Riu Playa Blanca - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5757 reviews

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  Honest Review

  This is a great resort IF you want: - quiet - rest - good food - few activities If you want nightlife or excitement, pick somehwere else. The good: Food was amazing, buffet was clean, fresh food, lots of variety, different every night. For those complaining about the food, they should never go to an all-inclusive as this was one of the best I've had. Not specialty food, but good, wholesome, well cooked, clean. Restful - it's quiet. entertainment is done by 10pm (and it's loud everywhere) but done early. Someone else complained about construction, they are crazy. there is construction but it starts 8am and finishes by 4pm. it's beside the hotel and not a problem. Pools - there are 4 pools, all clean. they were renovating the kids pool halfway through our week. Service - the staff are wonderful. pleasant and eager to please. not hands out for tips all the time (although we tipped bc why wouldn't you!?) but it was a nice change from Mexico or Cuba or DR. The Bad: Pool chairs - I read the comments and ignored them. Do not ignore them. I got up at 8am, then 7am, then 6:30am then 5:30am - none of these days did I get a chair in the shade. I made a complaint to the hotel, nothing happened except they told me that you cannot reserve a chair until 7am. While they say this, they do nothing about it. The challnge (for a fair-person like myself) is sitting in the direct sun all day = burning. Bring lots of sunscreen! Sunshirts! The sunscreen at the hotel is about $20 USD per bottle. Death ride - the shuttle from the Panama City airport was a ride of death. It was 2 hours of 130km/hr; guy watching his videos on his phone weaving in & out of traffic and my life passed before my eyes. We passed no less than 3 accidents, at least 1 fatality. I strongly recommend flying to closer airport. I will never repeat this death drive again. Overall - good trip. Loved the quiet. Loved the food. if you need a week of relaxing in the sun; you will love it.

  Feb 03, 2026
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  A definitely must try beach resort!!

  Very good resort, everyone and everything was perfect, food, staff, room, environment. The beach was amazing. Also so many entertainment throughout the day and specifically at night. I would come back six month in July/august

  Jan 30, 2026
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  Great vacation. Panama did not disappoint. Hotel and food were great. Beach was beautiful for long walks.

  This hotel was great and the food was plentiful. We were all adults so spent all of our time at the adult swim-up pool bar. It would have been better having servers come around to take drink orders, but that wasn’t a big thing for us. We were out securing chairs at 5:45 every morning as they go fast. We were a party of 10 so we needed to be out early. The beach was beautiful for long walks in the morning. Beautiful sunrises to see. Walked the beach every morning at 6:30 am. So beautiful. Food was great at the buffet. Big variety. Italian restaurant was great as was the Steakhouse. The entertainment was repetitive with mostly lip-singing and dancing. It was way too loud. The disco was fun after the show, opening at 10 pm. All in all it was a great vacation.

  Jan 28, 2026
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  A smaller Riu

  You get what you pay for facilities wise. The Riu in The DR cost more for a reason. Still a nice resort (7 mins from the airport) with 3 Ala carte (line up) bacon at breakfast a good selection at the general buffet. Chairs at the pool that get shade all morning are very limited and you better be up early to get one. Smoking in designated spots was enforced politely by the staff. Staff were very great. Juan gets it done.

  Jan 25, 2026
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  poor resort

  we stayed 9 nights at this resort and were very dissapointed at the service little to no drink service at the pool or nightly music. the shows are late and not worth staying up for as they are the same old song and dance. I asked for sugar free soda and reg coffee in my room 3 times also the dishs and coffee cups were not clean all the time at the bufett. resort is getting old and they need to fix things not just paint over them. not enough chairs in the resort for everyone and food signs in bufett are worn out and not readable. Panama weather and beach were great I will go back again, but to a differant resort and use a differant airline as Copa had us wait about 3 hours for our luggage after we landed in Boston I reached out to them and so far no responce! I would give the riu Playa Blanca 2.5-3 stars at best and i have stayed in alot of riu's in differant countries

  Jan 20, 2026