Average yet awesome

We stayed at the Town center tower which is excellent accommodation this resort is kid friendly the buffet are good and their ala carte were great people were friendly and always smiling just only they hardly speak English but overall we had great time at this resort

Perfect trip

Beautiful rooms, amazing view- we had a great trip. Drinks in room everyday cleaned very nice. So many pools bars food choices. Entertainment all in Spanish but lots to do- disco was not very busy. Great trip

Good resort

Great food .. chicken to die for .. pork also great .. beef tough just chew and taste ..staff friendly and helpful .. definitely a 2.5 -3 star .they did not disclose a non-smoking resort only said no smoking rooms.. only could smoke at beach and lobby parking lot.. no 24 hr snack bar as advertised ..many ants on patio and public areas ..friend was biten alive many sores.... beach has no bunkers to stop waves and very strong undertow .. new casino but 5.5% charge on winnings ..airport very mini [... read more]mal only vending machines so eat before you leave Also tour of full canal only once a month first Saturday should be advertised as we would have chosen different dates

Be prepared

This resort is great if you are not expecting everything to be like you find in Florida or Mexico. Food is better than Cuba but still limited, staff do their job but are not really engaging (which we preferred anyway), most people there were from Central or South America, so all in Spanish (which we also preferred). The key plus is that we felt we were in Panama, and the resort did not feel like some commercial block. The only negative is the huge deception of the lagoon (large pool next door),  [... read more]which just allows you to have sitting or paddling space only, and the rest it blocked off (we were hoping to have long swims).

Great place to stay in Panama!

The grounds of the Playa Blanca Beach Resort are beautiful. Buffet was fabulous with lots of selections. The Italian restaurant had issues with very salty meals. Had to call the front desk to replenish water and towels but they were always sent up after. Loved the massive salt water pool and meals over there were amazing! Would definitely go back! Loved it!

Perfect Vacation

Twitter As you know I was there two weeks before at PlayaBlanca and had a great time. This trip was like the last a great time amazing people there and very friendly guests. They even stepped up and made this trip even better I was very happy to be there again and sad to leave after the two weeks. My future trips will always include Playa Blanca that's again for helping choose a great destination and take soon.

Nothing went wrong perfect vacation

At first I looked around and said ok this is fine but as the first day started I was very happy to be there, the people working there and and some tourists from Columbia Panama Brazil had so much fun. I went to LACart for three meals and realized that the buffet was just as good or better.From the front desk to all the staff that works there you were treated amazing. Made friends with the bartenders the Animation kids lifeguards and the people working for the administration they all made sure yo [... read more]u were having a good time. If you have kids they do so much with them very happy to see that from !yr olds to the teens. They have a Sports Bar with TVs and sports around the world, a snack bar with great food to carry you on till dinner.I would like to thank Tripcentral and Fred Pongracic for telling me about this resort, I will return there for another visit. John Mario Colamartini thankyou

Fun time!

Overall it was a nice resort, a bit dated. The staff was pretty friendly. The food was really good. A pretty big downfall was the pools on the resort were quite dirty, not really cleaned and full of kids. As a result we didn't get to use them all week. As well as the large saltwater pool that was advertised we were not allowed to use unless you paid a fee everyday. So, therefore we weren't very happy about the whole pool situation, especially after being excited to swim in the second largest sa [... read more]ltwater pool in the world. The beach was nice, although we were unable to swim certain times of the day due to sting rays. As well the sand was extremely hot, my feet were burnt the second day of the trip. The resort was full of locals, not too many Canadians. Not many people spoke English. The nightly entertainment was always in Spanish every night. Overall a good experience though.

Not a 5 star resort

The hotel is located in Rio Hato, on the Pacific Coast of Panama. While the hotel is kept clean and the staff work very hard, this hotel certainly cannot be considered 5 star by any measure. The food, while plentiful, is largely inedible, especially at dinner. The meat is overcooked and dry and becomes tedious after about day 3. There are similarly no amenities in the rooms such as shampoo, conditioner, bathrobes etc., only 2 bars of soap and a refillable soap dispenser in the shower stalls. [... read more] The towels are seriously in need of being upgraded and the pillows on the beds are the tiniest pillows I have ever seen. Panama is very humid and as a consequence, the air conditioner needs to be kept on constantly in order to avoid the rooms from becoming wet. In the first room we stayed in, room 5048, the air conditioning unit could not really be turned up to make it not as frigid, therefore we needed to keep the door open which resulted in wet floors and walls. In addition, this room is right above the disco and the theatre where the nightly entertainment is, as well as the 24-hour sports bar, so it is very noisy. This is not a good choice of location for a family suite. The room was so noisy that after 2 days of being kept awake until 2 am each night, we asked to be moved to another room on the opposite side of the hotel. This room, 6037, although quieter and with a better functioning air conditioner, was located just below the air conditioning fan unit on the roof of the hotel. As such, it was noisy with the constant whir and hum of the motor. The beach and ocean were fine and would likely be better visited in the Canadian winter and not during the Panamanian rainy season as the ocean was quite rough and we therefore couldn't swim in it. There is nothing to do at this hotel, there is limited entertainment, especially for people travelling with tweens and teenagers. There was no games room, no movie night, only very lame poolside entertainment by the Riu staff. Also, the area around the pools should definitely have been kept cleaner as the tiles were very slippery when wet and people frequently left their dirty cups and plates by the poolside and they were not removed by the cleaning staff until much later.

Riu Playa Blanca

This is the newest hotel in Rio Hato and as such has no real issues. There is the usual buffet(s) with pretty much the usual fare. Most of it bland, very little of it Panamanian. We stayed in a family suite which is two rooms in one. The first suite (5055) was right over the theatre and it was hard to sleep when the disco kicked in. The second suite (6038) was in the opposite end of the hotel but we had the air conditioning units overhead on the roof and there was a steady "thunka thunka" from t [... read more]he motor. Check in was very well done and the front desk was responsive to all our questions and requests. There are four pools, most of which are treated salt water. There is always something to do, but not too much for older kids. MiniRiu club runs to age 12 at best. It would be nice if there was a games room, somewhere to view a film, something for teens specifically. The rooms are clean and spacious but offer little other than towels and soap: no shampoo, no moisturizer, no pen, no paper, no information that you can take home. The gift shop has some pretty ugly t-shirts and very little "made in Panama" souvenirs. The staff is not knowledgeable about what they sell and is often rude. Minuses: the keys had to be remagnetized every day, sometimes twice a day the beach is lovely to walk but you can't really swim in the ocean - too rough! You will never see a green flag, only yellow if you're lucky. nothing to buy in the gift shop no ATM no place to really walk around you either went to the pool or the beach, nowhere for "strolling" no real entertainment other than the show. How about musicians in the lobby? performances by the dancers? outside people brought in to perform and/or sell things? like everywhere in the Caribbean, there is a smell of mould because of humidity. A little far from everything, no place really to walk to outside of the hotel. Plusses: new hotel, spacious rooms, super clean, lots of staff.

So so resort

Too many children there really was not an adult area as large local family's on what I guess was day passes invaded the resort...English was almost non existent with staff and bartenders were very poorly trained...when you have teenage bartenders that did not know what a beer is ...that's sad

Had a great time!

Booked at the right time, as we received an upgrade to the new Town Centre. Gorgeous room, beautiful view of the large/HUGE pool! Had read mixed reviews but the place was such an excellent value, and the airport is literally 7 minutes away! As a Canadian, it was a little bit tricky considering that most of the people who worked at the resort didn't speak ANY English....but as intelligent human beings, we figured it out. The staff were excellent, even despite the language barrier. Food was delici [... read more]ous, highly recommend the Oriental, right on the beach. My husband loved the steak there, and that's saying a lot! :) We took a million wonderful memories home with us, and we have already considered going back. The only drawback were the sales people trying to get us to consider looking at the new properties. Kind of annoying. Overall, a trip of a lifetime!

A lovely get-away

7 day stay was very enjoyable. Only 15 minutes from the new Rio Hato airport. Hotel facilities were adequate and staff was friendly and helpful although language was a bit of a problem. Spanish is the language of choice and very few employees understand English. The resort is lovely with grounds well maintained. It appears that the renovation of rooms is in progress and when this is completed the resort will be hard to beat. Food was OK with the most enjoyable meals at the al-a-cartes. Italian & [... read more] steak house were both very good. Overall this was an enjoyable vacation away from the Canadian winter.

Beautiful resort

The resort was clean, the grounds beautiful, the staff helpful. When we asked for something to be fixed it was done promptly. The activities staff made us feel very welcome and sometimes set up special classes for us.

Nice Resort

This resort was a pleasant surprise after the negative reports others had given it. We traveled with a group of experienced travelers and found this resort meet our expectations. We found the food varied and tasty. The service was efficient regardless of our needs