RIU Palace Cabo San Lucas: A Review

The first time my dad took me to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico I fell in love. However, I did NOT fall in love with the all-inclusive resort that we stayed in for the first five days. Luckily, we stayed at his timeshare the next 5 days which made up for the poor accommodations upon our arrival. The idea of all-inclusive has always screamed FUN to me and so worth it! So I knew I wanted to give it another shot the next time we were in Cabo.

As soon as we realized that our first all-inclusive was less than satisfactory we began to ask around for suggestions on where to stay next time. I’d say 99% of the people we asked recommend the RIU Palace down the beach. Every person we spoke with said it was fun, clean, good food, good drinks, and family and adult only friendly! So 5 years later, with high expectations, Tyrell and I finally gave the RIU a try. Was it worth the wait? Were everyone’s recommendations credible? Well, I am here to tell you all about it. 

The Hotel 

The outside of the hotel literally looks like a palace from far away. It is beautiful and has domes at the top of every peak. As you walk in there are beautiful flower arrangements, fancy couches, and they greet you with fruit punch margaritas, so bonus! The staff is very friendly and so helpful! We did not wait long at all to be checked in and taken to our rooms.

There are many gorgeous views overlooking the ocean. The pools are so clean and the perfect temperature. There are many bar and restaurant options which I will get to in the all-inclusive section! There were also entertainment stages and events each night. 

Across the alley from our hotel is the RIU Santa Fe which is an extension of our resort. As part of our all-inclusive we had full access to all of their amenities as well! That was definitely the party side of the hotel with pool parties and dance parties going on every night. We attended a few of those events as well as a few live music events on our side!

The Rooms

Through our package we stayed in a Jr. Suite. The room had a bathroom with 2 sink vanity, a walk in shower, a closet, a fridge stocked with soda, water, and beer, a king size bed, a TV, a couch, a desk, and a walk out patio area with two chair and table. The best part? A liquor dispenser on the wall. That’s right ladies and gents! Just like a soda machine but it was stocked with vodka, rum, whiskey, and tequila.

Everything was clean and the first day they even left us a towel animal on our bed. CUTE! They were very good about cleaning while we were out and about throughout the day and keeping everything stocked. Since it is an all-inclusive resort everything in the rooms are free of charge and there for your  convenience!

All-Inclusive 

As previously mentioned, we have stayed at all-inclusive resorts before with disappointment. However, I was very impressed with the quality of food, drinks, and entertainment that was provided at the RIU Palace. Breakfast gave the option of a buffet or a coffee bar with pastries. The buffet also included a mimosa and Bloody Mary bar. For lunch there were 3 options: a buffet, a grill by the pool, or a snack shack which had the best fried foods a person could ask for. Dinner had the option of 6 restaurants. One was a buffet and the other 5 were themed a la carte style restaurants which provided a higher quality of food.

There were many bars which provided pretty much any drink you could imagine. The one thing to keep in mind was the limited choice of beer. If you are a beer drinker, they only served Dos Equis at our resort. Presumably they have a contract with the dispenser. But who really wants to drink beer on vacation anyways? We were all about the blended, fruity, sugary drinks and lots of colorful shots! (We are in our twenties, judge us.) And they were well poured and decent sized cups that didn’t force you to go back up for a refill every 5 minutes! 

The events at both the RIU Palace and RIU Santa Fe were included with our all-inclusive. While we were there we attended a White Party, Pink Party, Bubble Party, Musical Night, and of course football watch party on Thanksgiving day. Every event had great music and fun activities to participate in! The entertainment was fantastic and there were events for every age group.

Adult Only Areas

As young adults who are childless, we appreciated the adult only areas. Getting drunk in an infinity pool overlooking the beach in Mexico is wonderful right up until a screaming kid splashes you while throwing a temper tantrum. Needless to say, we spent majority of our time in the Adult Only Pool where that didn’t happen. We did venture over to the family pool for some events which I will get back to in a moment!

There were also adult only events on some evenings which was fantastic! Sometimes the entertainment level just differs slightly when little minions aren’t around soaking up too much information. This gave adults a night of freedom whilst the little ones could hang out in a different lounge. 

There was also a 24 hour lounge, Lounge 24, which had a liquor dispenser and a mini snack bar and TVs! This was awesome for us because as a group we didn’t want to spend any time in our hotel rooms. So on the night’s we wanted to stay up until all hours of the night there was a nice and comfortable spot for us all to hang out!

Kid Friendly Activities 

Now, I am not a total baby hater. And I do appreciate that resorts have activities to keep all ages entertained! And my kid at heart even loved playing in some of these games! A few of my favorite family friendly activities that we did were water Zumba, water volleyball, beach volleyball, and the musical show at the Santa Fe! All of these were perfect for children and adults alike. I throughouly enjoyed the instructors / leaders of these events and would definitely participate again on our next vacation. 

They also did little competitions for the kids to win prizes. These included spinning in a circle and pulling batman to safety on a longboard or a mini dance-offs! While we were too old to participate in these events, I am sure kids would love them! 

Location 

Cabo is seriously one of my favorite places in the world. As much as our resort had to offer, I could not wait to take our friends to some of our favorite locations in the downtown area. We really were not far from the start of the beach bars so we decided to walk and stop along the way for drinks and lunch! The whole walk from our resort to the marina is only a little over a mile and if you make pit stops it feels like nothing!

Our favorite bar that we go to every single time we are in Cabo is the Mango Deck. So of course that was one of our first stops and we had a blast!! If you are ever in Cabo, I highly recommend planning a whole day or night at the Mango Deck. We then made it to the marina and checked out the boats and the sea lions trying to get some left over fish from the fishermen. We then went to the mall and took pictures with the famous #CABO sign. After walking around town a bit more and seeing some new sights we decided to catch a cab back to the resort since it was already dark and we were all a little tired. The cab ride only cost $12 and we were there in under 10 minutes.

Excursions

Each and every morning in the pavilion outside the entertainment stage different excursion companies set up tables to book your activities. This is actually really nice because they come to you and you don’t have to try to call someone or find a provider in town! We decided to do an excursion through Cabo Adventures and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience!

This trip we decided to do an adventure package that included snorkeling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and seeing the Cabo Arch. *BONUS We also saw whales while on the boat ride! This was a shorter excursion, only 4 hours, but it was perfect for the time we had! The transportation is provided and all equipment and any necessary training is provided as well. Best part is, when we got back to their office they gave us ceviche, nachos, and margaritas!

Was It Worth It?

100% YES!!! I cannot even explain to you how much better this all-inclusive was compared to our first experience in Cabo. There is a reason that so many people recommended this resort. It is reasonable and very high quality for an all-inclusive. The staff is amazing, the resort was so clean, the access to the beach and downtown was perfect for us. We were very satisfied and will be staying there again!

I hate hyping things up because I never want to set someone’s expectations too high. However, this is a resort that I will never stop raving about. They also have RIU locations across the globe and I’d be interested to know if all of their resorts are the same high quality that we experienced in Cabo San Lucas! 

If you have ever stayed at another RIU resort, please let me know details so that I know where to stay next time!