Garza Blanca Resort in Puerto Vallarta Takes Flight
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
Many times a new hotel or resort, especially an independent one, takes some time to get it’s bearings. If you stay there in the first year or two of operation, you may have to overlook a few problems you can chalk up to newness.
That is not the case with the Puerto Vallarta region’s Garza Blanca Preserve Resort, just south of the city near the Los Arcos rock formations. Led by a skilled manager who used to be at Las Alamandas in Costalegre, this is a finely tuned operation with great staffers and two terrific restaurants. These support large and well-equipped rooms, many of them suites or sprawling multi-bedroom penthouse-type condos with wraparound terraces. Every room has a balcony of some kind with a direct ocean view.
I’ve already raved enough about it in our review to repeat it all here, so go check out the photos and see our full review of Garza Blanca Resort.


After spending a week in the Puerto Vallarta region in rainy season, after visiting it before in the dry season, the most astounding thing to me was how much the water changes from beach to beach depending on the month. This time of year, it’s raining every day or two for at least an hour, so the silty rivers are bloated and running down the Sierra Madres. Where most of them empty out—in the middle of the bay—this has a major impact on the beaches and the water itself.

We like to circle back through hotels we’ve reviews in Luxury Latin America every couple of years to make sure they’re still pleasing picky guests and keeping things looking great. Sometimes we’re disappointed, but in some cases I know that I don’t have to worry—as with
Despite having only 10 rooms, this fine inn frequently comes out on top in guidebooks and magazine articles as “the best hotel in Guadalajara” and you won’t get any argument from me on that point. In a city dominated by boxy chain hotels with little charm and historic buildings that have only half-heartedly been restored, Villa Ganz is a standout for its close attention to detail on the aesthetics and its excellent personal service.

