I stayed at the Pelican Grand Beach Resort for a week in early November for a much-needed vacation. I booked an ocean-front king suite and was not disappointed. The room was beautiful and the private balcony was wonderful. The toiletries were great – Crabtree & Evelyn for those who are familiar with the brand. The hot water was plentiful and the water pressure was very strong. I definitely enjoyed having a ceiling fan in both the living room area and the bedroom – it was nice when it wasn’t warm enough to necessitate having the air conditioning on but to keep the air moving. The staff was friendly, responsive and helpful. I worked with David, the concierge, to arrange to have some fresh flowers in my room and they were beautiful. I appreciated the fact that the room had a small refrigerator and microwave and I used both. I used the former for keeping breakfast food to cut down on meal expenses and the latter for reheating leftovers from dinner out. As others have noted, the menu for the in-house restaurant is not particularly extensive but I thought the prices were on par with other resort restaurants. The bar area was nice and I enjoyed the drinks there. I did not utilize the pool area as I prefer the beach. The beach area is not particularly large because of some beach erosion and when I was there, the surf was very strong and came in quite far due to the after-effects from Hurricane Noel. That certainly wasn’t the resort’s fault and it was very nice to be at a place where the beach was right outside the door as opposed to across the street. I also enjoyed the rocking chairs and wicker chairs on their deck. It was nice to sit outside while reading with the beach sounds in the background.
I walked to the shopping district of Las Olas Blvd. I would not recommend walking – it was further away than I realized. However, if you do not have a car, you can take the #11 bus, which can be caught across the street from the hotel, to the Las Olas Shopping District. It’s only $1.25 per trip. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the shops but I did have a wonderful lunch at Café Europa, an Italian restaurant and wine bar. I also walked to the Galleria, which is a reasonable walking distance from the hotel. However, you can also take the #36 bus from near the hotel to get there as well. The Galleria was a pretty typical mall, nothing special.
I also had a wonderful dinner at Thai Spice restaurant, which is located about five miles from the hotel. Since I had not rented a car, I took a taxi both ways and the meal was definitely worth it. The valet staff at the hotel was helpful in calling for a taxi when I needed one.
I would definitely recommend the Pelican Grand Beach Resort and look forward to staying there again.









