my husband and I recently stayed at the Riu Guanacaste all-inclusive resort in
Costa Rica I'm sharing my full review of the Riu Guanacaste all-inclusive resorts
features to help you make your decision on where to stay when you visit this was
our first time to stay at the Riu Guanacaste in Costa Rica and we have already
stayed in two riu resorts in the world before so that is a recommendation right
there for why you should use them this was our first time and this actual
resort now you're going to see the word hotel associating with the riu
Guanacaste and other riu resorts but don't let that mislead you it is an
all-inclusive beach resort with all the free amenities that come with it
now let's pop into my video. the riu Guanacasta sits on the Matapalo
beach be prepared mentally because the beaches in costa rica are a dark sand
like black sand and the water is a brown blue color it's beautiful and you are at
the beach but it is the pacific coast it's not your Caribbean and
crystal-clear water and white sandy beaches I will say that I enjoyed taking
a walk you get a nice good walk on these black sandy beaches because the sand is
very firm to walk on so that's a place I'm gonna go over why we chose the Riu
one it was affordable we want to spend our extra money on doing excursions or
adventures in Costa Rica is the vacation for adventuring
so adventure with the extra money that you have by saving on where you stay it
is a very nice resort and like I said we've stayed at other resorts and we're
impressed so we knew kind of what to expect going into it we also chose the
Riu Guanacaste all-inclusive resort because it was only an hour less than an
hour drive from the Liberia Airport and we live in Houston Texas and United
Airlines flies from Houston to Liberia it's like a two and a half hour flight
and then our ride to the hotels are only maybe an hour now you can also fly to Santa Fe
Costa Rica but those beaches are two-hour drive we were very happy with
just staying at the Guanacaste region area of beaches Riu does have another
resort right next door to it but it is 100 dollars extra each night and that's
only because it is a little newer we opted for the more affordable reasons or
I said earlier besides being close to the airport and affordable the Riu
grounds are just beautiful think rainforest scenery everywhere that's
what you're gonna get on the grounds and their gardens
the Riu Guanacaste is shaped like a u riu I think all of them are and in the
middle is just the garden the lush gardens that you have to walk through to
get everywhere there are three pools on the property and by that they mean a hot
tub a swim up bar pool and the regular pool that's attached to that one as well
so it really looks like a really large large large pool there are three rows of
lounge chairs and in front of each row is are these really high hedges and it
really gives you privacy if you don't want the hype and all the excitement of
the swimming pool you can stay and have that privacy and a look and it's amazing
how quiet those bushes do keep up the sound how quiet it is on those back two
rows away from the pool the cups that they use at the poolside bar and
restaurant are wonderful I saw many and I wish I had brought my
aluminum type cup for keeping my beverages cold and getting a little more
coffee in the morning if I wanted that and I gave myself that tip on what to
pack for a cruise ship trip and I did not take that advice for this one and I
wish I would have brought that cup now in the pool I participated in the free
water aerobics class they have several activities in the pool during the day
and there were about 20 other people with me it was fine a little 30-minute
class a little light exercise it was fun they also offer free kayaking down at
the beach free windsurfing and they also offer a free snuba class in the pool and
that is snorkeling and scuba outfit and gear in
the pool and that lesson is free and then if you want to snuba in the ocean
right there at the riu property at the beach location you can pay to have that
class done they also rent jet skis they handle some tours from down there
easy greezy and most of it is free this will be a great place to jet ski because
the water is mostly calm like you don't have big waves crashing at the shore you
just have small waves at this shore and at the beach there are the same nice
lounge chairs that you have at the pool I watched a YouTube before my visit and
a gal said i can't remember her name but she said if you are looking at the beach
from the hotel or the resorts go to the left and go as far as you can to the
left and you'll see like a sharp cut back into an extra cove and she said if
you go around walk on those little rocks and go around that you will see some
clearer waters and we never did that we had just as a relaxing and fun at the
time just hanging out the pool in the regular beach while we were walking on
the beach there were white faced monkeys in the trees in the rain forest trees
right by the beach that was exciting they're so cute you're gonna see so many
natural wildlife creatures in a safe environment while you're in Costa Rica
one thing I forgot to mention is bringing a bag like a little cool tea
bag or a really thin canvas bag just so you can take your phone your eyeglasses
your sunglasses a book down to the pool area or the beach area I wish I had
taken that I just had to carry everything in my hands you have the pool
towel cards and those are only for the towels you have an actual key to get in
your room that was funny but your pool towel card will get you a towel and then
you don't lose it because there's like a twenty five dollar fee per card if you
lose it but you can also check out a book I think that's so sweet you can
share a book donate a book check out a book great little addition to the Riu
Guanacaste in my other video about what to know about before
you plan your trip to Costa Rica I mentioned this and I was really worried
about mosquitos we went to the Riu Guanacaste in the dry season and I did
not see any mosquitoes but we do recommend this it's a sunscreen and a
bug repellent it is thick it doesn't get watery in the heat and the SPF was
fantastic I was out at the pool and walking on the Matapalo Beach for like
two and a half three hours with 15 only and I did not get burned we highly
highly recommend it and I'll link it below but make sure if you're looking on
Amazon that you get the 2 ounce bottle for your liquids bag not the 4 ounce
bottle I forgot to say that there it's an open-air restaurant right by the
swimming pool that you can go in your wet bathing suit and eat lunch like
hamburgers chips great guacamole there is a swim up bar and then you can walk
to the other side of the bar if you want to get something to drink while you're
at the swimming pool but there is that lunch place that you can go to right
there by the pool in the beach which turns into something else at night so
stick around to the end and I'll tell you about that in addition to the two
bars at the pool there are three huge open-air beautiful ones that you can
start taking advantage of around 2:00 in the afternoon they're very nice for
lounging and relaxing there's always a breeze in one of them it's a little more
private a little masculine looking and there's nightly music like instrument
music provided for you and then right next door is another bar and a huge
stage entertainment stage for the nightly entertainment where they Lipsy
some songs and cute cute plays and musicals that you want to support every
night and it's loud enough and ton it has tons of seating for you you are not
gonna need to get there early you can walk up and get a table and then there's
a bar in the garden and the lush area kind of a patio open-air not covered at
all that's attached to that stage theater area that is just lovely at
night if you want to back up and just have a
real conversation while you're listening to the background music of the
entertainment it's just nice lots of space to spread out surprisingly I did
not smell cigarette smoke and there was a smoking patio section near the garden
like full of pebbles and stuff like that I never smelled the cigarette smoke and
I'm very picky about that the Guanacaste area is not crowded and one thing that's
great about going to this location is you drive through like 45 minutes almost
an hour from the airport to your resort location and you see the poor living
conditions so when you get to your resort you feel so grateful but you
appreciate all the labor that went into preparing your room or preparing your
food and you want to tip them you want to say thank you you just appreciate
those people's work for your enjoyment and relaxation
the rooms are great there are 701 rooms and the rear of Guanacaste and they were
clean they're large they're table floors each room I wonder what made them make
that seven hundred and first room that would be interesting to know the rooms
are great they're big they're tile floor the beds were firm which we love the
pillows were firm and soft at the same time we slept so well at the Guanacaste
your room is stocked with a minibar and a mini refrigerator with coats club soda
beer and a one liter bottle of water on the RIU Guanacaste website you
will see that you will get a new liter water bottle every other day and we only
had two people in our room and we were out so we would always bring up cups of
water from the restaurant at night to get us through the night and because we
ran out of water I tried at night at the front desk to get the new bottled water
and they didn't have any but the very next morning I went after breakfast and
they had bottles of water to give me but they tell you you can't use the sink
water so I really think they should provide many more free bottles of water
for anyone whenever we need them the furniture is solid I never once
heard the people on either side of us turning on their shower anyway very
solid very pleased with the rooms the bathrooms a showerhead was fine the
towels are great they're not see-through towels they also provide a bag that's
huge that I would pack dirty clothes in or wet clothes in we recommend bringing
a pair of shoes for when you go ziplining or on an adventure especially
in the wet season that you can just leave in the hotel room trash can maybe
those people can use it or you can just trash them and that's one less thing you
have to bring back and you don't have to worry about all the mud and dirt getting
in your suitcase and getting a hold of everything else the RIU resorts all
have a steak restaurant and Asian restaurant in Italian one this one had a
fusion restaurant which is a mix of cultural foods all in one and the first
night we wanted to go to the Italian restaurant and she said this one fills
up fast and so we got there at the time and it opened at 6:15 and we remember 82
on the list so we went and ate we're so hungry
we went and ate at the main dining room when you care and it's fantastic food in
there they have a special carving guy in there right when you walk in there's a
pasta bar but the pasta chef there they have super guacamole every night they
have lots of hot foods they have cold foods cold cuts at breakfast they have
an omelet bar with the omelet guy right there hand making you some people give a
dollar tip we never did but that's an idea if you want to tip them you can
lots of fresh at least seven fresh squeezed fruit juices or vegetable
juices to choose from even for your picky eaters you've got pizza you've got
cereals you've got tons of free breads now they're South American or Central
American type bread and Central American desserts think like flan and jello maybe
some chocolate and then one night they had duck to carve they had beef they had
a Mexican night they called quesadillas fried tacos in this main
dining room is huge it is not like a step down they all come from
kitchen don't you think we were very pleased every night we would always go
into the main dining room for a little dessert my husband get sweets and I get
some pasta usually and you can get coffee
they have sodas waters fresh water that has been filtered beer cappuccinos all
those kind of things you will not go hungry there's also a 24-hour sports bar
and in it you will have TVs of our pool tables there's also a stand-up clear
door refrigerator that has packaged sandwiches and things like that so if
you have a tour that's leaving super early you can go in there and get a
sandwich for the road I don't know our tour guide on the our all-day tour it
provided lunch for us which was fantastic you can watch my other video
about what to know before you go to Costa Rica for the first time I just
made one of those videos and it's packed full of tips for you the RIU resorts used
to have reserved dining for the extra nice restaurants but now it's first-come
first-serve and like I said earlier the restaurant that is going your swimsuit
during the day turns into a very nice steak restaurant at night and you get
down there at 6:15 and you're like number 82 on the list again so we
suggest going like 30 minutes early or going at 7:00 or 6:15 and knowing that
you're gonna have to wait at least an hour before your table is ready at that
steak when it was like chaos I think they were under staffed that night
because we went back an hour later and still had to wait 30 minutes but we
didn't have we weren't given a pager and we showed up an hour later and other
people were given a pager so I'm not sure about that but the Italian
restaurant you sit down and order but you can start you can get all your
starters in your dessert from a buffet and then you get your main entree from
pre-chosen list of entrees so if you kind of have a waiter you kind of don't
and then the Asian one is just buffet but it's a nicer restaurant so you dress
nicer but it you don't have to wait because it's all about they and just so
you know in the main dining room guys cannot wear tank tops at any of the
meals my husband thinks they can wear tank tops and at breakfast but I don't
but we saw the waiters and the cleanup crew
turning guys away because they were wearing a tank top at lunch in dinner
time there is an ATM in the casino now in between those two Riu properties
those are the only resorts on that whole beach I don't know if I said that it's
great you're kind of secluded but if you still had the crowds because they're
like 700 rooms and each resort but there's like a Main Street with some
stores and some little ice cream and cappuccino shops and the casino and that
is also where the spa and the gym are located and the ATM and the casino gives
you US Dollars and the Costa Rican dollars I've booked a 30-minute back
massage with the spa and I was treated so nicely it's just like they are in the
states and paid for it with a credit card and she massaged my arms and my
hands it was so wonderful and her name was fer F E R I also wanted to tell you
about in the lobby there are all these salespeople for legit tour companies ok
we booked all our tours online and like I said I'll link those below so you can
do your research it's not sponsored at all I highly recommend Alex on the beach
he didn't want to pay the lobby price so he meets you on the beach and then you
walk to his truck and his truck was very nice in my other video about Costa Rica
they're all air-conditioned fine the night before the ziplining tour with
Congo Trail Alex on the beach set it up for us we can only pay him $20 to
reserve a spot at the canopy tour and so we had to pay the rest of it in cash so
that's 90 dollars cash we had to get out of the ATM in the casino or you can
bring it with you but they send you a picture of the drivers face and I loved
that with Alex on the beach but I like his stuff below you are in a gated
community in this garden at the gate opening and so every time you leave
come in there is a certain process they go through and we felt very safe because
of that if you fly from Texas you will probably arrive at the Liberia Airport
around 12:30 and get to your resort by 1:30 but you can't get into your room
until 3 o'clock so have those swimsuits ready and they have bathrooms in the
lobby that you can change into and start your vacay I really hope this full
review helps you make your decision more clearly on where you want to stay and
start your adventuring in Costa Rica thank you for visiting and thanks for
watching leave me a comment and introduce
yourself to me thanks for popping over