Cala de Mar Resort & Spa Ixtapa

Where to begin with this amazing property in Ixtapa? Before we even arrived we were contacted by Edwin, our “personal assistant”, inquiring about any specific requests we had for our stay. We asked for a particular room location and that our room be feather free, also for an umbrella on our terrace. Every request was met with a resounding “yes”. On arrival, ever-helpful Fernando and his welcoming colleague checked us in, and Fernando showed us around the property before taking us to our room, where are luggage had already been delivered. From the start, our one week at this resort was a stay in paradise. The room was beautiful, and mornings on the terrace were sublime watching whales spout and slap their tails and lines of pelicans fly by at eye level from our completely private plunge pool. A delicious American breakfast (eggs or chilequiles with coffee and juice or fruit) came with our rate and delivery to the room if desired was included, as late as noon. Lots of great spots to hang out all over the property, including cabanas at the infinity pool; a rocky beach with a hammock, swings, and raised lounge platforms where you can have a picnic or just hang out; a peaceful Zen Zone overlooking the rocky beach; an outdoor yoga deck with more incredible views; a well-equipped fitness center; and of course our very own expansive terrace with the most tranquil view. So many special touches at the resort: pastries and hot beverages in the library each morning, plenty of bottled water, an espresso coffee machine and a fridge stocked with soda, a straw hat and bag for guests to keep, guacamole and chips and a couple mini Coronas delivered to the room in the late afternoon, cookies in the library at night. Pampering at every turn. The spa is beautiful and my 2 1/2 hour body scrub, mask and massage with skilled and warm-hearted Lety left my skin feeling like silk. The staff was warm and easygoing, in particular Francisco in housekeeping (he left our room immaculate and accommodated our late schedule), Felix at the Terrace Bar, and Fernando, who bent over backwards to take care of our every need, always with a genuine smile. We can’t say enough good things about him. In fact, every individual we encountered on the staff was genuinely warm and helpful. And yet with all these superlatives, our experience was made the most memorable by “nuestro nuevo mejor amigo” Ulises, the talented and funny bartender at the Terrace Bar. If you like cocktails, don’t miss - I repeat DO NOT MISS - his delicious concoctions, in particular the basil margarita (try it with mezcal) and the pepino margarita (a refreshing cucumber libation). This man is a delight, and we’d return to Cala de Mar based on the strength (literally and figuratively) of his cocktails alone. There are only a few downsides to the property. No sandy beach except by taxi or a 20 minute walk to Playa Quieta (the Club Med beach, also called Playa Incluyente). There was only one restaurant open for dinner for the first half of our stay and the food was disappointing, at least to our taste (we were pleasantly surprised at how good the Seafood Market was once it became available later in the week.) It’s a $10 cab ride each way into Ixtapa to eat elsewhere, and no restaurants outside the property within walking distance. Ixtapa itself is a tourist town, no big market to get supplies, not nearly as interesting and diverse as Zihuatanejo down the road. But once we surrendered to the bliss that is Cala de Mar, none of this seemed to matter.

This resort is absolutely stunning in every way! The rooms stand out from other resorts with the private plunge pools for personal relaxation and useful technology like decent TVs (enabled with smart services like Netflix) and useful WiFi is a perfect combination to relax. Truly what makes this resort stand out is the food and staff. Staff here are amazingly kind and helpful - especially to us as we struggled with our Spanish! Jehu and Julio were two of our favorite servers there bringing drinks the pool or room and Oscar is the most amazing executive chef ever! Highly recommend the cooking class with Oscar as you'll learn more about local ingredients and techniques than you would ever expect. Cost is great here too - all the food and drinks are reasonable and everything can be ordered to the room for no real additional charge (if there is an additional charge it is so minor you'd never notice). All requests can go through a personal assistant on Whatsapp which serves from making food orders to reservations at other locations, tours, events, and more. We spend our honeymoon here and had an absolutely wonderful time and cannot wait to go back! The views, pool, staff and food are worth the visit.

We had such a good visit to Cala de Mar. It’s an excellent resort and spa on the sea. Very clean. Very secure. The food was fresh and local, and the people here are so hospitable. Highly recommend. We had a wonderful cooking class the chef Oscar that included a trip to the local market. He took our food likes into consideration and he explained his cooking while we watched and ate. We made fresh salsa, homemade tortillas with local cheese (quesadilla), a swordfish ceviche with mango and jicama, and grilled fish with a guajillo coating. We had 4 hours with our chef and it was the best cooking class we’ve ever taken. More observation than cooking but it was great. Skip breakfast if you do this! We would come again. Quiet, pretty ocean views and humpback whales and dolphins out in the bay this time of year. A good place to just be.

We chose this hotel as a relaxing holiday location following a 5 day visit to Mexico City. We chose the hotel after some internet research, initially looking at Zihua, but we felt that after the bustle of CDMX, we want somewhere we could completely get away from it all. The hotel arranged a taxi transfer and their communication before the trip was excellent, answering queries about gluten free options for my husband promptly and knowledgeably. We chose a cliffside ocean front suite, which guaranteed shade but also allowed sun if wished. The suite with its terrace and plunge pool was fantastic, and the view over the Pacific (and the sound of the waves crashing below) was wonderful. You can't see or be seen by another room, which gives a wonderful sense of peace. From the terrace, we saw pelicans, frigate birds and even an orca. The hotel is built on a hill, and has a small funicular as well as stairs to reach the suites. We ate only in the resort during our 4 night stay and sampled all the eating options except the fine dining, which was closed. The food was delicious and varied. The grounds were immaculate and so well suited to the atmosphere of the hotel. All in all, this stay delivered so much more than we expected, and we would definitely recommend it.

Incredible resort and views. Food was delicious but always took 1+ hour after ordering. I had diarrhea for the back half of my trip and several days after returning. Really tough to enjoy your vacation when you spend half of it on the toilet.