Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort & Spa (All Inclusive)

We’ve spent a week at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort and Spa for four years running, and we’re planning to return next year. The gardens and setting are beautiful, with iguanas and birds adding to the atmosphere. We’ve stayed at many resorts, but our first visit here made us want to keep coming back. The food is excellent, and the service is terrific. We especially enjoy stopping at Kelly's each evening for a drink. The staff there are a lot of fun, and Alejandro is great with guests and speaks excellent English. This year we went to one of Kelly's special dinners, with a delicious steak meal and music from talented Mazatlan musician Rafael Rodriguez. It was a real highlight. My wife, son, and I wholeheartedly recommend the resort.

We spent nine nights here and had a great time. The grounds are lush, the pools are lovely, and both the food and service were excellent. We also took the shuttle to the other property, used its facilities, and had some very good meals there. Kelly's is a nice spot for a drink, but it shuts at 10 pm, and after that there’s nowhere to go for a drink or anything to do. If you want to party until 1 am, this resort isn’t for you. The pool bar also doesn’t open until 11, rather than 10 like at most resorts. It’s handy to be able to fill water bottles early, not just get beer. Early risers can grab coffee from the self-serve table outside the buffet restaurant between 6 and 7 am. Another nice touch: the front desk always has cash to break larger bills, unlike places that say they don’t have change. We’ll definitely be back next year! 🌴

The gardens and animals made the resort itself beautiful, and our three rooms worked well for our family of six. They had everything we needed. But the waiters’ service was horrible. We felt heavily discriminated against. We stayed calm, weren’t rude, and explained that we were leaving extra tips, since we were paying the same as everyone else. Still, we had to wait for one of the many waiters to take our order and keep tracking them down for refills. I also didn’t like that we couldn’t use the resort beach.

We were a group of eleven on the all-inclusive plan and ate only at the Pueblo Bonito properties during the week. Nobody in our group liked any of the meals, which was disappointing. The grounds themselves are beautiful, but the room comfort and food quality made the stay fall far short of what we expected. If you’re thinking of staying without all-inclusive, there aren’t many places to eat nearby. Most alternatives mean taking a taxi for at least 20 minutes, so dining elsewhere isn’t very convenient or flexible.