Travel Guide | Hotel Emporio in Cancun, Mexico

For our 3rd anniversary, Ryan and I decided to visit an all-inclusive. We went on a cruise for our first anniversary/babymoon, and went on a cruise for our second anniversary with our infant daughter, and contemplated going on another cruise for this anniversary. What changed our minds was that we decided to go just the two of us, and I haven't been able to just relax and drink on an anniversary trip since I was pregnant for our first anniversary and taking care of a baby for our second anniversary. Drink packages can really add up on a cruise, and sometimes on a cruise you are at a port for less time than you want and feel rushed away. An all inclusive just seemed like the better option where we could forget about our parenting responsibilities and just spend the day having drunk naps at the beach.  

Why we chose Hotel Emporio

Once we had decided to go on a long weekend getaway to an all inclusive, we knew Cancun would be the obvious choice. Cancun is just a 2 hour flight from Houston, and we enjoyed it the last two times we went. Although we're still wanting to get back to Moon Palace, we wanted somewhere a little more affordable this time. And although Panama Jack was affordable, there's just so many resorts that we didn't want to repeat the same one twice yet. 

So I just started searched online through Expedia and Trip Advisor and came across Hotel Emporio. It seemed like a great fit for us because it wasn't crazy expensive, yet still had good reviews. We were able to use our Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights, making the trip basically free for us.

Since we decided to go without our daughter, all I felt comfortable doing was a long weekend because it was the first time we had both been away from her overnight. We ended up flying out early Friday and flying back Sunday afternoon, which was a great trip, but maybe one day too short. 

A pro tip I learned when I studied abroad is that most hotels will actually allow you to arrive to the hotel prior to the check-in time. Your room won't be ready yet as the last occupants are either still there or they just left and the room hasn't been cleaned yet, but the front desk will likely store your luggage until your room is ready. They likely will still give you your wrist bands when you get there and allow you to start enjoying the hotel while you wait for your room to be ready. 

Hotel Emporio Cancun Review

I'll be honest, this resort didn't really impress me much at the start, but it grew on me as we stayed. The lobby is one of the tiniest lobbies I've been to, and it was a crowded and slow process to get checked in. However, I did notice that there were a LOT of pilots and flight attendants checking in both on the day we got there and the day we left, so it seems to be really popular for flight crews.

One thing that I did like about the check-in process was that your resort wristband also had an RFID chip in it, which acted as your room key & could be scanned at the bar or restaurant to show you had the all-inclusive package. I love not having to carry around a room key and always knowing I have my room key on me, even if I'm just in a bikini. I hope more places start to adopt this technology, because it's the easiest customer experience. 

This resort had the option for food & drinks included, breakfast included only, or pay-as-you-go. I'm not a big fan of resorts having different packages with all-inclusive or not. It goes faster when you're trying to get a drink in the bar because no one is having to sign a receipt, we're all just grabbing a drink & leaving a tip & moving on. I also don't like it because it can be very hard to tell what is included in the all-inclusive and what is an extra (like certain restaurants or drinks). 

The hotel reminded me of Europe because there are LOTS of stairs to utilize the resort. The main level had the lobby, kid's pool, adult & kid's pool, and pool bar/buffet. The level above the main level had the buffet. The level below the main level had the kid's splash pad, adult's-only infinity pool & bar, the gaming bar, and a restaurant. Then there was another set of stairs to an adult's-only oversized hot tub. Then the level below the adult's-only pool was the beach. It was very confusing to know we're you're going and a lot of things seemed to be hidden, so it's worth it to spend a day just wandering around the resort to find out where's what. But, that being said, all the steps did help to really space things out. The toddler splash area is its own area, the kid's pool is a completely different area, and the adult's-only was its own area. 

The view from the adult's only hot tub

The all-ages pool has hammock and a entertainment coordinator who runs games like cornhole

The kid's pool had a pirate ship slide

The toddler are had 2 water tables and lots of sprinklers

The staff was iffy on service. I asked our room attendant for an extra water bottle and she said no, the front desk gave my husband a hard time about towel cards (which was a weird process itself), and we spent our whole time during the days either on the beach or in the adult's-only hot tub, and only once at each location did a server come to take a drink order. But, the staff at the bars and the staff helping with luggage and waiting for our ride were fantastic. 

The rooms at Hotel Emporio 

We reserved a "suite deluxe sea front" room, Room 902L. It was a nice room, but I don't know if I would call it a suite deluxe. It had a bathroom with a large shower and separate tub, a king size bed, a couch, and a balcony that overlooked the resort mainly, but if you looked up you could see the ocean. Usually, we love to order room service for breakfast and enjoy it on our balcony, but this resort charged $20 for room service. This wasn't worth it to me, but the buffet was a trek from our room, making it unrealistic to go grab something from the buffet and bring it back to enjoy in our room. 

The room itself was a really nice, standard hotel room. It was clearly renovated recently, the bed was really comfortable, and the AC worked really well. There were two closets, one for hanging clothes and one that I think was intended to store your luggage. It had a table that you could not move, so I think that was supposed to be an upgraded version of a luggage rack.

Unlike other all-inclusive resorts we stayed at, this one didn't keep any snacks in the room or beer/soda in the fridge. We got 2 water bottles by the mini fridge and 1 water bottle in the bathroom. We did not realize on the first day that the water bottles would be so hard to come by, so we accidentally drank all our water down at the beach and then both woke up parched in the middle of the night that first night. Like I mentioned earlier, on Day 2 I just so happened to run up to the room while it was being made up and the room attendant wouldn't give me a spare water. I'm so glad I brought a stainless steel water bottle that I could have the bartenders fill up with drinking water, because we would've been rationing water without it. 

Eating at Hotel Emporio

While we waiting for our room on Day 1, we headed straight out of the lobby and to the pool bar and buffet. The bar gave us great drinks fast, and it was easy to find a seat at the buffet. That buffet is right in between the kids-focused pool and the all-ages pool, so it makes sense that the only options were hamburger, hotdog, chicken fingers, or tacos. And I mean only options. The hamburger and hot dog buns were definitely above what you'd get at a sonic, but the meat wasn't great. At first we thought this was the only buffet option, and I was starting to panic that we had chosen the wrong resort if that was our only option. 

Luckily, my husband asked around and found out about the roof-top real buffet that you get to by walking through the pool buffet and up the stairs. It was great! The views were amazing and they had a lot of choices and a lot of freshly cooked food, some even made-to-order. The one downside was that we ordered a beer and glass of wine when we sat down, and we were almost through our meal by the time our drinks came. Then, our waiter mentioned something to us about how we'd have to sign something for our drinks so we waited and waited and he never came back, so we just left. I'm assuming maybe it's because he first didn't realize we were all-inclusive but then realized we had already pre-paid for our drinks? Not sure, which is why I don't love these hybrid resorts where not everyone is all-inclusive. We had dinner at this buffet the first night and breakfast here the next two days. 

For our one full day, I went ahead and ate lunch at the roof-top buffet by myself while my husband took a beach nap. After he woke up, he was headed up to the breakfast buffet and noticed there was a restaurant right by the adults-only pool and checked it out. He said the pizza was amazing and it was a really great restaurant. I was bummed we weren't staying long enough for another lunch and already had dinner plans, so I never got to try it. 

On our first night, my husband discovered the Italian restaurant, Bacoli Trattoria, tucked behind the lobby. It was fully booked for that Friday night, but he was able to get us a 7:00pm reservation for the next night. When we got there at our reservation, the hostess asked us if we were celebrating anything special, and we told her that it was our 3rd anniversary. Then she sat us down at the table right behind the hostess stand, where we were so close I could have high-fived her, even though there were less than half of the other tables occupied. I understand that people make reservations and then get busy (or drunk) and don't show up, but it was annoying that we were sat right there in a half-empty room, especially after we had just told them it was a special occasion. Although we've been given a free glass of champagne one night on our last two anniversaries, I don't expect this everywhere we go. But still, it was weird that they took the time to ask if we were celebrating anything and then seemed to not care a bit that we actually were. Other than that, the food was actually pretty good. I'm glad we had the all-inclusive package so we could order multiple appetizers to try out the food. One warning though, the bruschetta had a ton of chopped olives hidden under the cheese. I've never had bruschetta with olives, so I was caught off guard on that one. 

What to do at Hotel Emporio

I think this category is where this resort really shines. Like I mentioned, there's a whole area dedicated to just babies/toddlers, a whole area dedicated to just kids, and a whole area dedicated to adults only. It seems to be equally as family-friendly as it is perfect for an adults-only trip. 

The adults only pools had day beds you could rent, but we spent most of our time down at the beach or up in the oversized hot tub. What was weird was that the adults-only infinity pool also had a hot tub, but the heater seemed to be broken on that. The pool was probably 75 degrees, which would be great on a hot day but too cold for an 80 degree day. If the pool was heated, we would have hung out there the whole time. The views were amazing and it had it's own swim-up bar. This was actually the bar we went to the most often, because it seemed to open earlier than the beach bar and it seemed to not be as packed since the cold pool was basically empty. 

The oversized hot tub on a different deck was great. It was huge so it didn't feel crowded and it was partially covered, so you could choose how shaded or not you wanted to be. It didn't have an actual bar to it, but staff was able to walk around the full hot tub to take drink orders (although I found they didn't come that often and took a while to bring back drinks, so I recommend just taking turns going down to the other bar for a drink). There was only 1 instance of kids getting in the pool, and although they were just sitting and talking, the staff did make them relocate soon after they got in, so it's nice that adults-only areas aren't run over by kids. 

In between the adults-only bar and the restaurant where my husband had lunch on our one full day, there was a little sports bar. We went there after dinner on our last night and it was a great find! It was a long room that had partial room dividers with foosball, ping pong, and pool sections. The last section was a bar area with tables and a DJ (who was much too loud for that small of an area) with a karaoke TV going so it was a group sing-a-long. After the sports bar, we wandered around and found a horizontal rock wall at the end of the infinity pool that my husband had fun climbing.  

 

The beach was great. They had a large area reserved with lots of chairs, umbrellas, daybeds, and chairs. The daybeds couldn't sit up, so it was a rush to make sure you got a chair that wasn't flat the whole time. And not every chair set had a table, so I was glad that my beach bag could serve as a table. There was a good sized beach bar that had swings while you waited for your drink. There also seemed to be jet skis that you could rent, but it wasn't clear if that was the resort renting them or if they just allowed a company to rent them out on their property. 

Overall thoughts on Hotel Emporio

I think this place could have grown on me if I had a few more days to explore what it had to offer, and if I went in the summertime where it was hot enough that a cool pool was welcomed so I could have enjoyed the massive infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The bar staff was great and the drinks were good. The food overall was pretty good. Although there were a LOT of stairs, I liked how things were spread out so that different age groups could enjoy the resort without other ages being right there. 

I just really wish they had given us more waters plus some beers and snacks in our room like other all inclusive resorts. This is the first all-inclusive I've stayed in out of 5 different resorts throughout Mexico and the Caribbean that didn't even include basic beer and potato chips in the room. It's just nice to have a late-night snack or a beer before the bars open. 

If there was a bachelorette trip or something that wanted to go here, I wouldn't be opposed. But for now, I think there's other options out there that are worth visiting first before I come back to Emporio. 

Our next trip

A month after booking this trip, my iPhone memories started showing me pictures of our daughter on our last cruise and I got mom guilt thinking about Ryan and I traveling without her. I just went on Royal Caribbean's website to see if there were any sales, and there was a kids sale free and 2nd passenger 60% off sale! That was all the convincing I needed, so our next trip will be a quick 5-night cruise to Mexico!

Cancun All Inclusive Packing List for 2024

For our anniversary this year, Ryan and I decided to go on our first child-free vacation. Since we were going without our daughter, I only was comfortable going for a long weekend. This worked out perfectly because we were able to use our Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights, making the trip basically free for us! This is the same strategy we used to go to the Dominican Republic for free for our honeymoon!

What I Bought for our All Inclusive Trip

I was so excited to find waterproof Uno cards for us to play on this trip! Ryan and I love playing card games together, but we don't get to do that often with a little toddler around. I found a travel Uno card case to pack them in so the cardboard box wouldn't get ruined in the suitcase. I went ahead and got a matching travel card case for our favorite Monopoly card game as well, because we take that on every trip we go on. 

Like I mentioned in my All Inclusive Favorites post, we like to bring stainless steel tumblers for drinks and a stainless steel water bottle for water. For this trip I got tumbler cleaning tablets to make cleaning them easier, and a collapsible cut stand to our cups air dry faster but folds flat to pack. 

Since we're planning on some rest and relaxation on our child-free trip, I went ahead and got us his and hers beach pillows with cooling inserts (I decided to leave the inserts at home). This is extra, but since we live near Galveston beach, I knew we could use these for more than this trip. These turned out to be our favorite item for the trip! It made laying down on the beach chair SO much more comfortable, and they packed up so small that I want to take them on every trip. 

Another thing I'm SOO glad I brought was a small Turkish beach towel. Our resort only let us check out 2 towels per day, so it was nice that I had an extra that I could use as a blanket in the mornings before it warmed up, and Ryan could use as a blanket to cover his legs when he napped so he wouldn't burn. We used this so much on this trip that I added another to my Amazon cart while we were on the beach so that next time we can each have one. 

Ryan already has a waterproof travel wallet, but we keep it in our "cruise bag" that has all of our cruising essentials in it and stays packed for our cruises. I got a 2nd wallet in a new color because it's so cheap, so now we don't have to unpack our cruise bag just for the travel wallet, and can keep one in our "all inclusive" bag for future trips. I needed my own "travel wallet," but didn't want an actual wallet. Instead, I found this cute tumbler fanny pack that can hold my phone, room key, and money. I really like that is has a zipper to keep my money safe, but also an outside pocket to keep my phone easily accessible. It's also waterproof material so I don't have to worry about using it when I'm dripping wet. 

What I Packed for our All Inclusive Trip

Checked luggage

Since we were flying Southwest and knew we'd get a free checked bag, we decided to check one bag and then each take a small personal item onto the plane so we could be hands free in the airport and take full-sized sunscreen in the checked bag. This was just a quick trip for just the two of us, so we could fit all of our clothes into a hanging closet organizer which took up one half of the suitcase. 

The other half of the suitcase had my travel toiletry bag, travel hair tools bag, our all-inclusive bag, my husband's toiletry bag, and our sunglass box packed with his and hers sunglasses.

Carry on bags

My husband brought a carry-on backpack that had his Airpods, an airplane phone mount, a solar phone charger, my Kindle and an iPad, plus his swimsuit and sandals and sunglasses for the beach.

I wore a crossbody that had each of our passports, my Airpods, my phone, and a phone charger. I loved having our passports right on me so I didn't have to go digging for them in my bag, but they were more secure than just being in my pocket. 

In my carry on, I had a wet bag with my swimsuit, coverup, and sunglasses, the Turkish towel, the beach pillows, towel bands, and a sunscreen stick. 

Beach bag

For my carry-on bag/beach bag, I brought a baby Bogg Bag and I loved it! This is my first vacation with my Bogg Bag, and the baby size was perfect for just the 2 of us at the beach. I got a phone pouch for the outside of the bag, and it was perfect for putting my phone away while still having quick and easy access to it while at the airport. I added two little carabiner clips to the outside of my bag so that we had an easy way to hold on to our sunglasses and could quickly access them without scrounging around in my bag. I clipped a small waterproof speaker onto one of the shoulder straps and quietly played music for just the two of us until the beach bar opened and turned on their sound system (it was also great for listening to music while getting ready in the room). I got a little beach-themed paci holder to hang off of the shoulder straps, and because it has straps on the inside of each side of the pouch, it held both mine and my husband's Airpods perfectly. 

I got a divider tray that kept my water bottle upright in the bag on travel days and converted it to a little table tray at the beach and 10/10 loved it. On our first day, we got to the beach in the late afternoon so of course all the beach chairs with tables were taken, and the only available seating was a lounge bed. I loved being able to use the tray in my bag as a table and have a place for our drinks to sit flat so we could lay down on the lounge bed and not have to hold on to our drinks. 

On the second day, we played Uno at the beach and since the tray has raised sides and is a few inches lowered into the bag, it was the perfect place to play our cards without worrying about them flying away. When we weren't playing Uno, it was just another table by our chairs to keep our little beach table from being overcrowded. Also, when it's horizontal as a tray, it completely hides all the stuff in your bag so it was a good place to stash things. 

What to Wear in Cancun

Women's outfits

For the flight from Houston to Cancun, I wore a matching 2-peice spaghetti-strap set, my favorite water sandals, and a lightweight knit sweater. I was so comfortable and cozy on the plane, and after we landed I just threw my sweater in my carryon and felt great in the warm weather. Once we got to the resort, I changed into a bikini, coverup, and same sandals and wore those for the rest of the day. That night, I wore a maxi dress and espadrille heels.

  

For our one and only full day at the resort, I wore a two piece crop top and flowy pants set with my sandals to breakfast. After breakfast, I changed into a bikini, travel sun hat, same coverup, and water sandals and spent all day down at the beach. For dinner, I wore another maxi dress with the same espadrille heels. 

  

On our last day, I wore another matching 2-piece set for my travel outfit with my same sandals and knit sweater for the flight home. 

So, in total I packed 2 matching sets for travel outfits, 2 bikinis for daytime, 2 dresses for nighttime, 1 casual outfit for daytime, 1 swimsuit coverup, 1 sweater to layer with, 1 roll-up wide brim sunhat, 1 pair of waterproof sandals, 1 pair of heels, 1 strapless bra, and underwear. 

Men's Outfits

My husband packed essentially the same as me, but I don't have any additional photos of his outfits to model what he packed. For our flight there, he wore a Henley with shorts and tennis shoes, and then changed into a swimsuit and sandals at the hotel. For dinner, he wore the same shorts from our flight and a polo with his tennis shoes. 

For our full day there, he wore a swimsuit and short-sleeved UPF shirt with his sandals during the day, and the same shorts and tennis shoes plus another polo for dinner. We ate at a restaurant at the resort this night (rather than the buffet), and although they allowed him in wearing shorts, he did wish that he had pants to be a little dressier, so we ordered him some linen pants for vacation. 

Unfortunately for him, he didn't wear his UPF shirt into the hot tub, so his shoulders got burned by our last day. For the trip home, he wore a long-sleeved UPF shirt, the same shorts, and his tennis shoes. 

So, in total he packed 2 swimsuits, 2 UPF shirts (1 short-sleeved, 1 long-sleeved), 2 polos, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of tennis shoes, 1 pair of beach sandals, and underwear. 

Thoughts on our weekend getaway

It was a short trip, and we do wish we had one more full day at the beach, but we were happy to get back to our daughter. The nice thing about such a short trip was that we didn't need to pack much (and like I explained, a lot of this stays packed year-round), so there wasn't that much to unpack and we didn't have a ton of post-vacation laundry to get caught up on once we got home. What helped get us over the post-trip blues was that we actually have a 5-night cruise planned for next month, and we're brining our daughter along with us!

All-Inclusive Packing Must Haves for 2024

I made my cruise packing favorites post, so now I wanted to talk about what I pack with an all-inclusive resort in mind! Packing for an all-inclusive versus a cruise isn't much different for me, because I tend to go to the same types of places for both. But, on a cruise I'm anticipating being on a boat all day for a few days, and being away from my room for an extended period of time on port days, so what I pack is centered on those factors. At an all-inclusive, I'm betting that I'll always be within a few minutes of my room, and that my room will be a bigger size to work with than a cruise. 

Insulated Cups

For me, the biggest difference between an all-inclusive and a cruise is that "pace yourself" is not a concept that I consider when it comes to my drinks. So, I need something that will keep me from always asking for a refill either because I ran out of my drink or my drink got too hot. For bottled or canned beers, my favorite is the BruMate Hopsulator Trio. I love that it fits both drinks and it is the easiest koozie I've ever used for a canned beer because the beers just slide right out without you having to twist the lid off to remove. It's also great that it has a wide non-slid bottom to help your drink not spill over so easily, and it's indented on the sides to make it more comfortable to hold. These won my husband over when he was able to take a beach nap and wake up to a still-cold beer that wasn't sweating all over the table. 

A lot of resorts are going straw free, or are only offering paper straws or weird candy straws, all which aren't great options, so I prefer to bring a cup that has a straw built in rather than try to keep up with a reusable straw. While the Hopsulator trio comes with a lid so you can actually turn your koozie into a sealed cup (which we have done for many years), the problem with using it for mixed drinks is that it doesn't hold all that much so you have to get a lot of refills. That's why we've added the Brumate Era cups into our packing list. We got the 30 ounces which is a good-sized drink, and it's completely leak-proof which is always great. 

Yes, the resort will have cups so you technically don't have to bring your own, but I personally think it's a much better experience. Their cups won't have a lid so you'll risk your drink spilling and if it's a sweet drink, you might spend all day fighting bugs to stay out of your drink. When you're in the pool or ocean, you'll inevitably end up with water in your cup if there's not a lid. Personally I think it's preferred by the waitstaff because it's less often that they have to come by for refills, there's no empty cups that are left behind for them to pick up at the end of the day, and it's less dishwashing they have to do. It feels like a win-win for me. More and more people are BYOC their all-inclusive stays.

Insulated Water Bottle

Okay, you have to drink something non-alcoholic on your trip, too! Your hotel will probably leave water bottles in your room daily (remember, it's all free here so raid that mini bar). Personally, I prefer to keep mine in my insulated straw bottle. I don't feel comfortable using ice in foreign countries, so I just pop the plastic water bottles in the fridge for a few hours to chill them, and then pour them into my insulated drink to keep them cold all day. I love my water bottle because it has a straw to make it easy to drink while you're reclined on a beach lounger, but it still doesn't spill if I toss it into my beach bag.

Hangover Remedies

I always pack two things when I know I'm going to be doing a lot of drinking and being out in the sun all day: hangover prevention pills for before I drink and liquid IV for after I drink. These two help out a LOT more than you'd think! Don't forget that being in the sun dehydrates you, and drinking dehydrates you, so if you're not careful then you can get in a bad shape really easily!

Travel Sun Hat

Normal sun hats are a pain to travel with because you have to carefully revolve all of your belongings around the whole hat, or have it dangle from a bag, or have to wear it through the airport. I have two travel sun hats that I absolutely love because I can pack them up really small, and being crumpled doesn't bother them one bit. I have the more traditional straw hat that is perfect for days when all I want to do is park in a chair and read while I stay dry, and then I have a sporty sun hat that is made to get wet so it's perfect to wear if I'm spending all day floating in the ocean or the pool. 

One thing about these though, is they both are open on the top, so if you have thin or light hair, you will want to put your hair in a top not to keep your scalp extra protected. I have thick hair, so I actually like the open tops so I can have my hair in any style and it works great. Oh, and these make great gifts for the family member that is hard to buy for. 

Solar Phone Chargers

I won't go down to the beach without a solar phone charger. It's so nice that you can charge up your phone and then just sit this out by your chair when it's dead, and then it's good to go again! The one I have comes with the cords built in, so this is all I have to remember to bring. And, it can do wireless charging too! Lastly, it has a flashlight so if you're coming back to your room after watching the sunset, you can have a little light to help you find your way back. 

Beach Shoes

Flip flops and strappy sandals will technically work, but there's better options. I prefer beach sandals instead. The ones I wear have a small platform to keep your feet from being buried in the sand, which is how most people tear their sandals when walking on the beach because the sand will weigh down their shoe and as they pull their leg to get their foot unburied, the shoe rips. Other shoes can also easily get ripped away from your feet by the current of the waves if you get in the water. And barefoot is a no-go because you'll burn your feet on the sand, and sometimes the shores will have sharp shells that can cut your feet. Beach sandals are made to go in the water so you can wear them straight from the pool to the beach to the ocean, and then because these are so cute I just wear them all day and to dinner as well. 

Towel Clips

There is nothing worse than burning your calves on a hot lounge chair because your towel doesn't cover the whole chair since half of it is draped over the back to keep the towel in place. Well, I guess maybe your towel blowing away and landing in the water leaving you without a towel might be worse. So, I bring towel clips. We actually just have a little vacation bag that we keep our Brumates and towel clips together so that we can always remember to bring them both!

Pool Float

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is just float in the water and chill with a drink in my hand. You can bring inflatable pool floats that don't take up a lot of room, but allow you to relax in the pool without having to sit or stand the whole time. Depending on how calm the ocean is near your resort, you can chill in these out there too. You just need to be paying more attention if you're floating in the ocean, because the tide can take you away without you even noticing. My husband prefers to stand instead of float, so he'll just keep an arm on my float to keep me nearby. 

I've also taken a whale tail float to sit on in the water. These are for when you don't necessarily want to be reclining, but you don't want to be sitting either. It's great for situations when you're with several people and you want to be involved in the conversation, but still sitting down. 

Sunscreen

I saved the most important for last. Even if you want to get a vacation tan, still wear sunscreen! Trust me when I say that even with sunscreen, you probably won't re-apply it often enough so you'll still get a tan. But I once had an entire vacation ruined because I got a second-degree sunburn on day 1 and will never forget how miserable I was with bubbling and peeling skin (use cool tea bags if this happens to you). 

I really recommend you do your first layer with sunscreen lotion, and then you can follow up with the spray if you're covered in sand and can't re-apply with lotion. I recommend starting with lotion (per my derm) because the breeze off the ocean usually will blow away of lot of the spray sunscreen, leaving you with basically no coverage. Starting off with the lotion at least gives you a good base layer of protection. I also use sunscreen stickers that change color to let me know when to reapply so I won't burn. 

Resort Wear

Lastly, I pack a swimsuit for each day, a coverup, comfy outfits for the day and a dinner outfit for each night. That's basically it! If we're planning on doing anything on the trip, I might pack more outfit. But mostly, I just live in bikinis and coverups for my trip, which makes for easy packing because like a true millennial I overpack on the drinkware. 

Travel Guide | Garza Blanca in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

My husband's family takes an annual family trip together, and after how expensive Disney Aulani in Hawaii was for our last trip, we decided to choose an all-inclusive for our next family trip. We have all been to the Cozumel/Cancun area a lot and wanted to expand out to somewhere different, and also needed a resort that was baby-friendly for my 1-year-old to come with. We were really trying to decide between Cabo and Puerto Vallarta when I came across Garza Blanca. What worked great for us was that this resort had locations in both Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. The deciding factor for us between the two locations was that it's just not safe to get in the water in Cabo, and we wanted the option to sit on the beach with our toes in the water if we were going to Mexico, so Puerto Vallarta it was. We definitely made the right choice! Our resort looked like it could have been in Hawaii with the trees surrounding one side and the ocean on the other. We all loved this resort so much and spoiler, I definitely recommend it. Garza Blanca has been one of my top favorite resorts we've been to. 

Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa Review

Let's start with this: this place felt very luxurious, and yet was family-friendly at the same time. Garza Blanca is on the smaller side, which made it feel less touristy and overcrowded (although we did go there the week of Labor Day which is apparently off-peak season). Right across from the street is its sister resort Hotel Mousasi, which you have full access to, but it is adults only so kids aren't allowed in the restaurants or pools over there. There's a trolley that goes between the two resorts and I really recommend that you take it, because Hotel Mousai is up on a cliff and it is a very steep walk to get up there. 

The views from the lobby of the resort are unreal! This is seriously one of the most beautiful resorts I've stayed at. There is a huge infinity pool that overlooks the beach down below and has mountains behind it and off to the side. It was seriously gorgeous! 

One negative about Garza Blanca is that they do have timeshares. They aren't pushy about it at all and they don't make you sit through a presentation, but it did seem to be a lot of ads in the elevators for this and you can tell who is  and isn't a timeshare member by their wristbands that they give you.

I wanted to point out that technically you could go "European" where you don't do the all-inclusive package and just pay for food and drinks as you go. While the room rates for this are much cheaper than all-inclusive, this is a luxury resort so the prices add up fast. If you're only there for a few days, maybe pay-as-you-go is cheaper, but for most people I would recommend the all-inclusive package. 

The rooms at Garza Blanca

The rooms at Garza Blanca are great! The room was spacious with a large bedroom with a living room that had a couch and coffee table, but with pretty room to walk around the furniture. Our bathroom had a jetted tub, roomy shower, and a connecting walk-in closet that had plenty of storage for our week stay. Our room had a really long balcony that went the entire width of the bedroom and overlooked the ocean. 

Eating at Garza Blanca

There's room service, plus a breakfast buffet, poolside service, and 3 all-ages restaurant options and 3 adults-only restaurants. There's a pool-side restaurant called Aquazul that has lunch/snack options. 

The breakfast buffet is all in the main building, which turns into a reservation-only restaurant for dinner, called Blanca Blue. 

The all-ages steakhouse Bocados sits at the top of a hill and has amazing views at sunset. Everyone raves about the Japanese restaurant Hiroshi on the Hotel Mousai, but it's notoriously always booked up so we didn't get to make it. 

Instead, we went to the Chinese restaurant Dao over by Hotel Mousai and my mother in law stayed back to watch my daughter and they ordered room service so we could go to the adults-only side. We also ate at the Italian restaurant Noi and just booked an in-room baby sitter for our daughter so we could all eat together. All the restaurants were included in the price except for Karuma grill, which is another steakhouse but the steaks are an extra cost. 

All of the food that we had was amazing. Even the buffets didn't feel like "buffet" food and there was a good variety of food and the options were great. You do have to make dinner reservations everywhere, so I recommend you do that right after you reserve your room so that you have the most options. There is a dress code, so pack business casual clothes to wear for dinner.

What to do at Garza Blanca

Between the two resorts is a cute little shopping center with a carousel! This was the highlight of the trip for my daughter, and is such an Instragram-able spot. 

The resort has 2 pools- an upper-deck pool that has a splash shelf for little kids and then a lower-deck pool that is their infinity pool. There's also a adults-only rooftop bar at Hotel Mousai, but we didn't go to that. We spent most of our time in the infinity pool. It has a sitting shelf basically the entire length of it so a lot of people can comfortably sit in the pool. It has waitstaff who keep your drinks full and will grab you a quick bite from Aquazul. 

There's also a small beach. Similar to Aulani, this beach actually has a public part of the beach that is shared with the resort-only beach, so don't be surprised to see locals bring umbrellas and coolers to set up on the beach. The beach is beautiful and there's a beach bar with waitstaff who come by to take your drink/lunch order. The resort provides free kayaks for you to go out into the water with, and they have a free snorkeling expedition every morning at 8 am. The shoreline itself is very rocky, so I was very happy I packet my water sandals. Everyone who was barefoot didn't last long in the water, but what is nice is that they have a little breakwater to keep the water near the beach nice and calm. 

There aren't a whole lot of activities at Garza Blanca. Think of this as more of a R & R vacation spot than an adventurous place. 

Overall thoughts of Garza Blanca

Absolutely loved Garza Blanca, and really loved Puerto Vallarta! The view is just breathtaking! Similar to what we did at Aulani, rather than book 3 separate rooms, we booked a 3-room suite. And it was sweet! Our room had 2 stories, a private balcony hottub, a wraparound balcony, a full kitchen and wet bar, a dining room, and a living room bigger than my living room at home. The suite came with a butler service that we could just text to reserve seats down at the pool or beach, make dinner reservations, and book the babysitter through. The kitchen in our suite was stocked every day with water, beer, and snacks. 

The highlight of the trip is that the suite comes with a private chef for one night, which was the most luxurious part of the trip. The chef sat down with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and myself to get an idea of the menu for the night, and then a whole team of servers came and helped him prepare an epic like 7 course meal. The food was absolutely delicious and it was great to share a family-style meal on vacation.  

It was the perfect lavish trip to just relax and eat good food and drink good drinks while looking at an amazing view.