Three Year Anniversary Trip--Dreams Puerto Vallarta

Way back in October we went to Mexico for our three year wedding anniversary.  We went to the all inclusive Dreams resort in Puerto Vallarta.  We are all about all inclusive vacations.  Paying everything up front and not having to worry about food is amazing.  Plus it's not a vacation in my book if you don't get to eat yourself silly!

We loved our resort.  It was in a beautiful location near downtown but there was plenty to do at the resort that we only left it once.  The staff and locals were all very friendly and the food was fantastic.

There was also a lot of free activities to do at the resort like rock climbing, kayaking, a hiking tour, and other fun active options.  So when you need to burn off those nachos or that margarita and laying on the beach isn't cutting it, we greatly appreciated some fun exercise!

They also had a variety of restaurants to try out which we took advantage of and dressed up for.  

Downtown we enjoyed the fast moving taxis and beautiful architecture to be seen.

The luxuries of Mexico include things like infinity pools and restaurants overlooking the ocean.

And of course, swimming all day and night.

We got to play with our DIY underwater camera housing for our DSLR.  Will share about that soon!

The little details of the hotel made the trip extra special.  On the day of our anniversary we were greeted with this sweet happy anniversary banner on our door!

The adventure hike took us to a secret waterfall hidden right on the same grounds as the hotel!  

And probably one of my favorite moments was the Mexican party they put on out on the beach full of authentic Mexican food, entertainment, and crazy balloon hats!

I'd go back in a heartbeat. 

 // We have a handful of vacations under our belt in our three years of marriage and have gotten pretty good at finding great places at amazing prices.  We do not book vacations months in advance, instead we usually book something a month or even a few weeks ahead of time.  It works better for us and my husband's work schedule.

Once we decide to plan a vacation I spend about a week religiously scouring Travelzoo and specifically for our Mexico trips, Cheap Carribean.  We have a set budget and I try to find a place that includes our stay and flight that I think is nice enough to my fairly high expectations.  Things like the type of room we will be in, food cost, and activities to do at the hotel are at the top of my list.  Everyone expects different things from their vacation, so figuring out what you want and then sticking to it usually results in a successful trip.

We don't have a huge travel budget but we make it a priority to take time away together.  I dream of exotic trips to Paris and New York City but for now, being able to take a trip is more important and so we have grown to love Mexico because of it's great deals and short flight from California.  We highly recommend it!

You can read about our honeymoon trip to Cancun here.