Brisas Del Mar

Our friends booked a week in a condo through VRBO at Alta Cora, as I understand that’s the condo’s name within the Brisas del Mar complex. The condo and hotel share common areas. It’s near Blue Chair Beach, the Malecon Boardwalk, restaurants, and shops. The balcony view from Unit 604 was gorgeous. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a dark, modern look. The kitchen was well equipped: granite counters, a six-burner gas stove and oven, full-size fridge with filtered water and ice maker, deep sink with filtered spout and restaurant-style spray faucet, microwave, plus plates, pots, pans, and utensils. The standout setting is up on the roof. You enter an ordinary-looking white stucco building, then walk into a broad patio with deep terra-cotta tiles and a great view over the Pacific and Puerto Vallarta. Our condo was below this rooftop. The property sits on a cliff, with only one street of buildings far below, so the view is completely unobstructed. There’s a fairly large covered bar for gatherings, lounge chairs, and a small pool that nobody used during our stay. The property looks well kept in the entrance, shared spaces, and hallways, but the back route down toward Ampas Street looked like a war zone, with crumbling concrete and missing railings. Getting down to the street or beach takes effort: steep ramps and lots of stairs, enough to burn your legs, and not accessible for people with mobility issues. There are gates everywhere, each needing a different key. We got two sets. It’s good security, but a hassle when three or more people have different plans and schedules. We had daily construction noise, dust, and men shouting from the building next door, except on Sundays. The bunk room we used was about the size of a jail cell. Comfortable double memory-foam mattresses filled its width, so we had to crawl in and out. I couldn’t see how to reach the upper bunk because there was no ladder. Both bunks had headboards with cubbies and a clip-on fan. There was ductless AC, but it dripped heavily from the bottom, so we needed a bucket. The guest bathroom never gave us hot water, despite the brochure promising plenty of it, though it might take a while to arrive. Near the end we found that running the shower, basin, and kitchen sink hot for at least 20 minutes got us lukewarm water at best. Shower pressure was extremely weak, though the toilet pressure was normal. There were bar soaps, bath and hand towels, no washcloths, beach towels, and laundry detergent. The drain in the basin smelled rancid, a smell we noticed around town too. The bathroom has a washer-dryer combo, but the washer kept stopping mid-cycle. Our friends had the master bedroom, a normal-sized room with a king bed, ductless AC, sliding glass door but no balcony, and a nice blue-tiled bathroom. Water pressure there was normal, but the temperature still wasn’t. Wi-Fi was great for the first three days, then slowed down and stopped working for two days. It mysteriously came back on day six. Resetting the units didn’t help. A great location and beautiful views, but no hot water and difficult access to the street and beach.