Hotel Riu Vallarta

chica197503 wrote a review October 2025
Edmonton, Alberta

Amazing Holiday!!!!

My husband, friends, and I just returned from a amazing 12 day holiday at Riu Vallarta. From the moment we arrived till the end, our holiday was very memorable :)

The food was really good! The one we liked the best was the Steak House and Nirvana, both offering great dishes. The buffet also had several of options and was very good.

What really made our trip unforgettable was the amazing staff. They are hands-down the heart of this resort. Everyone we encountered was so friendly, caring, and veryyyy helpful. They made our stay so much more special.
A big shoutout to the bartenders: Armando, Pedro, and Abel at the pool bar
-Teresa and Veronica at the Astoria bar
-and Israel and Angel at the sports bar
– they were all wonderful!!!!

Special thanks to Alex, the restaurant supervisor....also Giovani, who went above and beyond, and to Richard at the Steak House for making our dining experience even more fun. Laura, Blanca, and the entire team at Don Rafael were also incredible!

We also want to recognize Guadalupe, our housekeeper, who made sure our room was cleaned every morning.

The staff at this hotel was exceptional, and we felt like they became familia...... We can’t wait to come back to see all of you again!

We recommend Riu Vallarta for anyone looking for a relaxing, fun, and great holiday. Thank you for making our stay so special, you’ll always have a place in our hearts! <3
Kevin and Ingrid

Date of Stay: October 2025

jpampill0 wrote a review October 2025
El Paso, Texas

Excellent Option

Everything was excellent, location, cleanness, service, etc. Check in was fast, all types of food, the beach was great!

Date of Stay: October 2025

kaara2025 wrote a review October 2025
Vancouver, British Columbia

One of the best RIUs

The RIU Vallarta is one of the nicest and cleanest RIUs I stay at. Never a disappointment. Staff are amazing and pools are clear and clean. Beautiful beach front.

Date of Stay: October 2025

Missy1130 wrote a review October 2025
Weatherly, Pocono Mountains Region, Pennsylvania

Beach not that great.

Overall, the hotel was beautiful, along with the service. Armando, the bartender at the adult pool was awesome!!! Only downfall was the beach was dirty and the Mediterranean restaurant wasn’t open like it should have been.

Date of Stay: October 2025

Mskretting1 wrote a review November 2025
Lethbridge, Alberta

Very good

was a great family friendly resorts all the staff was super friendly. Would travel again with my family!

Date of Stay: October 2025

201peggyt wrote a review November 2025
Burns Lake, British Columbia

Very good resort

Check in was fast and efficient, same with check out.
Beach is very nice, fun to roll with the fairly large waves. Few vendors on the beach but not too bothersome.
Entertainment crew lots of fun, special thumbs up to Victor and Fretha
Three pools, center pool is one depth, I assume designed for adults only. Have pools on either side of this pool, with shallow entry available. Both of these pools had many children, splashing and screaming. Would be nice if resort dedicated one of these pools as adult or even 12 plus, and the second pool which is near the children’s water slide as the dedicated pool for young children and their families.
Buffet had good selection of food, emptied trays were quickly replenished, even the bacon trays. Food was quite good, but like with any buffet, you do get tired of it.
Steak restaurant, has good selection of courses to order but is not air conditioned, while eating a great meal, found myself wanting to finish so that I could leave to get out of the uncomfortable warm setting.
Italian restaurant was my favorite, really enjoyed their chicken with noodle dish, air conditioned.
Asian restaurant was buffet style, pretty good variety but didn’t really care for the food. Used to Asian food in Vancouver, really hard to compete with that. Air conditioned
Final restaurant was the Kulinarium, real nice al a carte menu, good salad bar. Air conditioned
The main Bartender at the main lobby bar (Astoria) is unbelievable. I’m terrible with names and didn’t
get hers, but she is like the best bartender I’ve ever come across. Asked if they had Drambuie, they don’t, I told her what it was, she said to let her give it a try and voila, gave me a drink that tasted quite similar. From then on I just asked her for a Mexican Drambuie and she made it for me.
Israel, the morning bartender at the Sports Bar, was great making us fresh coffees with a splash of your choice.
Rooms were nice, maids efficient, air conditioning kept rooms comfortable. Showers had the best water pressure I’ve ever seen including my home, with an endless supply of hot water.
Possible improvements:
Would really enjoy having a common room available that is air conditioned that you could relax, have a drink and chat with others.
For some unknown reason, you can’t make reservations at restaurants. When on vacation I don’t want to line up to find out if I’m able to get a table at some time in the evening

Date of Stay: October 2025

clownfish101 wrote a review November 2025
Ontario

Dance Club and Family Resort

The staff are excellent except for 1 issue we had where the front desk staff basically lied, but we did get a couple of freebies from one of the managers. The food is good. There are lots of folks trying to sell you something on the beach, gets annoying. The resort was busy, lots of families. The main reason I would not go back is the very loud music as of noon, you cannot escape it, not even on the beach. There are activities run by animators most days and they use microphones when animating, layered with the music, it is simply too loud.

Date of Stay: October 2025

Global790599 wrote a review November 2025

We keep coming back!

We went to the RIU Vallarta for the first time five years ago. The resort was newly renovated and was/is beautiful. This year was our fifth year to return to this resort, the staff are welcoming and very professional and go out of their way to make you feel welcome. From the facilities to the restaurants and activities make this a five star resort. We will continue to return to this wonderful place every year for years to come!

Date of Stay: October 2025

anchoman1 wrote a review November 2025
Langley City, Langley, British Columbia

Another great stay

Second time staying at this property and this time with daughter and granddaughter. Everyone enjoyed the facilities, the food and entertainment was very good. Staff are excellent and always ready to help. Only criticism would be that the pools are overheated and as a result not refreshing. the resort does everything to make their guests comfortable and we really appreciated this , so much so that we will probably be back in the future.

Date of Stay: October 2025

irishjohn79 wrote a review November 2025
London, England

Impossible to eat in a la carte restaurants

This hotel is actually really nice in lots of ways. We stayed in a junior suite with sea view which had a beautiful view of the ocean.
The staff at the bars were all amazing and the cleaning staff were so polite.
The reception staff could be improved as they make you run from one to another rather than just dealing with questions.
But the biggest flaw was the a la carte restaurants. If you don’t want to be washed, dressed and queueing at the restaurants at 5.30pm each day, you cannot get a table. The staff in the restaurant are really apologetic and get this fundamental flaw in the system but there’s nothing they can do about it as management don’t care.
The result is that the same people eat in the a la carte restaurants every evening.
It is really bizarre as every other hotel I’ve been to with a similar system has a booking system in place so not sure why Riu Vallarta does this.
The buffet is good but it is repetitive.
I’d warn anyone who wants to eat in an a la carte restaurant to book another hotel!

Date of Stay: October 2025

381lionelm wrote a review November 2025
Victoria, Victoria Capital Regional District, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Fantastic Stay at the Vallarta

This was our 3rd visit to the Vallarta and we are so glad we chose to go back again this year. The hotel is kept spotless, the staff were simply amazing (big shout out to Mimi for pool side entertainment and the pool work out classes my wife thoroughly enjoyed), and the food/dining selections were fantastic as usual. The Vallarta offers unparalleled value for money in the PV area.

Date of Stay: October 2025

D7805SAelizabethb wrote a review November 2025

Halloween Vacation

Had a great time. Really enjoyed all the Day of the Dead and Halloween decorations. Staff were extremely friendly. Always enjoy staying at a Riu Hotel.

Date of Stay: October 2025