Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta Review

Upcoming: my honest Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta review. My husband and I escaped to the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta for four nights in January 2025. There were things we loved about the property and things we were not all that excited about. Below I’m going to break it all down for you so you can decide if Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta should be on your vacation destination wishlist!

Overview of the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

The Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta is a family friendly resort in the south zone of Puerto Vallarta. It is located on a small, secluded beach that is quiet and surrounded by jungle. There are great sunset views over the ocean and in winter months you can see whales directly from the resort.

There are two main buildings at the resort where all of the guest rooms are – the Main Tower and the Club Tower. The Main Tower is a bit older and dated but still clean and nice. They were doing construction on many of the rooms when we were there so they are being updated.

Between the two towers is the communal building with the lobby, coffee shop, the spa and several restaurants. The beach is directly in front of the entire property. There are 4 pools, including an adults only pool.

The Rooms at Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

We stayed in an Oceanfront Balcony room in the Main Tower. Like most resorts, there is a variety of room options depending on your needs. When we travel, we typically do not spend a lot of time in the room so we often book a base level room. I do enjoy sitting out on the balcony, so if a balcony room is an option I will usually choose that!

There are many different types of rooms at this property. After booking, we received several emails offering us chances to upgrade our room. Spending additional money to upgrade wasn’t a priority for us so we opted to not upgrade. However, there are beautiful two story plunge pool suites and swim out room options that I’d consider if you plan to be at the room more.

Service at Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

We felt overall the service was pretty good. Due to my loyalty status with Hyatt, there was a separate area for us to check in. Right after checking in, a staff member went straight into trying to get us to sign up for a timeshare breakfast presentation. After traveling all day and really just wanting to get to our rooms, I found it pretty obnoxious.

The staff at the restaurants and near the pool were all pretty timely and we had no issues. Room service was fast. The concierge was quick and helpful when getting us cabs. Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to find a special treat in my room to celebrate my recent birthday.

The Food + Drinks

Food and drinks at all inclusive resorts can definitely be hit or miss. We found the food at Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta to be very good overall. Most of the restaurants recommend dinner reservations and be mindful of the dress code or you may be turned away.

Drinks are everywhere and we found them all to be delicious. Ask for liquor by name if you want higher quality. For example, I always order “Absolut and soda water” instead of a “Vodka soda” to avoid getting rail vodka. The preferred club has some additional types of premium liquor, however we found it completely unnecessary to go there.

Buffet

Like most properties, there is a buffet. We ate breakfast at the buffet most mornings and felt it was a good variety. I almost always go for a made to order omelet and fruit and they were great here.

The restaurants

There are a variety of sit down restaurants. Our favorite was Tamari, where we made reservations ahead of time and sat at one of the Hibachi tables. It was a fun, interactive experience and the food was delicious. My husband and our friend both got up and tried to balance and tap eggs on the giant spatula. Great service!

Blaze is the best restaurant for an outdoor, scenic view. We saw whales out over the ocean while we ate. It was magical. They serve The food was ok – nothing spectacular, but not bad. Can’t beat the view and we had good service.

We enjoyed our food at the Italian restaurant, MelanZane. My favorite dish of the entire trip was the ossobuco. The pizzas and pasta dishes were all good.

Sadly, we weren’t all that impressed with the Mexican restaurant, Casa Grande. Someone else we met at the resort recommended the enchiladas and we just didn’t think they were all that good. We enjoyed our Mexican food out in town much more than on property!

Casual dining options

Additionally, the sports bar has traditional bar food and snacks. There is a cute lunch place by the pools that serves fresh sandwiches, ceviche and salads.

In the main building you’ll find a coffee shop. In my opinion, the coffee was pretty good! They serve some pastries and desserts there, as well.

Room Service

Room service is always a good option for food and drinks. One morning we had no plans and it was a bit gloomy out, so we ordered breakfast to the room. It came much quicker than the estimated time they provided and it was pretty good! It is convenient to have it as an option 24 hours a day.

Pools + The Beach

There are several pool options at Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta. Since we didn’t have our kids with us on this trip and were with other adult friends, so we chose to spend our time in the adults only pool and hot tub. (It was unseasonably cool and cloudy when we were there and found the adult pool to be the warmest.

This is where my biggest complaint at the resort comes. Several of the pools have very little to no chairs around them. The pools are lined with cabanas that guests have to pay for and reserve. Each cabana has two chairs in front of it, which are dedicated to the people paying for the cabanas.

The pool areas with these cabanas feel crowded and you can barely even walk around. We ended up having to put our stuff on chairs away from the pool area that we couldn’t see. Plus, the chairs we used were in a patch of dirt area that was very random like they were just crammed somewhere they could find space.

The beach is beautiful and feels private as the resort is in a small bay. It is pretty short, so if long walks on the beach are something you enjoy, you’re likely just going back and forth on this beach. We found there were plenty of lounge chairs on the beach at all times.

If you go December – March you’ll likely see humpback whales right from the resort.

Activities

Alright, let’s talk about activities. There weren’t many activities that we actually participated in. When we were there, our time was at the pool, at restaurants or at the sports bar (it was football playoffs while we were there).

We did see a few things happening (including lots of weddings!), such as a basketball shot competition and some live entertainment at night. Similarly, typical activities such as beach volleyball, daily exercise classes, and kayaking are all available. Even better for parents, there is a Kidz club as well!

In my opinion, it’s worth leaving the resort to explore the town of Puerto Vallarta. Ask the concierge to call a taxi for you and head down to the Malecon Boardwalk. Even better, book a scuba diving trip or boat tour to Yelapa.

If you’re looking for recommendations, read my full Puerto Vallarta Itinerary post here.

Booking Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta on Points

If you’re a Hyatt loyalist like we tend to be, you may be looking to book your stay at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta on points. Hyatt’s All Inclusives all have categories, which determine how many points it will cost to stay there.

The Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta is a Category D property. This means a standard room is 25,000 – 35,000 points per night, depending on if you are booking non-peak, standard or peak dates. This is the rate for two people. You can add children for an additional cost.

Club rooms grant you access to the club lounge and some club rooms include additional perks like a hot tub. There are several Club Suites bookable on points and those typically range from 43,000 points per night to 53,000 points per night.

Final Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta Review

Overall, we enjoyed our stay. I’d give it a thumbs up and recommend it to others. It’s not the most luxurious resort we’ve ever stayed at, but it was perfect for this trip. It is a great spot for families, but also a place that would work for an adults only trip (we were there with friends).

Pros:

• It is a great value for using Hyatt points as most of the nights I looked at it was coming in at 1.8 – 2.2 cents per point.
• The food and drinks were pretty good at all places.
• Nice beach with plenty of lounge chairs.
• Easy taxi ride to a lot of off activities and restaurants off of the resort.
• Rooms are big and nice.
• Service was great all around. Very attentive staff.

Cons:

• The cabanas at the pools! These block views of the ocean and really limit chairs near the pools.
• The timeshare push for Hyatt Vacation Club is a bit obnoxious (but is at most Hyatt All Inclusive resorts). Just say NO! 🙂
• Elevators were slow.
• A LOT of weddings (2-3 different weddings happening at the same time some nights).

There’s the final Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta Review! Check out the resort website here for more info!