Casa Velas Puerto Vallarta Review: Luxury Day of the Dead Experience at an Adults-Only Resort

 

There were two things that drove my husband and me to visit Puerto Vallarta at the end of October last year. The first is that we love Halloween, but since the boys have become teens, their desire to trick-or-treat with us has left them, leaving me heartbroken. The second is…well, there isn’t a second reason, really. I was sad in a big way that the dressing my kids up to take them around the neighborhood part of my life was over. 

So when the people of Casa Velas Puerto Vallarta reached out to invite us to their resort, we found no reason not to go. We had already stayed at the opulent Grand Velas Riviera Maya, one of the seven properties operated by Velas Resorts, so we knew how pampered we would be. Plus, flying to Puerto Vallarta from Los Angeles takes about as long as driving to San Diego, so it’s the perfect weekend getaway.

I needed this couple’s trip to soothe the sad march of time. What I didn’t expect was what it would do to our relationship and what I would learn about the culture.

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Best Time To Visit Mexico

It doesn’t matter that the beautiful beach resorts of Mexico are by the water. It gets hot in the summer. Many locals travel during those months. If your family, like ours, is tied to the school holiday travel schedule, the best time to visit Mexico is during the fall break, Thanksgiving, and spring break. If your family is free of that, then October to May are your best bets. 

Temperatures from fall to spring are mild, hovering between the 70s and 80s, and whale watching season is between December and April. There may be the occasional rain, but it’s usually brief – like 15 minutes or so – and many resorts have umbrellas stocked in baskets standing ready for that downpour.

Since we were interested in participating in Dia de las Muertas (Day of the Dead), with celebrations leading up to the holiday on November 1 and 2, October was our sweet spot.

 

 

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is a resort town on the Pacific coast of Mexico, so the water isn’t as clear or blue as it is on the Caribbean coast. It is bordered by the Sierra Madre mountain range and the Bahía de Banderas, Mexico’s longest and deepest bay. The calm bay is popular with swimmers, snorkelers, and kayakers. I can check two of the three off my list. 

El Malecon, the boardwalk that borders the bay, has many bars, restaurants, and boutiques welcoming visitors. Quirky sculptures tower over pedestrians on the boardwalk and are an activity to explore on their own. For Dia de las Muertas, this goes up 10 notches, but more on that in a bit.

 

 

Our Outstanding Video: Casa Velas Review

 

Arriving At Casa Velas

A hotel shuttle picked us up from Puerto Vallarta International Airport.  It took about 10 minutes to arrive at the Casa Velas boutique hotel. There are 80 suites at this adults-only, all-inclusive luxury hotel. 

As we pulled into the rounded driveway, the elegance of the marble floors, soft yellow walls, and ivory arches around the open-air lobby brought a sense of calm after the usual airport chaos. Smiling staff greeted us by name and extended welcome drinks and cool scented towels. The opulent presentation reminded us that a luxury vacation in Mexico costs half the price of those in the United States, and you still walk away feeling like a princess.

 

 

Our Room At Casa Velas

Walkways lined with Spanish tile connect the two-story buttery-yellow villas, each trimmed in ivory, and spread across a tropical landscape. Our Grand Class Plus suite rested on the first floor and opened onto a terrace with a private plunge pool. A TV with a mini-bar full of included goodies separated the room into a sitting area with a couch and a king-sized bed on the other side. The TV swiveled to face both spaces. 

Please enjoy the video room reveal of this decadent suite.

 

What’s Included In The Room Rate? 

All the things you’d expect are included, but they’re 10 times better than the best all-inclusive you’ve been to. Or that we’ve been to. Enjoy gourmet meals at airy Emiliano’s, the pool area, and room service, plus premium drinks from all and in your fully stocked mini-bar. Snacks too. There are activities like tequila and wine tastings, cooking classes, and yoga. 

A shuttle takes guests to their sister property, the uber family-friendly Velas Vallarta, also the location of the exclusive Tau Beach Club and the Spa (additional fee for this one). Reduced green fees and privileges at the adjacent Marina Vallarta Golf Club and nearby Vista Vallarta Golf Club. 

 

Emiliano’s

After oohing and ahhhhing around our room, then finally settling in, we changed into our vacation clothes and let the friendly servers at Emiliano impress us with their offerings. Clicking our glasses of spicy margarita, we felt ourselves sliding even deeper into the resort experience inside the floor-to-ceiling glass restaurant. 

Emiliano’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner á la carte. We enjoyed appetizers, steak, and salmon to an Italian instrumental soundtrack. Evenings diners can enjoy live instrumental music, and a guitarist serenaded eaters during breakfast too. Every meal we enjoyed at Emiliano’s was a work of art that did a Mexican Hat dance on our tongues.

 

Velas Vallarta

Although Casa Velas is a short drive from the ocean, its sister property, Velas Vallarta sits right on it. A hotel shuttle takes guests there and back.

At this point, it could have been any time of year. Casa Velas remains regal and stately no matter the occasion. But because Velas Vallarta is made for families with young kids, it cranks up the fun factor.

Here is where the skeletons that make up the cast of the Day of the Dead celebration live, but more on that later.

Velas Vallarta, spread over 10 acres, sits in front of Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta’s most exclusive community. It boasts three pools and 345 rooms that range from studios with kitchenettes to three-bedroom suites with full kitchens. I couldn’t imagine needing a full kitchen at a luxury all-inclusive, but hey, that’s me.

 

 

Restaurants at Velas Vallarta

Two restaurants serve á la carte meals at Velas Vallarta: Italian at Andreas Restaurant and seafood at beachfront, La Ribiera. We wanted to see the ocean, so had dinner our first night at La Ribiera.

 

 

A mariachi band dressed in black and white formal caballero suits circulated between tables. Strumming her guitar, a middle-aged woman belted songs that hooked onto my heart and carried it into the wind with the notes of her melancholy melody. 

 

 

SPA at Velas Vallarta

Determined to heal my broken Halloween heart, I realized the best way to do that was to soothe my body with an oceanside massage. It couldn’t hurt to try.

Although Casa Velas has the Abja Spa, it’s not on the beach. The Velas Vallarta spa, aptly named SPA, has a set of canvas tents under which practitioners work hard to ultimately help the heart. I can attest to that. At least for a bit.

More than 60 treatments are available using local and organic products and oils for facials, aromatherapy, reflexology, and sacred rituals. There is also a full-service beauty salon.

 

 

Calavera Painting 

We walked by a Disney version of a Dia de los Muertos play, surrounded by kids and families of all ages, watching aptly on a lawn.

 

 

Not far, a picnic table lined on each side with calaveras, or sugar skulls (plaster really), sat waiting for artists like us to dip our brushes into the paint kits set nearby. We joined a group of other creatives, or creative hopefuls, to try our artistic skills. Try is the operative word here. 

Craft cocktails played a part in the success of the event, and everyone walked away with a unique souvenir celebrating the holiday.

 

 

DON’T MISS! Grand Velas Riviera Maya Mexico: Celebrating the Jewish Holidays In An All-Inclusive Beachfront Resort

 

Guided Catrina Parade 

Those unfamiliar with what Dia de los Muertos is will leave feeling moved by the spirit that governs the Day of the Dead celebration after Velas Vallarta’s annual guided parade. The parade was actually us parading as a group through a walkway of decorated “calacas,” or skeletons, each with a story of death, legends passed down by the Mexican people. 

 

 

The most recognized calaca is La Catrina, the skeleton of a rich lady decorated in her best finery, showing it doesn’t matter how rich or privileged you are, we all end up in the same place.

The most important element of the Dia de los Muertos celebration is the altar dedicated to dead loved ones with “ofrendas,” or offerings. There is incense burning, orange flowers, and pictures of the deceased. Each has various shelf levels to represent the stages of life and existence. 

 

 

The Grace Museum explains: Every ofrenda includes the four elements: water, wind, earth, and fire. Water is left in a pitcher so the spirits can quench their thirst. Papel picado, or the traditional paper banners seen hanging over streets during Mexican holidays, represent the wind. Earth is represented by food, especially Pan de Muerto, or Bread of the Dead. Candles are often left in the form of a cross to represent the cardinal directions, so the spirits can find their way.

Spirits who have passed from this life onto the next must cross a bridge over the Chiconauhuapan river to reach the Underworld, and our guide, Gustavo, told us that those who were nice to animals in their lifetime had the help of little dogs called Xoloitzcuintlis to find their way. However, he said, if you weren’t nice to animals, don’t expect any help; you’re on your own.

 

Visit Downtown Puerto Vallarta Day of the Dead Festivities

Leading up to Dia de los Muertos, the end of October sees families, organizations, and businesses setting up intricate displays of skeletons doing funny or memorable things throughout the city, especially on the Malecon. Walk through the boardwalk, sweetened by the bay breeze, and take a million TikTok reels and Instamemories. Cap it off by seeing the world’s largest Catrina, standing at the end, or beginning, depending where you start.

 

DON’T MISS! 11 Day of the Dead Celebrations In the USA

 

 

Watch the extravagant parade celebrating the memory of all our loved ones on November 2 at 5:00 PM by finding a comfy spot along the Malecón or in one of its bars. The parade, named La muerte está viva (Death is Alive), runs from the 5 de Diciembre Cemetery and through the downtown area, concluding at Los Arcos on the Malecón.

 

 

5 de Diciembre Cemetery

Don’t miss the incredible opportunity to visit the most festive cemetery you’ll ever see – or that we’ve ever seen. We don’t often think of cemeteries as festive, but a different type of attitude permeates the Mexican culture, where whole relationships still exist between the living and the dead.

 

 

If nothing else, come for the ornate gravesites. Dollhouses and castles are built upon children’s graves. Paintings, statues, and ornate rooms are especially maintained on these two days to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

 

 

Táu Beach Club and Our Teepee Dinner

Nothing says rebirth quite like the ocean and even though all the celebrations were fascinating, coming back to the hotel to process it all with the ocean as our focal point was exactly the perfect way to end our Dia de los Muertos adventure. We finished with dinner on the sand with the soundtrack of the ocean as our love notes. Something we hadn’t appreciated since the kids have run us ragged as humans. 

 

 

But before that, as we sat in the Bali beds at Casa Velas’ Táu Beach Club, watching the waves crash one after the other, I thought about death. Even after the death of a portion of our lives, life goes on. It may not look the same, but finding what is good and beautiful helps us appreciate the gift God has given us. It’s what our deeply loved and departed ones would have wanted for us.

 

 

When You Go

 

 

Getting To Puerto Vallarta From Los Angeles

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines operate nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta. Other airlines that fly this route (with connections) include Aeromexico, Hawaiian Airlines, Korean Air, Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Viva is a low-cost option.

It takes approximately 3 hours to get there nonstop.

All flights depart from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and arrive at Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) in Puerto Vallarta. Alaska Airlines is particularly popular on this route, offering 12 nonstop flights per week.

 

Discount Sites To Book This Trip

We use these links to book travel to hotels like Casa Velas and Velas Vallarta. We would check both their main website and these to find the best deals.

 

An excellent discount site for rental cars and flights is Booking! We literally save hundreds using it.