Premiere Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta lies midway down the Bay of Banderas on the western coast of Mexico. It’s a place with a long and curious history. It started life as, in effect, a military installation and debarkation point. The Spanish conquistadores of the sixteenth century used the location – then called Las Penas after the group of peculiarly-shaped rocks in the natural harbor – as a shipyard and supply depot for colonization expeditions into California. As Las Penas’ military importance declined it became a center for the banana trade, and was officially incorporated as a town in 1830. The modern name came a few years later, given in honor of a Signor Vallarta who was governor of Banderas, the local political region.

Then it was bananas, now it’s people. Puerto Vallarta has grown hugely in a very short time to accommodate the increasing yearly influx of tourists. The town was only accessible be air and sea until 1960, when a road was driven through the mountains to the east to connect it to the rest of Mexico. These days it is big: nearly a million tourists arrive every year to swell the local economy. Bananas are pretty much forgotten.

Despite its tourist boom, Puerto Vallarta still has something of a small town atmosphere about it. This is perhaps accentuated by the baroque facades and towers of the town’s churches, and possibly also by the easygoing, friendly nature of the locals – who are remarkably easy to get along with even by Mexican standards.

As you might expect for a tourist destination placed so invitingly on a sheltered coastline of the deep blue Pacific, Puerto Vallarta has a number of excellent resorts and hotels. One of the most successful in recent years has been the Villa Premiere Hotel and Spa. Like many other resorts in the town, the Villa Premiere enjoys a fantastic beachfront location – wherever you are within its perimeter, you’ll never be more than a few yards from the sea.

The Villa Premiere has a wonderfully intimate atmosphere. There are only eighty three deluxe rooms available, so if you’re there for a week or more your should get to know the names and faces of many of your fellow vacationers. The management and staff, too, take advantage of the resort’s relatively small size to make sure that every guest feels at home and is extended a personal welcome. In fact, the management sum up the Villa Premiere’s philosophy with an old Mexican saying: ‘mi casa es su casa’ – literally, ‘my house is your house.’ Judging by the lengths they sometimes go to in order to guarantee this level of hospitality, you can only conclude that they really mean it.

One interesting feature of the Villa Premiere that makes it particularly interesting for couples and honeymooners is that it operates an ‘adults only’ policy. Although families are very welcome elsewhere in Puerto Vallarta, the Villa Premiere likes to provide its guests with the kind of peace and quiet that only a kid-free environment can guarantee. Everyone loves them, but sometimes they can be a little noisy!

If you’re a sports fan, the Villa Premiere offers a specialist golf package. Although the resort doesn’t have a course on site, it is very close to the Vista Vallarta and Marina Vallarta golf clubs. The short stay golf package offers green passes for both clubs plus bed and breakfast accommodation in one of the resort’s premiere suites. So you can practice your game all day out on the links and retire in the evening to your suite to relax in your very own Jacuzzi.

For those who prefer their relaxation to involve rather less tramping about in the midday sun, one of the major selling points of the Villa Premiere is that it has its very own spa. The twin-level spa facility features a sauna, steam room, showers, dressing room with lockers, a relaxation room and beauty salon. There is also a fully equipped gym, so if you do feel the need to work up a respectable sweat before before getting your pores thoroughly cleansed the option is available. The pampering doesn’t stop at a sauna and dip, however. You can have the full service, if you wish: massages, scrubs, facials and beauty treatments are all available.

You can also avail yourself of a couple of services unavailable elsewhere in the world. You’ll look long and hard to find a Mayan milk rub and Papaya hydrotherapy in your home town!

Villa Premiere is a resort that combines the best of all forms of relaxation available to the vacationer with a superb location in one of the most beautiful spots in Mexico. Once you’ve been to this great Puerto Vallarta resort you’ll want to return every year.