Las Brisas Ixtapa, El Hujal

We had previously stayed at the Las Brisas Ixtapa six years earlier, and were pleased to find that it is just as comfortable to us now as it was then. The Staff.: You just can’t beat the hotel staff just about anywhere that you wish to stay in Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. From the hotel management right down to the grounds crews, you just won’t find friendlier people. The Restaurants.: We visited three of the Las Brisas eateries. La Brisa 1 on the beach, Bella Vista (south end of the hotel, and down the stairs) and the El Mexicano (mid-way down the main floor hallway, left, and down the stairs. All were a bit pricey for the area. That said the food was very well prepared, and the Ribeye that I had at the El Mexicano was not only perfectly prepared, but one of the best steaks that I have had in Mexico over the last 35 years of visiting. The service and attention paid by the staff at La Brisa 1 is second to none. When I asked for something a bit more Picante for my Quesadilla I was presented with freshly roasted Serrano peppers and grilled onions. Perfecto!! Bella Vista provided us with the simple Grilled Shrimp that we were craving, and we returned to the room stuffed. The room service at the Las Brisas is hands down the best that we have experienced in the area, and again the staff has a great deal to do with it. We order room service in the mornings and enjoy our breakfast and coffee out on the balcony. Not one day was there a glitch or an issue. Those of you that are room service junkies like we are can attest to this rarity while visiting other areas of Mexico! The Stairs.: Yes there are stairs everywhere. About the only ones that you can not avoid by taking a path somewhere, are to the restaurants, and about ten down to the elevator to the beach (two sets of five twenty feet apart) and about ten down to the beach at the end of the path from the elevator. They will golf cart you places should you need too, and if the restaurant stairs are an issue, simply grab a taxi and go explore the areas great food! The Room.: As before, we upgraded to the Junior Suite. Double the balcony, Jacuzzi, top floor, wonderful views! Bed was Mexican firm with the requested foam pad installed. The air-conditioning can drive you out to the balcony to warm up if you are not careful! Bring your binoculars so that you can watch the birds all day, and don‘t forget to check what is in the water!! Needle fish were a constant cruiser to watch just outside of the surf, and several large schools (thousands!!!) of Green Jacks came into the beach on this trip. When this happened you could not see through the waves for the number of fish in them. Views of Dolphin and Whales were both enjoyed from both the balcony and the beach this trip!! Conclusion: All in all we had another wonderful stay at the Las Brisas yet again this year. We will be returning guests for years to come! Keith

Las Brisas is not like the touristy places like Vallarta or Cancun. Las Brisas is a place to relax. There aren't any activities by the pool because it distracts from relaxing. The views are beautiful, the margaritas poolside are delicious, and the staff is a group of humble hard working people who are very nice. We have always enjoyed are nights in the lobby playing cards, having a cigar and drinking our margaritas. Las Brisas Ixtapa is a very nice place to stay. If you are looking for entertainment and spring break type events, this is not the place for you. We have stayed at Las Brisas for over 8 years and have enjoyed each stay. They have also upgraded their rooms with a new look and feel.

The room was clean and comfortable, but the hotel itself was boring. The beach is a hike (2 elevator rides) and you cannot swim in the water for the huge waves and undertow. The pool area is so far away you have to take a shuttle. There is nothing to do at night, no entertainment, and there is only one bar. The hotel is built out of solid concrete and had no particular character. It reminded me of a bomb shelter. We were on an "all inclusive" which included tips - but all the staff had their hand out, and you felt "cheap" if you did not tip, because many guests were not all inclusive. So it's an uncomfortable situation. After a couple of days, the hotel was taken over by a large group of golfers. It then became impossible to get much service because the staff naturally tend to pay more attention to large groups who make lots of noise. Finally, on checkout, there were 5-6 errors on the bill, because they tried to charge for meals which were supposed to be included (and already paid for!). The only highlite was the maitre d' in the Portofino/Mexicana restaurant by the name of Abel. He was very attentive, providing excellent "old world" service. He is a real asset. But I would not go back. There are too many other good places to see in this world.

I say there twice a year.It's so peacefull,I recommend it to all my dear friends.I love to be there right now.If you like to fish see mareo at the fishing dock that goes to the island.

I just read some negative reviews and I felt sorry for them. We have had nothing but very comfortable and relaxing times at Las Brisas Ixtapa. We have our tickets for next year already. We have visited several other vacation spots in Mexico but still come back to Las Brisas Ixtapa. Rooms have always been clean and fresh. It is very quiet but that is what we go for. You take a peaceful walk through well maintained gardens to the beach and pools. Yes, it is a walk but you still can ask to be taken to the pool by golf cart if you think it is too far. The sound of the ocean while relaxing by the private beach is what I look forward to each year. I can't wait!

Extremely Dissapointed! This hotel is way up from the beach, the pools are a long walk away, so far away to be exact that they have a truck to drive you over there. There are no activities around the poolside or in the pool. It is so boring there, not even any music. There are no night time activities, entertainment or shows. After speaking to as people there as possible, we all agreed this hotel is no more than a 3.5* Beach was dirty with garbage in the sand, including several pieces of glass. You are not able to swim in the ocean as the waves are far too large. Most staff were okay except for the front desk staff....they were rude! The only place to have breakfast has one small buffet bar with the same slop every day. Minimal food, & always cold. Always messy looking as well. After going into Ixtapa & taking a lovely tour through the "Barcelo" hotel, I highly suggest that one. I'm not a rookie at Mexico, been to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta & Manzanillo. So I am familiar with good places. This place was not all-inclusive completley. BEWARE, if you use the coffee in the room, or have a snack that is nicely displayed in a basket, or if you have a drink of any kind out of the little bar fridge, it will be added to your bill!

The room was very noisy because every 2 rooms are conected through a door between them. You hear absolutely every noise from the other room. There was a persistent strong sewage smell. The patio furniture was old with chipped paint. The rooms on the lower levels have no ocean view or just partial ocean view because of the trees. The restaurants, Portofino and El Mexicano are overpriced. The lobby bar is overpriced: margarita for $8, beer for $5. The tobacco shop, the gift shop and the mini-grocery store were overpriced. The grocery store sells a few local wines for $40-60 a bottle. The beach is unpleasant with rough waves that stir the sand and make the water murky, strong undertow, unsuitable for swimming and children.

I decided to celebrate my birthday in Ixtapa and, after checking the reviews from other fellow travelers, my wife and I booked a 10-night stay at Las Brisas from August 30 to September 9. Upon arrival, I was given the room number 1111. When I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was a communicating door between our room and room number 1112. The second unpleasant surprise was the patio furniture, which was very different from the one pictured in their brochures. The actual patio furniture, 2 chairs + table, was made of metal and plastic covered with peeled white paint. The patio furniture in their brochure was made of wood and looked very, very different. I went and asked the receptionist about the difference and was told that the rooms were remodeled?! Our stay at Las Brisas was O.K. until Sunday, September 2nd. On that day a large group arrived at the hotel for a Banamex Convention. Two of the convention participants were given the room number 1112 and the nightmare began. On Monday morning at 6 a.m. the ladies in room 1112 woke up to prepare for the convention at started to talk loud and turned the TV on. The door between the rooms is not sound proof, nor smell proof. Needless to say that my wife and I were awaken by the loud noise. It felt like being in the same room with the ladies next door. I went to the reception and explained the situation. Elizabeth, the receptionist, offered me the room number 1511. I went to see that room and noticed that was identical to 1111 and also had a communicating door with room 1512. I went back to Elizabeth and told her that there was a door between rooms 1511 and 1512, but she assured me there would not be any problems because rooms 1510 and 1512 are empty and there will be no guests there during the rest of my stay. We trusted her, packed our luggage and moved to room 1511. Monday night was quiet and everything seemed to be all right, except for a persistent sewage smell. Things completely changed on Tuesday, when we found out that both neighboring rooms, 1510 and 1512 were actually occupied. The guest in room 1512 was playing loud TV at 1 a.m. and was smoking in his room (I was told that the 15th floor is non-smoking, but there are plenty of ashtrays with cigarette butts on the corridor). The cigarette smoke came through the communicating door in our room. We could not go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. We had to sleep with the patio door wide open and the ceiling fan on the highest speed to get rid of the cigarette smoke and the sewage stench. At 5:30 a.m. the guy in room 1512 woke up, turned on the TV very loud, one of his friends came over and they were talking extremely loud, almost shouting at each other. We could even tell he used the toilet because a very strong toilet smell invaded our room. He was making all kinds of strange loud noises, coughing, passing gas, whistling etc. I went again to the reception and asked to speak to the manager. I was told the manager was not available. I tried several times to get a hold of the hotel manager, but the manager was never available. The nightmare repeated the following days. We could only sleep 5-6 hours a night because of the loud noise, the cigarette smoke and the persistent sewage stench. Our vacation was totally ruined because we had the bad inspiration to go to Las Brisas. At the checkout our room account was overcharged 64 pesos. Before moving out from room 1111 I specifically verified with the receptionist that there were no charges for the mini-bar and the rest of the refreshments in the room and gave him the mini-bar key. We did not consume any of the drinks and snacks in our room.

my husband and I just got back from Las Brisas, Ixtapa. We were very disappointed in just about everything. The hotel room was beautiful, we stayed in the beach club so I think we spent an extra fifty dollars per night. That was the only thing that I can say we liked was our room. The hotel is contstructed on a large hill so to get to and from the beach and most other places you will be walking up and down a lot of steep stairs, huge inconv. the beach was quite far away and don't let any of the picture that you see of the beaches fool you. The water is not clear and the waves are huge. I couldn't go far out and as for the beach itself the water comes all the way up to the wall, so hold on to all your stuff or it will get washed away. The beach look like it may be secluded but it is indeed a public beach. So, i am sure you can imagine how that it. The pool was a very long ways away it took us maybe about twenty minutes. The pool was very old looking and dirty. The pools were very small as well. We never went back to the pool. The food and drinks are very expensive. I am talking five-bucks for a beer. (WHAT!!)Word of advise hit up the local market and buy your own drinks and snacks. The hotel din't have any activities or entertainment. Our luggage was lost and our taxi guy never came when it was time to leave. Ok, lets move onto the town area. Most site i looked at said the market was walking distance, mmm not really it is better to take a taxi. the market place is very small and you can walk through it in about thirty minutes. The people do not wheel and deal like other places I have seen and the locals didn't seem as nice as the locals in Cancun. Honestly, I didn't really feel welcomed in this town. So, moving on if you decide to travel outside of your hotel there is a place called Ixtapa island. you can save yourself about sixty bucks and just take a taxi, but I don't recommend anyone go there. The boatsalmost flipped over while people are trying to get in and the island is packed full of people and vendors. there is not beach to just drop your towel on. EZ ups line the beaches and you have to buy stuff in order to sit. Once again the picts you may see on the flyers may look really pretty, but once you get there you wonder if it is edited. The water in ixtapa island in dirty and the food is very expensive. put it this way we spent 27.00 on two taco meals. Anyways, I don't recommend the hotel or the area.We will never go back ever.

It's beautiful, clean and right on the beach. We were very impressed with the staff. They are very friendly and helpful. Our only complaint was the price of food and drinks in the hotel. We ate out every day. The prices in Ixtapa and Zihatanejo are very affordable. The grounds of the hotel are huge but well worth the walk.