Hotel Overview
Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica (All-Inclusive), is located in Guanacaste, Costa Rica on the edge of the beach of Matapalo.
This hotel, fully prepared to provide the best service to its customers, has four swimming pools (one with a wet bar), jacuzzi, gym, sauna and a wellness center "Renova Spa" with different treatments and massages. Everything you need for maximum comfort during your stay.
The quality of the cuisine offered at the different restaurants of the hotel is exceptional thanks to our chefs, who prepare a variety of dishes, from classic to the most exotic. You'll want to to try each of our menus and, thanks to the All Inclusive service, you will be able to enjoy the buffet restaurant or the four different theme restaurants of the hotel.
Being on a privileged environment, the hotel offers a variety of activities on the beautiful beaches such as diving or fishing in the Pacific waters, ecotourism in the volcanic areas, and during the day several programs of entertainment for all ages, whether in family or friends. The hotel has a gym, table tennis, volleyball, tennis court, windsurf, sailing, snorkeling equipment, kayaks and other water activities. If your favorite sport is golf, the Four Seasons Golf Club has fantastic views over the sea.
Guanacaste is less tropical, humid and lush than the rest of the country. Its plains and dry forests sometimes remind you of African savanna landscapes. Inland you can see the savanna, local cowboys on their horses while driving their flocks, which are authentic figures of popular culture of this destination. From the hotel, you can do several excursions, such as the visit of the National Park Rincon de la Vieja, the Safari Park or the capital of Guanacaste: Liberia.
Location
GuanacasteProperty Information
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Hotel Details
Hotel Advisories
General Policies & Fine Print
Check-in Policy - Deposits or credit/debit card hold authorizations are not requested at check-in. Minimum age of 18 is required for check-in, an ID/Passport will be requested upon arrival.
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
Hotel Spring Break Policies - Student Groups/Spring Breakers (either groups or individuals, regardless of age) are not allowed at any time during the year. Guests disturbing or generating complaints from other guests or hotel may be removed from the property, at their own expense. Parties in rooms are not permitted.
Transfer Policy - A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.
General Information - Room taxes and service fees are included in vacation price.
Minimum night stay restrictions may apply.
Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
- Early Departure Penalty: 1 Night Applies: Sunday - Saturday 04Jul24 - 23Dec26
- Early Departure Penalty: 2 Nights Applies: Sunday - Saturday 24Dec25 - 30Apr26
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
10300 reviews
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Dec 20, 2024Excellent Facility and Wonderful Attentive Staff
This is my 3rd visit to this resort and stayed in the new section just completed in Nov 24. Rooms were impeccable and the addition of the water park a great addition. I did attempt the long tube water slide and it’s quite a ride. 4 open slides and 4 tube slides. The BEST addition is a Gellato/Slushy/Cookie bar. It accounted for 4 of the 8 lbs I gained last week, but worth every calorie. The restaurants are superb, and we really appreciated the new policy of “first come first served” at the many ala carts restaurants. On our last visit some years ago you had to book ahead of time, and the majority of them were full… and who knows what you are going to be doing 4 days from now or want for supper. You line up for the restaurant you want (usually 30min ahead of opening) and you get either first sitting or they give you a beeper for 2nd seating. Excellent idea. My only disappointment was the Filadelphia bar which had live entertainment from 6:45-7:45 daily which was excellent, but way too short. Would have been nice if this was at least 2 hrs or there were multiple performers throughout the evening, as we always missed part of the hour at or waiting for a sitting for supper. Food is outstanding. Buffets have different selections daily to meet all tastes. Be cautious swimming in the ocean. On very wavy days in particular jelly fish are present but cant be seen. We both had very minor stings, but several guests who ventured out further in the swimming area had some nasty bites. They are not serious and treated with vinegar or alcohol, but still makes for an uncomfortable remainder of your visit. One of our most enjoyable activities was walking the very long expanse of beach every day. It is several km long and mostly sand for the first 2km. If you want to venture further, take water shoes with you to climb over the rocks. There is a very nice brown sand beach about 3km down not easily accessible and with only 2 or 3 people on it when we ventured there. Easiest to make this trek during low tide. The regular beach is black sand, but it is very nice sand. This is not Hawaii coarse granular sand and very comfortable to walk in. There were plenty of lounge chairs on the beach and around the pool area. With the 2 new pools in the new section it provided plenty of space. This really is an ALL inclusive resort. We never had to spend a dime after arriving apart from an adventure excursion we took. We plan on returning hopefully with our grand kid
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Dec 16, 2024
Love this place! We'll see you again 😍
That was our second time in this hotel and we will definitely come back again! Incredibly beautiful place based in the middle of the rain forest. You can experience wildlife all around - you just need to observe! Great for restful holidays, local activities and exciting trips. We love the staff, all of them work really hard but still, with such lovely smiles, being friendly and so positive! We had only one unpleasant experience caused by guests, father and son, who captured huge iguana. Thanks to group of guests and incredible staff the situation was treated by management seriously, as it should be. Well done, Riu Guanacaste! And see you soon!
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Dec 14, 2024Vacation
Everything was awesome and the only problem I saw and had was my room was kinda moldy and you can smell it also
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Dec 13, 2024Inappropriate staff contact with a minor... and more
Ill start with the title. First was just the gardening staff gawking at my barely 15 year old daughter, even with my wife and I right next to her, but what am I going to do about it? The bigger problem was when an adult member of the staff in his 20s found her on Instagram and sent her a direct message at 2am. Luckily we monitor our daughters social media so I blocked and deleted it right away. I will preface this by saying that up to this point he had done a great job in making sure my family was having a good time playing volleyball and attending shows etc. Even when he followed her on Instagram, I thought it was a bit strange but let it go. The message was just one word and nothing vulgar but what on earth could a man in his mid 20s have to text a 15 year old girl about at 2am?! I attempted to bring this to the attention of the General manager a couple of times but he was either not in or our schedules didn't match up. I don't feel like he was dodging me but we never connected. When we returned home I sent a message to the hotel about the incident. I never heard back anything other than a message received receipt. Now the more part. Got stuck in an elevator. It was only for about a minute or 2 and I was able to pry the doors open luckily so not a huge deal. That elevator was then down for the rest/majority of our stay. It was right by our room so we had to take a pretty significant detour to get to and from our room each time. The food is simply not good and you are very beholden to their schedule. Almost every single restaurant is a buffet that attempts fine dining but done cafeteria style. They each close on certain nights as well so wait times are driven up at others and they also have short hours that they are open so its very possible you don't get in to any of the dinner spots and just end up back at the main buffet. (Tip, everything chicken is good, everything beef is bad, eat lunch at the little taco spot by the new pools don't bother with the buffets) We were sitting in one of the newer pools with our daughter. We were off in a corner just quietly chatting with maybe 4 other people in the entire large pool. We were approached by security and told we had to get out because its a bar pool and our daughter isnt old enough. Totally fair request and we got out right away. No problem. Imagine our dimay to return to that area the next day to find staff encouraging young children that are screaming and hollering to get into the pool and then taking photos with them and having a blast. I mean, if youre going to enfore a rule how about enfore it all the way across. Not sure how our nearly silent teenager was worse than screaming 10 and unders. Beds are hard and uncomfortable. AC is just enough stay semi comfortable at night, it wont provide much relief during the day so keep to pools and beach to beat the heat. You may have some late night visits from cockroaches, we did. Gross but it is Central America. Now, to be fair... The Good. Its a beautiful setting and the resort itself is pretty nice and well maintained. The new section is gorgeous, (where we were kicked out of the pool lol) and has a new water park that is pretty fun. slides are tough on your back but still well worth a visit. The beach is incredible and there is a great spot for volleyball and soccer. The white party they throw was a big hit. They have top shelf liquor at the two bars where they hold the shows at night. All the pools are awesome and have plenty of seating available, almost all of which is shaded.
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Dec 12, 2024
Fun but food was mediocre; pool and ocean was great
It is a long way from airport especially when the road has too many huge potholes to count but is interesting. The hotels website is a little confusing as we thought we had 2 rooms; but actually had 2 beds(we were informed that you cannot have 2 rooms unless you have more than 3 people). They issue keys for doors that are especially difficult to open and we had to call for help at least twice. The buffet food on the main property is fairly bland but if you go across the road from the main lobby, it is soooo much better. the Italian restaurant's main course (you get to order it) is good; but again, the buffet before the main course is bland. the activities and events around the pool were excellent. Plenty of chairs by the ocean and it was great for swimming or floating. definately would not eat in the Sports Bar as the chips were old and sandwiches were not at all good. It was not a good sports bar. If you stay at the Riu Palace you can come over to the RIU regular and be served; but if you stay here you cannot get a drink at the Palace. It was fun but there were a few issues that were disheartening.
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