19 March 2023

In February 2022 my wife and I decided that we should visit the pacific coast of Mexico. We flew directly from Manchester to Puerto Vallarta, a flight time of just over 11hrs. Upon arrival we were transferred to our hotel, the RIU Vallarta, which was to be home for the next 14 days. The hotel is bright and spacious with many public places and bars to mingle with other holiday makers. The hotel is situated directly onto a white sand beach with the warm waters of Banderas bay gently lapping ashore. The hotel has a wide range of activities to keep everyone entertained throughout the day ranging from water volleyball to water aerobics and Salsa dancing classes. There are 4 swimming pools one with a swim up bar. In the evening there was entertainment provided by the hotels animation team and visiting local entertainers. The hotel also has 4 speciality restaurants on site, Asian, Fish, Italian and a steak house. It also has a main buffet restaurant which catered for 7 different types of cuisine. As we were there during valentines day, I booked a romantic dinner on the beach at sunset, with our own waiter and special menu. After a few days it was decided that we should book and go on a few excursions with a local company. So we chose to go on a whale watching trip at dawn, swimming with dolphins, a sunset cruise aboard a luxury catamaran and go to a show on a tropical island in Banderas bay, called “rhythms of the night”. On the whale watching trip we saw many humpback whales with their calves, an amazing sight, truly memorable 4 hours. Swimming with the dolphins was an experience I will never forget. These intelligent creatures just loved to interact with us. We cruised aboard the catamaran and were provided with an excellent buffet of local food and drinks. And a truly memorable sunset over Banderas Bay. Rhythms of the night was set in a natural amphitheatre on the island. It’s a mixture of circus, song and comedy, a truly world class show. Unfortunately our holiday ended all too soon and we were going home. But, the whole experience was so good that we booked up again for May 22 and took our granddaughter for her 21st birthday present. Needless to say she had a wonderful time.