I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We are up to our eyeballs in puppies and home renovations. Nothing like doing it all at once – right? I’ll share more about our renovations once they are finished, and at the rate they are going, I’m thinking they could possibly be done later this week. For now, I want to share a quick travel guide for our trip to Punta de Mita last week.
We began planning this trip in January, and at the time, we weren’t sure if we were even going to be able to go due to ongoing travel restrictions. We chose to go in June in celebration of Aaron’s birthday, and our friend Blair’s birthday. Blair and I both like to plan, so we got to work choosing a location. I’ve been to Puerto Vallarta before (you can read more about that trip here, here and here), and we wanted to stay somewhere a bit different. We opted for Punta de Mita, since you can still fly in to Puerto Vallarta (just a 2.5 hour flight from Houston), and it’s about 45 minutes away from the airport by car.
For this trip, we stayed at the W Punta de Mita. We chose this hotel because we wanted to be able to access the beach and the pools. And, this hotel had it all. We could have stayed the entire time just at the hotel because it had everything you needed right on site. The grounds are absolutely incredible, the pools are beautiful, the vibes are good and the staff is amazing.
The hotel arranged a car to pick us up from the airport, and it was only about a 45-minute drive to the hotel.
COVID-19 Restrictions
The hotel takes COVID-19 restrictions seriously. The staff wear their masks at all times, and guests are encouraged to wear their masks while on site. Sanitizing stations are located throughout the hotel, but everything is spread out so you never feel like you are packed in with a ton of other guests.
W Punta de Mita – Travel Guide
Now, when we arrived, we had cocktails at the lobby bar.This isn’t just any ol’ lobby bar. It’s open air, and it opens up into the pool area, and you have a view of the ocean. I had a mezcal margarita, my friends got Pina coladas and some other delicious adult beverage to kick off the trip.
Our next treat was our room. My friend Blair was in charge of booking the rooms, and we decided to splurge a tad. We stayed in the oceanfront oasis suites (we booked rooms right next door to each other). I have to talk about the rooms because Aaron and I don’t typically splurge on fancy rooms (we would rather spend the money on activities). But, each of our rooms came with an ocean view and our own private plunge pool. And, the rooms were huge.
Upon walking into the room, you are greeted with a Nespresso maker (my favorite) – and a huge, King bed. On the lower level of the suite, there is a couch that overlooks the plunge pool. The windows are floor to ceiling – and they open up into the plunge pool. The bathroom is also pretty amazing. The tub and shower are in the same enclosed area – also overlooking the plunge pool.
The staff will bring adult beverages to your suite if you call ahead of time, which was a huge perk.
Mesa 1
The entire group likes to be fairly adventurous when it comes to trying some really good food when we travel. So, we knew which restaurants we wanted to try offsite, and we wanted to take advantage of Mesa 1 at the W. Mesa 1 is a private dinner experience, situated in the middle of their lake onsite.
Each person in your party can choose from the Agua (seafood), Aire (poultry), Tierra (red meat) or Vegetarian menu. And, you are treated to a seven course tasting menu prepared by one of their chef’s onsite. You can choose the wine pairing, which the rose, white and red wines – and you finish your dinner with a tequila tasting. Friends, this was a huge highlight of the trip. You can watch the sunset as you enjoy your private dinner experience.
I went with the Agua menu, Aaron had the Tierra menu, Blair had the Aire and Lee went with the Agua. It. Was. Incredible. Now, full disclosure, I started not to feel well about halfway through the dinner, so I had to excuse myself back to my room – and Aaron came with me, but Blair and Lee finished it out – and if the second half was as good as the first, I know it was delicious. The chef sent the remaining courses to our room after.
Highly recommend if you travel to this hotel. Book ahead of time because they only do one seating per evening.
Pre-travel tip if you are going to Mexico
If you are flying to Mexico, you do need to fill out your Vuela Seguro form. This is essentially an attestation that declares you don’t have Covid-19 symptoms. Once you complete the form online, you will receive a QR code that you need to show once you get off the plan and before you head through customs. Filling this form out ahead of time will save you a long wait time.
We also purchased upgraded seating at the gate (we flew Southwest out of Hobby) so that way, we could be among the first off the plane and avoid a long wait in customs. If you have the Chase Southwest Visa – premier card, you get four free upgraded boarding each calendar year. It’s one of my favorite cards to use!
U.S. travelers will need a negative COVID test to re-enter the U.S. If your hotel does the tests onsite, you should schedule your appointment to take your test when you check in. The time slots fill up fast, and it would be a bummer to have to interrupt some pool time – or an excursion – just to take a test.
I’ll be back with part II of my travel guide to Punta de Mita on Wednesday – stay tuned. Since the Bachelorette is back in session, I’m recapping tonight’s episode!!!
