Words don’t do justice to the wild, natural beauty of the coastal rainforest setting for One&Only Mandarina. This resort has much to offer, including stunning pools and beaches, delectable dining at Carao, frequent wildlife encounters, an impressive equestrian center, and a jaw-dropping KidsOnly kids club with treehouse complex and zoo-grade butterfly house. Aside from the resort’s many upsides, we experienced a litany of service issues during our stay — many of which were attributable to the resort having recently opened. And there were a few key things we wished we would have known to better prepare for our visit here.

Overview

At-a-Glance

• Date of Stay: June 2021

• Length of Stay: 4 nights / 5 days

• Property Type: Luxury eco-resort spanning coastal rainforest and white sand beaches

• Trip Type: Family beach trip

• ​Tailor-made for: Outdoor enthusiasts, adventure seekers, and those in need of relaxation / restoration

Highlights

• Spectacular KidsOnly kids club — massive treehouse complex, zoo-grade butterfly house, and amazing staff; unlike any other in the world

• Beautiful coastal rainforest setting and wildlife spotting (coatis, butterflies, birds, lizards)

• Spacious, well-equipped Villa with large outdoor living area and private pool

• Spa facilities — pool, sauna, steam room, cold plunge, and relaxation lounge — and treatments

• Dining program, especially Carao Restaurant but also at Canalan

• Polo and Equestrian Center

• Warmth, care, and hospitality of every team member we met

Good to Know

• The service experience was inconsistent, possibly due to the resort just having opened — felt like a constant whiplash between the highest highs and the lowest lows

• Be prepared to wait…endlessly…for buggies, for the check, for responses / updates from staff, etc.

• All activities are done as a group with other guests — if others are late, you will all be late

• Various operational issues due to newness of the resort and onset of rainy season impeded logistics (e.g., unannounced restaurant closures, staffing issues, etc.)

• Wildlife outdoors? Great. Wildlife in your Villa waking you up at night? Not so great…

• Poor selection and value of wine program

• “Complimentary” daily breakfast excluded staff gratuity

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Location & Setting

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Located in the Mandarina resort complex approximately 30 miles from Puerto Vallarta Airport, the setting of One&Only Mandarina has a similar landscape, climate, and vibe as Central America, Hawaii, and parts of the Caribbean, but is quicker / easier to get to from most of the mainland US than these destinations.

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Property & Grounds

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One&Only Mandarina consists of 104 freestanding villas and treehouses (plus 54 residences) dotted along 80 sprawling acres of cliffs, beaches, and dense canopy of Nayarit’s coastal rainforest. In addition to the accommodations, the resort offers 6 dining options, a One&Only Spa, 5 pools, 2 beach clubs (one with a swimmable white sand beach), a spectacular KidsOnly kids club (fully-supervised), a polo / equestrian club, meeting / event facilities, and an adventure course.

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Room

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After checking in, we took a buggy ride to our 1-Bedroom Villa Banderas (314), and were given a personal tour of the Villa, followed by a sage smudging ceremony in the Villa — including a personal sage smudging for V, who was delighted.

The modern, fully-equipped Villa was perfect for families with young kids. It was relatively close to the Kids Club, Alma restaurant, and the fitness center / spa, and the room configuration and amenities were ideal.

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Service

💛💛💛+

While the team at One&Only Mandarina was exceedingly warm, gracious, and hospitable at every turn, the resort’s inconsistent service experience reflected its newness and growing pains. Our transfer and arrival experience with Edward (pictured) was an absolute highlight and set the perfect tone for the stay.

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Dining

💛💛💛+

The resort's overall dining and cocktail program was great. Enrique Olvera, perhaps Mexico's most well-known chef, is the resort's consulting chef, with Carao shining as the crown jewel of the resort's dining options. All dining venues featured locally-sourced ingredients and products, including from a farm on the resort where produce for Allora is grown. The wine program, however, was not great (no vintages shown on wine list, limited selection and availability of listed wines, and a steep markup).

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Family Services & Amenities

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The resort is extremely family-friendly, even though the majority of guests are typically adults without young kids (there were only 6 kids during our stay, but 35 kids arriving the day we left -- a new record for the resort). The KidsOnly kids club is unreal, covering 42,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor facilities including a treehouse complex and zoo-grade butterfly house. The indoor facility has all the standard kids club trappings, plus a PS4 with VR headset (G and V loved playing Fruit Ninja), but outdoors is where this place shines.

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Activities

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The pools, beaches, spa, and equestrian center are the resort’s featured activities, but there are a multitude of activities and excursions on offer (see full resort activities and brochure for more), most of which are oriented around outdoors, adventure, and wellness. Note that all resort activity/excursion bookings are shared with other guests unless otherwise noted, which means you may be waiting until the rest of your group arrives if any group members are late.

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Wellness

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The entire resort is designed with a focus on wellness, fitness, and spirituality. There are also healthy food options on all menus.The resort offers a plethora of wellness focused activities and amenities:

• One&Only Spa, located in a ​natural volcanic rock garden in the heart of the rainforest - an adults-only afternoon spent at the spa was a highlight of our stay

• Wellbeing in nature experiences

• Fitness center and classes

• Ancient healing experiences

• Spiritual journey experiences

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Wow Factor

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Similar to the service, the wow factor vacillated between a 1 and a 5. There were many amazing and memorable (in a good way) things about our experience, but also many frustrating and disappointing things, and some basic things that just seemed sloppy / not well looked after. For example, the communal sunscreen at Alma pool was in a dirty-looking jug and stored in a messy open cabinet where anyone walking by could see.

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Value

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The resort offers many things to do included with the stay, and the KidsOnly kids club, beach clubs, and spa facilities (even if you don’t book a treatment, you can still access these) added much to the value factor. The price point of our stay at One&Only Mandarina was about the same as it was at One&Only ​Wolgan Valley when we stayed there, having booked a very similar room; however, the value at One&Only ​Mandarina did not seem to go as far as it did at One&Only ​Wolgan Valley between the gratuity not being included in the “free” breakfasts, the overpriced wine, and the widely varying service experience at Mandarina. That said, the value will likely increase considerably (although, perhaps so will the prices) once the resort works through its growing pains.

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Overall

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While the location and property, Villa, resort amenities, activities, kids club, spa, and fine dining were outstanding overall, because of the rocky service experience and operational issues, we would probably not risk our time and money on a return visit unless we could somehow be sure that the majority of the service and operational problems we consistently experienced had been ironed out. The resort has all the potential in the world, and we met so many wonderful team members who put their heart and soul into their work so the resort can succeed, so we are hopeful it will get there with just a little more time.

Rating Legend*

💛💛💛💛💛 Exceptional

💛💛💛💛 Notable

💛💛💛 Standard

💛💛 Substandard

💛 Unsatisfactory

*All ratings are relative to similar-class properties