Hotel Overview
Hotel Riu Playa Blanca is located on the shore of the Cocle beach in Panama. Its exclusive service and complete facilities offer a variety of activities, sports and entertainment to all clients, making each stay a wonderful vacation with family and friends.
In the hotel you will find different buffet and thematic restaurants to taste delicious Panamanian gastronomy, a refreshing swimming-pool and one gym in order to maintain the rhythm during your vacation. Throughout the day you will be able to join different
activities with our team. You will be able to dance, to sing, do some aqua gym, volleyball… and the children will find Riuland. At night you will enjoy the shows, live music, and the discotheque; or perhaps just enjoying a cocktail under the moonlight. Come
to Coclé Beach and enjoy relaxing days in Hotel Riu Playa Blanca.
Location
Coclé-BeachProperty Information
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Hotel Details
Hotel Advisories
General Policies & Fine Print
- Early Departure Penalty: 1 Night Applies: Sunday - Saturday 04Jul24 - 23Dec26
- Early Departure Penalty: 2 Nights Applies: Sunday - Saturday 24Dec24 - 30Apr25
- Early Departure Penalty: 2 Nights Applies: Sunday - Saturday 24Dec25 - 30Apr26
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
4984 reviews
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Nov 19, 2024I highly recommend
November 8-15th. Toronto. Not one complaint, since the past vacations have been to the usual Caribbean locations. Food was great, including the buffet, Asian, Italian, and Steakhouse. Fairly quiet at adults pool, until the French arrived. They had a beach party one night, and there was a lot of energy. Much more Spanish tourists, as opposed to English speaking. Did the rainforest tour, only 6 hours. Could have passed on the mineral springs portion and the market. Panama Canal and Panama City tours good, but 12 hour day. Again could have passed on the tourist market. Carlos at the lobby bar...I cannot say enough GOOD things about this gentleman. They stock the room bottles every two days If you run out of beers you can simply go to the buffet and they will hook you up: Cans, not draught. All staff will be nice, whether you tip or not. {We do} Rooms were clean; We had ocean front. View of pool and ocean. Room 4014. Not if but WHEN we go back, I will not go to any other hotel, for sure. Any complainers writing, don't listen to them.
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Nov 15, 2024Awesome holiday
I was at the resort from October 21 to November 4. I had an excellent holiday. I was given a big room with a king size on 6th floor with a nice view from my balcony. It was clean and in good shape. The food at the specialty restaurants and buffet was very good. The drinks even though they don't use top shelf alcohol were very good. The swim up bar pool was always clean. They inforced the adult only rule in a very timely manner. The bartenders made me new and tasty cocktails every day. The pool side BBQ's at lunch were enjoyable the days they had them. Every staff member I interacted with were very approachable, polite and friendly. The only negative was the beach..... was red flag the whole time. I already knew the ocean was not like the DR. Was still fun to walk the beach daily. I would recommend the resort and can't wait to go back.
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Nov 10, 2024Overall experience, The good, the bad, facts, the ugly and other
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: Being picked up, transported and processed at Panama, was a breeze. The room we got was spacious, looked clean and had all practical commodities. Located in "PB" or also referred to as “Planta Baja” (lower floor). This turned out to be the ground floor. The view was beautiful and we were close to it all. On a rainy day, while people did not want to be in the pool, I managed to enjoy a few strolls for the first and last time. During our visit to Riu, Playa Blanca resort, we were mostly surrounded by people from Montreal, Toronto, Colombians and locals. We found fewer smokers, compared to other locations we have travelled. We attended less than 2 shows. The second show, had some nice dances at first, then it became so loud and silly, that we just got up and left. On the night of November 4th, 2024, the noise was so unbearable and the madness lasted until midnight, the spectators were all screaming along with the entertainment crew. This was such an unpleasant experience, it is hard to describe. To add insult to injury, after the show, some people (more than one time) were so fueled up, that decided to go knocking at our door, and others. The beach appeared to be too harsh most of the time for me to try, so I decided to lower my expectations. The beach stretches approximately 1.0km of safe sand to the left (shallow water prevents you from crossing, unless you want to take on the challenge), and approximately 3.5km to the right (body of water crossing), as I logged a 10km walk, both ways including getting out of our room for breakfast. You will hardly encounter anyone while you are walking, yet, it is completely safe. Along the beach you will find a number of pretty birds and likely 2-3 usual dogs that will come around to visit you at the resort I truly enjoyed the food, every day. I am a vegetarian and there was plenty to keep me well fed. I skipped lunch most of the time, but breakfast and dinner were always thoroughly enjoyed. I also found the service staff to be quite attentive and quite busy at times, as well. My wife and I only went to the buffets; however, you can go to the other restaurants, if you please. Apparently, you do not need a reservation. There is a beach bar and a second buffet closer to the beach, this one is completely casual. There is also a gym in the premises with a few machines, ready to please those who want to burn some extra calories. The towel service by the first pool on the right, is 100% reliable and the staff super-friendly. This is a great place for family and kids, if you can tolerate the entertainment outbursts, and rain during October and November. GOOD: Just 10 minutes away from Scarlett Martinez airport and no noticeable air traffic at the beach, other that the occasional helicopter. Reliable bus ride from the airport to the resort. Fast check in and fast and reliable Wi-Fi Excellent vegetarian food. Some foods were not well labeled or mixed with meat, so you have to be alert. Beans may imply beans and meat. Choice of White, Rose and Red Chilean wines and Champagne – You may find liquors to test as well at the buffet. You will consistently get: oats (yummy), vegetable soup... etc. Four swimming pools. One with fun stuff for kids, one for bar people, one for game players and one for adults (used for activities). Plenty of palm trees and chairs at the beach. Vendors on one corner, horse rides also available (very sad horses, due to bad treatment). Sunwing offers a number of tours at the hotel. The shows can be slightly enjoyable due to the dances and singing. The cleaning staff does a good job and they are honest. You can reliably shower with hot water daily. The Shampoo, hand lotion and soap are provided for you. All these products are quite good and you will not be disappointed. The towel service by the pool is 100% reliable, and the people are very friendly. BAD: Your liquor taps may be leaking. This may attract unwanted species. If you report a malfunction, dialing "9" on the phone, do not expect service until at least the next day, unless you made multiple calls.¬¬¬¬ Reception takes your concerns, but something may get lost in translation, resulting on something unrelated being fixed. The towels you left on top of the counter, used, may not be replaced, this is especially true with body towels. There is no “I will reuse my towels during my stay” option The papayas, croissants, cheesecake, etc, will only be available on occasion. Do not count on them daily. Enjoy when you find them – all excellent! Animation people stand by hallways, or restaurant entrances, at times, looking at the guests pass by, not moving (intimidating) The coffee served is normally not that good (I was told: comes in pouches). If you are leaving early, the buffet may open later than shown in the schedule or close earlier than documented. FACTS: The only coffee worth having is the one from the sports bar (be nice and tip) The person that fixed the facet pluming left lots of dirt, bath on the floor and by the faucet. We were offered another location after complaining about cockroaches (We did not act on this offer). Our shower drain was plugged and it was fixed 2 days later after 3 phone calls. We called for a leaky liquor valve. We used the sink, water gushed out at the bottom. Later on it was replaced, not the liquor valve. Not everyone is nice to the service staff and there is a lot of food wastage by some patrons. UGLY: You may encounter cockroaches in your room. I suggest a daily thorough inspection using a flash-light (we got 3 big ones and a small one) The shows are usually extremely loud. Some presenters are best suited for football stadium broadcasting. OTHER: US$ 35.25/person departure tax. This will be your first line-up at the airport before heading to customs (Experienced 2024-NOV-08)… 45minute wait In and out of the plane is by foot. There is no umbrella service for you, and your suitcase will be exposed to the rain, as well November visit (or October) will provide a great percentage of precipitation. Sometimes, the entire day. You may bring food and water in the plane and you will be able to go through customs with it (Experienced 2024-NOV-08) Returning to Toronto, you will likely be placed into a lineup for baggage x-ray. You may find that your luggage was previously opened somewhere and something may be missing from it (reason is likely, it fell and was not placed back in).
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Nov 10, 2024
Okay overall but finding four (4) cockroaches in our room was not a RIU or pleasant experience
PROS: - hotel is located 10-15 min bus ride from airport, so not far from airport - food taste and quality is excellent with a good variety of dishes even for vegetarians like us - drinks are reasonably tasty and servers listened when asked for little alcohol - service staff at the restaurants and bar are overall very pleasant and accommodating despite rude guests, kudos to Maricruz for going the extra mile with her good customer services - wi-fi available around hotel, albeit slow sometimes - safety deposit box - plenty of hangers to hang one's clothes - spacious rooms/showers/washrooms - front desk staff responded to email sent to the reception desk before arrival and provided services requested CONS: - three (3) large and one (1) small cockroaches found in our room on three occasions - room maintenance took a day or two to be done i.e. shower drainage slow, alcohol bottles dripping alcohol, two cockroaches appeared again after two days of reporting the first two - one would imagine they would have cleaned the room inside out and made sure that there were no more in the room OR attend to the holes that allowed for them to enter - definitely lack of pest control and not a reflection of staff cleaning as they clean very nicely each room. - Black sand throughout the beach and on the sea, so not a pleasant experience to go on the sea as you come out filled with mud - SEA is rough = red flag, so not frequently used by guests - Day and night entertainment is extremely loud and it can be heard throughout the whole resort, so no way to escape the loud screaming from the entertainment staff, even if one seats far away from their yelling/screaming games. - On November 4, 2024, extremely load entertainment in the open area went on up to midnight - Night entertainment area is too open so nobody can escape overly loud staff - Unable to join the Riu app regardless of all efforts by front desk staff - October - November is rainy season, so lots of rain and no sunshine during our stay
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Oct 28, 2024Girls’ trip
Could not have asked for a better trip! From the cleanliness of the whole resort and the exceptionnel service we received from beginning to the end of our stay at this resort was amazing! This hotel makes their guests top priority! Special thanks to our bartender Donny at the pool bar and the server at the lobby bar…drinks were always delicious…and Uriel our waiter at the morning breakfast buffet who always made sure our mimosas kept flowing and our cappucinos were served with Irish cream. The entertainment team was so friendly and courteous…shoutout to Hector for sharing information about Panama.
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