Resort Details
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
9108 reviews
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Apr 03, 2025First Time!
First time in Mexico. It was very pleasant and beautiful. I need to come back with my family. I'd like to explore since when I go to a new area or place I want to see the culture, food, mood, sites, everything. The Earth is a beautiful place.
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Apr 03, 2025
Great Time!
Had a short 5 day Vacation!! It was lovely! My only suggestion was to maybe have more garbage's around!
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Apr 02, 2025Family stay
We had a great time at the Riu Vallarta. We were traveling with 6 in our family and were able to get 3 rooms on the same floor. I had sent an email request earlier in the month and also a request via the Riu App. The rooms and grounds were super clean! We enjoyed the pool closest to the buffet as this was the warmest of all of the pools and also the quietest. There was a foam party on one of the days that was super fun in this pool too. We put our towels out by the pool by 7:15 each morning to ensure that we had chairs. We often weren't able to find 6 together, but were able to find 6 at that time each day. The drinks were all great! We loved our bartender, Vanessa, at the pool bar! She made great drinks and was always smiling! The food at the buffet was ok. There were a lot of options for my picky family, especially at breakfast time. The omelet station was hit or miss. Sometimes the cooks were busy making eggs for the buffet so were not available to make an omelet for us. We were still always able to find something to eat! We were not able to get a reservation at the Steakhouse, this was a popular choice. We were told that you had to get in line at 5:00 in order to get a reservation for the night so we chose not to do that. We enjoyed the Italian restaurant-there was a buffet for appetizers and desserts and then you were able to choose a main course. We ate here twice! The beach was beautiful. We were able to see whales, dolphins and a manta ray right in front of our hotel. There were plenty of beach chairs available for most of the day. We have stayed at the Riu Pallace and the Riu Vallarta and enjoyed both. The Riu Palace had much better food, drinks and atmosphere if you are traveling with adults only. If you have children with then the Riu Vallarta is a good experience.
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Apr 02, 2025
A Great Family Vacation
We had a wonderful family vacation with a party of 10. The food, rooms, beach, pool, and service were all excellent. I loved the art-deco styling of the resort. Some of my previous experiences with all-inclusive resorts have been disappointing in terms of food, but I would say Hotel Riu Vallarta has some of the best food I've sampled. The buffet was so good that it was a tough call to go to the a-la-carte restaurant in the evenings (which were also excellent). The volleyball court was in great shape (could use a bit more sand) and provided hours of entertainment. The gym was small and at times crowded but had good equipment. The boogie boards that the resort loans out were not in the greatest condition. The Hobie sailboat was in good shape and I was able to take a refresher lesson with one of the resort staff for a small fee. It would have been nice if they had windsurfers and paddle boards in addition to the kayaks, boogie boards, and sailboats. The beach was clean the whole length of the bay and the waves were fun (but safe) to play in. Overall, a great vacation and I will recommend Riu Vallarta to any friends looking for a family friendly all-inclusive experience.
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Apr 01, 2025Stay somewhere else
We had very high hopes reading the reviews prior to arrival. We arrived on March 18th for a 8 night stay. First impressions were good but they went downhill fast. The rooms are spacious but the beds are terrible. Heading out to the pool area there was garbage everywhere, cups in the pool and clearly understaff. The beach area was filthy with horse poop and trash everywhere. The food was disgusting. We ended up eating off resort quite a few times. The RIU definitely promotes a party atmosphere. There were drunk teens everywhere, puking in the bathrooms.Not a family friendly resort We were woken up every night with noise in the hallway and at one point the fire alarm went off. This resort is very loud. I would never stay here again. The best part of the RIU was leaving it to another resort