Great resort

This resort is beautiful. The grounds are well kept, staff are constantly cleaning the public areas and rooms. There it’s plenty of food with choices for every palate. Staff are happy to help if required and to fill special requests, such as birthday cakes or other celebrations.

Great hotel.

The hotel is a bit out of the way. If you're looking for a laid back place with good food, this is it. All the tours from this place include 2 to 2 1/2 hour bus ride each way. Pools are well kept and the whole property was extremely clean and well cared for.

Great Resort Second Time in 3 years

The hotel was well maintained and staff are friendly and helpful. Rooms are large and well appointed. Shower is excellent. Grounds are looked after daily and beautiful foliage everywhere. 4 Pools available and directly on the beach Ample choices at buffet and there are 3 specialty restaurants. Entertainment needs to be upgraded as same shows as three years ago, but some are more entertaining than others. All in all great weather and good time was had by all!

Way below our expectations

the food and service were awful. We have been to so many Riu resorts around and this one was very bad in food quality and options. the service was bad too. i say the rating for this resort should be 3.5 to 4 Max. This is not a 5 star resort.

RIU PLAYA BLANCA - PANAMA

Nice resort, clean rooms, very good buffet, and we had a great week. The only problem is that we had to use Sunwing from Canada. We didn't have to pay for any of our carry-on or checked luggage because I booked back in July. However they now charge for everything, including food on the flight.

Very Busy Resort, good for young people or family with small kids

We were there in mid Nov, the resort was at its capacity. 90% of clients were local guests. The services, like towel, bar or beach chairs, were all good. Staff had done a great job to keep the place clean. Foods were good but the specialty restaurants were from the same central kitchen, I think, so nothing special there. Don't take it as a 5 star resort, just a 4 star. No swimming in the sea for me, the water was muddy and almost red flag every day anyways. Be prepared for the noise, lo [... read more]ud music on the pools all day long. Parties and drunken people could be heard all night some times. No guests wearing masks. Over all those, we did have some good time there.

Amazing Resort in Playa Blanca

From the moment you walk through the doors, the lobby hints at what's in store. From the decor, to the amenities all very lovely. The rooms are minimalist with basic King bed, two chairs and table. Lovely bar with Vodka, Rum, Gin and Brandy with a selection of softdrinks, beer and water. Very clean and replenished every 2 days. Our Ocean front room had amazing views of resort pools, beach and ocean. However, it's quite a treck from Main Elevators. The food is absolutely delicious! Ocean i [... read more]n October is very dangerous and red flag up almost everyday. Lovely beach under palm trees and with a choice of pools, still great. It was very nice to have an adults only pool with no children allowed.

Amazing Rexort

The grounds were immalucate, the staff were professional , the rooms were clean can't say enough good thing about this resort. The beach was a bit disappointing but was expected. The food was out of this world , lots to choose from.

Very beautiful resort

I enjoyed staying at this resort very much, would’ve have love to stay longer. I had a great time and would surely love to visit again. The staff and service were excellent . The food was amazing. Thank you Riu Playa Blanca.

Very beautiful resort, clean, friendly even tho' most staff did not know any English. The only girl that spoke good English was the one at the towel booth!

Beautiful, well kept grounds, pools etc, Staff always cleaning. Disappointed in the beach...volcanic rock, undertow. YOU CANNOT SWIM IN THE OCEAN...IT IS VERY WAVY AND ROLLS YOU AROUND! Masks had to be worn inside the hotel, most people cooperated, and when lunch was served outdoors, by the pool, you must wear a mask. All staff, everywhere always had their masks on, and if you didn't...they reminded you. The food was okay. Not much meat and when we did have it....beef, rib eye, it was toug [... read more]h and chewy. We were disappointed that there was no sea food to speak of....only shrimp and muscles in rice. The chicken was always tender qnd moist. The rooms were cleaned and almost every morning there were flowers on the bed. To go 15 mins., to the souvenir store, by taxi was $30.00. Two hour drive to Panama Canal...it was worth it. We went by mini bus with a group, otherwise it would have cost $200.00 return if we went by ourselves. A great place to just relax. NOTE BELOW: Beach/ VERY POOR.....Pools, EXCELLENT

Beautiful Resort

The hotel was very clean, good food, amazing amount of chairs on the beach, good drinks. I loved that the hotel was close to the airport. It was a small resort that had everything you needed for a relaxing vacation.

Nice Resort

The Riu Playa Blanca is a nice resort for the price. The food served in the buffet as well as the a la cart restaurants was pretty good with lots of variety. The resort was very clean and tidy. The pool washrooms had attendant's stationed there all day so they were always clean. Panama is a non smoking country so you can only smoke in designated areas. The beach was nice and clean but we could not swim in the ocean because of jellyfish. Would not rush back but overall not bad.

Beautiful resort!

From the time we arrived at the resort til we left, we were treated as a priority! They set up additional desks for check in and during the short wait in line, we were served cocktails (option with rum) and hot and cold hors'douerves. Check in was a breeze and pretty quick. At the buffet, most areas they had people to scoop/serve your food. In the evenings they had someone giving you one or two gloves, so we all aren't touching common spoons,etc. All employees wore masks and enforced guests t [... read more]o wear masks in common areas. We tried all three ala carte restaurants and they were all great! Unlimited visits and no reservations required-great idea! Overall, loved this resort, can't wait to go back 😍

Amazing resort

Very nice and clean but some rooms need to be refreshing. More bathrooms on te beach area. Service was good. Entertiment very good. After each entertiment should be a dance for every one like a discotheque.

Average Hotel not a 5 star

This is an okay resort, the beach is not as nice as other places, there is not much to do in the hotel, it’s clean and people are nice, the best thing this hotel has was the food. We couldn’t go into the ocean because of the strong waves so the pools were too busy which I find gross Would not go back to this hotel

Great time

Hotel was nice. Rooms were a little bit outdated but food was good, beach was nice. Sometimes, it seems they were understaffed. It took a while to get a drink at the bar. Otherwise, service was excellent at the buffet and at the à-la-carte.

Beautiful resort

This is a modern but minimalist hotel! The staff were very friendly, the grounds were beautiful. For families, the children's swimming pool was a hit. Although our room was clean and very neat, we were disappointed that we did not have a sofa or other comfortable seating - we had two vinyl covered chrome chairs, that were not a great place to sit and read. The rooms did not have coffee machines, which would have been lovely to have to make a morning coffee and sit on the beautiful balcony  [... read more]and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The alcohol was plentiful, both in the bars and in our rooms! The food was generally ok...the fruits and vegetables were fantastic! Although our party wasn't really into the "shows" that most resorts provide, this resort's offers were quite minimalist. Lastly, I would not recommend this hotel for people with any physical handicaps. There are only one set of elevators (that run very efficiently) and they are at the "bottom" of the U-shaped resort. This means you have quite a walk to get to them. We were on the 6th floor and furthest from the elevators. Although we frequently walked down the stairs, we were not prepared to walk up them, when temperatures were 33-34 degrees. In our case, despite relaxing by the pool and not really doing much additional walking, our walks to and from our rooms to the pools and to the restaurants, amounted to about 3.5 kms per day. Our recommendation would be qualified.

Awesome resort

we loved everything about this resort, will definately go again, we only wish we had booked for 2 weeks or more, the weather was!amazing, the staff at the resort were the best, always helpful, the food was so good, our room was beautiful, the bed was so comfortable and clean, we have stayed in Riu resorts in jamaica and mexico, this one in panama was the best .

Awesome resort

we loved everything about this resort, will definately go again, we only wish we had booked for 2 weeks or more, the weather was!amazing, the staff at the resort were the best, always helpful, the food was so good, our room was beautiful, the bed was so comfortable and clean, we have stayed in Riu resorts in jamaica and mexico, this one in panama was the best .

Good service - Excellent food

It is a relatively small resort in front of the beach 8 minutes from the airport. The beach is ok , not crowded, nice palm tree shaded areas but you get harassed sometimes from these horsemen who apparently can sell you anything from hats to cocaine (so you have to avoid them 100%) . The pools are nice for adults on one side and children with families on the other. They animation during the day and evening is good . The food is REALLY good for a resort. The people are courteous, the service (al [... read more]though low tone or low key) is good and efficient they actually do a good service with a smile even if you don't tip them!!! (I couldn't because I only had large CAN $ bills and there was no forex place to change your money in the hotel ) . Close to the airport but far from anything else.