One More Trip to Paradise

For many years, gay vacation company Atlantis Events booked out an entire resort in Puerto Vallarta for its customers. Initially, it was the Palace Vallarta resort; then Hard Rock bought it, renamed it, upgraded it, and added rock paraphernalia throughout the property. Either way, it was a wonderful, all-inclusive, all-gay experience. 

We first went in 2006. We returned every year, except 2008. To us, it was the perfect vacation: a beautiful resort, sunshine, good food, plentiful beverages, friendly staff, fun entertainment, relaxation, indulgence, and – most important – people like us. Each year, we made several new friends whom we looked forward to seeing again in subsequent years. Many returned year after year, as we did. It wasn’t just a bunch of people at a resort; it was a community. It was Gay Summer Camp (in late October).

We looked forward to this week all year long. We assumed there would always be a “next year” – until there wasn’t.

2018 was the last year Atlantis booked that resort. For some undisclosed reason, despite selling out the resort every year and having a return rate of over 50% each year, Atlantis decided to book a resort in the Dominican Republic the following year.

We weren’t interested. The Dominican Republic has a reputation for homophobia and has no laws protecting gay people. Further, their medical system was of lesser quality. We would probably be okay in the bubble of the resort itself, but not as safe if we ventured off the property.

It was a sad reminder that nothing lasts forever. Everything in life is impermanent. Change is inevitable (except from a vending machine).

Then, last year, another gay vacation company, Vacaya, announced that they had booked the Hard Rock Hotel in Puerto Vallarta for a week. Needless to say, we jumped on it. 

We recently returned home from our all-gay, all-inclusive week at the Hard Rock. It felt great to be back. Not much had changed. We even recognized a few people on the staff from 2018 and earlier – and some of them remembered us! The activities and entertainment were somewhat different because Vacaya is different from Atlantis. We only saw a few of our old friends. But we still loved it. And we are grateful that we got to take one more trip to our paradise. 

Here are some photos of the resort and, of course, the obligatory food porn.

When Hard Rock bought the property and remodeled, one of the nicest upgrades was the swim-up bar!

We appreciated their well-maintained tropical landscaping.

We relaxed…

…and danced! (A little)

When Hard Rock bought the property, they added all sorts of rock memorabilia, such as instruments famous people played and outfits they wore. In the seven-story lobby, they added this giant mural to the solid wall above the reception desk. This is made with 2,800 album covers (40 x 70), making the mural over four stories tall. Can you tell who this is? (The answer is at the end of the post.)

This is another wall of the lobby. I’m not sure what this shape is supposed to represent (if anything), but it’s made from musical instruments.

Ciao, an Italian restaurant. The quality had improved a lot since our previous visits.

Frida was a snack bar by day, a gourmet Mexican restaurant by night.

This was one of the most unique salad presentations we’ve seen; watermelon soaked in Mescal, with lettuce sprigs “growing” out of it.

One restaurant had been a Brazilian steakhouse on all of our previous visits. It was now a Mayan Barbacoa called Umo. We liked it!

We started each day with mimosas at the breakfast buffet. Dave enjoyed their made-to-order omelets.

The sunsets, looking west over the Pacific Ocean, were often beautiful.

We don’t know if we’ll ever have the opportunity to return to the Hard Rock Vallarta for an all-gay week. Vacaya does not plan to return every year as Atlantis did. There’s a brand-new, higher-luxury (and much more expensive) resort next door that they’ve booked for next year. It’s very upscale and swanky, but it lacks the tropical vegetation. We’re not going – it’s out of our price range. While the Hard Rock isn’t as luxurious as many newer resorts, its relaxing, comfortable, welcoming vibe is hard to duplicate. And it holds the memories of so many good times. Our hearts are here. 

The musician in the album cover mural earlier in this post is Carlos Santana.