my husband took me to punta cana for my birthday in october, 2003. we stayed at the riu melao it was a wonderful experience. the rooms were clean, the beach was just beautiful, i enjoyed the the shows, shopping, the outside huts for drinks and food. i fell in love there i wanted to quit my job and stay. so this october we are planning to come back for my birthday and we are planning to bring more people with us this time last time it was just my husband and myself but i want the family to experience what we did.

We just returned from our Honeymoon at the RIU Melao in Punta Cana.
We purchased a RIU Riulette from our travel agent as we had never been anywhere south before and were open to anything so it was a good deal for us. We ended up getting RIU Taino at the airport but as Taino and Melao are now run out of the same desk our room was on Melao. I think we ended up in the best resort as far as we were concerned. The staff at our resort were exceptional! Right away when they found out we were Honeymooners - we were upgraded to a bigger room -King bed - lots of towel animals and balloons.
The first member of the staff we met was Genndy. He is the main bartender/ steward. He sent us champagne to our room and was always ready to have a laugh and grab us our drinks etc. He spoke English fairly well, so that was helpful as he could translate the Spanish for us.
Our waiter we had everyday was José. Although his English was limited - he tried always to be so friendly and outgoing. Great person!!
The manager Roberto was awesome -he arranged for two special dinners for us at the Palace Macao - one for my husbands birthday! Not to mention countless other little things.
The beaches have soft, white sand, the water is the beautiful, clear Caribbean water and our resort was awesome.
We went on a great excursion called Bavarro Runners - so great to see the actual country and how people live - awesome!! Would recommend highly!! Jacky was the guide -so fun.
Can't say enough good things about this place. I work in the Hotel industry and can be very picky about accommodations - so if I loved - I am sure it you will too!!! This is great spot for a quiet time - not really a party place. The best vacation I have ever had!!!

Les chambres ne sont pas toutes recentes mais sympas. La nourriture est abondante, meme les gros mangeurs seront rassasiés (et les gros buveurs aussi).
La plage est sympa meme si il faut se lever tot pour reserver un parasol à l'ombre des cocotiers.
Il y a beaucoup de francais et d'animateurs francophones.

Possibilité de faire des excursions (pas donné mais ca vaut le coup).

My husband and I stayed at the Riu Melao from june 4 2006 to june 11 2006. Having been to the Riu Playacar in Riviera Maya last year for our honeymoon, we were expecting a lot. I would say the Melao is very average. The food was ok but nothing extraordinary. The à la carte restaurants were ordinary. The pool is small but it did not bother us because we are mostly beach people. The beach was awesome, the best of all the other Riu in Punta Cana. We visited the other Riu's and I have to say, the new Palace Punta Cana is out of this world. But If I would have to choose again, I would probably go for the Bambu or Taino. But it is still a nice hotel and we liked it. I don't think we will be going back but overall, we had a very nice vacation.