Great Resort

Super quick checking in process. Clean rooms and the grounds were well kept. Staff friendly and helpful. The Entertainment Crew were amazing and they did a super job interacting and entertaining everyone. No problem with the food, you could always find something that you liked. The beef, was top notch and very tasty at the Steakhouse and the Krystal restaurants.

Great resort

Resort was clean, food was excellent and pleased that there wasn’t any difficulty in finding shaded pool chairs. Service was good at this resort. Had no difficulty in reserving any of the a la carte restaurants.

Outstanding

The Riu Palace in Costa Rica was truly outstanding. Lovely well kept and clean grounds. Excellent staff and restaurants. A resort that gave you good value for your money. Beach however should have more shady spots for sunbathers. Water rougher than we are use too. Very hot but breezy.

Fantastic Resort

We recently stayed at the Riu Palace in Costa Rica. Our experience at the resort was nothing short of fantastic. The staff are all very professional and personable. The rooms are always well stocked, clean and comfortable, personally we loved the shower with lots of room, water pressure and the rain shower head was a great touch. Pools are beautiful and it was very enjoyable to walk along the beach, nightly entertainment was also enjoyable. Both my husband and I really had a fantastic stay, [... read more] there are so many excursions to choose from you could never be bored! We will definitely recommend the resort and location to all of our friends and family.

Very clean Nice resort with good food and services. Not impressed with evening entertainment repeat same people dancing every day

I liked out room. Very clean hotel. Food was good Layout good but a washroom closer to the pools would be nice. Not the best beach but acceptable. Had a number of swims in ocean. Pools were great. I would go again if I could find a way to get there where I didn't have to use Sunwing to get there. The flight was not as described when booked. A extra stop on the way down and due to a fuel stop that was required in Winnipeg we has 3 stops to get home. Ended up getting home much later than planned.

Riu Palace - Beautiful Place

It was our second time at this resort. Loved it the first time. Both vacations were a week in length. The only issue we had was we booked a jacuzzi suite well in advance but were still put on the ground floor. No privacy there. We attempted to use the jacuzzi and red ants and their larvae blew out of all the jets. Never used it all week. Complained to the front desk about the ants and the cleaning staff were sent in about 15 mins. The issue here is that they started cleaning the room instead o [... read more]f the jacuzzi. Lost in translation I think. Another staff came back later that evening with ant killer. Tried to clean the jacuzzi. All looked good until the following morning. I went out to enjoy a coffee and there were approximately 50 dead ants still in the jacuzzi tub. I’ll never book one of these rooms again. Wasted money!!!

Excellent Experience

Was probably one of our best experiences in traveling to resorts. Check in amazing, great food, rooms very clean. The staff could not do enough for you to make the stay better. The staff that cleaned the rooms were in and out, always while we were away from the room. Always acknowledged us when walking by. Restaurants were very accommodating. Only recommendation I would make would be to look at more washroom facilities in the pool area. I would definitely have this resort on our return to list. [... read more] Costa Rica is such a nice country.

Beautiful resort

The rooms are very clean, staff is amazing and very helpful. The staff at the pools keep the drinks coming! The Krystal restaurant had the best food on the resort and the staff are very accommodating!!! My only advise is to get to the ala cartes early. They only have so many spots. For example the steakhouse only sits 100 people per night. They were already at the max at 6:45pm. The rooms only have 2 English channels fox news and CNN. The beach wasn't the best but we knew that before booking  [... read more]and that didn't stop us deter us.

Great holiday

The holiday was great. The rooms were good and the grounds were well kept and enjoyable. The service was great throughout. The food overall was good. We were disappointed in the steak house as the steaks were not up to quality north American standards whenever we had them. We eventually stayed away from them. The food at the buffet was always good, especially the breakfasts. We did wonder that given you are selling to Americans and Canadians to a large extent why the television channels had onl [... read more]y English CNN and Fox with no major US network exposure. ESPN would have been nice to turn on in the evening after the day was done.

Great resort

Plenty of enthusiastic staff, lovely amenities, clean pools, wi-fi worked. Buffet breakfast was especially good. Really professional nighttime entertainment. Best thing for us was that they obviously pay attention to cleanliness and food and water safety - we didn't get sick!!! I was also impressed with the country as a whole - emphasis on education, health care and the environment.

Superb Resort

This was our 4th trip booked thru Trip Central to this amazing Resport, about a 35-minute ride from Airport. Alls Rooms are spacious and well maintained, with the Refridgerator stocked with the Beer and Sodas of our preference. The grounds were perfectly manicured, and the pool waters were warm givin the consistent weather in January. In addition to the 4 ‘specialty’ restaurants common to all Riu Palaces, the daily Buffets at breakfast, lunch (@ the Italian) and dinner provided a great varie [... read more]ty of excellent choices. We booked 2 half-day excursions thru the local Nexus Rep, one to the River where we saw a wide variety of Birds and beasts (crocks, iguanas, ...), with the only complaint being the bumpy backroads. The other was to the eco-site next door, where we saw local animals (puma, jaguar, ocelot, ... sloths... and some smaller critters), birds (including Toucans and parrots), snakes, frogs and butterflies. Not to miss. Avoided the Zip-Line...it’s on the agenda for next life. In addition to pools with frequent drink service there, the walkable dark-sand beach stretches for miles. And as an extra bonus, saw 1-week old turtles released to ocean, and met families of monkeys just a short walk from the hotel. Of course I didn’t feed the monkeys from my hand, because that would be against the law! We will go back again and again. As a minor complaint, the cable TV was terrible...they do not offer US Networks, or any NOrth American sports stations. With the vast majority of occupants English-speaking, about 36 of the 40 available stations were in Spanish. My wife, however, was thankful, and reminded we weren’t there to watch TV

Average Resort

The resort is beautiful and very well kept. It was very clean and felt very safe. Pools and beach are excellent. Very clean and well kept. Rooms were oddly decorated and very run down with a very strong musty smell. Loved the shower though, it was a great set-up! Food was felt to be sub-par. It was “good” and there were no issues, but the buffets were very much the same every day and many times it felt as though the food had been sitting out for long periods of time. The a la ca [... read more]rte restaurants were nothing special and the food was just “okay” in comparison to other 4 or 5 star restaurants. Staff was excellent. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and went out of their way to get to know us well to provide excellent service. Evening entertainment was okay. Typical resort shows and very average. Day-time entertainment was lacking. The most active time felt to be around 4 or 5 pm, but this was the end of the day just before the pools closed for the day. It just felt to be odd timing, and was not properly spaced out during the day. For the price, star rating, resort chain reputation, and previous experience at a Riu Palace in another country, expectations were not fully met. We “may” return to this resort, but would be open to trying others in Costa Rica. We would likely still recommend the resort, however, as there are no real major complaints.

Amazing place and resort!!!

Super clean, unbelievable food. Be prepared to be stuffed full your whole vacation. Beautiful country and location. The beach isn't the best but nicer at the Riu right next door which you have access too. You can take a short walk down the beach and hand feed monkeys in the wild near the small souvenir tents. My only recommendation would be a curtain around the bathtub for families or other than couple guests. Hope to return someday in the future I think I have been spoiled for other resor [... read more]ts.

Wonderful vacation........

Beautiful hotel, great facilities, wonderful and helpful staff, perfect room, good food,very good entertainment. The only thing that was not up to par was the beach. It is not like it is shown on the attached photograph.

Great Resort!!

This resort has something for everyone. The staff were great, food was exceptional and the grounds were very well kept. The staff went above and beyond from the minute we arrived. Very easy check in experience. All the pools were very well kept. This resort serves premium alcohol and beer.

Glorious!!!!!

This is our third year at the Riu Palace in Costa Rica. All of the Riu's are great, but the people in Costa Rica are very kind and informative. As usual, the room was delightful, the food was A+++++++ and the weather was great the whole week - lots of sun and warmth. Thanks Riu Palace - we will be back again. Sarah Fick

Outstanding resort and service

The hotel is outstanding very clean and the food was amazing. The service was great and very friendly. You feel very relaxed at this hotel the atmosphere is very elegant and well kept. We did some amazing excursions horseback riding , zip lining and mud bath and hot springs. Another day we went to the animal sanctuary right beside the hotel snd ATV in the afternoon again so much fun. While we were there we did the river cruise we saw howler monkeys, crocodile,iguana, bats and many different  [... read more]kinds of birds. I highly recommend this trip.

Absolutely Amazing!!

Stayed here from Sept 17-25. This resort is absolutely beautiful. The staff are very friendly and can speak English which is awesome. The room was like something out of a magazine and was very clean. Only negative thing about the room was that the pillows weren’t very comfortable. Not much to complain about, right? The food was delicious. So much to choose from and everything tasted delicious. The grounds were gorgeous. They had top of the line alcohol as well. The beach was beautiful even tho [... read more]ugh it was black sand. Will definitely be returning to this resort!

Beautiful Resort

The food was excellent Our Trip Central Representative, Eliana Anton was amazing. Sunwing Flight attendants were Superb, they always had smiles on their faces and were courteous. The outward appearance of the hotel is very attractive and groundsmen did a great job maintaining the place.All the food was delicious but they could have done a better job providing Premium Rum. all they had was 3 and 5 years old rum. Sunwing representative Gerry was great. Thank you to everyone

Amazing Resort

The resort is beautiful, food was great and it was very clean. Except when it rains, there are lots of bugs and insects. There should be more trees by the beach as it is extremely hot. When it rains, you cannot get to the Steakhouse as it is closer to the beach and the rain is extremely heavy and rains almost everyday.