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    Riu Palace Costa Rica

    OOOOO Plus

    InPlaya de Matapalo, Costa Rica

    TripAdvisor Traveller Rating

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    Based on 5483 reviews

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    ABOUT THE HOTEL

    • Official Rating
    • Free Wi-Fi

    Located right by the beach and backed by lush hills and mountains, this stylish addition to the RIU portfolio delivers big-resort facilities with a boutique touch.

    With its palatial pinnacles and domes, this beachfront retreat certainly looks the part. Step inside and you’ll find a silvery lobby that style-wise is best described as futuristic meets Art Deco. It sets the tone for the rest of the hotel, which fuses funky and classic design twists.

    Location-wise, the Riu Palace Costa Rica is pulled up right by the sea – you can walk down through the grounds, past the pool to the sands. The hotel is flanked by velvety green hills and mountains. Coco Beach, the nearest big resort, is about 20 minutes away by cab.

    • Rooms: 538
    • Lifts: 6
    • Building: 1
    • Floors: 5
    TRAVELIFE CERTIFIED

    This hotel meets global standards on how it's protecting the environment, looking after staff and supporting the local community.

    Things you'll love

    • Secluded beachfront setting
    • Boutique-style interiors
    • 4 à la carte restaurants
    • Free Wi-Fi throughout
    • Perfect for your wedding day

    Location

    • Located on Playa de Matapalo beach on Costa Rica's Pacific coast
    • Next to Diamante Eco Adventure Park which offers wildlife and zip-lining experiences
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    Fly Long Haul With TUI

    • Direct flights from 7 UK airports
    • Fly on the spacious new Dreamliner
    • Experience quieter, jetlag-busting flights
    • Enjoy complimentary meals accompanied by your choice of wine
    • Upgrade to Premium for additional benefits
    • UK airport lounge access for Premium guests

    FOOD & DRINK

    All Inclusive

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    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Evening Meal
    • Drinks
    • Snacks

    Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. A la carte restaurants. Further choice of selected restaurants at Riu Guanacaste for continental breakfast, lunch and snacks. Unlimited local and international alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks 24-hours a day. Drinks service at the pool. Regularly restocked minibar and in-room drinks optic with branded premium spirits. 24-hour snacks and room service.

    Facilities

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      accommodationData.facilities
    • Arenal restaurant

      The main buffet restaurant here features an outdoor terrace for al fresco dining. In the mornings you can take your pick from eggs made to order, pancakes, waffles, pastries and tropical fresh fruit. Come the evenings there are show-cooking stations serving up fresh meat and fish, as well as pasta bars and salad stalls. Buffets are themed three nights a week to mix things up, too. Just so you know, there's a dress code here - gentlemen are asked to wear shirts with sleeves.

    • 4 outdoor pools

      You've got the choice of four pools here. One comes complete with in-water loungers, and another has a bar with a swim-up area.

    • L'Anfora Italian restaurant

      Styled in striking tones of red, white and black, this is an Italian à la carte with a buffet twist. Starters and desserts are of the help-yourself variety while main courses, like shrimp linguine, grilled grouper fillet and pepper-stuffed chicken breast, are available to order from the menu. No reservations are needed to eat here and it’s open late into the evening. There's a dress code, though - men need to wear shirts with sleeves and full-length trousers.

    Rooms

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    • Junior Suite with Balcony or Terrace

      These junior suites come with a balcony or a terrace, a lounge area, free Wi-Fi, air-con and a flatscreen TV. Other facilities include 24-hour room service, turndown service, an open-plan bathroom with hydromassage bath, shower cabin and double sink, and a coffee maker . You'll also have a drinks optic with premium-brand spirits - the drinks can vary but usually include brands like Smirnoff vodka, Barcadi rum and Jose Cuervo tequila. Just so you know, the extra bed is only added if you're booking for five.

    • Junior Suite with Sea View and Balcony or Terrace

      These junior suites come with a sea-view balcony or a terrace, a lounge area, free Wi-Fi, air-con and a flatscreen TV. Other facilities include 24-hour room service, turndown service, an open-plan bathroom with hydromassage bath, shower cabin and double sink, and a coffee maker . You'll also have a drinks optic with premium-brand spirits - the drinks can vary but usually include brands like Smirnoff vodka, Barcadi rum and Jose Cuervo tequila. Just so you know, the extra bed is only added if you're booking for three to four people.

    Nice place
    01 Dec , 2019 TexasRG, 55470
    I recently visited Costa Rica and stayed at Riu Palace Hotel. It is located about 40 minutes from Liberia airport. Pros: The hotel grounds are very nice and there is an adjacent beach In the backyard. You can do activities like kayaking Or jet skiing. I was able to plan all my excursions in the hotel lobby with the Travel agent affiliated with Expedia. The hotel is big and Had shows every night. The Michael Jackson show was good. Cons: The hotel room 2117 was OK but the sinks are clogged up. We practically went every day to complain and they would drain water for less than a minute and clog up again. The lobby guys were Very attentive, however their maintenance guy or Plumber must be pretty lousy. We even told them to change our room if they couldn’t fix the sink. However it was never done. There are three specialty restaurants and they carry the same vegetarian menu.The vegetarian choices can definitely be improved. Another thing would be a little better labeling of vegetarian choices. Sometimes it was difficult to know which food was vegetarian and we had to ask. Overall: Despite these minor things I still enjoyed my time at the hotel. The staff were very nice and attentive.
    Very nice but lacking the Palace experience
    30 Nov , 2019 KIM D
    I just returned from an 11 day stay at this hotel and if you have never been to a Riu Palace you wouldnt notice the difference, but if you have been to other Palaces then you will see the difference. Dont get me wrong the hotel is beautiful, very clean and the country is something to see. The difference is in the staff and level of service normally found at a palace. When walking through the halls and saying hello or good morning many staff says nothing back. There were times when we were questioned in what we asked for, and that we are not used to. There were special people tho, Diane and Daniel at the front desk were awesome and every night at the buffet for dinner Raqel was amazing, by the third night she aticipated what we liked and brought without asking. Diego at the buffet went above and beyond the night with deep fried ice cream and actually sought me out to bring me one. Luli the photographer was extremly very good at her job and considering we hate to have our pictures taken she managed to get ours. Filipe at the bar was great, always a smile and joke. And when my key failed to open my door Jaun Ramdez rescued me. All in all a very nice trip but just a little disappointed.
    Good vacation... but expected more from Riu Palace
    30 Nov , 2019 DB-Dec2016, 154980
    Travelled for 11day vacation with 5 other persons. On check in I met with Diana M who was pleasant,friendly,knowledgeable. Another stand out employee we met was Luli, photographer. We are not a couple who enjoy posing for pictures but Luli won us over! After a afternoon in the pool our group went to the lobby bar & had the pleasure of meeting Filipe! He was friendly,energetic & made wonderful suggestions! Dinner at the buffet, we quite often choose inside where we met Raquel! She was wonderful & a couple days in she anticipated our preferences. Some of the downsides we found. Some staff were not friendly/accommodating. Meeting staff in the halls most would not speak even if we said Hola/Hello first. We asked for 6 beer to be brought to our room & that was no issue. When I asked the bar for a bottle of wine for the room it was delivered approx an hour later. 2 days later we asked for bottle of wine for the room as we were having guests in & we were told they could NOT send up a bottle, but could send up individual glasses, we asked for 10 but were told since we were having 6 people in the room that they would send 6 & no more until the following day. No alcohol service (other than sparkling wine for mimosas or hard alcohol in the room) is available before 10am. Sometimes we like to have Cream liqueur (Baileys) in our morning coffee but the options were to get it the night before or walk to the Riu. If we realized this before we went we would have brought a bottle with us.
    Amazing Holiday
    28 Nov , 2019 fiwood, 9774326
    The Riu Palace Cost Rica was amazing. The location, although isolated, is perfect for that relaxing break. Dont be fooled though, there is plenty to do at the hotel and next door at the Riu Guanacosta as you can use their facilities too. The hotel is clean, very well staffed and efficiently organized. No queuing for dining in the main restaurant, no fighting for sunbeds, and the beach is very peaceful. Rooms are well maintained and cleaned each day. Choice of food in all restaurants is amazing. Drinks are not the normal local brands, you get good brands such as Smirnoff, Jim Bean, Tanquery, Bacardi, etc as well as local rums if you prefer. The champaigne, included, was very nice. Ask the bar staff for any drink and they will oblige including the most way out cocktails! The entertainment team are really good; during the day there is always someone doing something, and in the evenings the shows are very good. But if you want a quite time, thats possible too, just pick the right pool or bar and you can chat or just sit and people watch. The trips we went on were amazing too, organised by the travel company or directly with the hotel. You get to see some wildlife at the hotel itself as its surrounded by jungle and countryside. We saw igwanas, howler monkeys, frogs, pelecans, and even an armadillo just to name a few without leaving the hotel. But dont miss out on the beautiful country of Cost Rica, make sure you go and see the sites. Wonderful holiday. Would definitely recommend this hotel and we used TUI and we couldnt fault them either.
    Great stay
    28 Nov , 2019 Bruce P, 43146
    Very clean resort. Hernandez did an excellent job bringing us drinks at the poolside.The only problem was getting clean towels in our room after they took the old ones. I had to hunt down the maid a couple of times to get bath towels. Sometimes some of the food wasn't hot but overall everything else was perfect. It is just a short walk down the beach to see the monkeys in the wild.
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    Special Assistance

    This property is generally suitable for those with reduced mobility. Having said that, we understand that everyone has different needs, so feel free to contact our Customer Welfare team if you have any questions.


    Our Customer Welfare number is 0203 451 2585. Lines are open Monday to Friday 09.00-19.00, Saturday 09.00-18.00, and Sunday 10.00-17.00. Calls from UK landlines cost the standard rate, but calls from mobiles may be higher, so please check with your network provider.

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