This is the best place to stay in Ixtapa, hands down. It is probably a 15 minute taxi ride from the airport. It is great because it is isolated from the other resorts in Ixtapa. When we walk in, the lobby is very impressive with enormously high ceilings and large stone tiles on the floor. We were checked in with no problems.

Our room was great with a large king bed with mexican tile backboard. The room was very clean and nicely decorated but while maintaining a mexican charm with tiles, and hardwoods. There was tv in our room that we did not use. The balcony had a hammock and some tables with a beautiful ocean view. The balcony walls are high enough to afford good privacy. The A/C worked well to keep us cool

The vegetation on the resort is very lush and tropical offering very pleaseant walks around the resort and to the pool and beach. There were two pools. We stayed at the adults pool which was quiet but very cool in design. Pool-side drink and food service was good, better than anywhere else we have stayed. Adjacent to the pool is restraunt serving up very tasty mexican and mexican/american cuisine. The food and fruits/vegetables were all very fresh. The water on the resort is filtered and we drank it without getting sick.

The breakfast restraunt was great, with strong fresh brewed coffee and excellent menu. We usually ordered off the menu, but I had the buffett one morning and found it to be excellent.

The beach was very nice, but the waves were pretty big and so hang on to your sunglasses and dont go out too far.

The lobby bar had kind of a weird decor with a combination of shag carpeting and the huge stone tiles and colors such as hot pink. But, the drinks were well made and the view from the lobby bar when the sun is over the ocean and rocks is amazing.

Also on the property were a number of shops including a small deli/coffee shop. A tour agency and car rental. There was also an italian restaraunt on the bottom level but we did not eat there.

Off the resort, the walk along the road into Ixtapa is about 15 minutes. We did this every morning for some exercise and occasionally for dinner. It is a very pleaseant walk, except for the sidewalk is littered with locals employed by resorts, restaraunts, and tour agencies who very aggressively try to seduce you into visiting their resort, touring their time-shares, or eating at their place (which is usually empty). It becomes a real nuisance. These locals really cross the boundary of what is appropriate.

In ixtapa are lots of shops, bars, and restaraunts. Our favorite, which we ate at over and over, was a place called Mamma Norma & Debra run by two canadian women who live down there. Highly recommended for any meal.

We visited Zihuatenojo several times. It is a fishing village, but actually a pretty large place. We frequented a restaraunt there called La Sirena Gorda that was consistently good.

Bring some money if you need to use the restroom while in zihuatenejo. I think we paid 5 pesos, not much.

There is a small island off of zihuatenjo, with a beach, that you can take a water taxi too. Don't. DON'T. It is a tourist trap but is extremely crowded with both foreign tourists as well as locals. The beach at Las Brisas is much better, and the Las Brisas beach is isolated by the large rocks at either end of it.

In summary, we loved Las Brisas, Ixtapa, and Zihuatenejo. Our room and the food were all excellent. My only complaint is that food and drink prices on the resort were very high. Probably higher than you would pay at most bars/restaraunts in the United States. But, you are on vacation.

Regardless, it is worthwhile to eat in Ixtapa & Zihuatenejo, where prices are very cheap and you can enjoy the local cuisine. There is a local market within walking distance in Ixtapa where you can stock up on bottled water, beer, and snacks if you want. to save money.

Stayed here with my wife for 6 nights in May.
Contrary to some of the prior reviews (very complete, compliments!), we did not go on an all-inclusive package but booked via Priceline. We arrived by car (we were driving around Mexico) and there's plenty of parking space. Room, view, and service was great. Prices for dinner are realitvely expensive, and you're well off heading into town for dinner, with enough places around. For serious shopping, there's a huge grocery shop on the road towards Zihuatanejo, about 5 km (3 miles) away. The private (officially not, but in practice it is) beach is also wonderful, as is the adult-only pool. If you're into scuba-diving, there's 1 PADI dive outfit with an office in Ixtapa, located in the Barcelo hotel (next to its pool); they're great: Ixtapa Aqua Paradise.

We stayed at the Las Brisas between April 26th and May 10th. This was my second trip to the West side of Mexico and 6th overall. The hotel was a great place to stay and relax for two weeks. Having stayed at many all inclusives all over Mexico I will just list a quick pros and cons of staying at this resort. There seems to be many other accurate reviews of what to expect.

Pros:

Beach - It feels like you are miles away from other hotels, even though you are just around the corner. The sand on the beach and in the water. The waves can get heavy at times, but are a blast to play in. The beach service is also top notch. Order of the lunch menu or just some drinks.

Rooms - All rooms have a good view of the ocean. The are a fare size as compared to other all inclusives. The beds had soft comforters and pillows. The bed itself is the usual Mexican hardness.

Food - Food is especially good by the pool and in the sit down restaurants in the basement. Probably the worst thing is the breakfast buffet, but also know you can order off the menus in the buffets as well.

Service - Service is top notch at this resort. The only down side to that is we werre tipping alot because we felt it was so good.

Architecture - The building is a beautiful simplistic design. It is definitly a marvel in deisgns for a resort. The grounds are also beautiful with long pathways in the trees and around the building. There are alot of stairs at the resort. There are also two elevators that can be used with ease too. The stairs are not a factor because of them.

Drinks - If you are a beer lover, it is great. They have all the Mexican beers in bottles. Not the usual one kind of draft. If you like tropical dinks try the Las Brisas or the Coco Loco.

Cons:

No Drinks after 11pm on the all inclusive
Lots of Kids on Cinco De Mayo weekend
Pay internet
Pay Mini Bar
Alot of Hard Alchohol brands not included in Inclusive plan
Sometimes gets a little too relaxing. No pool activities or shows.
No swim up bars

TIPS

If you are going on a all inclusive plan, here is some things they fail to tell you. You are allowed to order food with Lobster and shrimp in it. As long as its not by itself it is ok. Also you get free room service breakfast everyday if you want it. Remember to keep all your receipts incase there is a problem with charges to your room. You can only tip on the bill if you leave a credit card number with the front desk. You only get local drinks, ie any Mexican bottle beer, wine, and hard alcholol from the Mexican region.

We stayed at Las Brisas from April 19-26 on the Air Canada Vacations all-inclusive package which we booked through Escapes.ca. We left about 30cm of snow behind in Calgary, enjoyed a quick flight to Vancouver and made our connection to Ixtapa. Six hours later we happily stepped off the plane into tropical sun and heat. Customs at Zihuatanejo airport was quick and painless and we were happy to see almost no timeshare reps waiting to harass us…..much different than what we experienced in Puerto Vallarta last year. We quickly met up with Alex, our Air Canada Vacations rep, boarded the bus and arrived at Las Brisas 20 minutes (or in Mexico time, 2 beers according to Alex!!). later.

CHECK IN
Check in was fast and courteous and the all-inclusive plan was explained to us. Prior to leaving Calgary, we had e-mailed the resort to request a room on the highest possible floor in order to ensure an unobstructed view and we were happy to find that our request had been granted.

ROOMS
Our package included a deluxe grand room and we were given a room on the 17th floor (all rooms above the lobby, which is on the 18th floor, are more expensive suites). The room was very nice with fresh cut flowers in the bathroom and above the king size bed, a huge wall-to-wall shower, a sitting area with glass-top table and a day-bed type nook with a great view of the ocean. But even more spectacular was the massive balcony which provided an amazing view of the beach and spectacular sunsets. Our balcony also had an extremely comfortable hammock and wooden patio set. Another nice feature of the room was that the glass patio doors could slide inside the wall and you could close the wooden patio doors and fall asleep to the sound of the ocean…..very relaxing!!

MAID SERVICE
Our room was kept very clean during our stay and we received fresh flowers each day. A nice surprise was the turn down service, including mints on the pillows each night. We tipped our maid a few pesos each day but I’m sure we would have received great service even if we didn’t.

BEACH
Spectacular and very private! As the beach is enclosed by rocky cliffs on each side, there were no locals or vendors. The resort was only 10-20% full during our stay so it was always easy to get lounge chairs and a sun shade. There is also a large beach hut with hammocks and chairs if you prefer to be well out of the sun. Unlike other all inclusive resorts we have been to, food and beverage service was available on the beach. There were always two Las Brisas servers taking orders and would bring your food, along with a small table, right to your lounger! In addition to food, you could order buckets of drinks and the servers would come back periodically to replenish the ice. Now that’s excellent service…..these guys work hard for their money running around in the hot sun all day and they always do it with a smile!

POOLS
The resort has four pools……two are connected by a waterfall, another is a stand-alone adults only pool and the fourth is a kids pool. The three larger pools are all five feet deep with no shallow end and again, there were always plenty of loungers available. Two of the pools feature pillars with water showering down from overhead…..very refreshing! Food and drink service was also available here. We read several reviews where people mentioned the pools were full of debris from the trees. This is understandable considering the pools are surrounded by trees, some of which extend out over the water. The trees actually create a very nice setting along with the clay potted plants around the edges of the pools. While there were some leaves and buds in the water, this didn’t bother us (in fact, we spent some time playfully tossing buds at each other!) and we frequently saw a groundskeeper skimming debris with a net.

BARS
There are two bars on the resort: (1) the Lobby Bar and (2) Le Club. The Lobby Bar had a cool, laid-back retro 70’s vibe with shag rugs, large mattress type loungers and sitting nooks sunk into the walls. This bar was one of the best places to watch the sunsets as it was completely open on one side and overlooked the beach. For those not travelling on an all-inclusive plan, drinks were 2-for-1 every evening from 6-7 pm.
Le Club is a small lounge area outside the El Mexicano and Portofino restaurants and features backgammon tables and a sunken sitting area. During our stay, Le Club was almost always completely empty……possibly because we were always passing by just after sunset and the atmosphere here does not compare to the open air concept of the Lobby Bar.

RESTAURANTS / BUFFET
There are a nice variety of dining options on the resort. At breakfast you have a choice of either buffet or menu in the Bellavista Restaurant which has an open air view of the ocean. We opted for the buffet and enjoyed freshly squeezed tropical juice, fresh fruit, made-to-order omelettes, and a variety of other items (varied day to day) such as sausage, grilled potatoes, pancakes and BBQ beef…..yes, a Mexican breakfast consists of lots of meat choices! We left feeling satisfied each morning.

Lunch could be enjoyed on the beach, at the La Brisa snack bar next to the beach, at Bellavista or at the Solarium Restaurant which overlooks the pool area. Again, the food was more than adequate with a good variety of choices ranging from hamburgers and hotdogs to chimichangas, grilled fish and roasted pork leg sandwiches.

Dinner service was available in three locations: Bellavista (casual cuisine), El Mexicano (Mexican) and Portofino (Italian). We were disappointed to find out that a forth option, La Brisas II was only open during high season…..you can dine outside under the stars and overlooking the beach. We had no trouble making reservations for dinner and dined at El Mexicano twice and Portofino three times…..reservations can be made at the desk to the left of the main counter in the lobby. Service and food at both El Mexicano and Portofino were well above average and comparable to any fine dining experience we have had in Canada. We highly recommend the beef fillet flambé at Portofino…..in fact, any of the table-side flambé options were well worth ordering. Our waiter Jorge cooked the beef to perfection with brandy, sour cream and mushrooms. The house wine is called Santo Thomas and is quite good….we were told the owner of the winery also owns the resort! We could go on and on about the food at Las Brisas but it has to be experienced first hand!

A note regarding the all-inclusive plan – it includes everything except the mini bar, imported drinks and there is a $20 surcharge for lamb, lobster, or shrimp. Lise from Air Canada Vacations explains the package very well at the orientation session.

EXCURSIONS
We booked the “Combo Tour” through Alex for about $75 Canadian and the tour included the following over a 6 hour period: scenic stops in both Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, city tour of Zihuatanejo, tours of both a coconut plantation and clay roofing tile farm, and lunch at a local beach called Playa Largo. Very interesting and well worth the price.

We also ventured into Ixtapa twice as it is only a 15 minute walk from the resort. The markets (there are two) are typical tourist markets and you can barter about 20% off original prices. There are many shops and restaurants in the town…..we enjoyed pizza at Frank’s Place and bought cheap alcohol at a liquor store we found thanks to a friendly local boy who was nice enough to escort us several blocks right to the front door! Ixtapa is a very clean, well kept town with friendly folks but beware of the time share reps on the street who offer to provide “information” or day passes to local resorts…this gets annoying really quickly. Information provided by the Air Canada reps is more than sufficient and Alex is available at the resort six days per week to answer any questions.

Overall we had a fantastic time and would highly recommend Las Brisas to anyone looking for a laid back experience…..it’s not a party resort but there are clubs in Ixtapa that are easily accessible. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions about anything we haven’t covered.

Cheers,
Vaughn & Jen
Calgary, Canada