Hotel Riu Palace Costa Mujeres

arill1 wrote a review October 2025
Mahopac, New York

Great stay at the RIU

We had a great time at this beautiful, extremely well kept resort!. Food was excellent., many food choices even for the picky eaters. There are 5 pools and you never felt crowded. There was no problem the week we were there with sea weed. The waters were warm, partly cloudy but beautiful! I was very anxious looking at the weather reports for the week and Will never fret about that again. The only negative thing about thIs resort is there is only one indoor bar area at night. There is an outdoor bar, by the show area, but the mosquitos are awful! Bring lots of bug spray or wipes. The employees are wonderful. We ate at the Mexican, Krystal, and Roma specially restaurants. All were good. There is a food area by the pools with hamburgers hot dogs, and a specialty dish daily if you don't want to go to the dining room for lunch. There are also many activities for all ages as the entertainment team keeps busy.

Date of Stay: October 2025

Misstq wrote a review October 2025
Stockport, Greater Manchester, England

Beautiful Hotel - very clean - excellent staff - but with issues

Very impressive and clean hotel - but does have some issues with food quality. The hotel itself is beautiful and the rooms fabulous - we were very lucky to have a sea view swim up room which was fab and this made our holiday. Unfortunately, for us the hotel did "not flow". For those less able or mobility issues there are only 2 lifts either side of the hotel buildings and if you are by the beach/pool and cannot climb 23 steps you have to walk approx 10 mins to one of these lifts - who designs a hotel with ramps that leads to steps!! The issue could be so easily remedied with an escalator or outside lift from pool to buffet - but it hasn't.

The buffet was not to our liking and apart from breakfast the food was always luke warm. "Pepes" was a total disgrace and whereas we would normally get a snack from there we found the food was inedible - burgers not nice at all and the chips were not even cooked there but shipped in from the kitchen and so were always like rubber and not even rose to " luke" in the warmth scale. Also not enough staff clearing up waste food around the pool that lazy people had left at lunch and so massive influx of seagulls.

The evening restaurants were ok and if you go early you will get in any - after several complaints during our stay over the food cooking and temperatures we were eventually served hot cooked food. I have to give praise here to one of the managers - Luna who went out of her way to try to sort these issues and we are very grateful for her help. I am most impressed that she did try and succeed in the most part to get the restaurants food served and cooked better - by the time we left meals in the a la cartes were good - unfortunately "Pepes" is still a health hazard!!. So if you do have problems raise the issues with management - they do listen - and praise to Luna who is excellent at her job.

The steak restaurant is not well located as it is part of the outside non airconditioned section of the buffet restuaurant area that they use at night - it is also next to a function room and if a function is on and there is a disco in that room then the noise level is unbearable.

The hotel needs to look at acoustics as the evening bar (square garden bar) is so noisy you cannot hold a conversation at times - especially when big groups are in and they just shout all the time - there is no where you can go for a quiet drink other than the lobby but there is nothing there apart from a 24hr self serve area. Show lounge was ok and the live bands and shows were ok,

Drinks are ok - a bit hit and miss sometimes at the pool bar but in main bars they are good. Waiter service around the pool was good when Jerry - "2 minutes" was on and there were no weddings - weddings get priority and on these days there is no pool waiter service and nowhere to sit at pool bar as the wedding takes over and they remove all the tables and chairs for holidaymakers.

Another problem here - apart from the food - is mosquitoes - the hotel sprays and fumigates but they are a really big problem - never normally get more than a couple of bites but bitten to death here. So bring good repellent.

I feel my review may be a bit harsh and maybe we are too picky - but this hotel is supposedly a "Riu Palace" and I am not sure how it got that elevation as having stayed at several Riu hotels - Palace and non Palace - I would not award it a "Palace" badge and whilst for the most part we did enjoy our stay we left our holiday somewhat disappointed.

Date of Stay: October 2025

johnmR8260WN wrote a review October 2025

A great hotel experience

Staff here are fantastic everyone a pleasure to serve you and no hanging around they will cater for your every whim with a smile

Date of Stay: October 2025

752chrystalb wrote a review October 2025
Bobcaygeon, Kawartha Lakes, Ontario

We had a lovely time.

Arrived Oct 22 - 29th. Not a single complaint about this resort. Grounds, rooms, beach, and staff are flawless. We celebrated birthdays and anniversaries while we were there, and housekeeping and guest services went above and beyond to make our days more special. Huge thank you to all of this resorts hard working staff. They truly made our vacation a great one.

Date of Stay: October 2025

FlipflopsYork wrote a review October 2025
York, North Yorkshire, England

Excellent in most areas but disappointing speciality restaurants

This is the 20th Riu hotel we have stayed in which speaks for itself in terms of how much we enjoy them. The Riu Palace Costa Mujeres rates highly in terms of overall service and we thoroughly enjoyed our week. We received a warm welcome from Juan at reception and were shown to a beautiful, spacious, well-appointed swim up room where a welcome gift of chocolate strawberries awaited us. The cleaning staff worked their magic every day and the room was kept spotlessly clean with the mini bar being refilled on a daily basis.
The hotel is very large although it never felt uncomfortably busy. There were always plenty of sun beds available around the pools and on the beach. There was some seaweed on the beach during our stay but they worked hard to tidy it up as much as possible.
We found all the staff in the buffet restaurant and the bar friendly and welcoming. Special shout out to Cruz in the Square Garden bar who remembered us every evening and knew exactly which drinks we liked. The drinks were mostly good quality with the exception of the red wines which were not to our taste. We thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast offering, especially the freshly made omelettes which were perfect every time. There was a good selection in the buffet at dinner, and we found the food there well presented and of good quality. The same could not be said of the speciality restaurants unfortunately. The Italian and Mexican restaurants seemed disorganised - we were shown to tables which weren’t fully set up and pretty much left to our own devices - and the food was bland and unappealing. The Krystal was only marginally better, although we enjoyed the Steakhouse.
In conclusion, the Riu Palace Costa Mujeres has much to recommend it and we did enjoy our visit. With a more enjoyable experience in the speciality restaurants, we would definitely have scored it five stars.

Date of Stay: October 2025

leannw680 wrote a review November 2025

Massage at Renova Spa

I am writing a review about Renova Spa at Riu Palace Costa Mujeres! My friend and I had amazing massages!! Highly recommended!

Date of Stay: November 2025

427alegriag wrote a review November 2025

Not the typical RIU experience

I was really looking forward to the RIU experience, but this resort completely missed the mark. The vibe is extremely quiet — better suited for seniors or families with small kids than anyone looking for fun or energy.

The food was awful — bland, repetitive, and nothing like what I’ve seen and heard about at other RIUs. Even the à la carte restaurants felt like the same buffet food recycled.

The staff were kind, but overall this place should be advertised honestly as a calm, family-style resort — not a 5-star experience. Definitely not worth the hype or price.

Date of Stay: November 2025