Budget Slow Travel

By Patrick Robertson

We just spent eight weeks in a variety of tropical resorts. It was not by choice, but by circumstance. It was an odd experience but a wonderful experience as well.

This winter season has been one of record numbers of people travelling. Puerto Vallarta is no exception. In addition to the pent-up demand for travel after the pandemic, Puerto Vallarta has been named as one of the top destinations in the world to live in retirement. The building that is going on in PV is amazing. Everywhere you look there are new ten story condo buildings going up and new towers being added to existing resorts. It was no wonder that all accommodations were sold out this winter.

What began our saga was our winter accommodation in Panama being cancelled at the last minute leaving us scrambling for a place to stay as we had already committed to another couple to stay in our house. As budget travellers, we started to look for reasonable accommodations in the three to four thousand dollars a month in Puerto Vallarta as were already booked into the Grand Luxxe for a week for our daughter’s birthday.

At this late date, all the moderate priced condos were gone. By this time, any accommodations left were in the $500 a night or starting at $7,000 a month.

After looking for close to a month, we were able to find two different condominiums for five weeks, a Mexican Hacienda all-inclusive for a week and the Grand Luxxe for two weeks. The Mexican Hacienda was a lot of fun and the Grand Luxxe is beautiful and luxurious.

Unfortunately, the two condos were not as advertised and we cancelled them which left us with a lack of accommodations for five weeks.

The first condo was old and dirty, with soiled and broken furniture, an unusable bathroom and kitchen, and traffic noise. We were not able to check in until 4 p.m. and by that time we got into the place it was too late to find a place otherwise we would have left then and there.

The next morning, we walked down the beach and started calling into every beach resort to see if they had a cancellation and were able to accommodate us. Much to our surprise we found several and they varied greatly from a two star to a four star.

We decided on a beautiful four star boutique resort on the beach in the Hotel Zone that was able to accommodate us for a week. We looked carefully at the second condo and came to the realization that it would be very similar to the first so we cancelled it as well. We were able to add two more weeks to Vidanta and then come back to the small resort for two more weeks for a total of five weeks.

We were lucky that the resorts had last minute cancellations and were able to accommodate us. But, we went from budget travel to luxury travel, as our trip budget increased three-fold.

One of the things that we have learned from 15 years of travel is to quickly make the best of a bad situation. We feel lucky that we have had 15 years of travel without any serious setbacks as this one. To be in a situation where we had to pay premium prices for a one-time anomaly is bearable.

We were stunned by the sticker price that we had to pay at the small boutique resort on the beach, but we were so happy to be out of the horrible Airbnb rental that we gladly paid the price and were doing happy dances on the balcony of our suite overlooking the ocean.

The resort was a high end all inclusive. There were no buffets and we ordered from the changing menu in the two restaurants and we had poolside food and beverage service.

My budget trips to Puerto Vallarta will now be during the shoulder season of April/May.  There is a much greater selection of accommodations and the per night price is 30% cheaper. Make sure you book well in advance for the best budget price.

Photos by Patrick Robertson

– Patrick Robertson is a travel writer and long-time resident of Fernie. He is an expert in planning independent travel and finding budget travel deals. Go to his website for more information and pictures of this trip to Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta.

Read more travel articles like this HERE. Like him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/budgetslowtravel for travel tips.

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