Riu Santa Fe was a wonderful resort...we were there from March 16-23rd on our honeymoon, and we loved it. The people were very nice, the food was great, and I think we had one of the nicer rooms there. We did have to wait to check in, but we got there around 11:30 am...so we kind of expected it. They offered us a voucher for another stay for as long as our current stay..if we downgraded from our ocienview room to the gardenview room. I am glad to say that we did not take it, our room was amazing. It had all marble floors, a suite, a double balcony, a huge bathroom and shower, and a walk in closet.

Some tips I would give to people wanting to be successful...When you arrive at the airport, there will be many people trying to get you to come with them...just bypass them and find whomever you are trying to find. We came in with Funjet and worked with EPIC, they were in maroon shirts and near the end of the crowd. We had a chartered bus, and it was very nice. To get a reservation in the night restuarants, you have to get up pretty early. They would set up a little table buy the main buffet Baja California and set out numbers pretty early. The numbers were from 1-100. The brochure said it started at 8 am, but to get a number you needed to be there more around 7 am. You could show up at 8 and get a higher number, but it just meant a much longer wait. Learn to say "no gracias," because from the moment you get off the plane until you get back on it, there will be many people trying to sell you stuff, particuraly on the beach in front of the resort. If you can choose what building to stay in, we recommend building 7...it is the closest to the beach, and it was a very quiet stay for us...We are college-aged, but were not looking for the Spring Break experience, and we felt it was not even close to that type of atmosphere. The resort is big enough that if you didn't want to be around a lot of loud kids you could just go to a different spot, or the beach, even though we rarely felt overwhelmed by spring breakers. We recommend swimming with the dolphins with Cabo Adventure, it was the highlight of our trip. We also zip-lined across a canyon...it was awesome. The Sea of Cortez and the Pacific were cold, and we tried snorkling, but the water just ended up being too cold. You can linger in the ocean in front of the resort, but couldn't really swim in it...the water was too rough. If you wanted to swim, a public beach was about a 5-minute walk towards town, but it was very busy and was typical spring- breakish. Take a glass-bottom boat to Lover's Beach and the arch, it is inexpensive, and don't worry about the boat...none of the boats are that gerat. The arch is a neat experience, and we loved watching the waves come in on the Pacific side. A cab ride to town was either $10 or $12, and we found pretty much everyone, including merchants would take US currency.

I read all the reviews and was concerned about what we had gotten into, but we were both extremely pleased. I guess some people have stayed at really, really nice places before, or just complained way too much.

The staff was very friendly and nice, and we loved the food. I would recommend the trip to anyone.

A group of us - 16 people stayed at the Riu Sante Fe from March 7th through the 14th. We might go back to Cabo San Lucas but we will never go back to this resort. Here are some of the problems we encountered.
First- the food every single day , breakfast, lunch and dinner was ALWAYS cold. No matter what you chose to eat- cold. And not much variety at all. We did eat at the Italian Restaurant one night and that was just average. Nothing special.
Second- not enough bathrooms around all of the pool bars. We could not believe how far a person had to walk to use the restrooms.
Third- very very noisy at night... the noise usually started at midnight and continued through until about 5 AM. Fire extinguishers being dischared as well as bottles breaking and loud screaming every single night. They could use some security at night to keep these things from happening. People are on
VACATION and should not be bothered by things like that.
I will conclude by saying a few positive things.. the rooms were very clean and the maid service was outstanding. Our fridge in our room was always stocked. The employees were friendly but spoke very little english.
This place is brand new, so maybe in time things will improve.

We checked into the Riu for six nights and were given the worst possible room. We tried to change but the front desk told us they were "over-booked". Our room was on the first floor with a service road off of our tiny deck. All day into the evening we would hear the hotel service people chatting loudly as they passed by with dirty towels, dishes and other cleaning supplies. Also loud was the small truck they used to haul most of the linens around the property. Our room was never cleaned properly as we found that our sheets had not been changed. Our friends noted their tub was clogged the entire time.
The food was less than adequate. Same buffet every day for every meal with most entres swimming in butter or oil. Flies swarming on the cheese and fruit. If you wanted to sign up to eat at one of the "restaurants" you needed to get up and in line by 7am!! The pool was merky and we watched seagulls constantly pooping from overhead as the buffets are right next to the pools. The swim-up bars were crowded and dirty with straws, cups and napkins thrown about and even floating in the pool. The bartenders ignored you as much as they could until you flashed money in front of them. But, the worst part was the VERY LOUD maids in the hallways. We were woken up EVERY morning around 7am by loud talking and slamming doors. The maids just stood in the hallways yacking at the top of their lungs and yelling down the halls in spanish-probably trying to wake us up and it worked! They were rude when we came out and asked them to please be quiet as it was 7am and most people were sleeping! The doors slammed because they automatically shut behind you so the maids would just let them slam shut each time. The towels were like bathmats-scratchy and old and you only got ONE for the pool each day. Seriously, what's up with the wristband? It had to be worn at all times! Get with the times and offer a key card or something! We will NEVER go back. We ate out four of the six nights in town and talked to some people that had stayed there before-the Riu Palace and they laughed and said both places are dumps. Well, we learned our lesson about the all-inclusives. Crap.

Definetly DO NOT listen to the bad reviews. Some people are born complainers no matter what. Trust me. We were six in our group and so far one couple in our group has not had a good thing to say about the whole trip. The resort is beautiful, the service great, the rooms spotless, the food fantastic, the pools the most beautiful and massive I have ever seen, etc. etc.This is our second vacation at a newly opened Riu, last year at the Riu Vallarta and both times all was great. Yes the evenings were cooler than I expected, but oh well, if we go back, which I would do in a heart beat if able, I know to bring a warmer sweater. The whale watching was awesome, had one jump out of the water three times. We booked the Pez Gato tour for this. Best lunch on a catamaran we have ever eaten.We traveled Feb 23 to March 1 so we were in Los Cobas at the perfect time for whale watching. The walks to restraunts was no big deal at all. We didn't eat at any al a cartes only because we didn't want any schedules. Heard from many people that did go that the food was very good. And of course they don't serve Alberta beef. If my bed didn't get made at a certain time who the heck cares, where to some people that is enough to condemn the whole resort. I say "Get a Life." We have travelled for the pat few years, Dominican, Cuba, Mexico three times and although I am not a picky person, I do like beautiful and clean and good food and the Riu Santa Fe offers it all. I am looking forward to next years trip already and without a dought it will be at another Riu.

Wish that I was still there!