Riu Palace Pacifico - All Inclusive - Adults Only

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

7489 reviews

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  Exceeded Expectations – Would Return!

  Beautiful resort with immaculate grounds. there’s always someone cleaning or scrubbing something, which really shows in how well-maintained everything is. Our room was cleaned every single day without fail, which we really appreciated. We stayed in room 6052 (partial ocean view) and it exceeded our expectations. If you can, I’d recommend asking for a room facing inward toward the courtyard, it’s a great view and feels more private. The food was great overall, especially the breakfast buffet. A special shoutout to Samuel at breakfast — truly the best of the best. You definitely won’t go hungry here. We only tried the Italian à la carte restaurant, but it was excellent and we never had to wait for a table. The “American Country” restaurant was also good. I grabbed a cappuccino from the lobby coffee bar every morning, and it was fantastic, hot tip: it is much better than the coffee in the buffet. I don’t really understand the reviews calling this an “older crowd” resort. There was a good mix of ages, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. One of my favorite touches was the nightly drink cart in the lobby with different specialty cocktails each evening. Kiki (who tended bar at this cart nightly) was efficient and super friendly, this was always something to look forward to. The only minor downside was the “towel game.” I got up at 7 AM most days and many of the prime spots were already taken, which was a bit surprising for a resort like this. That said, if you sleep in, there are still always chairs available — just maybe not in the exact spot you’d prefer. Overall, this resort exceeded our expectations and is probably the best all-inclusive we’ve been to. We would come back!

  Apr 19, 2026
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  Great Trip

  So many positives. Just got home from a fantastic week at the Palace. Beautiful hotel, accommodations and grounds. Excellent food in every specialty restaurant with no reservations needed and have never in all of our travels to Mexico experienced such an amazing Buffett. So many options. All freshly cooked and if you didn’t see something you liked then the cooks are more than happy to accommodate no questions asked. Julian and his helper are amazing waiters. Really efficient and friendly. Three pools to pick from. Very comfortable loungers. Excellent service from the drink girls. Always friendly with big smiles. So many loungers on the beach to select from and no vendors allowed within the grounds if that is something that bothers you. Several massage ladies offering services on the beach. My wife had two and said they are very good. Our room was very clean. Bed and pillows were super comfortable. Mini fridge always restocked. Tons of hot water in the shower. A few negatives Check in was very good but the young man checking us in must have been having a bad day. Not accommodating. Lots of No’s rather than trying to look into our travel agents request for a higher floor we ended up in the front right corner on the second floor. We’ve travelled enough and have had many ocean view rooms so we stayed in the designated room. Not perfect but adequate. For a resort of this size, we were quite surprised that there is only three bathrooms. One under the buffet, one under the stairs to the beach and one in the lobby on the south side. Considering a renovation was recently completed you would think that more bathrooms would have been made. No umbrellas for the beach loungers. Strange in our opinion. You can rent one from one of the guys to the right of the resort but that’s not ideal. Overall a fantastic resort and we highly recommend visiting the RIU Palace Pacifico

  Apr 17, 2026
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  You will not be disappointed. Wonderful resort

  Fantastic resort!!! You will not be disappointed. The service, food, amenities, rooms were all wonderful. The people are amazing. Starting out with our check in at front desk. Denisse was amazing. We spoke to her everyday just to say hi and ask questions. She was always there for us. The RIU activity staff are sooo nice and they remember you and your names. Shout out to Kevin ….such a well spoken young man who was always smiling, answering questions and genuinely interested in talking to us . The bartenders!!!! Wowzer…. Fernando, Lalo, Luis, Rosendo (Mr Smiley!), Maribel!!!!! They are drink artists and soo much fun to get to know. Thomas at the morning buffet was so nice. The restaurants à la cartes are plentiful so lots to choose from. There’s lots to eat and always something different at the buffet!! The assortment of food at the Tiki and Pepe’s food at the pool was plentiful. We never went up to the buffet for lunch. We also liked the fact that there were plenty of loungers at the pools and we didn’t have to get up early to “reserve” chairs. My husband had knee surgery and had difficulties getting in and out of the lounger so they brought chairs for us and our friend. The resort grounds are spotless, there are always staff cleaning and taking care of things. We felt extremely safe and leaving valuables at chair. This is the first resort we said we are coming back to. We’ve been to other RIU Palaces and this one is our new favourite.

  Apr 15, 2026
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  Amazing Once Again!

  Just back from another amazing two weeks at the Palace. The entire facility is just excellent in our view with cleanliness, service from hard working friendly staff and great food (especially deserts) at the top of the list. Best resort for adults we’ve been to not only for the things I’ve mentioned but also for the beach and quality and safety of areas outside the resort. We have a couple more visits booked for our home away from home this year and can’t wait to get back! Thank you to everyone at the Riu for making this a special place!

  Apr 13, 2026
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  Lovely resort that needs to change its approach to pools

  Visited this property for the first time earlier this month. We visit PVR two to three times a year (25+ times in total) and have stayed in both AI resorts and condo complexes all over Banderas Bay. There is a lot to like about the Riu Palace Pacifico. It’s bright, fresh and modern, and the entire property is spotlessly clean. The staff is excellent, as they are at so many resorts, working hard and often going the extra mile. Examples include (but are not limited to) Julian at the buffet, Junior at the front desk, Luigi at the sports bar, and Lalo and Maribel at the Elite Club beach area. The food is decent, overall, and quite good in some of the specialty restaurants including the Asian, the Italian and the Elite Club. Other positives include the nightly entertainment, the quality of the beach, and the flat, smooth ocean floor free of rocks/coral (no water shoes needed). There are beach vendors but access to the resort is controlled, and they do not solicit to the point of annoyance. The temperature of the ocean was a welcome relief from the heat but unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the three pools at this property. All of them are heated to the temperature of bathwater – or worse. You can debate the need to heat pools in tropical climates to begin with, but when you have three pools, why heat them all to the same (high) temperature???? Why not leave one unheated (or maintained at a much cooler temperature) to give your guests a choice??? And then there is the swim-up bar, which isn’t built at the end of a large, main pool like at most resorts; at the Riu, the swim-up bar is its own smaller pool and unsurprisingly, between the hot water and the fact hardly anyone gets out to use the bathroom, some days it reeked of urine when you walked by. Guests call it “the pee pee pool.” Finally, the chair-saving game is in full force at this resort. There are signs forbidding it, but the resort lacks the courage to enforce its own rules. I expect management to write a nice response, thanking me for my comments and promising to take them into account as they seek to improve their guest experience, etc. What I don’t expect is anything to change -- which is really a shame because it's a lovely property.

  Apr 11, 2026