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.

When it comes to golf destinations in Mexico, the Puerto Vallarta region is one of the most popular. So in the name of duty, I played 36 holes on my recent visit there and have a round-up of the other options. See the full article here: Golf in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit.

With two Jack Nicklaus courses and some stunning sea views, the Punta Mita peninsula is the prestige spot to play. It’s only open to hotel guests, villa renters, and residents. Others are closer to the string of hotels around the Marina or Nuevo Vallarta. More golf courses are on the way further north, closer to Sayulita. We’ll keep you posted on those as they spring up in the future.

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.

I stayed first in the Nuevo Vallarta area, where crews were busy removing limbs and tree trunks that had washed ashore and the water (pictured here) was closer to brown than blue. It’s still a great beach, and not as chocolate brown as in Puerto Vallarta’s center, but certainly not postcard blue.

The next shot is from the beach in front of the Four Seasons Punta Mita and this far up the bay it’s a very different story. The beaches are powdery white, the sea is clear blue, and visibility is good enough to go snorkeling.

That’s kind of expected, but here’s the odd thing: if you go a bit south from Puerto Vallarta to where Garza Blanca Resort is (review coming soon), close to Mismaloya, the water gets clear blue again and the beach is white. See the photo below. There are still a few streams emptying out here, but the water is coming through the jungle (clear) and apparently the currents move toward the middle of the bay and Nuevo Vallarta. So if crystal clear water and a white beach are important to you and it’s the rainy off-season, head to the end of the bay up north or head south.

Many luxury travelers recoil at the thought of staying at an all-inclusive hotel, thinking of it as a vacation factory with routine buffet food, indifferent service, and ho-hum rooms. There is such a thing as a luxury all-inclusive, however, and in Mexico the best examples are three notable Velas properties: two in the Puerto Vallarta region and one in the Riviera Maya region.

I had the pleasure of revisiting Grand Velas Nuevo Vallarta last week and was just as impressed as I was a few years ago. If anything, the operation has improved, despite the challenging tourism environment the past year and a half in Mexico. The staff is polished and bilingual and the rooms are some of the most impressive of any resort in the region. At all the upscale Velas resorts the food is a big draw. I wasn’t able to eat at Frida, Piaf, or Lucca—all AAA 4-diamond a la carte dinner restaurants—but in this resort even what I sampled at the lunch buffet was amazing, especially the fresh seafood, ceviche, and quality wine from Chile. And no need to rush down to snag a poolside lounge chair in the morning: just reserve what you need through the pool concierge. When you arrive he’ll get your reserved chairs ready, bring water or whatever else you need, and even furnish a loaded loaner iPod if you want.

Casa Velas, situated next to a golf course (but with its own private beach club), is a more intimate affair. With only 80 rooms and no buffet meals at the restaurants, this feels like one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World that it is, but everything is wrapped up in one price, including excellent meals, bottles of wine, and top-shelf liquor. The Presidential Suite pictured here may be the best bargain in the whole region: $1,200 for two plus $300 for each additional guest. It sleeps up to eight in its four spacious bedrooms with private bath and there’s a huge terrace with a plunge pool. The rate includes not only meals and drinks, but a stocked bar, a round of golf, a private dinner, and a spa treatment.

Meanwhile, for the other coast, I snagged this dessert photo from this OMG! Yummy blog post on a stay at the Grand Velas Riviera Maya. I can confirm from experience that the food is spectacular there—easily on par with any a la carte restaurants in the region.

With tourism in Mexico still way off from the level it was before the cable news networks started acting like the whole country is one big Ciudad Juarez, the Grand Velas hotels are frequently running deals that make them an undeniable value. All all-inclusives are not created equal and these are a in a different league altogether.

See more luxury hotels in Puerto Vallarta and Punta Mita.

For your lunch time salivating pleasure, here’s a three-course lunch presented from the poolside restaurant with a view at Four Seasons Punta Mita in Mexico. This is the Ketsi restaurant, overseen by Richard Sandoval. (I probably don’t have to tell you that it was all delicious.)

First course: smoked swordfish tostadas

Grilled red Snapper with chili morita Sauce, mango salsa, sweet corn tamal

Dessert: a heavenly Mexican chocolate tart

See more about the beachfront seafood grill (Bahia) and Aramara Asian restaurants at the Four Seasons Punta Mita dining page.