Guest Hotel Reviews of Hotels - Resorts - review resource for guests and hotels.

[ganoga]

My fiancee and I stayed at the Villa Montana mid-October and absolutely loved our trip. I was very surprised about the review written 10/24/06 and wonder if we were in the same resort. In fact, the other couples we met at the resort loved it too and are planning to return annually. Another couple we met at the restaurant regretted that they were staying in San Juan and not at the Villa Montana. My fiancee and I found the Villa Montana through Trip Advisor. We are actually planning on getting married there in April and couldn't be happier about our choice of location. After doing extensive research on multiple Caribbean island resorts, we chose to have our wedding at Villa Montana because of the personalized service (they only do 1 wedding per weekend rather than 3 weddings per day as other resorts often do), beautiful setting/grounds, delicious food and convivial atmosphere we had read about in Trip Advisor reviews, as well as the affordability of the resort. Our trip last month was our first time there. We were nervous at first since we had booked the resort for our wedding without having seen it first, however when we arrived in person, we found the resort better than we hoped for. We felt that the web-site did not do the resort justice: the grounds are clean and beautifully manicured; the water a crystal light blue; rooms/common areas are well decorated and look like a page from the Pottery Barn catalog, and staff are extremely friendly and helpful.

To give a description of the resort, it is a 35 acre resort on the Atlantic ocean in northwestern PR. Rather than one large, hotel building sitting on the beach (such as in San Juan or Miami), the Villa Montana is composed of multiple 2-3 story, small villas/condominiums. There are 2 pools (both clean, no bugs and one of which is open 24 hours), a fitness room, 2 restaurants (Eclipse and ?O?), a rock-climbing wall, garden/oasis area that also contains a spa/massage cabana, and a large children?s play-ground that had me wishing I was 10 and able to play on it. One of the things that I loved the most about the resort was that there are hammocks and thick cushioned loungers all over the resort?on the beach, as well as scattered throughout the grounds?that just invite you to lie back, relax and enjoy the your wonderful surroundings. Unlike other resorts which may have attractively landscaped grounds for you to look at, the Villa Montana has beautifully landscaped grounds for you to enjoy.

In terms of rooms, they offer hotel rooms (no kitchen) which are integrated into the villas as well as 1,2 and 3 bedroom villas. Some of the villas/condos are owned privately. We stayed in a cliff-side hotel room for this visit which despite its name, offered a beautiful view of the whole resort as well as a quaintly manicured back garden area. It was only a 7 minute walk from the beach. Since we are having our wedding at the resort, the staff were more than happy to show us all the different types of rooms offered. Generally speaking, the Cliffside rooms are cheaper than the garden-view hotel rooms because they are slightly further from the beach, but they are larger and offer just as nice a view. In terms of villas, similarly, the Garden-view villas are larger and less expensive than the Ocean-view villas, however the view from the Ocean-view villas is quite spectacular. Some units offer an out-door garden shower in the master-bathroom. The 2 bedroom villas offer a large kitchen and laundry room. All the units we saw were clean and tastefully decorated. The bathrooms have delightfully painted tiles and the water pressure and temperature were fine. We are planning on renting a 3-bedroom garden-view villa for the wedding.

The food at the Villa Montana is another one of its attractions. Because we were at the resort for a wedding planning session, we were fortunate enough to have a menu tasting with Chef Jeremy Cruz (who has also served as executive chef at the Westin Rio Mar and banquet chef at El Conquistador). It was amazing and we felt like we were judges on Iron Chef. Not only was the food delicious, but Jeremy also spent a long time speaking with us and trying to create a menu that would fit our tastes and pairing wines. Besides the tasting, we ate every meal at the Eclipse (the open-air, beachside restaurant) just because we loved the food so much. We definitely recommend the chicken on cinnamon sticks, the 5-spice calamari and the hot chocolate cake. We did not find service slow at all (and I?m from NY!), however we were there off-peak so it was less busy. Prices were reasonable and definitely worth it ($~10-15 for breakfast, $~15-20 for lunch and $~20-30 for dinner) ?O? is a new restaurant that had just opened 2 weeks before our visit. It is only open Thurs-Sat and since we were there early in the week, we were unable to try it, however we had a tour of the restaurant and it is quite amazing. It looks more like a lounge you would find in NYC. It has an Asian theme with furniture and decorations imported from Bali. There are indoor, curtained gazebos with plush red cushions to sit on as well as a tatami eating area and outdoor eating area. Jeremy Cruz is executive chef for this restaurant as well. We are planning on having our rehearsal dinner there.

In terms of beach area, keep in mind this is a surfing area. The water was a bit on the rougher side but definitely swimmable. There are large, flat rocks on the beach, but they are not sharp and not pebbles (see photo). I would recommend aqua sock though. The water is warm and gorgeous.

As you can tell from my review so far, I absolutely love this resort. To make this a credible review, however I suppose I should mention some negatives. To be honest, in my opinion, cons are few and unimportant to what I value, however depending on what others are looking for in a vacation resort, readers may find the following important. For those looking for a posh, glamorous resort with in-room marble Jacuzzi tubs like the Mandarin Oriental or Ritz-Carlton, this may not be the resort for you and I don?t feel like Villa Montana is trying to be. Also keep in mind that you are not paying Ritz-Carlton prices here. All rooms are clean, artistically decorated with a more distinctive/less generic style. Also, if you are looking for a swinging night-life into the wee hours, again this may not be the place for you (although with ?O? opening, this may change on the weekends). I would highly recommend that people consider the personality of the different regions of PR before they decide where to stay. Isabela is a less developed/more rugged area that is most known for its surfing beaches. Culturally speaking, there aren?t really any museums, caf??s, tourist shops/art galleries to visit. We explored a bit and definitely feel that the Villa Montana is the main attraction in the area. However, there seems to be plenty of outdoor activities to explore such as horseback riding, hiking the Camuy caves, snorkeling, etc. In terms of the resort itself, there were only some minor negatives and nothing that I felt strongly enough to bother mentioning to any staff. The air-conditioning in our room only cooled the room to about 70-75. For people who like it cooler (in the 60?s) our room did not get that cold. However to be fair, we were fine with the temperature as it was and did not even mention it to staff so it could be that our unit needed more coolant and this may not be reflective of air conditioning in all rooms. Another slight negative is that there is a moderate amount of mosquitos?this is a tropical island after all. I don?t think there?s much the resort can do about it. Just to give an idea, I got about 5 bites over 4 days. Lastly, the only suggestions I would have for the resort to be even better would be to upgrade bedding?softer sheets, new mattresses/pillows?however what they have is comfortable enough and more than adequate. Also, they could revamp their web-site to make it easier to navigate.

I definitely felt that the positives outweighed any negatives by far. We loved the beautiful setting and location, the attractively decorated d?cor (lots of dark wood and bright colors?fun but not intimidating) the friendly, personalized service (Diana is amazing for planning weddings/events), the inviting and relaxing atmosphere, and the tasty food. The location of Villa Montana is in a less touristy, less developed part of the island which is why we love it and what makes this a great place to escape from it all. Staff were extremely friendly and helpful and the general feel of the resort was that they genuinely wanted visitors to relax and enjoy their stay. My fianc?e and I are very happy we chose the Villa Montana for our wedding and can?t wait.

Ok, I know this was a long review, but I hope readers find it fair and helpful.

[DarrellBray]

Thanks for the super detailed review!

Exactly what I was looking for, checking out places for my trip.
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[matt34]

This great thanks for the post. I also love Río Grande. Río Grande (REE-o GRAHN-de) is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Northern Coastal Valley, North of Las Piedras, Naguabo and Ceiba; east of Loíza and Canóvanas and west of Luquillo. Río Grande is spread over 8 wards and Río Grande Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

























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[SaritaC]

[arhusha]

What is good family resort in Punta Cana with LOTS to do? I need a great resort for our family vacation. It needs to be on the beach, with lots of water sports, close to shopping and close to a casino. It also would have to have good night life--like shows, music, and bars. Some of our favorites on other islands include Our Lucaya in Freeport and Atlantis in Nassau--so something similar would be good. Thanks for your help!
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[youngmiki13]

There can be many changes to a place in a span of a couple of years. That is why it would be best to get the most recent review.
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[ladyarcher07]

That villa hotel is really popular to me because my aunt is always relating her experince on how she was amazed when they spent a vacation at the Puerto Rico Beach Villa Hotel. After their initial stay, they have decided to make it a tradition to visit the villas. The place is amazing that's why she loves waking up in this small and cozy villa and walking to the beach with her coffee while watching the sun rise.
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[masha08]

I've been reading great reviews about this resort. Is it one of the best resorts in Puerto Rico ? I would definitely love to go there and see its beauty myself.
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[clarinettedn06]

This resort is beautiful but you might as well try to find the Caribbean Islands as good as it. The place is perfect for week-long anniversary celebrations and Honeymoon on the cruise.
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[mackkaif]

Typical plywood thickness in these applications varies from ⅜- to ¾-inch. Stiffness and strength are important factors since cabinets are expected not to bend or sag and be able to support a heavy load.
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[nilsalm7]

I had my wedding at Villa Montana in June 2009 and it was wonderful. My wedding was on a Sunday and there was another wedding the day before but it did not impact mine whatsoever. I loved it, my dream wedding. Would recommend to others. There was a mix up with the charges but they credited me accordingly. Just make sure they have a working key to your honeyroom suite (I can give details on the epidsode if you want)