Riu Playacar All Inclusive

Another Riu all inclusive

I would have headed back to the Riu Tequila but the Riu Playacar was cheaper and on the beach so it seemed like a no brainer to book it. We still had access to the Riu Tequila as well as the Riu Lupita and Riu Yucatan for breakfast, lunch, activities, pools and bars. You weren't supposed to eat dinners at the other resorts but the wristbands were the same so I guess we could have. We did not have access to the two higher class Riu Palace resorts although they said we could get a day pass.

The Riu Playacar was closer to Playa del Carmen than the Tequila, it took us about 25-30 minutes to walk to the edge of town at a moderate pace. The clientele was mostly European, lots of German, French and British guests but also a wide variety of other nationalities. Many of the European women sunbathed and walked the beach topless. The resort appears to be family friendly, we saw plenty of kids but not so many that they were annoying. Of course over the Christmas holidays there are probably more.

The Riu Playacar seems to be the smallest of the Rius, there are six buildings, most of which do not have ocean views. Our room had a crappy view of the back walkway, the room itself was fine, two queen size beds that were on the hard side pushed together. There's an in room safe, ironing board, a small refrigerator, mini bar with water and soda and 4 bottles of alcohol set up tap style, TV with several cable channels. There's air conditioning and an overhead fan.

The shower had great water pressure and always had hot water. Toiletries were minimal, shampoo and bath gel, both in little packets which I wish they'd change as it's wasteful, and soap. The towels were big.

Unique Quality: There are three reservation restaurants, a steakhouse, Asian and Mexican, we only ate at the steakhouse which had two set times for dinner, the food was pretty good. The buffet restaurant was great for breakfast and dinner and OK for lunch, at breakfast there were freshly made churros and donuts with a variety of sauces and Mexican food if you can handle quesadillas and empanadas for breakfast. There was also French toast, pancakes, breakfast meat, fruit, cereal, pastries, juice, coffee. Dinner was also very good, especially on Mexican night. The non Mexican offerings weren't as good as I remembered from the Tequila but still plenty of variety. And I couldn't resist the yummy coconut ice cream for dessert or the guacamole at lunch.

We didn't use the pool but there was one with a swim up bar. The beach had plenty of chairs and palm trees, the beach is currently is very good condition with plenty of room for walking, volleyball and lounging.

Non motorized water sports are included, we used the catamaran a couple of times with no problem or waiting.