck with boogie boards. But, you can surf at this resort. The bars and drinks are good. We were very happy that they use re-usable plastic cups for beach and pool drinks instead of disposable cups. The a la carte restaurants are good, we like the Mexican the best. We like how there are no reservations at the a la carte - you just go when you are ready for dinner and occasionally you will have to wait a little while, but not always. The buffet for us was just OK. At times we found the servers quite dismissive, but not all of them and not all of the time. I think we are pretty low maintenance - we perhaps just caught some servers on a bad day or something. I would note that I got many bug bites - I think they are probably sand flea bites from the beach. If you are prone to bug bites (as I am, my spouse did not get any) I would suggest bringing some repellant and/or after bite treatment. I did not bring either of these things and was very itchy the whole time! Overall this is a good resort for the price we paid. It seems that it would be very good for families as there are many kids and they offer day care as well I think.

Great resort

The hotel was great the staff was helpful in anyway the food was good the views were breath taking and we took a trip to Puerto Vallarta board walk and had great time with fresh seafood from the ocean thank you for a great trip I would recommend this hotel for families lots for kids to do