Travel Recap: Review of Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya in Mexico
For my very first trip to Mexico, we booked 5 nights at the all-inclusive resort Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya. Some of our good friends have been to this resort several times now and were heading back for another trip, so we decided to join them -- and I'm so glad we did!
Since we didn't leave the resort except for our scuba-diving trip, this travel recap will serve mostly as a review of the Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya. Overall, I highly recommend it -- and I can see now why our friends, and so many others, continue to return to the resort!
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Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren (affiliate link) | Swimsuit: Cupshe (Amazon) (affiliate link) | Cover-up: Eicolorte (Amazon) (affiliate link)
tips and advice:
- The resort is all-inclusive, so we paid upfront and all our meals, drinks, and lodging were included. When we arrived, we did choose to upgrade to the "privilege club" package, which includes a reserved pool or beach cabana, lobster at dinner, and several bottles of alcohol in your room, for an additional daily expense. The resort itself was beautiful, with two pools (the "party" pool and the "quiet" pool), access to the beach, and amazing restaurants.
- I feel as though the food at all-inclusive resorts is usually more of an afterthought rather than a main feature, but all the food at the Valentin Imperial was excellent. I wanted to spend every minute we had at every single one of the restaurants.
- Every single one of the staff members at this resort were lovely and went above and beyond their job duties. We brought money for tips, since tipping isn't a part of the all-inclusive package, to express our gratitude.
- We booked our trip when the resort was running a special, making it much budget-friendly!
- The focus of this resort is definitely its pools, among the largest in the area. I personally prefer pools to the beach (in the words of Anakin Skywalker, "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere"), so I was more than happy to spend time at the pool. That being said, I would have loved for the ocean to be more visible from the pool or the main area. If you want your trip to Mexico to revolve around the ocean, I'd double-check whether this is the right resort for you (although I have also read some Valentin Imperial reviews where people did spend a lot of time at the beach!). Lastly, check in advance if it's seaweed season if that's the sort of thing that would bother you.
- I love sweet drinks, but most of the frozen drinks were too sweet for me, so I stuck to more simple drinks.
- We went at the beginning of May 2021, so because of COVID, the resort wasn't operating at full capacity and some things weren't available like they otherwise would be (like an ice cream cart!), but there were things like a churro cart! We were required to take a COVID test at the resort before we returned home to the U.S., which the resort handled and wasn't a bad experience at all (especially compared to a painfully uncomfortable COVID test I'd gotten in the U.S.). We received our (negative!) results within a few hours of the swab. (And everyone in my group of 7 had received their vaccination shots before our trip.)
- I did buy bug spray, but I didn't end up using it at all because we weren't there during the bug season (post-wet season).
- The resort is adults only -- which I personally prefer.
- Make sure you pack appropriate clothes! Pants and closed-toe shoes are required for men at the restaurants for dinner.
- Also, pack conditioner! There was shampoo and body wash but not conditioner in our room (funnily enough, we had the same situation in our hotel in Dublin, Ireland).
- Since we stayed for 5 nights, the resort handled our transportation to and from the airport, which was a very nice perk and relieved us of any stress of trying to find/schedule our own way.
itinerary:
- We arrived at the resort on Wednesday and left on Monday, so we were there a total of 5 nights.
- A typical day for me included a morning run around 9am; meeting for breakfast around 9:30am; spending the morning in the "party" pool and playing volleyball; grabbing poolside lunch or heading to one of the restaurants; switching to the "quiet" pool in the afternoon; heading back to the room to shower around 5pm; making our way to dinner around 7 or 7:30pm; and then listening to the live music in the main area for the rest of the night! The Imperial Band played from 10:20pm until midnight, and they were so talented that I was in awe!
- My husband and I did book one excursion -- scuba-diving -- on Saturday morning from 7:20am until about 2pm. This was an additional cost and included an approximately 90-minute lesson, both in and out of the pool, then taking a van to the beach, where we visited 2 spots out in the water and dove for 30 and 45 minutes, respectively. The scuba-diving lesson was much more comprehensive and intense than our Great Barrier Reef scuba-diving, where our lesson took place out on the boat and lasted under 30 minutes.
photo diary:
The "party" pool -- looking peaceful first thing in the morning :-) On the left is one of the swim-up bars, on the right is where a soundtrack trivia contest, water aerobic classes, etc took place.
View from our cabana! Straight ahead is one of the swim-up bars and the poolside lunch (usually tacos, hamburgers, or hot dogs).
The pathway to the beach bar and cabanas.
View from the beach bar.
View from our room, one of the Golden Junior Suites, overlooking the "quiet" pool. Our room was enormous, with a sitting area and a balcony, and its location was perfect.
In our cabana at the "party" pool! I am so sad I didn't take more photos in this one-piece swimsuit because it's my favorite swimsuit ever. I ordered it off Amazon and promptly raved about it to all of my girlfriends!
Hat: Brixton Joanna (affiliate link) | Sunglasses: Ray-Ban (affiliate link) | Swimsuit: Cupshe (Amazon) (affiliate link)
Hat: Brixton Joanna (affiliate link) | Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren (affiliate link) | Swimsuit: Cupshe (Amazon) (affiliate link)
Dress: Pink Lily (affiliate link) | Shoes: Tory Burch Miller (affiliate link)
Dress: Goodnight Macaroon | Sandals: Lulu's (affiliate link)
My green tea ice cream at the restaurant Ginger!
Listening to the Imperial Band after dinner -- they were so good.
Earrings: BaubleBar | Dress: Lulu's (affiliate link)
My version of the infamous J-Lo Grammy Versace dress ;-)
Earrings: BaubleBar (affiliate link) | Dress: Lilly Pulitzer
Do or donut, there is no try. Loved this buffet breakfast at Le Marché with mimosas and mini donuts!
Playing pool volleyball
Right before we got on the boat for scuba-diving!
One of our fellow divers had a Go-Pro so I swam over to my husband for a quick underwater photo :-)
At the restaurant Ginger for hibachi -- the only time I took some photos at dinner! You can see our "privilege club" lobster in the bottom-right corner.
where to eat and drink:
There are so many restaurant options at this resort, and they were all delicious.
- The French restaurant L’Alsace was my absolute favorite! We ate here twice and I ordered escargot, duck, and crème brûlée both times!
- I also loved Ginger, the Japanese restaurant -- we ate here twice, one of which was hibachi, and both times were extremely tasty. Highly recommend the Mayan sushi combo and the green tea ice cream.
- The Italian restaurant L’Olivo was good, but it was our first night and we didn't know what to expect, so I feel like we didn't make the most of it and wish we could have gone back!
- We ate breakfast and lunch at Mar y Tierra, and I loved my eggs Benedict and calamari.
- We ate at Le Marché several times for lunch and breakfast -- this buffet had so many options.
- We somehow did not eat at the Mexican restaurant La Hacienda -- whoops!
what to do:
- The resort offers many additional excursions to sign up for and take, though they're not included in the all-inclusive price we'd already paid.
- Between the privilege club upgrade and scuba-diving, our costs were adding up, so we didn't add any other excursions, but I do wish we'd had the opportunity to do a cenote or ruins in Tulum -- the resort has so many options!
- Highly recommend scuba diving. The instructor took it very seriously and made sure we were all comfortable and knowledgeable.
- The resort also offers water aerobics classes, workout classes (including TRX, yoga, and a 5K run), massages, wine-tasting, etc -- and apparently fish pedicures during non-COVID times!
links I used or recommend:
Since we were going with friends, we didn't anticipate leaving the resort, and we knew we'd book any excursions directly through the resort, I didn't do as much research as I usually do. However -- I do genuinely love travel recaps and reviews, so I did check some out just for fun!
If you have any questions about the resort, please let me know in the comments!
love from
Were there a lot of people at the resort? Were there a lot of open places at pool and beach?
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley, it did not seem crowded at all -- I think I heard the resort was operating at 50% capacity, although it may have been more. Regardless, we didn't have long waits at any restaurants or bars (though we always made dinner reservations in advance, I believe usually first thing in the morning), and we had plenty of space in the pool. With the privilege club upgrade, we received reserved cabanas at the pool and beach, too.
DeleteI hope this is helpful! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
While you said you didnt book many excisions due to lack of time, in hind sight, could you say if doing so through the resort would be more expensive than going through a local tour agency? I'll be staying at VIM, and want to do a few excursions, but am mindful of budget! Thanks for the helpful review!
ReplyDeleteHi there, thank you for reading and for your comment!
DeleteUnfortunately, I don't know how the price would change if you went through a local tour agency. I personally felt more peace of mind going through VIM, knowing the resort was responsible and had vetted the excursion.
When is your trip? I hope you have a wonderful time!
did you book your stay directly through the hotel or through a third party?
ReplyDeleteWe booked directly through the hotel, as they were offering a good Black Friday deal (and I know they periodically offer good deals throughout the year!).
DeleteHello! While this review is a few years old I really appreciate your honest and thorough review. A few questions for you as my wife and I are considering a trip there in the near future.
ReplyDeleteDid you stay in or spend any time near the swim up suites and the pool system there? Was drink service service available there? (Unlikely but worth asking)
Two years later, now having traveled even more, do you still recommend this location as highly for an all inclusive resort?
Hi Zach, and thank you for reading! Apologies for my late response, I was in Yellowstone National Park without much service.
DeleteAlthough we didn't stay in a swim-up suite, we did spend time in that pool (usually in the afternoon as we were winding down/starting to think about dinner), and there are bars that specifically service that pool. I don't believe they're IN the pool (the way the bars/bar stools are in the other pool), but they're right next to it (and there are servers who walk around checking on guests).
And yes, I would! The friends that we went with have been several times, and we have two other friends who actually booked the resort without realizing that's where we went and then planned a follow-up vacation the next year as well. And a LOT of the guests we spoke to were return visitors.
I was happy with the food (seriously, so good), the pools, our room, the band at the end of the night, and the excursions offered (and was very impressed with how seriously our scuba diving instructor took teaching us). I'm sure it's even better now that pandemic restrictions have eased because I believe there were some things they usually offer that they didn't during the pandemic (like workout classes, an ice cream cart, etc).
There is also a private Facebook group with something like 40K members that you could request to join if you want to see others' posts about it to see if it's somewhere you'd like to go!
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions :)
Hi Sarah, was your scuba dive excursion through the hotel? Did they take you to Cozumel to dive?
ReplyDeleteHi there! Our excursion was booked through the resort (and our 90-minute lesson before diving was done in the pool at the resort), but we did not go to Cozumel. They drove us to Puerto Morelos and we got on the boat from there, where they took us out into the water.
DeletePlease let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you!