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    Riu Palace Costa Rica

    OOOOO Plus

    InPlaya de Matapalo, Costa Rica

    TripAdvisor Traveller Rating

    trip advisor

    Based on 5577 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

    Platinum

    Holidays in premium hotels

    • 4T and 5T hotels
    • Properties for families through to adults
    • High-quality hotels around the world
    • 20kg luggage allowance with TUI

    Find out more about Platinum »

    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.

    Better than we even hoped for!
    23 Jan , 2020 DiekeMichigan
    Our five days at Hotel Riu Palace was perfect....better than we even hoped for. The hotel hallways, restaurants and rooms are kept spotless, the staff and all who work there go out of their way to make it a top-notch destination. The food is unbelievably varied and delicious and the pools are delightful, with plenty of chairs/lounges both in and away from the sun. We traveled with four seven year olds, one eleven year old, one fourteen year old, and two young twenty year olds (as well as five adults) and everyone agreed we had a best-ever time.
    Be careful with your money
    22 Jan , 2020 M1681QXsamw
    I was loving my stay at Riu Costa Rica, I loved the staff and servers and the food was amazing. On my 7th day, when I got up and went to get something from my safe, all my money in my wallet was gone. I don’t know if they thought I was leaving that day because I had been there for a week but I wasn’t, I was going on a trip to Tamarindo and needed that money to pay for my driver and spending money. I reported it to the hotel. They told me that they spoke to anyone who accessed my room and surprisingly enough, no one took it. I did not even get an apology. I may be one in a thousand guests that this happens to but do not leave your money in your safe or if you do, check it several times so that you can pin point when it was taken. As for the staff, they were great. Servers Secylis (not sure of spelling), Junior, pool bar Luis, bar tender Walter, performers Luis, Braulio, Ruben, Adriana and Johan. Wait staff, Raquel, Branley. Front desk manger Melissa. If this hadn’t happened to me, it would have been an amazing vacation. I have travelled to several countries over many years and this was the first for me. I know, if someone had of told me this happened to them, I may not have believed it until it happened to me. It 100% happened!
    Wish I could give a higher rating
    21 Jan , 2020 GrahlindWales
    I don't understand when people start their review by, "forget what other people say"? All reviews are personal and should not be dismissed because they may have negative aspects. Just returned after a weeks Tui Grand Tour with a further week at this hotel. Good points Lovely, clean hotel, beautiful gardens and lovely staff. Our room was cleaned everyday. The food was to a good standard, we generally ate in the buffet restuarants, but did try one or two the speciality ones. Not so good This is NOT a quiet hotel! In my opinion, it's because of the way the pool and sunbathing areas are set out. They are all quite close together, hence when the swim up bar gets a little lively, everyone can hear it and the only way to avoid it is to put earphones on. Just one area, away from this could solve the problem. We shouldn't have to hear the corporate drinking/pool games of the more livelier guests, I'm not a party pooper but the hotel should be catering for ALL of its guests. Again, there are no really quiet areas to have a drink after the meal, it all depended if the sports bar was not so busy. There was a musty smell in our room,(our balcony was facing the mountains) but in all fairness, I never reported this to reception. As a footnote we took a boat trip with Carlos Campos, (yellow shirt) to the left of the sea is in front of you, such a lovely, helpful guy, many thanks.
    Best trip of my life!!
    21 Jan , 2020 Chanban10
    K first of all let me start with the fact people have actually wrote a bad review on this resort! Don’t listen to them! This is the best resort I have ever stayed in, in my life! There is only one complaint that I had this whole trip and it was the pillows! That is true lol, they suck! The actual resort is IMMACULATE !! Very very clean and so beyond beautiful!! People say u can’t get into the restaurants which is bull **** as long as your there by six to make a reservation and no later we never had an issue!! The Japanese is the best! Get the soup!! The blended coffee drinks at the coffee shop were soo good make sure you try one! The food is so good I can’t begin to explain how yummy all the food is omg if u actually complained about the food there is something terribly wrong with you!! The drinks at the bars are AMAZING!! I loved the dirty monkeys, banana momas, and plain old pina colodas! It was me and my boyfriend who went and we had the best time...listen to this. I lost my credit card one day and didn’t realize it was gone till the next, went to the front desk and they had it for me in an envelope! That is how amazing the people of Costa Rica are!! That would never happen in Mexico! Costa Rica makes mexico look like GARBAGE !! Don’t listen to bad reviews this place was so beyond what I expected ! Everything and above !!! The foam party was fun!! There’s always something going on! Also the excursions are so fun in Costa Rica, I’ve never been to a place that had such a variety of excursions, usually it is the same **** different country! Also, the coffee is so good too!! This is a 10 star Resort In my opinion! We will DEFINITELY BE BACK!! Sooner then later! ❤️❤️✌️🇨🇷 Pura VIDA!
    Riu palace
    20 Jan , 2020 Davidtanner85, 12959512
    Great time second time we have stayed first with kids and is great Service great hotel grounds great. Will be booking again for sure as it seems I have become one of those people that go back to the same hotel. The eco park next door is great and the new slides outside the front went down great with my 2year and the adult ones were equally good especially as it’s included
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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 or visit our accessible holidays page 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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