C and I just came back from a beach vacation over the past weekend, and it was such a nice, relaxing time. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and stayed at an all-inclusive resort called Barceló Puerto Vallarta. As I mentioned in my post about seasonal affective disorder, I desperately needed to be somewhere warm and sunny after a dark rainy winter we had.

The resort was perfect. It was nestled right between a forest and the beach, so it was secluded from the busyness of the main town area and was absolutely beautiful. I was a bit nervous about navigating the meal options with my food allergies at an all-inclusive resort, but everything we ate was absolutely delicious, fresh, and local with fairly clean ingredients. I didn’t get sick once, and I even indulged in a few margaritas (it was my first alcoholic drink in months!). Mexican food is one of my favorite cuisines, so I was very happy to find that they offered many traditional dishes at every meal. Here are some of the highlights from our trip.

^^The best thing about the resort was that it had so many palm trees everywhere, which I love. They always remind me that I’m somewhere tropical and makes me so happy.

^^If you can’t tell by the photos, there was SO. MUCH. SEAFOOD. I was so excited and I made sure I had some kind of fish at every meal. They were all cooked to perfection and seasoned with delicious Mexican flavors.

^^We witnessed some of the most beautiful sunsets ever. It was really breathtaking to see the sun go down into the ocean, making everything look like they are on fire. It was one of my favorite parts about the entire trip. 

^^Sorry about the horrible lighting in the above photos. We had to make dinner reservations for some of the restaurants they had at the resort, and they had a dress code (no flip flops, and no shorts for men). It was fun to dress up for two of the nights and try something different from the buffet. We tried a tapas restaurant, and then a Japanese place the next night. We were a bit snobbish and didn’t expect much from the Japanese restaurant, but we were pleasantly surprised at how well they made their sushi. 

^^What did we do the entire time there? Oh, a whole lot of sitting around and swimming in the pool, sitting around and swimming in the beach, and napping. When we did want to do something more active, we were never bored because there were so many fun activities around the resort. There was a giant Jenga set we played on, I got a fish pedicure and one of the best massages ever for $20, we played soccer and pool volleyball, and walked around the different parts of the beach where I hung out with a stray doggie friend. There were honestly endless amount of activities all day everyday. 

We usually like to go on more adventurous vacations when we travel for fun, but we realized this kind of vacation was actually exactly what we needed after being so busy in our lives recently. It felt so good to be somewhere and not have to worry about anything like what to do, where to eat, how much for this and that. I highly recommend this spot if you are looking for a nice R&R. We decided it’s something we should try to do every year in the winter. Fingers crossed!