Riu Tequlia Reviews

The Yucatan is a wonderful destination but please don't spend your entire holiday on the beach - get inland, learn some of the history of the area and meet the locals who are, if it is possible, even more friendly than those on the coast.Playacar is to all intents and purposes one road (almost a huge private drive) full of hotels and a few developments of apartments/cul-de-sacs containing a handful of detached houses.

Hotel Riu Tequila is very comfortable if a little big for our particular tastes. Food is excellent in the main restauarant but we were very disappointed with both the food and particularly the service in the seafood restaurant.All the bar people, in fact all the staff in general, are falling over themselves to help you and the reception staff are far and away the best we have encountered. The Yucatan was closed for refurbishment (which Thomas Cook (who we usually find to be excellent) had not forewarned us). No shortage of sunbeds on the excellent beach but on the (rare) occasion we returned to the pool area of the hotel the sunbeds there were all ";towelled"; - but very, very few actually occupied.

Don't miss a swim with dolphins - better booked locally as tour operators excursions generally very expensive - that was one of our highlights (despite the $50 US cost of the 15 minute souvnier DVD!!).Lastly,if you enjoy listening, at volume, to our cousins from over the ";pond"; then you will probably enjoy your holiday even more than we did!

Visited this hotel 16-03-05 until 30-03-05, everything you see and read before you visit is like a story that comes true.

The beaches are like baby powder the staff all appreciate that it is tourists that bring the money into their country and they make you feel very comfortable. We booked the dolphins at port aventura (Fantastic), we also booked a speedboat jungle tour in which you drive your own speedboat across the sea then through the mangroves to a lagoon were you can snorkel on the worlds second largest coral reef. This was a holiday which looked very good on paper but turned out to exceed all our expectations by far. I must thank our Direct rep Debbie for her knowledge of Mexico and also a special thanks to all and I mean All the Managers, Activities staff, Bar staff and Cleaners of the Riu Tequila. My only upset is that as Riu are a part of Tui and Thomson holidays are in the same group, Thomson have now taken the Tequila off all the other UK tour operators which means that it is lightly to cost £400 pp for the same holiday

What can I say that hasn't already been said before.A fantastic holiday !!!!! Hotel was excellent ie. food, service, rooms and pool couldn't be faulted.The resort was clean and all the locals were very friendly who couldn't do enough for you.Beach was wonderful and there was always a nice breeze to keep you cool.
Definitely going back again soon !!

this hotel is out of this world everything about it was spot on staff brill friendly,hotel clean,food top class lots to chose from,holiday was best holiday ever entertainment well my god very proffessional in deed,full enjoyable will be going back there with the rest of my family without a doubt book it you wont be disapointed.

After ten and a half hour flight from Gatwick (Britannia Airways should really provide a plane with more leg room for long haul), we landed at 4.20pm and sailed through Cancun airport without a hitch or a search (We were lucky, this by all accounts is a rare occurrence) arriving at this beautiful Riu Tequila Hotel at about 5.30pm. Our coach was welcomed by friendly staff,who ensured check in was effortless, allowing us to be unpacking in our spacious, spotlessly clean room within a few minutes.

The hotel is set in grounds designed to give rainforest effect and there are gardeners working all day pruning, planting and digging. When you wake in the morning the dawn chorus of tropical birds and monkeys (we didnt actually see any but heard them) is amazing!
Although there are more than enough sun beds around the pools, there are far too many trees and too many shaded areas.

The food is excellent,plentiful and varied catering for European, Canadian and American tastes.
If you go to the beach you can use the restaurant facilites of the Riu Yucatan hotel, but we thought the lunchtime food and facilities better at the Tequila. This is probably because the Yucatan has to cater for everyone on the beach who come in from the other three Riu hotels, and they dont have as much time to clean tables and replace food as the others.

The beach is fabulous. White sand, palm trees and turquoise blue sea. No need to worry about sunloungers, there are more than enough for even the busiest days. The beach is over the road and a few minutes walkdown a pleasant avenue. There is a 10 seater golf buggy (known by the Reps as the Wally Trolley) which runs a shuttle service to the beach, but with all the food to graze on,we preferred the walk! Incidentally, on arrival at the hotel you are given a plastic beach towel ticket each, which entitles you to go to the pool area and collect large beach towels which can be changed every day.

The staff both in the grounds and within the Tequila itself are the most friendly and helpful people you could ever wish to meet. Nothing is too much trouble and the waiters in the dining room are at your side as soon as you look at them. All the staff work incredibly hard and the bar staff are amazing. How they keep smiling after such long shifts worked at break neck speed is mind boggling!

The guests at the Tequila when we were there were mainly American (the youngsters,brash, loud and inconsiderate in the early hours) the warm, gentle friendly Canadians, British and other Europeans. The tables in the dining room are fairly close together and people were very friendly, eager to get to know each other and exchange tips on best places to go and best prices.
We had taken smart clothes for evening, but only the British seemed to change for dinner. Many of the other guests slobbed out in shorts and tee shirts.

We went to the Dolphin Discovery and paid for the full Sea Life Experience. Interacting with the gentle sting rays (stings removed) the lumbering shy manatees, and then later to swim with the dolphins. A word of warning here. If you do the full experience, there is a long gap between the manatees, stingrays and the dolphin experience. Our group became very cold as we were wet from the stingray/manatees and had to wait over an hour for our dolphin time. Also, on the leaflet, it says you can snorkel with the dolphins......this didnt happen, even though we asked. Having said that, we had a wonderful time, and the foot push from the dolphins is something else!!!!
We also went to Excaret, and there you can snorkel and also swim with dolphins. It is an eco park and there is a lot to see. If you go, you MUST stay for the show in the evening. It is fantastic! We left a few minutes before the end, though, because we had gone by taxi (loads in hotel car park) for $10 and knew we might have trouble finding one to get us back when the theatre emptied.

To sum up, our stay at the Riu Tequila, grounds and beach was 2 weeks in paradise!
The only fault we had, was lack of evening entertainment for adults. Yes there was the show 10-10.30ish, which was great, but nothing after, except to go to the Nightclub, (mostly late teens early 20s) or sit at the bar. There was scope for someone to put on some music and get everyone dancing.

If you are trying to decide whether to go to the more expensive Yucatan, (only pricier because of beach side location) or the Tequila......go for the Tequila. We found the food,grounds,cleanliness and friendly staff to be the better of the two.