I stayed at the Park Royal Villas 1/28 - 2/4. These are timeshare units and I went as a guest of an owner. I have traveled to Cancun (twice), Puerto Plata and Punta Cana and I enjoyed Ixtapa the most. The villas are all oceanfront and anything above the ground level has an open air balcony with a jacuzzi. I didn't see the ground level rooms but I was told the patio was enclosed. The stretch of beach is maybe about one mile with approximately 10-15 resorts along it. I would walk it every morning and it would take me about 40 minutes RT to do the entire stretch. The waves crash and sound like thunder. It was truly mesmerizing and I spent many hours just staring at the waves and listening to the surf crash in the evening. Everything is done throught the Barcelo. You can use all of their facilities, restaurants, towels, fitness room, pools, safety deposit boxes, money exchange. I had a one-bedroom unit and it had two full bathrooms, a kitchen (microwave, toaster, coffeemaker, and mini-fridge) another mini-fridge in bedroom - this one was actually the mini-bar. You stepped down 2 steps into the living room with 2 wide sofas (almost like twin beds), a tv and a huge picture window. The bedroom was to the left of the kitchen and was a nice size and had two double beds, another bigger tv and the bigger of the two full bathrooms. The patio opened from the bedroom and looked over the swim-up bar with the waterfall that would run from about 10 a.m. till late afternoon. This was my favorite pool. There were 4 total and I tried one of the more active/busy pools one day but lasted only an hour. I wanted to relax and read - not have music blaring. The chairs are also so much more comfortable at this pool. The weather was 87 degrees every day, not a drop of rain, no humidity and no bugs. I have never gone anywhere without returning with mosquito bites! The evenings were about 72 and I never needed a sweater. I went into the market in Zihua (there is also a smaller supermarked in Ixtapa) and picked up breakfast/lunch items and ate those meals in the villa. In the evening I would walk across the street to Ixtapa where there are lots of good restaurants and shopping. Not commercialized restaurants - the only chain was a Subway. I ate dinner twice at the Barcelo in the restaurant off the lobby. There was a buffet for $22 but I opted to order off the menu. One night a cheeseburger & fries and another night a club sandwich with fries. Each was $10 and were very good. One night I ate in Zihua (Jarrobo's and had an excellent red snapper meal). Went to Senor Frog's two nights dancing. There is also a Carlos n' Charlie's and disco called Christine's at one of the hotels but I didn't go there. Took a day trip to Isla Ixtapa and snorkeled. I booked through the Royal Holiday but it is much cheaper to take a cab or the bus to Playa Linda and get a water taxi to the island itself. You can rent fins, mask and snorkel (and life jacket if you feel you need it) from Tony Macaroni. I just enjoyed the entire area. It was so quaint and everyone was so nice and friendly. I am a single female (39) traveling alone and felt extremely safe walking through town. Traveled with others at night (not because I didn't feel safe because that is how I feel comfortable regardless of where I am). Staying in the villas you also have free daily internet access from 1 - 4 in the Royal Holiday office. There are 4 stations set up and they ask you to only be logged on for 15 min. although many abused the time. I know my mother appreciated the daily e-mail check-in. Anyone wondering about cell service - I have Cingular and had no problems calling the states. You just have to dial 001 before the area code and number. Sorry that I skipped around so much. There were so many things I wanted to say. The maids came every day and they work hard and did a wonderful job. I tipped $1 everyday. I feel if you wait till the end of your week and tip one time the maid that may have cleaned all week could have that day off and someone who didn't clean all week would get her tip. I know there is so much more - if anyone has any questions about the villas please e-mail me. If I had an opportunity to go back to the area I would (although there are so many places on "my list")to travel to it may be some time till I would get back but only for the reason of wanting to go other places. Enjoy your travels to Ixtapa/Zihuatenjo - I know I did!

My daughter and I stayed at the Royal Villas for 1 week..choosing not to utilize the all-inclusive plan through the Barcelo. It really was a good choice as we found some really great restaurants in town. However, we did have some meals at the hotel and found them to be pretty good. The room itself was a one bedroom with a sink/refrigerator/microwave...which suited us quite nicely. Maid service was outstanding every day. Every day we went to the beach or the pool and had no problems finding a lounge chair at any time of the day. The one criticism I had was that the waiters were not too abundant on the beach and you had to really get their attention if you wanted to order a drink or even lunch.

I also have to say that I'm sure that the front desk (check-in and check-out) could be much better. When 4 people are behind the counter and one person is in line......it would be good to acknowledge that person and not ignore them for several minutes. It felt like we were a nuisance to the front desk staff. All other staff throughout the hotel was extremely friendly and helpful. Would I go back? Maybe, but it wouldn't be for quite sometime.

We stayed at the Park Royal Villas (Barcelo Resort) our time-share with Royal Holiday and couldn't ask for anything better, except maybe an elevator instead of stairs but that did give us our daily exercise which we needed considering all the food we ate. Our accommodations were a 2 BR, 2-story condo with a stairway that connected us together. Had a living room, kitchenette, 3 bathrooms, 2 balconies and 2 hot tubs. The maids made litle animals with the hand towels and used flowers for decorations. They were beautiful!!!
The waves were like "thunder" and we all loved it and much enjoyed the hospitality extended by the Mexican people--such fun loving, good-natured people!!! It was a new taste of Mexico for us as the other places we had been in Mexico were very Americanized but not Ixtapa/Zihua. We saw Mexico for the first time on this trip even though we have been to Mexico about 7 other times.
We will be back!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Westbrook, Mitchner,Brown families