Playa del Carmen Hotel Guide: Riu Palace Mexico

An easy walk along the beach to town, this property is among the best of the all-inclusive hotels here, offering impressive architecture, large rooms, good food, and surprisingly attentive service for an all-inclusive resort. Similar to the nearby Riu Palace Riviera Maya, this operation is spread out over vast acreage, with long walks common; it can easily take guests 30 minutes to walk from their cushioned chaise longues at the beach to their gardenview guest room.

Guests enter into the heart of this three-story Mediterranean-style edifice to a spacious lobby formally appointed with gleaming marble mosaics, mural-adorned walls, gilded ceilings, massive pillars, chandeliers, warm polished woods, and soaring Palladian windows. First impressions lead guests to wonder if they have discovered a tropical Versailles. The views take in a long row of palms that stand guard over the formal walkways, gardens and expansive fountain that lead to the elaborate pool terrace.ce to a Guests are offered a welcome cocktail upon arrival and are taken care of by the efficient front-desk staff. Guests looking to retrieve email can do so in the lobby; the guest rooms lack Wi-Fi.

All restaurants here receive good marks with bountiful, if occasionally repetitive, selections. The buffet restaurant—a large, traditionally appointed dining room with faux-torches on the walls and tall Palladian windows—is the most popular. It features breakfast, lunch and beautifully prepared theme dinners. Also open set hours for breakfast, lunch and light fare are two more casual venues that open onto patios facing the beach. One features a regional lunch menu, the other Italian. Yashima serves Japanese for dinner only. Four other dinner-only venues include Sir Oliver for international selections, Agave for Mexican fare, a steak house with a grill, and a Brazilian Rodizio Botafogo that delivers an array of skewered meats with both familiar (filet mignon) and not-so-familiar (bull and ostrich) offerings. All fine-dining restaurants require pants and collared shirts for men.

Comfortable club chairs and cocktail tables furnish the theater, which showcases nightly performances, followed by a band playing in the central courtyard each evening. A pianist plays in the evenings in the charming lounge off the lobby. Other drinking venues include a cigar bar and the sheltered swim-up bar nestled in the large circular pool that fronts the beach. Unlike at many all-inclusive hotels, a variety of beers are available here, and the wine and liquor are of good quality. Nonetheless, all is generally quiet by midnight, so some find the action a little tame here. (The Riu Tequila next door has a disco that rocks until 2 am.) Guests have privileges at the other Riu hotels but not at their dinner restaurants.

Poolside activities lend excitement. The beach here is among the widest in the region, though not as sugar-white as the strand in Cancun. It is also cleaner and quieter than most, and kayaking, snorkeling and windsurfing are free. Also on-site are a full-service spa, whirlpool, small fitness center, two lighted hard-surface tennis courts, table tennis, and beach and pool volleyball. Guests pay to access the Internet in the lobby, either with wireless Internet access on laptops or on the hotel's computer. For those who want to get married, there is a small chapel off the lobby.

The attractively standardized guest rooms display traditional appointments featuring warm woods, muted fabrics and granite rose-tiled counters. Most have a split-level design, with large sitting areas separated from the sleeping area by steps. All are appointed with two double or one king bed, air conditioning and ceiling fans, older TVs, phones, safes, well-stocked minibars, compact combination baths with hair dryers, and private balconies or terraces. Suites add sitting and dressing areas and double sinks, bidets and jetted tubs in the bath. Guests may take advantage of all facilities at less impressive (and less expensive) siblings Riu Tequila, Riu Yucatan and Riu Playacar.

Room service is now available around the clock. Pets are not permitted.

Service has improved greatly over the last two years, and the overall peaceful ambience here is ideal for honeymooners and other couples.