Riu Playa Blanca Vacations

Perfect for the small family. Excellent buffets and restaurants every day.

Despite the intense heat, great hotel

The hotel is excellent, the quality of service, drinks and food exceeded my expectations. It is highly recommended to rest and enjoy, the pools are endless and with a tremendous view. The beach is not the most beautiful in the world, but the hotel more than makes up for it.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of small defects, including the ladder on the toilet falling towards you when you open it, tools lying around unobserved

We loved our family stay.

The room was very clean, well maintained.

The staff were smiling and friendly.

The buffet: I was a little nervous, especially with a young child. Lots of choice, attractive food. I even ended up giving in and eating salad and raw vegetables, it was so impeccable. At each meal, several fish/seafood, several meats, several cooked vegetables, 4 choices of pasta, junk food counter, salad counter, fruit and dessert counter, Sunday bar. Very impressed!

Alcohol: nice variety of drinks, mini bar in the room with 4 large bottles of strong.

The pools are superb, both on the “adult” side and on the “family” side.

Finally, the beach (and the famous horses)... there are more beautiful beaches, but it is still very beautiful. Horse poop is not in the water, nor at the height of the waves. Once you get past the “poop line,” you’re fine. That said, the beach is public. Don’t hesitate to go further; the beach is prettier walking towards Mount Farallon (and there are fewer horses there since there are fewer tourists).

We felt completely safe in Panama but stayed on site.

The site is non-smoking and be aware that shoppers will be disappointed. But my partner and I are of the opinion that if we return to the South, it will be there without hesitation.

I suggest you bring long UV swimsuits, LOTS of sunscreen and be careful, the sand is very very hot.

Our only disappointment is the Sunwing airline. The meals are not in sufficient quantity (it's a 6-hour flight), and when, at midday, I wanted to buy a meal for my 4-year-old son, I had to wait for them to make the rounds, even though They had given meals to the aunts of a crew member right in front of us. When we finally got around to ordering, all that was left was the soup and some spicy pasta. Not great with young children.

But having said that, Riu Playa Blanca, we liked it very, very much. For the price difference with the Republic, the difference in quality is really marked.

The reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because towel was so old and smelly. The bed was too small instead of queen bed it was twin bed which was too small for couple.
Also entertainment was all with Spanish, live music also Spanish and there was not English music to who doesn’t understand Spanish can enjoy as well. But room was clean, outside also was clean all the time.food was the best comparing to all inclusive we tried .in general we had a good time there and we might go back.

I had a great time, everything was perfect!!!

I had high hopes for this five-star hotel. I have been contacting management for weeks via email prior to my visit to ensure I could get a room upgrade. Once I arrived they did not upgrade my room. .
Pros and cons..
Pros:
-The staff was all super friendly.
-They were constantly cleaning and maintaining The hotel grounds. Gardens green. Floors clean. Bathrooms clean.
- The lounge in the lobby had incredible coffees and iced coffees. Great service everyone always smiling.
- The sports bar had a fridge at the back which was stocked with sandwiches and wraps, fruit salads, normal solids, and a self-serve nacho bar. This was open all hours at night and usually was stocked with these items after 4:00 p.m.. which was great if you were up all night drinking and needed something to fill a void.
- The entertainment in the evening was amusing.
- The many pools had different activities and themes going on. It was nice to be able to float around in different environments.
- The very hot black sand was new to me and very interesting. I enjoyed it. However wear sandals on the beach. You'll burn your feet. No joke.
- There was a small fridge in the bedroom which was stocked every second day with water bottles, and soft drinks, and a couple of beers, you could call and request it refilled daily if you wanted.

- There was also four bottles of hard alcohol mounted in a box in the bedroom so you could take as you wanted.

- each floor had an ice machine.
- The room had a mini coffee maker, and ice bucket as well.

Cons:
- our room had a moldy dank smell from day one. The dresser is provided there. Also smelt terribly in the drawers. I did not use them..
- The rooms were pretty plain and slightly disappointing.
- our Garden view room faced a swampy area with a foul odor as I mentioned.
- part of the beach is Hotel property, the rest of the beach is public Access. Which means lots of garbage on the beach.
- beware of the horse people
on the beach... These people have horses which poop all over the place, and they also constantly harass you to sell you illicit substances. When you go to the beach in the morning they are there till evening, they are constantly calling you constantly trying to get you to buy stuff from them or to bring them drinks. It was extremely extremely annoying. Police Were there a few times. Nothing ever happened.. everyday every moment They were there pushing.. .
Did i mention the horse poop?? Its everywhere.

Excursions :.
I regret all the excursions I took.
The Sunwing sales representatives for the excursions were not so honest with us. Firstly, we asked every excursion. The distance. Asked about traffic. I asked about costs. And asked about inclusions. Because we are traveling on a budget and wanted to see Panama. We were very specific with our questions.
- It cost me 190 USD to take a trip for 2 to the embera tribe. .
Sunwing assured me it was a hour and 15 minute bus ride, maybe 2 hours with traffic.
We spent 5 hours in traffic till we finally got down there. For a 3-hour tour, which we were told that would end at a waterfall, and then it did not. We had a very short tour of the village, then we were ushered to Buy their products that were handmade. The prices were incredibly high.. then another 5 hour and 20 minute bus ride back. We left the resort at 7:00 a.m. and we were only back at 9:40pm

The second excursion we took was the Panama canal with the new and old Panama. Again a 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride. Then we rode a boat into the Lake of the Panama canal where we saw monkeys. There were so many boats and so little monkeys.. then we boarded the bus again to head to old Panama which is similar to the old Port of Montreal had an expensive hamburger meal which was not included, then back on the bus stuck in traffic for another 2 hours. Drove past New Panama. Didn't even get to stop or go look at it. It. Ended up at the locks to watch a container ship coming in. Interesting. Then we washed a Morgan Freeman narrated movie about the Panama canal. And then another three and a half hours on the bus to come

The hotel is beautiful, very large and equipped with everything you need to have a great experience.

Very familiar hotel with a reasonable price. It is three hours from the Tocumen airport with heavy traffic and access is easy if you have a car. Service is average, food is good. The point to improve is the restaurants since they assign shifts and the wait can be up to 2 hours. The beach is beautiful but with a rough sea, there are many jellyfish that can sting you. The staff that runs the bar is very unwelcoming.

The beach and the sea were very bad, we couldn't enter because it was murky, the pool was a cloudy and dirty mess.
Very good food
They should improve the pool and pool bathrooms, many people do not come
Entertainment during the day very bad… at night average
We would not return… much better Drcsmeron
03/26/24

Claim as a five-star, but actually, it is a three star quality. Birds flying and pooping in the buffet area all day long. Other restaurants food not so great, and service in those restaurants was extremely poor. Served cheap alcohol. The only positive was the staff minus the front desk was great. Went to talk about the issues above to a supervisor but was told the supervisor was busy and can not come. They said they made a note in the system, but apparently, no action was taken. I have been to other Riu properties, but so far, this is the worst of all.

Not suitable for smokers haha

The best, it offers you cel taxi service. 6808-8987

For me it was the best resort in Panama, until they put in place the policy that you can't enter on Saturday and leave on Sunday, on Fridays I work, how am I supposed to? Do I have to give them a day?

Wow, quite a disappointment for a 5 star hotel. Only one towel sink full of water, no hot water after the morning. The positive car service from the airport is a real steal. The bed comfy, plenty of staff and very friendly. Stocked fridge every other day. Negatives knocking and entering room at 9:15 am to refill fridge or coming at real earl hours to clean the bathroom. The entertainment shows were out of this world from the set, costumes, choreography sound system! The availability of food and the options were good. The specialty restaurants are totally overrated don't waste your time trying to get a reservation you will enjoy the buffet much better. The umbrella's around the pool don't block sun, they should warn you about the sand it can literally burn your feet. The highlight was a cockroach in the bathroom!

Truly AMAZING!!! We arrived at check-in time and I thought it would be slow, but in a few minutes and with great kindness we had already completed the procedure. We were greeted by a tall man with little hair (I describe him that way because I forgot his name) who was extremely kind and explicit, which It was an excellent first impression. The first star of the rating goes to Him. In a few minutes we were already enjoying our room, which was impeccable, spacious and with great comfort and design; Every day we were there it was always cleaned with dedication and care, nothing was ever touched or missing, which gave us a lot of confidence. The second star goes to the ladies who clean the rooms. We went to the beach, beautiful, clean and with a very warm sea; the pools ALL very clean and well-kept; another star for this achievement. We had dinner several times at BALBOA, always fresh food, well prepared, presented and very varied; the attentive and well-prepared staff; another star for them. The bars (all) with trained, friendly and very well stocked staff; Fernet was new; That is, two stars (from the initial rating) are for the bars. The animation group is always active, fun and dynamic; The theater and bingo (in the lemon bar) are UNMISSABLE, another star for them. The most important. They make everyone participate.
The other restaurants all have exquisite food, well prepared and presented. All staff attentive, polite and well prepared.
As you will see, I lack stars to rate them, because they all deserve them.
It is the sixth time I have traveled to Panama, but the first time I have stayed at this FABULOUS HOTEL and from now on I will ALWAYS choose it. Congratulations to the work group, thanks to you "MY DREAMED VACATION WAS PERFECT".

Had an amazing weeklong stay. We were given two double beds at first instead of the king we requested, but this was changed as soon as a king room was available for us. They were extremely attentive to us and they added cute features to our room as it was our anniversary.

The cleanliness of this hotel exceeds any other all inclusive I have ever been to. They have people carrying mops on standby, they scrub the pool floors, the ceilings, the railings. And the landscaping was looked after at every second of every day. Truly blown away by their attention to detail. It’s clear they work EXTREMELY hard to create an amazing experience for the guests.

The beach was also lovely. It’s not quite like the pictures only because a lot of the sand is black, which takes away from the clarity of the water. But for someone who travels for the sole purpose of beaches, I enjoyed it very much. There are days where the water is very wavy or very still, and very blue or very murky. We walked along the beach to other resorts and were blown away by the colour of the water there. Would strongly recommend doing that if you’re a beach person!

The food here was probably the best food of any all inclusive I have ever been to. It is available at ALL times and there are never any lineups during late nights (at least from my experience). There was an extensive range of all kinds of meats and food. Not to mention how fresh everything was.

Entertainment was also exquisite. While I didn’t watch it every night, I was impressed by the nights I did. They even have entertainment earlier in the night for kids too.

The only thing I would’ve liked was to be able to explore around the riu a little more, but there isn’t much around that area to see. Choosing to be so secluded from the main city, you don’t get much of the Panama culture while visiting this resort. But this was our choice.

All in all, I couldn’t recommend a better resort to visit while in Panama.

Peaceful and pleasant hotel by the sea

My first experience with a resort and I wasn't disappointed. The people of Panama are very friendly and nice and were continually busy around the resort. All were helpful in any inquiries I had.