Riu Palace Costa Rica - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10753 reviews

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  Great resort with new upgrades

  We stayed at the Riu Guanacaste Feb 16-23/26. Went with 4 couples. It was all our first time ever travelling to Costa Rica. The bus ride was approx 45 from the airport to the resort. The resort has been recently renovated. The main buffet is very large. Lots of seating. And lots of food options. Mostly the same things on the menu for breakfast and dinner. We never ate lunch there. We did eat at the sports bar - American Cowboy - it had really good wings and fries! Never once did we have trouble finding a place to sit at by the pools. Lots of seating. And most of the lounge chairs are covered with large structure canopies. These came in extremely handy as it is very warm and lots of sunshine. We could hide under the canopies to dry off and be in the sun in the pool. Three decent sized pools. Two of them had swim up bars. Pool games and aqua fitness were led every day with the Riu staff. We made sure to wear our sandals when walking on the pool decks or on the beach - it is extremely hot on the feet. We could leave our sandals by the stairs of the pool. The beach has black sand and is very hot to walk on. There’s lounge chairs on the beach as well. Not a lot of people sat on the beach for the day because it’s so hot. The water was roped off where the Riu guests could swim. There’s public beach access as well. There’s also some vendors on the beach right off of the resort where you can buy souvenirs. They’d usually only ask you once if you’d like to buy something and then leave you alone if you’d didn’t. We walked to the Monkey Bar - it’s a 1km (0.6mile) walk from the resort to the bar. It’s safe to walk there and back. They served drinks and food. If you went there early enough, you could see monkeys along the way. We headed out around 11am and we didn’t see any monkeys. It was too hot for them already. We did see monkeys just beside the resort. You could see them from the lounge chairs and pools. They were just off the resort lounging in the trees right beside. There were 4 à la cart restaurants. We didn’t eat at any of them. Simply because there were long lines for them every night and we could pretty much get the same food at the buffet. The Riu also has a water park - but we didn’t end up making it over there to see it either. We didn’t know how busy or how hot it would get during the day. There was a show in the theatre every night. They were themed. And then there was usually another show on the side stage after that. They were done by 11pm. The bar beside the theatre closed at 11pm as well. The American Cowboy bar is open 24 hours. Drinks were very good. Lots of options to choose from. Rooms were nicely updated too. Room service came every day with clean towels. The bar fridge in the room is restocked every other day. Probably the only thing I can say that the resort could have improved on was the amount of washrooms available. There was only 1 building out by the pools. And the closest one to the buffet was a bit of a walk. Not a huge deal breaker - but they maybe could have added a second set around the pools somewhere. We only did one excursion - and it was the zip lining right beside the resort. We just did the zip lining and not the animal sanctuary or some of the other things offered. We chose not to do any other excursions simply because we were there for the sunshine and heat and we didn’t want to spend a day in a bus travelling. But we heard some of those excursions were great! All in all, we were very impressed with this resort and hopefully will be back in a few years!

  Feb 24, 2026
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  Follow up Review

  I posted a review back in January regarding the RIU hotel not giving us a refund for our hotel stay even though our flight was cancelled and we had booked everything through the RIU website. They have since refunded us for the hotel stay. We have stayed at many RIU resorts in various countries and have always had great experiences. I am glad that customer service was able to make things right.

  Feb 24, 2026
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  Very Disappointing First Experience at a RIU Resort

  This was our first time staying at a RIU resort, and unfortunately, it was a major disappointment. We have stayed at many all-inclusive resorts before, and this experience was by far the worst. The transfer from the airport was extremely long due to heavy traffic not the resort’s fault, but worth mentioning for awareness. When we arrived, the front desk staff appeared irritated and inconvenienced by having to complete our check-in, despite us already checking in through the app. The attitude was unwelcoming from the start. The resort itself is recently renovated, and I will say the property and room were beautiful. The room was clean, modern, and well-decorated. Unfortunately, that was one of the only positives. The food was absolutely terrible across every restaurant and the buffet. Simply put inedible. At the American Country restaurant, the service was rude, and the Baja nachos were awful. The chili tasted terrible and was completely inedible. Across the entire resort, food quality was consistently poor. My wife and I both lost weight during this trip because we could barely eat. The only food we could tolerate: • Breakfast: eggs, bacon, hash browns • Lunch: mediocre pizza (never hot) • Dinner: the same pizza, mashed potatoes, and fruit That was it for an entire stay at an all-inclusive resort which says everything. The drinks were just as bad. I’ve never in my life drank all day and never even felt a buzz neither did my wife. The alcohol is clearly extremely weak or watered down. Entertainment is almost entirely kid-focused. Adult entertainment is minimal and almost nonexistent: • Lobby bar live music: about 30 minutes • Main stage adult entertainment: doesn’t start until 10 PM • Everything before that is geared toward children The staff overall were unfriendly, unhappy, and disengaged. No one services guests at the beach or adult pool you must get up and get your own drinks every time. The entire resort feels severely understaffed, and it clearly shows in service quality, employee attitudes, and guest experience. The app service was also unreliable. We requested extra water and blankets multiple times the app would mark requests as “fulfilled,” but nothing was delivered until we complained again. Housekeeping removed used towels and washcloths but only replaced towels never washcloths requiring repeated requests. One important warning: Do not leave your room key in the slot by the door. Housekeeping will remove it, and you will be charged $20 for a replacement. I had to argue this to get a replacement card without being charged. Overall, this resort is not worth the money not even close. Between the terrible food, weak drinks, poor service, unfriendly staff, lack of adult entertainment, and constant service issues, we will never return. For the price you pay, the experience is unacceptable. We will never stay at this resort again and do not recommend it to anyone looking for a quality all-inclusive experience.

  Feb 22, 2026
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  Disappointed

  Just came back from Riu Guanacaste and would not recommend to family and friends. The Good: Beautiful grounds. Wonderful fresh fruit. The Bad: Kids were bored no activities for them(even ping pong tables were only put out for few hours on some days). One billiard table. The food not spectacular but long lines to buffets??? Advertised as Asian restaurant meanwhile its a buffet. Advertised as Italian restaurant and once again buffet. Candy shop with ice cream closed by 6 pm. Keep it open longer so kids can go in the evening after dinner. Beach is dirty partly because it's public but also hotel guests don't clean up after themselves. On the beach watch out locals try to steal if items left on the chair unattended. Pool water cloudy. Riu app for requests not consistent. Regret spending my money on this vacation. We couldn't wait to leave.

  Feb 21, 2026
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  Needs work

  We go on an average to all inclusive resorts two to three times a year. We gave up on RUI's in the past because they were so dated and not very clean, We recently started going back, just went to a Riu in Los Cabos in April, amazing. This one not so much. Positive: the resort looks wonderfully, loved the grounds, the room, and so many pools never had to hunt for chairs at any of the pools. Negative: Every restaurant but one is a buffet, even the one that is not is very limited to what you get. (and not open every night). No wait staff and any of the pools or beach. I never seen anyone at anyplace the six nights we were there, wipe down a table, they remove dishes, and reset. Our room they, made the bed, had to call every day because they took dirty bath towels and never left any, same stains on the counters and floor and when we got there. The food was not good and all and never hot, We ended up eating our last three night out. I hope they are not doing the same restaurant situation at the others they are remodeling. If so we will be done with RUI once again.

  Feb 15, 2026