Riu Vallarta - All Inclusive

“Riu Vallarta April 2026”

In general the hotel is very good, the only thing that I notice is that sometimes they used too much salt in some foods especially in the main buffet. Also I found the the mattress was a bet soft and when one of us would come to bet it would affect who was in bed first.

“Holiday 2026”

We couldn't believe the noise level especially at night as the entertainment is in the centre of all the rooms. The only time to rest is after 11:00 PM. The restaurants were okay, nothing special. The buffet was adequate but too much salt was used. If you have blood pressure problems, don't eat… more

We couldn't believe the noise level especially at night as the entertainment is in the centre of all the rooms. The only time to rest is after 11:00 PM. The restaurants were okay, nothing special. The buffet was adequate but too much salt was used. If you have blood pressure problems, don't eat!!! The beach was beautiful along with the ocean. After having been to other Riu's we won't be coming back to this one.

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“Great hotel, but horrible and unsafe food”

Everything was fantastic about this hotel, especially the service and staff. It was probably our best experience in many years in that matter. The entire property is well maintained and very clean. The pools can be a bit too warm, but still tolerable. The beach is great, the lobby is very beautiful… more

Everything was fantastic about this hotel, especially the service and staff. It was probably our best experience in many years in that matter. The entire property is well maintained and very clean. The pools can be a bit too warm, but still tolerable. The beach is great, the lobby is very beautiful, the beds are comfortable, and the room service is excellent. But one thing completely ruined my impression: the food quality and the specialty restaurants. First, the way they operate makes no sense. We accepted the idea of walk‑ins, but during our entire stay we were never able to get into the steakhouse. Unless you arrive at 5:30–6:00 pm, they turn you away, claiming they are fully booked for the rest of the night, even though you can clearly see that at least half of the dining room is empty. All their speciality restaurants deliberately operate at about 50 percent capacity and refuse to accept more guests after 7:30, 8 the latest, while still claiming to be open until 9:30. It is doesn't make any sense! So you end up going to the buffet, only to find almost the same food every single night. The food variety at Riu Vallarta is very limited compared to other resorts in the same category, which I would not mind if the quality were good. But we hoped at least for some variety throughout the week. Wrong. The food was always the same, and the worst part was the QUALITY. It was genuinely terrible! Before booking, we read reviews saying the food was bland. I thought, fine — I am here to relax, not to eat gourmet meals. But it was beyond bland. It was greasy, as if they tried to compensate for the lack of flavor this way. Almost everything was fried, and based on the taste, I suspect they reuse the cooking oil multiple times. Even if I am wrong, it is clear they do not thoroughly clean their equipment, because the taste of overused oil sticks to everything. And that was only half the problem. After our third dinner, which was at Nirvana, we both got stomach issues. My partner recovered within 24 hours, but I never did. So for the rest of our stay I could neither eat nor drink alcohol, and even the smell coming from the buffet made me nauseous. I tried desperately to find something even remotely healthy just to get through the trip, and the only thing I managed to find was steamed lentils from the vegetarian corner — just once. The rest of the time I survived on boiled eggs and rice, because all the soups (except the cream ones) were bland and extremely salty. I magically regained my ability to eat only at the airport on our way home, but it has been a week since our return and my digestive system still has not fully recovered from that dinner at Nirvana. And ironically, the food there was actually decent, except for the “Tom Yum” soup, which had absolutely nothing to do with real Tom Yum. For someone like me, with zero intolerances or dietary restrictions, this was a truly shocking experience — and now I may even need to see a doctor due to almost no improvement ever since. So if you are fine eating junk food all day, you will probably have no issues at Riu Vallarta. But if you are used to eating healthy, have any sensitivities, weak digestive system or want to avoid the risk of food poisoning, stay away!. Getting a seat at a specialty restaurant is nearly impossible, and the buffet, as I said, was extremely disappointing — if not outright unacceptable.

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“Just returned”

We just returned from a week at the Riu Vallarta. We had a nice time. Staff was friendly. Food was quite good. We didn't love that the specialty restaurants were still mostly buffet. I had the Lasagna and seafood linguine as entrees at the Italian restaurant on 2 different nights. They were f… more

We just returned from a week at the Riu Vallarta. We had a nice time. Staff was friendly. Food was quite good. We didn't love that the specialty restaurants were still mostly buffet. I had the Lasagna and seafood linguine as entrees at the Italian restaurant on 2 different nights. They were fantastic. When it comes to food allergies and markings things were all over the place on the buffet. Meat in the vegetarian items, things marked with dairy that had none, etc. This wasn't one or 2 items it was many, many items each day. This made it quite challenging for my Vegan wife. That aside we enjoyed most every option that we tried. Kids loved the desserts. Staff was friendly. Shows were Fun for the kids and the adults. Overall we would come back except for the biggest letdown that were the beds. The mattresses were extremely uncomfortable, old spring style. We were in a full ocean view room with 2 doubles. The view was definitely as advertised (pretty spectacular). All 4 of us were not able to sleep during the week of what should be relaxation. We would actually not return here because of this, with so many other options available.

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