Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit: A Five Diamond Family All-Inclusive in Nuevo Vallarta, and What the Price Buys

RESEARCHED GUIDEBuilt from the resort’s own information, booking listings and recent guest reviews. How we research our guides

At this price you’d expect an adults-only resort. Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit is a family one: the kids’ club runs until 10 at night, and families, some in multi-generation groups, write most of this year’s reviews. It’s a AAA Five Diamond resort on the beach in Nuevo Vallarta, 20 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta’s airport, and guests rate it 4.8 out of 5 on TripAdvisor from almost 5,000 reviews, which earned it a 2026 Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best award. Still, it isn’t cheap: a February week for two came to CA$13,405 on Expedia’s Canadian site.

Getting there

Puerto Vallarta’s airport (PVR) is about 12 kilometres from the resort, around 20 minutes by road. The resort is on the Nayarit side of Banderas Bay, and the clocks there run one hour behind Toronto in winter.

First, Toronto has nonstops this winter on Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat, Porter and Flair, five hours or a little more in the air. Vancouver, meanwhile, has Air Canada, WestJet and Flair, at about five hours. Air Canada Rouge flies from Calgary three times a week from December 10 to April 10, and Flair flies from Calgary too. Edmonton also has Flair, plus Porter from November 3. In addition, WestJet flies from Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

Air Canada Vacations sells the resort as a package. However, if you book the room on its own, the transfer is extra ($). Expedia’s listing mentions an airport shuttle, but the resort doesn’t publish a price, so ask when you book. Finally, Canadians need a passport valid for the length of the stay, no visa for up to 180 days, and Mexico’s digital immigration form (FMMD) at arrival.

On February 22, 2026, after the Mexican military killed a cartel leader, there were roadblocks and burning vehicles across Jalisco, the state Puerto Vallarta sits in, and airlines cancelled Puerto Vallarta flights for a day or two. By February 24, however, Air Canada was back to full service. Canada’s advice for Mexico as a whole is to “exercise a high degree of caution,” and it doesn’t list Puerto Vallarta or the Nayarit coast among the areas to avoid. In fact, a guest who was at Grand Velas that week wrote that the staff extended their stay at no charge.

The setting and who it’s for

Velas Resorts, a family-run company, opened Grand Velas in 2002. It has 267 suites in wings that run from a palm-roofed lobby down to the beach, and on the resort’s own pages the suites start at about 1,000 square feet (93 square metres). Then, in December 2025, it finished a US$30 million renovation of 242 of them.

Who it suits: families who want a luxury hotel rather than a water park, including big multi-generation groups, since the Family Suites and Residences sleep five to seven; and couples who want space, service and good restaurants, and don’t mind children at the pool. Also, several 2026 reviewers are repeat guests, some on their fourth to seventh stay.

Who should skip it: anyone after nightlife, because the evenings are quiet. Anyone who wants Caribbean turquoise, because this is the Pacific. And anyone for whom the price is the deciding factor. After all, value is the lowest of the resort’s TripAdvisor scores, at 4.5 against 4.9 for service.

What the all-inclusive covers

Included: every meal at the restaurants and café, including the four that take reservations; premium drinks; 24-hour in-suite dining; a minibar restocked every day; Wi-Fi; the Kids’ Club (some special events cost a little extra); kayaking, beach volleyball, tennis, pickleball, yoga, Pilates and the fitness classes; Spanish and cooking classes. Taxes and tips are in the rate too. As a result, you aren’t expected to tip as you go.

Costs extra ($): spa treatments and the salon; babysitting; wines from the cellar list; golf; motorized watersports; tours, including whale watching from December to March and trips to the Marietas Islands; late check-out; and the airport transfer. In addition, every suite we priced on Expedia’s Canadian site came with a US$50 spa credit per person and 10 percent off golf.

Grand Class is a higher suite tier ($). It’s an oceanfront suite for two adults, 1,865 square feet (173 square metres) with a hot tub on the terrace, and it adds a 24-hour personal concierge and a welcome mezcal and wine. For our February dates, however, it was CA$593 a night more than the entry suite.

Amenities

The suites

The cheapest category we priced, the Master Parlor Suite Pool View, looks at the pools, not the sea. For an ocean view, the Parlor Suite Ocean View was CA$158 a night more on Expedia’s Canadian site for our February week, and it’s the one we’d book. The renovation replaced the old dark interiors with sand and cream tones, wood and stone, new furniture and bedding, and more storage.

For families, in addition, the Family Suite is 2,195 square feet (204 square metres) for up to five people, and the Family Residences take up to seven. Still, the complaints about the suites in recent reviews are small ones: a mattress some found too firm, a musty smell in some rooms, and an air conditioner sorted out by a room change.

Pools

The main pool is a three-tier infinity pool facing the bay, heated in the cooler months, with Aqua, the swim-up bar. There’s also a separate kids’ pool, and the hot tub is for adults only.

Food and dining

Four restaurants take reservations, with dinner from 6 to 10 p.m.: Frida for Mexican, Lucca for Italian and Mediterranean, Sen Lin for Asian, and Piaf for French. Piaf, however, is for ages 12 and up. At all four the resort asks men for a collared shirt and long trousers in the evening, and Piaf also asks for closed shoes. Meanwhile, Azul, by the ocean, does the breakfast buffet, Selva del Mar is the casual poolside restaurant, and AMAT is the café.

Above all, the four dinner restaurants are named again and again in the 2026 reviews, and Expedia’s listing singles out Lucca’s truffle mushroom soup. On the other hand, the buffet is the weaker part: one review site calls Azul “fine but unremarkable,” and a 2025 guest said breakfast and lunch “need work.”

Bars

Koi is the lobby bar, with sports on the screens, and Aqua is the swim-up bar in the main pool. Premium spirits are included. Wines from the cellar list are extra ($), and an older review found the included wines poor.

The beach

Nuevo Vallarta’s beach is a wide stretch of golden sand, and it doesn’t get sargassum, the seaweed that lands on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. However, the water isn’t Caribbean turquoise, and the waves can be big: a September 2026 guest’s advice was “waves are strong so be careful.”

Kids and teens

The Kids’ Club takes ages 4 to 12 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Children under 4 can also go with a parent. The Teens’ Club, for 13 to 17, has gaming booths, a pool table and air hockey. For babies, the resort’s Baby Concierge lends strollers, bottle sterilizers and warmers, and baby bathtubs at no charge. Babysitting, however, is extra ($). One review site says parents describe the kids’ club as the thing that let them relax. The one gap: older reviews said there was little for older teens and young adults to do, and a returning guest in June 2026 said it has improved.

Spa

SE Spa has 20 treatment rooms in 16,000 square feet (about 1,500 square metres), and Forbes rates it five stars. Its hydrotherapy circuit, with whirlpools, a cold plunge, a sauna and a steam room, comes free for an hour with a treatment. Treatments are extra ($), and there’s also a kids’ spa for under-16s.

Evenings

Dinner, then live music on some nights, and reviewers describe the evenings as quiet.

Service

TripAdvisor’s service score is 4.9, and 2026 reviews name their concierges. For example, a September 2026 guest summed it up as “5-star service all the way around.”

Our take

Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit is a luxury family resort with big renovated suites, four well-reviewed dinner restaurants, a kids’ club that runs into the evening, and service guests rate 4.9 out of 5. If the budget allows it, it belongs on any family shortlist for Mexico.

It’s expensive, and value is its lowest score. The entry suites look at the pool, the evenings are quiet, and the waves can be big. Even so, we’d book an ocean-view Parlor Suite between December and March, when it’s dry and the humpback whales are in the bay. In contrast, the rainy season runs from mid-June to mid-October.

For a family all-inclusive at a lower price, our Moon Palace Cancún guide is the comparison. For another resort on Mexico’s west coast, read our Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos guide. On Expedia’s Canadian site the Master Parlor Suite Pool View for February 6 to 13, 2027 was CA$1,583 a night before taxes and CA$13,405 for the week with taxes and fees, for two adults. Check current pricing on Expedia, and compare it with a package that has the flight and the transfer in it.

What to pack for Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit

Polare passport walletFull-grain leather with six passport pockets, card slots and a wristlet strap. Tall enough for a printed page without folding it.

LUXSURE travel pillowA firm U-shaped memory foam pillow with a velvet cover and a storage bag built in. Made to hold your head up rather than squash flat.

Narwey toiletry bagA roomy women's toiletry bag that stands open on a counter and packs flat when empty. Light fabric, so it organizes rather than protects.

Havana Breeze Hawaiian shirt85 percent silk with cotton, a loose cut, nine prints, and it washes at home. Runs big; size down.

Zuvebamyo ribbed halter bikiniA ribbed triangle halter with tie-side bottoms in 20 colours. Cheeky by design.

Maui Jim Starfish sunglassesA cat eye frame on SuperThin Glass with polarized lenses, five frame colours. One size, a medium fit.

Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit: Our Star Ratings

These ratings are based on aggregated guest reviews and the resort’s own information. Five stars is excellent, one is poor, and half-stars are allowed.

Category by category

See how this resort compares with every resort we’ve rated, side by side.

Where these facts come from

Sources: Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit and Velas Resorts official information; Expedia.ca guest reviews and listing details; TripAdvisor guest reviews; Air Canada Vacations listing; Government of Canada travel advice; airline schedules. All resort photos courtesy of Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit, via the Expedia affiliate program.

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