We stayed at the Riu Yucatan July 16-23 and had a good time. We booked it from their website and got a $99/night/person price, which wasn't bad at all, all things considered.

Food: Breakfast was more than enough. The donuts were very yummy. :-) The fresh juice stand was really good as well. Lunch was fine; couldn't eat much cause it was so hot! We only visited La Hacienda once for lunch and it was a nice change from the beach-side lunch location. Dinner was also good at the buffet. We visited all 3 restaurants and did not like the Mediterrean restaurant. I got the seafood casserole. The waiter didn't understand English enough to explain what was in it, so I took my chances. Yuck. The desserts served in all 3 restaurants were the best desserts on the resort. The desserts on the buffet were all dry and cakey, except for the night they did choc. covered strawberries and ice cream. They have a huge variety of food for all nationalities; Europeans, Brits, Americans, etc. Pizza and french fries are there for the little ones!! (and the not-so-little ones :-) The Asian restaurant and Steakhouse were good; a great change from the buffet. You have to make your reservations early'ish in the morning or they book up.

Drinks: Hey, they were great! :-) I tried a Mojito for the first time and got hooked. The bartenders worked very hard alllll day but were always friendly. You can ask for better liquor, like Smirnoff or Bacardi and you'll get it. Once so ordered, the bartender on duty usually remembers your request for the evening.

Room: Yes, the beds were HARD. Various body parts fell asleep during the night due to the pressure points, but we were so tired, it didn't stop us from sleeping. Yeah, the beds are a weird size. Too small to fit 2 adults in one bed, but then you can't snuggle with your honey. :) The "door" to the bathroom was weird if you have a family there; it's only a curtain. The liquor in the room was pretty foul and we hate Pepsi products, so we hardly drank anything in the room. (Note, You can get Coke by walking out of the resort to the stores in the Playacar area!!!) We stayed in building 5, which was near the pool and bar, but honestly it was rather quiet in the room. At night you could hear the entertainment, but it was over by 11. I thought it was a great location, close to everything on the resort.

Pool: A bit disappointed here. It would make more sense if the 2 pools were connected. They look like they were once but got filled in with concrete. The swim-up bar in the one pool was fine. the other swim-up bar is a pool all by itself, in that you have to get out of either pool to get to it, and the water in there was chilly. The other 2 pools were almost tooooo warm. The pools close at 8 for cleaning and chlorine and boy, does it smell like it in the evenings!

Beach: Yes, my husband got up every morning around 7:30 to put towels on the loungers at the beach. You had to if you wanted some shade, which is a must for us. The beach was very nice though; we walked down the beach for a bit and thought ours was the nicest. It's the largest with the most trees. It has 2 massage huts on it; I got a massage one day (thanks to the crappy bed) and it was the best massage I've ever had. Soooo relaxing! We didn't take out any of the boats or anything, even though we kept meaning to. If you take bread down into the water, you can feed the fish. We had 3 different size fishes swimming around us when others were feeding them; very cool! There can be some waves there; it's not like the calm Caribbean we've been to before.

Entertainment: We only watched bits of 2 shows. We were tired by the end of the day and the little bits we saw were a tad boring. A few nights we sat by the bar in the main lobby and just talked and drank; it was fun. :)

Resort itself: Very nice and pretty. We looked at the other Riu hotels we had access to and ours was the nicest. Laid out nicely with lots of animals to watch, including the resort cats. This is a group of "wild" kitty cats who like to loiter on the main walkway to the restaurants in the hopes that you'll bring them food. They're very friendly. The little grey kitten purrs all the time and will let you pick him up. His mother is walking around too; she's pregnant again. Overall, I just said "awwwwww!"

Staff: Except for one bartender the first day we were there, everyone was very nice and polite. The people who work the breakfast shift in the restaurants also work lunch and dinner. IE: they work allll day. it made me feel like a jerk by the time we came home. I know different cultures are different, but good grief...No wonder they think we all are rich. We did get some fun towel art in the rooms.Tips are very appreciated, but the lobby staff almost got mad at us because we didn't want to use the bell boy. There aren't any elevators but we only had 2 bags and were on the 2nd floor.

Weather: 350 days of sunshine my foot!!! We spent at least 3 days dodging raindrops, running for a bar, and then walking back 15 minutes later when the sun came back out. On Friday it rained. And rained. And rained, allllll day. We sat in the lobby on the sofas and read. Bring some cards with you in case this happens!

Acitivites: We went to Xel-ha and booked it through the NW airlines rep in the hotel. Well, that's what the sign said anyway. We shopped around at the different desks and theirs was the cheapest AND the same price I found online, $87 for everything. Get the all inclusive - any means in Xel-ha cost around $22 a person. It was a great day, beautiful place, definitely worth it.

If you want to see any pictures, just email me at bebubbily@hotmail.com.

My husband and I have just returned from the Hotel and all I can say is wow !! Fantastic value for money !! Being one of the hotels at the budget end of the market we were a bit apprehensive and unsure about the standards at the hotel , but we needent have worried !! The grounds and hotel were completely spotless the beach was also cleaned every day all in all we were impressed .


Mostly we ate in the speciality restaurants which were fantastic you book them for the evening when you go for your breakfast ! The steakhouse has to be the best of the three we ate there 5 times on our holiday and had a different choice each time yum!!


The only gripe I had with the hotel is the entertainment it can be a bit tacky for example one night we had a micheal jackson tribute act !!! and we did have to put up with the usual club dance and hi di hi stuff !! Overall though this was a fantastic hotel and we probarly will return but maybe staying in the Palace next door as it is a little bit more upmarket !! Also the guests staying in the palace can use all the rui hotels in the area but noone can use the palace except those staying in the hotel .

This was my first time in Mexico and my boyfriends 2nd. We both thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. While here we visited 5th Ave a few times, and shopped around there. Definitely a must do. There is a lot to see there. Just beware of time share people trying to book you a free excursion if you visit their hotel. The Cozumel ferry is here also. We highly recommend the snorkeling in Cozumel. You can book this right on the ferry with the rep for about $25/pp very reasonable! The food at the resort was very plentiful and good. There is a nice variety. Just make sure you check the times at each restaurant they are not all open all the time. This was not a problem for us, but might be for those who sleep in for breakfast. The beach was huge and gorgeous, we didn't not encounter anyone selling anything. The pool area was beautiful, although the pool bars closed early (5pm) and you have to bring a towel to save chairs EARLY in the morning, if you arrive to the pool at 8:00 or later, you will not get a poolside chair. Plenty of chairs on the beach though.
****One thing people with children BEWARE!!! There are alot of topless women that stay here!*****
Taxi's to anywhere in playa will cost you 50 pesos or about $5 US.
Don't recommend renting a car here or scooter, people drive crazy and it's very dangerous!

Stayed @ the Yucantan from 22/07 - 29/07 and had the best time. My partner and I stayed here with our 15 & 7 year old sons. The hotel rooms are cleaned everyday with fresh bedding and towels. There is a hairdryer in your room, but remember to take a plug adaptor, as i couldn't use my straigtners for a week. During our stay it was my partners 30th birthday and the our hotel room was decorated with balloons, homemade paper flowers and a letter from the hotel staff and inside the envelope was confetti. He was given a bottle of local spirits and a small vase both wrapped beautifully. Alot of time and effort had gone into the presentation of the room. We booked the mediteranean restaurant eat in and the staff had decorated the chairs with balloons, sprinkled confetti on the table and all the waiters put a folded serviette on my partners head during the meal and sang in mexican, Happy birthday or their equivilant and fetched out a birthday cake. All this whilst looking out to a lovely view of the carribean sea.
Whilst walking around the hotel to your room or to the sea and beach, you get to see the monkeys, lizards and little brown animals (can't remember their names) in all the trees and bushes within the hotel grounds. You don't have to get out of the pool to go for a drink ,there is a bar pool in each of the two pools to swim up to and enjoy your drink whilst enjoying the sun. The staff in all the bars surrounding the pool, are exeptionally friendly. There was various different activites for you to be dragged into, including aerobics, water polo etc, for those who do not want to "RELAX" on holiday. The hotel pool area is next to the beach which offers a variety of different activities. The kyacing is readily available, but the other free water sports have to be booked. But you have the option of paying to bannana boat, scubba dive, jet ski and paraglide. The childrens entertainment was from 8.30-9.15 and was the same everynight, entertainers organising party games. There was then a break until the evening entertainment started @ 9.45. We went to swim with dolphines, manatees and sealions @ the dolphine discovery, which was an unbelievable experience, one we won't forget. The cost £400.00 for a family of four and £100.00 for 3 photos and two videos. The hotel offers clean pool & beach towels every day.
There are no umberellas on the beach to shade under for those with children and pale skin. You have to get up early for sunbeds around the pool and beach. We weren,t told whilst booking that you need $50.00 per person to leave mexico for airport tax.
This is a fantastic hotel and we had a brilliant holiday. Thoroughly recommended.