Where it is that they get their 5 star rating from. I was disappointed with this resort upon my arrival but decided to remain open minded so that I could give it a fair chance to impress me as a 5 star resort should, I regret to report that the Riu Vallarta fell short of my expectations. The beach was not groomed and there were dead fish, empty cups, dirty diapers and cigarette butts all over it. The restaurants served the same bland food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the entire duration of our stay.The holel was loud as the discotheque closed and the screaming patrons ran down the hallways at 2am on into the early dawn. I could go on, but why? I will not be back.

Hotel was really nice, we enjoyed our stay very much

Rui aleways offers a consitant resort. Great food and staff moral. All of our needs were met when we asked

Clean rooms, spotless public bathrooms.
fun, helpful staff. Bring you own reusable plastic mug to avoid using their icky Plastic beach glass. Don't over eat, it's real easy to do here! Had so much fun and slept in the sun!! Safe safe safe!!! Security was always around assisting and police on quads toured the beaches. Went April 29, 2012, planning our next visit already.

Weather was fantastic, the hotel was great. our room faced the partly vacant lot on the side but we didn't mind because it was a lot quieter than the courtyard side and we had a great view of the distant mountains and the whole coast stretching up towards Bucerias. Room smelled mildewy when we arrived but you don't notice it after a few minutes, that's to be expected of most any place with that kind of humidity. The beach was great, you can walk to Bucerias up the beach (45 min each way) and go up to the Riu Jalisco up the beach to try their drinks and food for free too!

For staying in PV I would recommend this resort, just make sure when you arrive at the airport you ignore EVERYONE that tries to get your attention after you pass through security, no matter how vocal they are, just keep walking. We were pre warned so it didn't bother us but the time share salesmen try to rope you in by saying they have to inspect your bags or you forgot to fill out some forms, or that they are your ride to your resort (they'll take you somewhere else) so if you don't know their tactics then you might be in for a very rude and expensive surprise!

Great hotel, as are ALL RIU locations we've been to.

My husband and I had a terrific holiday at the Riu Vallarta. This was our second time at this hotel. The hotel is very clean, the staff very friendly and the food is great! All in all it is a wonderful resort. No complaints whatsoever! A lot of people who we met at the hotel were complaining that the beds are too hard, come on now, a firm mattress is better for your back.

We enjoyed the resort and area. The Hotel go out of their way to make your stay pleasant. The beaches are spectacular and you can walk in either direction for miles. We especially loved walking to Bucerias. We will come back!

It is a 5 star hotel and services

Was pretty good overall and nice place to stay. Better than Riu Jalisco.

As a women travelling alone I felt comfortable and safe. I had a wonderful holiday. Beautiful hotel, beach and facilities. Excellent food. Friendly service. Very clean. Lots of opportunites to relax, spend time alone, and to socialize depending on what I wanted.

Great Beach, Great Staff, lots of lineups for buffet meals, food always similar at buffet, very limited alacarte menus, limited seating at the pool, everything outside is 15min cab/30min bus away, marble amplifies noise & not much fabric to dampen it... solid 4 or 4.5 stars... save some money, stay at Royal Decameron, better value/food/location & hotel intimacy...

A beautiful spot - we visited from Apr 1-8 and were impressed by the cleanliness (rooms, hotel grounds, beach)- impeccable. Food in buffet was amazing and fresh (a la carte not so great though). Rooms were nice but beds were very uncomfortable. People and entertainment also very very nice.

First vacation without the kids. First visit to this resort. Very impressed with the resort overall, very clean and staff very friendly and helpful. Ask for a room on a higher level to avoid hearing the noise. We wanted ocean view, got a room facing north and no view of pools, side view of ocean. Was originally disappointed, but then grateful for being away from party noise. Resort should invest in new bedding thou, older, dated, stained and very well used bedding. Beds are very hard, but when you book ask for a mattress pad. I brought my own as well and used it as well, even then bed hard. Never had a problem with maids or time of day rooms were cleaned. I did hear of other complaints about this during the visit but remember they have hundreds of rooms to clean, and everyone sleeps to all hours of the day due to partying the day before. Best bet, put your maid make up room card out, maids tend to know quickly which rooms can be done early. Food was good, enjoyed steak house the best. French restaurant good, but very small portions. Buffet was good, but I found food to be cold or luke warm at best, even though under heat lamps. Never got sick once which was a pleasant surprise. Beach was beautiful, lots of activities for everyone. Nightly entertainment not as good as I've seen at other resorts but entertaining. Take a walk down beach to the town of Burecias, takes just over an hour. Have a beer at the cafe Miguel Angels, mexican sports bar, flames fan.
Took a cab back to resort for 85 pesos. Day trip to Puerto Vallarta 230 pesos, make sure you ask before you get in cab. Resort's have white cabs that can only take you into the city, cannot pick you up. Was told to take yellow cabs back, make sure you ask again how much. Our cabby wanted to charge more, and I said I would only pay 230 pesos, what we paid to come into town, and he agreed. But once in cab, said that it would be 230 pesos person, he was joking, but you never know so be careful. Didn't find vendors in either town into bartering much at all, most things started at 200 to 300 pesos. Didn't buy much because of that. Do not bring US dollars and expect to exchange it at the resort. They do not take US dollars. You can still tip staff in US dollars and buy things are the vendors with your US dollars. Please tip the staff, on the last day we asked one pool waiter what they make a day, $8.50 per day, and he works everyday all day. I thought he meant $8.50 per hour, but it is per day. Very grateful for a clean hotel, on trip back heard other travelers complained their resort was invested with bed bugs. We enjoyed our stay overall, but would rate this hotel a 4 star.

Went to a RIU in Cuba in January and this RIU at the end of March. I much prefer the Vallarta RIU. Everything on the resort is close. Great for my 79 year old Dad whom I travelled with.
I never had a problem with the food in Cuba but after eating at this resort, my standards have gone up.
I like travelling to different places but if I do come back to Vallarta, the RIU will have my business.

Very nice hotel but there was a number of college kids parting at the pool and very noisy at night. Restaurant service was good and very pleasent staff. We were suppose to have a king size bed but it was 2 single beds put together.

This will be last time in Mexico and never at a rip again. This is second time my husband got sick at a riu in Mexico and we have been to Mexico 4 times

Everything was perfect, no problem at all, and if you needed anything they where there. The place was spotless and they were cleaning all the time. The food was the best and I've been to seven other resorts.

Breakers for power kept kicking out, took 4 days of repeated requests to get the bar fridge replinshed, one of the 2 elevators were out 4 out of the 7 days we were there.

We had a great time during our stay at Riu Vallarta. Our room was ready when arrived at 6:00 am and everything was perfect until we left.

this was our first stay at an all inclusive, we totally enjoyed everything about it.

The Riu Vallarta is a lovely, pristinely clean, well serviced hotel. As we had come across a good deal for an ocean front suite, we were thrilled to be upgraded to a suite with a huge balcony and in-room jacuzzi, plus a bathroom the size of many hotel rooms we'd stayed in in the past! If you are booking oceanfront, suggest asking for an upper floor suite, plus, if possible, one of the corner suites. We stayed in 7021, so any suite with "x0xx" after it will likely be one of these oversized suites. We have spent a lot of holidays in the Mayan Riviera, where resorts have a lower profile, and larger grounds, but this resort has a great beach location that is perfect for walking for hours. Take the 40-minute walk to Bucerias and enjoy a bucket of Coronas is one of their beach cafes -- a fun way to spend a day. You will be sure to meet lots of Canadians here, who spend 6 months of the year here. We also saw the tents along the beach, just before Bucerias, offering $20 1-hour massages. There is also another one on the beach, just a 2 minute walk heading left on the beach from the Riu, with $35 massages. Also, make sure to take time to spend a day in town, walking the Malecon, and going up into the town to get a view. There is a little lighthouse-type platform that is just to the left of the cathedral, that is worth the walk up to it. An amazing view of the entire city and bay from up here! Hadn't been back to PV for about 18 years, and glad we did. Will go back again, and would consider a Riu as they are very, very nice resorts.

My first experience when I arrived at the resort was not positive. We arrived at 10:00 p.m. and just wanted to get to the room, drop off our stuff and get food and drinks. They gave us a room that wasn't cleaned so we had to go back to the reception area and tell them the problem. Then when we got to the new room we realized they didn't give us the lock for the safety deposit box. Another trip to the front desk!!! The next day we realized the shower head would not adjust to stay up on the pole so the only people who would be comfortable showering would have to be 4 feet tall!! We told the front desk about this problem but it was never fixed. It took 2 days to get an ironing board and iron after noticing we didn't have one in our room.
The maids were very unpredictable with the time they would come by to clean the room. They weren't very good at replenishing items in the room and we went for 2 days without kleenex, even though I left the empty box on the bathroom counter.
The rooms are nothing fancy and the beds are hard. The air conditioning worked very well though!
We loved the food and the drinks! There were always a lot of choices for all meals and nobody should be complaining about the quality of the food.
People get up early to save chairs at the pool so it is often difficult to find a chair in the sun. There are plenty of chairs at the beach though. Umbrellas are available to rent for the day if the sun is too intense but there are also palm trees that provide plenty of shade if you need it. There is usually a nice breeze coming off the ocean so it helps to keep you cool. If you like waves, be sure to get the boogie boards and surf the waves...tons of fun!
The resort will exchange Canadian dollars at the reception desk but not American. The vendors state their prices in American or Pesos but not in Canadian so I'm not sure if they will accept Canadian dollars.
It was a very relaxing vacation but I would not give this resort a 5 star rating because of the rooms and the maid service. Also, the wireless service went down for 3 days.

We had a great time at this resort. After reading many complaints about the food..I was worried. There is so much selection..I don't understand the complaints. This is not a five star, like in the Dominican or Cancun...but it is a solid four star. Staff was great. Area is very clean. Weather was awesome and the beach...you can walk for hours. Mexicans are very respectful...a simple no thank you and they walk away. Spring break students added a black cloud to the resort. Unfortunately, most students were ok...it is the occasional immature ones who can't handle their booze who frustrated many. We just withdrew from the pool and it was more quiet.
Golfers...the golf course is 5 minutes away. 112$ per round or if you buy 3 rounds it is 97$. Course is challenging and in good condition.
We were well located..room 5067, away from the music and great neighbors.
Gym has only one set of bar bells with 4 2.5k and 2 5kg, a few machines, one ball and 3 mats. So for the eager beavers out there, you need to improvise. They do have towels,and water.
For the price, this was a great holiday. Even though there are children at this resort, they were awesome. They had their pool and adults had theirs, and this was well respected. The Jalisco and the Palace share the pool. I usually travel in an adult only resort, but having the little ones around here and there was very nice.

This hotel exceed our expectations. Everything was excellent. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They fixed any problems right away. Our shower broke the first day and we told our Sunwing rep. about it and it was fixed right away. The hotel was very clean and the food excellent. The best restaurant is the Gourmet restaurant. The buffet was very good too. Our room was very clean and housekeeping was great. Only complaint is that we had to leave. They treat you so well there you want to stay forever. My friend and I are already planning to go back next year.

Nous en étions à notre 20e voyage dans le Sud et nous avons toujours réservé dans des 4.5* ou 5*. Je peux vous dire que cet hôtel a surpassé nos attentes et qu'il est parfait en tout point, surtout au niveau service. Les restos à la carte sont aussi excellents. Seul bémol : il faudra vous lever à 5 h du matin pour réserver une chaise au bord de la piscine! Bon voyage...

had a very good time, everything was just great

Considering the price we paid for our 2 week vacation, we were extremely happy with this resort. The service and food was beyond our excpectaions and it was one of the cleanest and well maintained resorts we have ever seen. The beach was ok as compared to say the Caribbean, but was great for long walks. We had an ocean facing jr. suite on the 7th floor with a wrap around balcony and it was lovely.
We believe the Riu Vallarta was the perfect choice for our first visit to the NV/PV area!

The Riu Vallarta is a very clean hotel. The staff is very friendly. Great place to go and relax! The food was extremely excellent - but had some digestion problems, so don't forget you are not at home!!

The Hotel grounds are very clean and so are the rooms. The beds were a little too firm for me, but I requested the Foam be put on the beds and it was better. The food was great , lots of selection. This hotel was much newer than the Jalisco which we stayed at 2 yrs ago, better choice. The only thing is we paid extra to go to this hotel as we understood from the travel agent that we could eat at both hotels but only lunch is permitted, so you can enjoy the grounds and lunch buffets only, so don't be disappointed like we were. Weather was great during the day but early morning and evenings cool and windy, so make sure you bring a sweater,