A resort with an all-inclusive option and rooms sleeping up to 12, Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa at the Islands of Loreto is an ideal family-friendly destination in Baja California.
The first sight of Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa includes the Giganta Mountains, Sea of Cortez and Danzante Bay in a staggering panorama of natural beauty.
What sets this property apart from other resorts? They treat all guests like family, and kid guests come first.
Seaside Resort caters to families
Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa suites have fully stocked kitchens. Sliding doors in the bedroom and living room open onto a large terrace that faces the resort’s five swimming pools and the islands of Loreto.
The full schedule of activities and entertainment include adult aerobics in the main pool (there are five), kid’s yoga on the beach, a wide range of water sports and complimentary daily Spanish classes.
We arrive on a day when a BBQ bash is on the schedule of evening activities. At 7pm, I wander down to the beach.
Festivities are underway: a fire dancer has the crowd mesmerized; a variety of meats, seafood, salads and vegetables are on the grill.
Even better, the MC leads guests as young as 4-years into a series of dance routines from salsa to Abba’s “Dancing Queens.” When the festivities settle down, we gather around one of the bonfire pits to star-gaze late into the night.
Mystical Landscape of Loreto
Loreto, Mexico is just an hour and a half flight from Los Angeles on Alaskan Air yet even the half-hour drive from the airport to the resort is breathtakingly beautiful.
Scruffy desert bushes, in all sizes and shapes, grow along the winding road and gigantic cactus, some as tall as 97 feet, rise from crevices in the surreal mystical mountains.
Legend has it, the transformed energy and spirits of giants who once inhabited the earth now live inside the cactus, reigning over sacred grounds that have been home to many nomadic tribes. No doubt, as the fifth largest area on the planet for cave paintings, their sculpted peaks hold many secrets.
Since the resort’s low adobe buildings blend into the terrain on the edge of the second largest sea park in the world, there’s a wealth of nature to discover, explore and enjoy.
One morning, we wade into the shallow calm waters of Danzante Bay, and climb aboard a boat for an exciting day of discovery and snorkeling.
We pass dramatic formations, craggy rocks inhabited by hundreds of sea birds, and intriguing caves ablaze with colorful wall paintings. We anchor off the island of Carmen; don snorkel masks and flippers and then jump into the refreshing clear water.
I am overwhelmed by the schools of fish that swim by my side.
Kids Activities include Cooking
The hotel’s kids club is all about sharing the blending of cultures and having fun.
I watch a group of kids practice cartwheels and handstands on the beach while a family with two sons paddles out to sea on a sturdy kayak.
Others are busy decorating sea shells they have gathered and in the Clubhouse classroom, a Spanish lesson is in session.
As part of the hotel’s culinary calendar, four visiting chefs entertain kids and parents, with a poolside lesson in cooking fried green tomatoes.
Oscar Torres, Food & Beverage Manager, tells me: “As habits change with our younger guests, we are ready for the growing tendencies towards vegan additions to our menus.” For Sunday brunch, they prepare Cheddar cheese chive waffles and buttermilk fried chicken, drizzled with bourbon maple syrup.
Stay busy with Golf and Spa
The Rees Jones golf course and putting green with its backdrop of mountains, natural vegetation and panoramic views of the sea is considered “course friendly” for all ability levels.
Daily complimentary golf lessons are given to kids tall enough to hold and swing a club.
The hotel spa is all about wellness. I immerse my body in a series of hot, warm and cold pools. While I relax and luxuriate in each, Adela the bath lady places cold cucumber rounds on my eyes and covers them with a cold towel.
In between dips, I hit the sauna, steam room and icy Vichy shower… then move to a message room where the knowing hands of a therapist transports me to yet another state of bliss.
Dining Options for all Tastes
Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa has three restaurants to choose from; buffets catering to finicky eaters include kid’s favorite foods such as pasta, chicken wings and burgers. Guest chefs teach kids how to cook healthy meals, and enjoy better food choices.
“We cook as ordered, and are able to offer a wide range of flavors and choices,” adds Torres.
“All resorts give you basic amenities; only thing we can do differently is to recognize and remember what pleases our guests.”
Lunch in Casa Mia is a scrumptious pizza party. Their famous thin-crusted pizzas oozing with grilled meats, cheeses and chicken are made with corn meal rather than flour.
Danzante, the resort’s fine dining restaurant, serves a special menu. Tonight it is shrimp wrapped in sweet chili sauce, traditional tortilla soup perfumed with pumpkin flower and guajillo chili, locally caught sea bass from the nearby fishing village of Ensenada Blanca and a filet mignon in merlot and red passion fruit sauce.
Tart and frothy margaritas compliment the menu and quench our thirst.
Exploring Nearby Loreto
The hotel shuttle offers complimentary service into the charming town of Loreto.
In colonial times, missionaries were sent here to spread Christianity among the original indigenous peoples.
I visit the Mission, wander the cobblestone streets, and then stop at Mi Loreto Restaurant for a heaping bowl of guacamole.
I return to find Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa is truly luxury in harmony with nature.
The Villa Group additionally owns and manages a collection of all-inclusive resorts in Cabos San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Nayarit, Cancun and Loreto Islands. Time share ownership is available as well.
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I poured my heart and soul into this!!! Hope you people enjoy! =)
Wow, this is wonderful! You are so lucky to have gotten this opportunity. You looked absolutely gorgeous at the show and the red carpet. Thanks for sharing this, it really made me smile. I used to have the biggest crush on Joe Jonas.. hahah!
Amazing trip!
I hope that my story will inspire and enrich your lives; even if it doesn’t touch you as much as it has touched me. I hope that this will be passed on and that people will take a few minutes just to read what I had to say and try to be in the mind of these children. Try to change your day and see your house, your possessions, your income, and those many great things that you possess and find a way to share them with others. We all need a wakeup call sometimes, a message to straighten us out and look at the life we were given. I hope to go back next year to repeat the experience all over again and try to change myself even more, I love those children and I love their compassion and selflessness. Words can’t fully express what I felt or what I witnessed but my words are clear, these people see the world much differently than us, they treat possessions differently and they know how to work as a community.
This is about when my family and I took a trip down to Central Florida for our Family Vacation.
Hope you enjoy!
This was a vacation that taught me a lot about how my religion is organzied and gave me more appreciation for it.
I will never forget the time I spent in Germany.
I hope you guys enjoyed my story!
Best luck.
South Africa is this amazing country that not only is beautiful for its animals and scenery but for its people and for its ability to overcome the greatest oppression: apartheid, the discrimination of the majority. I am so glad I was given the gift of traveling to South Africa. It is an experience I will never forget!
It was a great trip!
I hope everyone who takes the time to read The Awakening enjoys learning about my bus ride to reality.
My typed essay about my vacation in Vietnam. It seem poorly written or should I say typed :\
Bryan Gray Europe Tour.
My vacation to Panama became suprisingly meaningful, contrary to what I had initially expected.
Thank you
This was a fun and yet difficult project i truely have enjoyed sharing my vaction with you.
Mahalo,
Have you ever been to Maine? What did you like best?
This is such an amazing story and essay!!
Their were many more memories from this trip that impacted me as much as the ones that were included, but I just didnt have enough room. So, I shortened it and tried to write the best description of the trip without exceeding the word limit. But the trip was, indeed, as remarkable as I said it was.
Washington is a really nice place. It has many museums and historical places. it also has very delicious foods. Chinatown was my favorite place to eat.
Thank you for this scholarship opportunity!
IB York was a great experience, and a great opportunity to explore new ideas and innovations
So now I head to college without my classmates but i will always have this wonderful experience.
🙂
This is one of my many travel adventure stories from my trip to Europe in the beginning of the summer. Besides Prague, I traveled to Berlin, Munuch, and Nuremberg in Germany, Innsbruck in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France. My favorite place was Switzerland, but my favorite story was the one I shared. I hope you enoy reading it as much as i enjoyed experiencing it!
I want everyone to be able to expericence something like I did.:) Everyone desevers happines!
I hope you enjoyed my travel blog and I hope you plan to take your mom to the Peaks of Otter Lodge for the best brunch you will ever eat. For more information click on this link:
http://www.peaksofotter.com/
Finished product. I love PERU!
This eye-opening opportunity has shaped my conviction toward making change and developing the community. It is a great pleasure to meet all those Leadership Award Honorees and other49 ANNpower fellows from 24 states in the U.S. I will continue to make change and build a dynamic community, excursively to ethnic, social, political gender aspects of advantage, as my milestone to become a great leader!
This eye-opening opportunity marks the culmination of my junior year. I am so glad to meet all those wonderful women leaders from all around the world and 49 other ANNpower fellows from other 24 states. I will continue to explore the world and make change with eagerness and confident, and overcoming disadvantage exclusively toward the milestone of a great leader!
I hope everyone enjoys my trip to Catalina and Ensenada!
This trip was the best trip regarding family time. It is unforgettable.
To see more photography from the trip, check out my photojournal: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Photojournal-of-My-Grecian-Travels/213497035367351.
What a testimony!! Thanks for posting. You don't know how impactful this is. Let Jesus keep using you for His glory. 😉
I was saved in August of 2009. I was in my parents's room and we all prayed for m, becuase I was tired of not having a desire for God. There I gave my life to Him and let Him be my Lord. I already excepted Him as Savior, but though it was a license to sin. Thatt day, though I wanted to repent of my sin and let God lead me. Lord and Savior go hand-in-hand. My life is changed. Now I have convictions and am learning so much about seeking God, because He is seeking me. It's awesome to live in the security and hope of knowing I will see Him one day in heaven. I am so glad He lives in me, because my goodness outside of Him is nothing. I don't know what I would do without Him.
Jesus used that park to bring you and your dad back together. How beautiful 🙂
Each place I go, I leave a peice of myself. And everyplace I go leaves a peice of itself in me. The people I have met along the way have changed me in the deepest way. Their lives have touched mine and I can never return to life as was usual. Likewise, my life has touched many along the way. It is my hope that nobody I meet along the way may return to life as was their usual. This is how each thead pulls coth and fabric together as we the people of the world cover it like a quilt. We must double stitch each peice so not to fall apart or leave holes. We need one another.
To whoever reading this, I am the person wearing blue shirt and white shorts, sligtly leaning on the panda bear statue.
My essay that talks about my experience traveling to Lima, Peru aims toward encouraging others who are not too familiar with it to visit and appreciate the fun life changing experience they're gauranteed to get.
What a great contest! Hope to see lots of terrific teen travel stories here!
It was difficult for me to type a 600 word blog about an amazing experience I had in the month of July. It was also difficult for me to choose certain pictures from the ones that I have chosen, so I uploaded the pictures of my time at NeiHu elementary school. I really wished that I could have used more sightseeing photos, but unfortunately, those were too big to upload.
This trip was amazing and it also tested who I am becoming as a person. Seeing the woman in Central Park living out her dream, to the woman selling fruit throughout the day; New York is made of dreamers and hardworking people. I loved it. Hope I get the chance to go back.
This was an amazing experience! I am so grateful for everything it taught me!!
From research, I believe the ice cream shop was called Eisdiele Eddy. More information about the exchange program can be found at http://www.aatg.org/study-trip-faq as well as at the bottom of the page at http://www.aatg.org/NGE-awards.
These Picutures are both of my own creation (one being an acrylic painting). When I took this picture at the western wall in Israel, the man in the photo was crying his heart out wearing a tattered down bath robe, I thought it would make for an intersting picture. So it did, it also inspired to me to create a painting in which I showed the world what I believe he really is. A man who is down on his luck but seems to still find peace in his life.
My sophomore year of high school I went to Donner Pass in California with a group called The Woods Project (www.thewoodsproject.org) . I had to apply to go , I was really anxious and scared that I wasn’t going to get. When I got my acceptance letter I was excited. I was also nervous because I had never been away from home for more than a week and The Woods project was going to last for two weeks. I had chosen to go to Donner Pass because I wanted to experience something new. I was going to go backpacking for one week and hiking the other. I had never gone backpacking before. When I told my friends that I was going backpacking they started to laugh because I am the smallest girl in my whole school and they didn’t think I was going to make it. Getting that response from my friends made me super scared of going to the trip. I thought I was going to die while backpacking!
My dad went to go drop me off at the airport and then he left. I was already scared and freaking out at the fact that he had just left me there and I did not know anybody! . I got in the plane to California and I was already regretting going on the trip. I was going to be with complete strangers for two weeks! When we got to California we all got split .There were three groups going to different places, one to Yosemite, another to Marine Headlines and then mine, to Donner Pass. I got in a van and that’s where I met the people who I was going to spend two weeks with. We were in that van for hours! When we finally got to our cabin we had to go up a hill to get to the door.
The first cabin we stayed in was named Clair Tappan Lodge. It was really nice . It was made out of wood, had a pool table, personal chef, jacuzzi and hot water in the showers. I loved it there! Too bad it only lasted for two days then it was time to go backpacking. They gave us our backpacking materials. I tried on the backpack and almost fell over. My backpacking week had started. We went up and down mountains, through rivers and lakes, and I thought we were never going to set up our tents. When it started to get dark we finally started cooking. The food we had was not good at all. We couldn’t bring a lot of food because of the bears and other animals. My second day of backpacking went better than the first. Everybody in my group started to know each other better and soon we became really close. We would sing while backpacking to make time pass faster and at night we didn’t want to sleep because we would play games. While backpacking I got to experience many things I hadn’t before. Even though I was the smallest girl going backpacking I was always the leader of the line because of my stamina.
When our backpacking week ended it was time to hike. I had gotten the hardest part of the trip over with so I knew hiking was going to be a piece of cake. We would hike in the morning and hanged out at night. It was the best experience I had ever had! When it was time to go back home I didn’t want to because I knew I would miss my friends.
To watch my video go to : http://youtu.be/FLd7W71EnyU
My experience as a first time camper.
i hope i win