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Hotel overview

Where families, spa-lovers, active travelers and couples come for sun and luxurious sand, this inviting resort provides the perfect blend of service and smiles fronting Costa Rica’s warm Pacific Coast. Nestled amidst tropical palms and fragrant gardens, guests are treated to spacious guestrooms and suites featuring a regularly restocked in-room mini-bar and liquor dispenser; a pampering spa; fun-filled children’s amenities including a playground, activity club and pool; lighted tennis courts; a disco and 24-hour, all-inclusive restaurants and bars serving delicious cuisines ranging from Asian fare to a robust Steakhouse. Creating the perfect setting for unforgettable vacation experiences, this polished resort has something for every member of the family.


Location

Guanacaste
Liberia, Costa Rica Airport (LIR) : 30 miles
San Jose, Costa Rica Airport (SJO) : 150 miles

Property information

Year Built: 2009
Accessible rooms: 1
All rooms non-smoking: 701
Floors: 6
Total rooms: 701

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Hotel details

Dining

Dining options are available for this property.
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Amenities

Multiple amenities are available at this hotel.
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Activities

This property offers numerous activities.
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Hotel advisories

Advisory Costa Rica will impose some restrictions for Holy Week. Alcohol is not permitted to be sold or consumed. This ban on alcohol starts the Thursday prior to Easter and runs through Easter Sunday. A few hotels purchase special permits to serve alcohol, but generally it is not available. In addition, most restaurants, shops, and bars will be closed for the same time period. Restaurants in the hotels will be operating. The City Tour will not be operating.
Advisory Family Room: ***Important Information*** Please note when booking a Family Room, the minimum occupancy for this room category is: 2 Adults and 1 Child between ages 2-12. Children aged 13 and over are considered adults. The hotel will not honor/confirm bookings with 1 Adult and 1 Child or 2 Adults.
Advisory Two Bedroom Family Suite: ***Important Information*** Please note when booking a Two Bedroom Family Suite, the minimum occupancy for this room category is: 3 Adults or 2 Adults and 2 Children between ages 2-12. Children aged 13 and over are considered adults. The hotel will not honor/confirm bookings with 2 Adults or 2 Adults and 1 Child.
Advisory Student Groups/Spring Breakers (either groups or individuals, regardless of age) are not allowed at any time during the year. Guests disturbing or generating complaints from other guests or hotel may be removed from the property, at their own expense. Parties in rooms are not permitted.
Advisory In continuity with our product improvements, we are very excited to announce the upcoming renovation of the RIU Guanacaste hotel in Costa Rica, which will be taking place starting April 28th, 2025 to October 3rd, 2025 (re-opening on October 4th, 2025).

General policies & fine print

Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 12:00 PM
Minimum Check-In Age: 18
General Policies:

Check-in Policy - Deposits or credit/debit card hold authorizations are not requested at check-in. Minimum age of 18 is required for check-in, an ID/Passport will be requested upon arrival.

Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.

Hotel Spring Break Policy- Student Groups/Spring Breakers (either groups or individuals, regardless of age) are not allowed at any time during the year. Guests disturbing or generating complaints from other guests or hotel may be removed from the property, at their own expense. Parties in rooms are not permitted.


Transfer Policy - 
A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.

General Information - Room taxes and service fees are included in vacation price.
Minimum night stay restrictions may apply.
Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.

Pet Policy Pets Not Allowed
Early Departure Policy:
  • Early Departure Penalty: 1 Night Applies: Sunday - Saturday 04Jul24 - 23Dec26
  • Early Departure Penalty: 2 Nights Applies: Sunday - Saturday 24Dec25 - 30Apr26

Ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor traveler rating

TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_4.0 10300 reviews
  • TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_ 5.0 star tripadvisor rating
    Amazing - Will go again

    Trip was amazing, was my 3rd visit to Riu, always liked going.. Only 1 suggestion is update the Riu app, the schedules never run on time

    Dec 21, 2024
  • TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_ 4.0 star tripadvisor rating
    Birthday

    Overall this resort is very good! The food to me was very good! The resort is considered great for the price! The beach is just ok. Although the view is beautiful but the sand is black therefore the water doesn’t look that clear either. But overall, I like this resort for the price we paid.

    Dec 21, 2024
  • TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_ 5.0 star tripadvisor rating
    Excellent Facility and Wonderful Attentive Staff

    This is my 3rd visit to this resort and stayed in the new section just completed in Nov 24. Rooms were impeccable and the addition of the water park a great addition. I did attempt the long tube water slide and it’s quite a ride. 4 open slides and 4 tube slides. The BEST addition is a Gellato/Slushy/Cookie bar. It accounted for 4 of the 8 lbs I gained last week, but worth every calorie. The restaurants are superb, and we really appreciated the new policy of “first come first served” at the many ala carts restaurants. On our last visit some years ago you had to book ahead of time, and the majority of them were full… and who knows what you are going to be doing 4 days from now or want for supper. You line up for the restaurant you want (usually 30min ahead of opening) and you get either first sitting or they give you a beeper for 2nd seating. Excellent idea. My only disappointment was the Filadelphia bar which had live entertainment from 6:45-7:45 daily which was excellent, but way too short. Would have been nice if this was at least 2 hrs or there were multiple performers throughout the evening, as we always missed part of the hour at or waiting for a sitting for supper. Food is outstanding. Buffets have different selections daily to meet all tastes. Be cautious swimming in the ocean. On very wavy days in particular jelly fish are present but cant be seen. We both had very minor stings, but several guests who ventured out further in the swimming area had some nasty bites. They are not serious and treated with vinegar or alcohol, but still makes for an uncomfortable remainder of your visit. One of our most enjoyable activities was walking the very long expanse of beach every day. It is several km long and mostly sand for the first 2km. If you want to venture further, take water shoes with you to climb over the rocks. There is a very nice brown sand beach about 3km down not easily accessible and with only 2 or 3 people on it when we ventured there. Easiest to make this trek during low tide. The regular beach is black sand, but it is very nice sand. This is not Hawaii coarse granular sand and very comfortable to walk in. There were plenty of lounge chairs on the beach and around the pool area. With the 2 new pools in the new section it provided plenty of space. This really is an ALL inclusive resort. We never had to spend a dime after arriving apart from an adventure excursion we took. We plan on returning hopefully with our grand kid

    Dec 20, 2024
  • TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_ 1.0 star tripadvisor rating
    WARNING

    My husband and I have stayed at over well over 50+ all-inclusive resorts over the years. It does not matter how bad a situation is, we have always made the best of things and focus on the positive. This is our first negative review and it relates to our experience of money being taken from the LOCKED safe in our room. The total that was taken was $800 in Canadian and USD currencies and what is so genius is that not all of our money was taken so as not to send up any red flags. We knew how much money was in our safe because when we booked our excursion for the next day, we were offered a discount if we paid by cash so we counted the exact amount that we had in our safe. The robbery happened that day between the hours of approximately 1:00pm to 8:30pm while we were vacant from our room. It was the day of the “White Party”. It was not until the next morning after we used our passcode to open our safe that it was then discovered that the money was stolen from our safe. When we alerted the Front Desk, the Manager came to our room and used his “Master Keys”, being a set of five (5) keys, and attempted to open our safe. To his surprise, none of his Master Keys were able to unlock our safe. He could not explain as to why his “Master Keys” did not open our safe and insinuated that we were at fault for any missing money. After this happened, my husband went on YouTube and was able to find various ways that these so-called safes in the hotel rooms can be opened. This not only happened to us but to other guests who were staying during our week here so this was not an isolated incident. We filed a Police Report with both the local Police and the Tourist Police but nothing has been done to date and I am sure that this may be an ongoing problem for other guests. I wanted to post this experience as a Warning to others.

    Dec 19, 2024
  • TRI_LOGO_ANCILLARY_ 5.0 star tripadvisor rating
    Love this place! We'll see you again 😍

    That was our second time in this hotel and we will definitely come back again! Incredibly beautiful place based in the middle of the rain forest. You can experience wildlife all around - you just need to observe! Great for restful holidays, local activities and exciting trips. We love the staff, all of them work really hard but still, with such lovely smiles, being friendly and so positive! We had only one unpleasant experience caused by guests, father and son, who captured huge iguana. Thanks to group of guests and incredible staff the situation was treated by management seriously, as it should be. Well done, Riu Guanacaste! And see you soon!

    Dec 16, 2024