Very nice resort. Staff very friendly and efficient. My room was cleaned before noon each day and the maid was excellent. Pool area and beach were both great. Lots of local guests and it was very busy given that it was Easter so if you are looking for a quieter trip don’t go during a local holiday. Also the bar fridge was not stocked but room service was very fast when ordering drinks. Lots of activities for the kids and the bike ride through a park was very nice. Food was ok and the Costa Azul restaurant was excellent.

Azul Ixtapa

Canadian traveler
We love Ixtapa. We have vacated there several times. Best beaches.
From - March 28-April 4, 2019.
I have broken down my review in sections so that you can read as applicable.

Oh boy was it busy, the tail end of their school break, locals came in on the Friday and left Sunday. It was unfortunately the worst 3 days of our vacation. We stood in line for 20 minutes or longer for the restaurants with locals budding in to get seated. And at the bars locals would run up to someone in line and order dozens of drinks to take back to the pool. Very disrespectful. Many times there was only 1 bartender working. The hotel should have staffed the bars accordingly so that you were not left standing for long periods of time.
Guests are guests no matter what country they arrived from. Let’s ALL be treated the same.

Azul Ixtapa is a great hotel. Very clean. We were in room 1905 our maid Asgncidn was the best and made sure we were happy every time, with turn down nightly service and a candy kiss on our pillow.

Rooms – every room has an ocean view. Clean and spacious.

Elevator – Only 1 was working. Very unpleasant NO AIR CONDITIONING in the elevator and we were packed in cause we only had the one. At times I was scared due to the amount of people that would load in. At one point took over the
indicator panel and when the elevator opened on a floor I spoke “sorry full”/”lo siento lleno” and pushed the button closed.

Restaurants – 3 Al-a-Cartes – plus you can eat your breakfast at the Oyster Bar every morning, avoiding the line ups at the buffet restaurants. And who does not want to avoid this and be able to enjoy your morning at the water’s edge. Just ask when you book your al-a-cartes. The staff were very accommodating.

Mexican Restaurant – the WORST place to get seated – up to 25 minutes. The food was cold and un-edible. Locals all eat here.

Colours Restaurant – seated in minutes, as the locals did not like this restaurant. Food was good, variety, and a great location overlooking the pool and ocean.

Italian Restaurant – good food. There is a make as you wait past bar.

Mediterranean – did not eat there as vacationers were telling us to avoid it.

Snack bar at the pool – cold, bland, and if you like to share from the food station with kids and their fingers, then enjoy.
Parents and staff did nothing to keep the kids from eating directly out of the french fry, and hot dog containers.
One child actually took a bite of a hot dog and put it back in the food station for someone else to enjoy. Yukkkkk.

Oyster Bar – THE BEST place to eat. Breakfast every morning avoiding the buffet line ups. Order off the menu and eat from the small but plentifully buffet. Most guests do not know you can eat your breakfast there every morning as it is not consider part of your al-a-cartes. The staff – Humberto you’re a very thoughtful person and were very attentive to ALL the guest needs. We can’t wait to see you next year. Hugs to my new friend.

All of the restaurants should have a better selection of food for kids. Hot Dogs and fries are not every kids favorite. Many of the people we met with kids commented on this. Some ideas – Mac & Cheese, Grilled Cheese, Chicken nuggets, Spaghetti. Cold cereal and milk should be out at every meal not just breakfast. A marked kids section would be great. Including kid approved deserts – jello, ice cream, cookies.

Pools – 4 sections, swim-up bar, and a kids water park area (that was not used by kids) Very clean, plenty of chairs, life guards and security. Easy access to the ocean with life guards.
There is NO ADULT area. It would make sense that the section of the pool where the swim up bar is should be designated for ADULTS only. Kids of all ages sat at the swim up bar and were severed a drink (juice, soda) with adults and there bad language and alcoholic beverages. What’s wrong with this picture. Azul management should make this section with signage ADULTS ONLY. This would also allow the adults to sit on the pool deck, away from children and their splashing. So, from the bar to the walk over bridge would make sense.

Music – pool area – VERY VERY loud. You could not enjoy conversation. Maybe have sections speaker’d off so that not all areas are the same level.

Bars – swim up bar and 2 walk up bars in pool area. Lobby bar always busy and under staffed.
Azul bar staff always ready to get you drinks around the pool and in the lobby section. But it took a long time to get your order as the bar in under staffed.

Security/Life Guards – Security does a great job in making sure that all guests were safe. This type of security is appreciated. Maybe a security person could monitor the NEW adult pool section if this is implemented.
The life guards were on it if anyone was in an unsafe area of the ocean or playing inappropriately in the pool.
One thing I noticed is that male adults were asked to remove any t-shirts that they may have worn into the pool and were some children (age 8+) the sun was very hot and for the children the t-shirts were UVA shirts. Not sure why……

Front desk/concierge – very friendly, helpful staff

Room Service – accurate, prompt. Food was hot and tasty.

Currency – the Canadian dollar is the currency of choice. Exchange rate – 13.50. No longer is the US dollar is excepted everywhere. Donald Trump is to thank for that.

Sunwing hosted a BIG BBQ party with entertainment – this was so fun… thank you Sunwing.

There was a dinner show that both Azul Ixtapa & Azul Grand guests were invited to. Great food with a traditional Mexician show. – Loved it. Thank you Azul

At the Azul dinner show this is where we meet friends from the flight down. They were staying at the Azual Grand – next door. We went over there the one day and WOW this place is amazing. Hardly any children and there were several adult areas to enjoy the pool. This place is hands down the place I will be next year.