I am often skeptic about hotel reviews as I find they don’t carter towards me. For example, Ritz-Carton Half Moon Bay was considered to be one of the best ways to spend Chase Ritz certificate but I found Ritz-Carton Half Moon Bay property to be a little over-hyped. So, naturally I was skeptic that “Mirival experience” would suite me but not only did I like my brief stay at Miraval Tuscan but shortly after I also stayed at at Mirival Austin as well.
All photos below were taken with Samsung S10 Plus.
Booking
Cash booking for two people can easily cost over $1000 but you might be able to find a bit cheaper rate during summer.
I paid a whooping 65,000 Hyatt points for a night of stay for two. Thankfully because of a promotion that was going on at the time, with half of the points ended up returning it my account. Said promotion typically returns in the summer and I would say early summer booking through points might not be too bad of an idea. Now don’t get too excited though, this is in Arizona and chances are it will still be very hot.
If you’re into daily activities, which I think is the core of Mirival, then you might want to consider making booking around activities you prefer. Some activities are not offered on daily basis and some will fill up rather fast. I personally did neither and booked activities after my arrival.
Transportation
Miraval provides complementary shuttle transportation to and from Tucson airport (TUS). This is nice since it is a 32 miles ride.
If you’re landing in Phoenix airport (PHX) then you’ve an option of driving or taking public transportation like Flixbus which will cost you around $10 for one way. Flixbus has a few pickup locations spread across the valley including one at PHX airport as well as in Tempe.
If you plan to stay overnight in Phoenix then there are a some Hyatt hotels starting at 8,000 points (recent increase from 5,000 points). If you’re planning on staying overnight in Tucson then you can stay in a Hyatt brand for as low as 5,000 points.
If you’re simply going to drive to Mirival then you get complementary valet parking.
I suggest checking in early in the morning. Even if your room is not ready, you can still join the daily activities.
Check-in
You’re provided with some juice or drinks at check in. You will also be provided with Mirival branded water bottle each and as well as a choice of Mirival branded side bag or hand bag. You can use the water bottle to refill water as many times as you need at the water filter dispenser (yah environment?)
Activities and Daily $175 Credit
The choices for activities is pretty good and some activities are only offered on certain days. This means that even on an extended week long stay, you could in theory still do new activities every single day.
There are a lots of free activities for you to do, again check out daily activities calendar for more detail, and then there are some activities that cost money.
Good thing is that per night you get complementary $175 credit per person which you can spend towards daily activities. So, if you’re travelling in pair, both of you get $175 credit and yes both of you can use it even on arrival or departure day.
Activities start at 6 AM and go until 7 PM.
If you want to maximize your stay then consider arriving early and departing late. You can participate in activities before you pickup your room key or even after you drop-off your room key.
Dining Options
There is food complementary food offering pretty much all the time.
dining hours 
breakfast menu 
dinner menu 
palm court cafe 
palm court cafe
Mirval’s cactus flower restaurant offers breakfast , lunch , as well as dinner. Palm court cafe is pretty much open from morning to evening and offers prepackaged snacks on the go as well as a few other options like sandwich. You can also go to Coyte Moon Bar & Lounge for drinks.
Desert Sky Zipline Experience
This property also has a zipline in their backward. The zipline is fairly short and not highly whatsoever. Essentially, you climb up to a tower, do some activities at the top of the tower like hanging out on the edge while hooked to safety, and then you eventually zipline from there. Because you’re doing it in a group and because there is some “Mirival experience” added in there, the whole thing takes about 2 hours.
going up 
coming down
Desert sky zipline experience has a fee of $150/individual.
Self-Guided Trail
The Mirival outback hike (which I will talk about later) needs to be done with a guide but if you want to walk around on your own then there is a trail for you as well.
Mirival Outback Hike
One, among many, free activities Mirival Tucson offers is a hike next to their resort. It starts at 6 in the morning, consists of 2 guides, and lasts a total of 2 hours. You can only do this hike with the guides i.e. not by yourself.
I believe this activity is offered every day at the same time but because it starts so early in the morning, you’re most likely not going to be able to do it on your arrival day.
Room and Property
Room isn’t anything spectacular but that probably isn’t the focus of the property anyway. After all, if you’re spending more time in your room at Mirival then you’re doing something wrong.
As far as the property goes – it is beautiful.
Closing Thoughts
I rarely go back to the same property but this one…I just might. There is much more do to do at this property then just physical activity, and even within physical activity there are some other ones that are pretty fun.
From my understanding the spa and relaxation activity is at this property is very well received. There is a reason why most of the guest at this property are women. The ratio of male to female guest is probably like 1:10.
