What We Love
- No reservations needed at any of the restaurants.
- The resort's Art Deco architecture hugged by epic palms that rises up from the sandsational beach.
- The liquor dispensers in the rooms. It's a party. Just add people.
- The treatments at the world-class, delicious spa. Unplug and unwind.
- Supervised fun for the little ones while you savor a drink by the teal waves.
- Teeing off at the 18-hole, championship golf course that's right next door.
- The fitness program that includes Backfit, Aquagym, stretching and bums, legs, tums.
- Dancing the night away at the Pacha nightclub.
Things to Know
- The airport is a mere 15 minutes from the airport so you'll be on that sweet beach lickety split.
- Be sure to visit Cuale Island, a shady and tranquil oasis, to shop for crafty, cool souvenirs.
- Banderas Bay is brimming with animal fun: see the release of sea turtles & swim with dolphins.
- Get up early to snag a beach lounger. They go fast.
- You can go horseback riding in the Sierra Madres, a bucket-list-worthy thing to do.
- If you're more adventurous, there's bungee jumping. Hang on!
- There are oceans of water sports: bodyboarding, kayaking, windsurfing and more. Take the plunge.
Location
Riviera Nayarit - BeachProperty Information
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Resort Details
Dining
Amenities
Activities
Hotel Advisories
General Policies & Fine Print
Check-in Policy - Hotel requires a credit/debit card authorization or cash deposit upon check-in for incidentals; this will place a hold on your funds.
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
Spring Break Policies - At least one person 21 years or older is required in every room February through April. Spring Breakers (either groups or individuals, regardless of age) are not allowed at any RIU property, at any time during the year. RIU Hotels
& Resorts, reserves the right to withhold admission to any Spring Breaker. The hotel reserves the right of admission and may request clients to show passport or official ID to prove full identification. Guests can and will be removed from the property at their
own expense in case of any disturbance or complaint from other guests or hotel staff. Parties in rooms are not allowed. Spring break groups or unruly behavior is not allowed all year round at any property.
Transfer Policy - A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.
General Information - Room taxes and service fee are included in vacation price.
Minimum night stay restrictions may apply.
Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
7025 reviews
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Jun 30, 2020Nice Resort, Recently renovated, BUT the Smoking
The resort was renovated in 2019 and many changes took place, I was told. The resort looks wonderful and the landscaping is beautiful. The staff are very friendly and work hard to make your stay enjoyable. The POSITIVE about resort: - The Junior suites was beautifully decorated. The design of the room was strange. The toilet had its own room, but the door faced the bedroom, not into the bathroom. - The bed and pillows are comfortable - Room was always clean with nice towels animals - Pool were clean and water temperature good - The mobile bartenders were great - The food is good on the buffet, but got a little boring by the end of the week. Same food everyday, with a few special dishes each day. - Daily activities on the resort - Beautiful beach, you can walk for a long way The NEGATIVES about the resort: - Couldn’t guarantee the room would be smoke free, unless I filled in a special request form - No hand sanitizers in buffet, went to complain at front desk. Next day there was hand sanitizers at the entry doors of the buffet, but no staff requesting guests to use it. - They need to be more clear about their pool designations. Everyone has a different point of view and can be confusing and frustrating for many people. There are 4 pools on the resort. The first one is clearly understood- Adults only pool with a swim-up bar and is known as the Pee pool. Because people will stay in there for hours and drink and never leave to go, to the washroom. The other 3 are in the gray area; one looks to be a family pool with small kids. Second is the activity pool, with all ages groups and the Third pool by most, considered the quiet pool. The problem is, the resort doesn’t say that. They say all pools are family pools except the adults only pool. Making it difficult to enjoy if you have kids at every pool. - People were going out early in the morning to save chairs, even though the resort said “No Saving Chairs” - Resort allows Smoking outside anywhere, not under a roof. This is very unpleasant for somebody who is allergic to smoke. You can’t enjoy the evenings entertainment without somebody sitting beside you and start smoking. Same goes with the pool, beach or outside eating at the buffet. Not sure why they don’t have designated smoking areas. They do on the RIU resorts in Jamaica.
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Jun 11, 2020GREAT HOTEL
Stayed for a week and the staff was amazing and so sweet !!! Especially Abad and Victor great bartenders. Hotel room was cleaned thanks to the lady’s ! Food is great . And live music also great. The secret club downstairs does need some cleaning though. But great relaxing stay :)
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Jun 04, 2020Flooded Rooms, no accommodations given nor refunds at all!
We went with a total of 3 couples and were in rooms 5048, 5049, 5051 February 20-26, 2020. The first day everyone's rooms seemed great! We were nearly in the center of the hotel with a beautiful room that looked directly over the courtyard and onto the ocean. Guests are not allowed to make reservations for any of the themed restaurants in advance, which they said shouldn't be a problem. But then when we'd show up at 6:30-7:00 pm, receive a buzzer and are told it's a 40 minute wait, then check at about 45 minutes and there are still 13 people in front of us? That didn't make sense. Unfortunately, we ate the buffet most days which kind of gets boring. Especially when their site raves about their restaurants. For our room 5048, the circuit breaker kept tripping in our room by day 2. We would enter the room, put the key in the slot for electricity and the circuit breaker would trip. Over and over. I only had a hair straightener in the restroom and a phone cord plugged into the USB port in the outlet near the bed. So it's not like we were overloading the fuse box. we continued to deal with it and fix it ourselves each time. I had to use the restroom in the dark a few times and even shower in the dark. Talk about a tripping hazard 🙁 Because the circuit would trip, we would come back to a damp room which meant damp clean clothes (No Air Conditioner going). We knew to leave our extra key in the slot while we were out of the room. That way our room would always be comfortable after a hot day... That wasn't the case. The worst part was on the last morning (early am) of our trip, the circuit kept tripping so much that it would kick the AC on and off and not allow us to be able to sleep. I was able to tell a utility guy day 3 and demonstrate the issue with him being he didn't seem to understand me, but that didn't fix the problem. I let the front desk know what was happening too and nothing was fixed. Than, to top it all off, the other two rooms flooded from the sprinkler system. (5049 and 5051). The floors were flooded which is where all their suit cases were open and laying out. The beds were soaked and the walls and ceilings were leaking. So much so, that water somehow got into the safe of 5051 and dampened their passports and any other personal items (money, jewelry, etc). No dry cleaning was offered for either couple, and the couple in 5049 didn't even get switched rooms and their room flooded later again that day. The couple in 5051 was switched to a room across from the hotel. We tried not to let it affect our last day/night at the resort. But we did spend quite a bit of money for having the poor experience we did. The worst part about it all, is RIU refused to take responsibility nor address our experience. We booked the trip through a local travel agent who then booked our trip with Delta Vacations, who then books RIU. This was RIU insulting response: “As for the customer complaint XXXX, the hotel had a small leak in the hallway by the entrance of the rooms. As soon as they reported it, the housekeeper dried it. The 3 clients were offered a change of room which they refused (because they said they were fine in that room and it was not a problem) except for one of them (room nr. 5051) who accepted the change however due to availability it could not be assigned next to their friends. Also, all the rooms were offered laundry. Regarding the issue of electricity, the issue was fixed the same day they reported it. In reference to the stay of our mutual clients XXXX and their inconveniences during their stay at the Riu Vallarta, we´d like to inform you that there was a small leak in the hallway by the entrance of the rooms. As soon as they reported it, the housekeeper dried it and they offered the guests to laundry their clothes. Our clients were offered a change of room which they refused Regarding the issue of electricity, the issue was fixed the same day they reported it. We understand that the hotel addressed their issues and offered assistance with the clients´ concerns, therefore, we are unable to offer any compensation in this case”. All of that was B.S. They did not offer any of that and DID NOT fix the electricity issue. I WILL NEVER BOOK WITH RIU AGAIN!
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May 15, 2020
Nice resort
Our group of 4 women stayed here Feb 1 - 8, 2020, a few months after a major renovation. (We put our deposit on the trip in July 2019) This was a 1st time experience for at least 2 of our travellers so I wanted it to be a great experience for them. Overall we had a lovely time and the resort is worth visiting. We had a few issues with our rooms. We requested and paid for junior suite rooms with 2 double beds and ocean views. Our travel agent, who has a close working relationship with the resort, was in regular contact with them to ensure our requests were confirmed. I understand that the resort has a policy that these are merely requests and cannot be guaranteed but we felt re-assured that our requests would be honoured based on the email exchanges I saw between the resort and my agent. I have copies of email exchanges between resort management (Nayeli) and our travel agent indicating that the junior suites we booked were available AND that they have ocean views. Upon arrival, we were given 1st and 2nd floor pool view rooms with 1 king bed only. We met with the management writer (Nayeli) of the email to express our concerns that the rooms they gave us in were not what we were expecting and had been led to believe we were getting. It's not fair to have each person in the room paying the same trip cost but one gets to sleep in the comfy king bed and the other, on the thin pull out sofa. It may be ok for kids but not adults and not for a week. A couple of days later, we were moved to one of the higher floors with the ocean views and 2 double beds, just as we had requested. The only issues we had with the rooms themselves is that the water comes out of the shower easily, causing a puddle and one of our group actually slipped and hit her head really hard against the glass. Fortunately she wasn't seriously hurt, only suffering a lump on her head and nothing broken. Our shower stopped draining and a towel hook fell off the wall twice despite being fixed. The adhesive they used was pungent and our room smelled for hours so we left the balcony door open to air out the room. It rained for several days straight and parts of the open air lobby flooded so many towels were placed to try and prevent slipping. The entertainment was good - something different every night and quality productions/performances.. Because it was raining and everyone was inside it was hard to find seating in the theatre unless you went really early to save seats. The buffet was excellent with great choices and variety. They changed it up daily. The other restaurants were also very good though service varied in each one. One member of our group was celebrating a birthday and the resort surprised her with a bottle of sparkling wine and a fresh fruit arrangement which was a nice touch. If you are looking for a clean nicely laid out resort that has a family friendly atmosphere, this one is worth a visit. I was happy to see that there were many loungers around the many pools and on the beach. We had no problems finding chairs. The swim-up bar played top 40 classic American tunes. It was nice NOT to have repetitive techno dance music pounding all day like some resorts. The staff are friendly and accommodating and some go out of their way to remember you and what you like to drink and bring it to you without asking. I would go back.
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May 03, 2020Winter Sun
Visited this hotel December 2019 just after the renovations. Very impressed with the layout and space. Lots of sun beds around the 4 pools and beach, no need for a mad rush in the mornings. Food was varied and plentiful. The a la carted were a bit hot and miss didn’t rate the steak house really enjoyed the Italian. Found all the staff polite and most seem to enjoy their work. Entertainment was ok as most Ai hotels the exception was the white party well worth a walk over to the Jalisco really good concept and most guests got involved. Booked again for December 2020 hopefully all will be well.