Cala de Mar Resort & Spa Ixtapa

Guests who stayed here loved

“This is a truly stunning property -- the visuals of the ocean, the flowers, the cliffs, the whales and dolphins hopping around, the islands out in the distance are world class. It's a legitimately special location with a sense of tranquility about it, and you can feel and see that everywhere you go on the property. The fact that all rooms have private pools is fantastic, and our particular "deluxe" room that had its private pool out in the open, under the sun/moon (instead of in a covered alcove, as is the case for the standard rooms) is pretty epic/perfect. Can't knock a single thing about the rooms themselves or the overall ambiance of the place. There are a few things that the hotel indicates are included that really weren't, and this was disappointing given the price point and makes it NOT a great value in my view, despite being stunning. Valet service is one issue. My rate indicated that was "free" for us, but it appears there is no charge for valet service for anyone who stays there (i.e. they say it's a "perk" when booking, but it is just their usual service). More significant than that, it was indicated upon booking that ALL rooms come with early check in / late check out. We were told when we arrived 2 hours before the usual check in time that a room was not available (no prior notice of this shared with us via email or message ahead of time); we ended up waiting around for 2 hours until the usual check in time anyways, and of course they escorted us straight to their restaurant at this time so we could spend a bunch of money on lunch at their restaurant while we waited. This felt purposeful as a ploy to get us to drop some extra cash at the property while waiting and I didn't appreciate that feeling even if it was done in a "polite" way. Had similar issues at check out; we received a text from the front desk the day before indicating we could NOT check out late after all due to the property being too busy. I had booked this hotel specifically happy about the late checkout option due to our 6pm or so flight times out of Zihua, but ultimately all the hotel did was hold our luggage and tell us we could hang out in the library & come back for our bags when we were ready. No offer of a drink at the bar covered by the hotel, or anything else to acknowledge that this was clearly outside of what was communicated with the rate.”

Carley · Jan 23, 2026