The Perfect hotel for exploring the wonders of the Yucatan (RIU Tequila)

Member Name: lm09

Product:	RIU Tequila
Date:	19/04/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything a hotel should be

Disadvantages: None

In my 30 years on the planet I reckon I've stayed in about 100 hotels now and I can honestly say that the best I have ever stayed in is the Riu Tequila, located in the Playacar resort on Mexico's Yucatan coast. I stayed here in 2004 and booked through Kuoni for a two week stay.

The transfer from Cancun international airport takes around 8o minutes on Highway 307. Being with Kuoni all our connections were so well organised. I can still remember the feeling of stepping of the plane for the first time and being hit by a wall of humid warm air. I can still remember walking under the massive Mexican flag in the passport control area of the airport. Meixco was my first trip outside Europe and for me everything felt so exotic. On the short drive to the hotel I got bored of watching the eagles hover by the roadside and of the endless green vegetation of the jungle forests.

At the hotel we were greeted with a massive marble lobby which was open to the elements on two sides. The service through the check in process was rapid and we were soon following the bell boy to our rooms. All the rooms are in two levelled apartments all with views of the gardens. Our room was handily close to the main restaurant and just a short walk to the pool.

The room itself in all honestly was pretty basic. It had an ample balcony with a great spot for watching the lizard life in the garden (large 3-4 foot iguanas patrol the grounds). The bed was a large and comfortable double bed. We had a television with a handful of US news channels. The shower and toliet were both clean and in good order. We had optics in the room with free drinks (tequilla and vodka on tap 24 hours a day - messy).

So why then, you are thinking, is it the best hotel. Well, firstly the food. We were all inclusive which in some places gets a bit tiresome with the same options rotated for two weeks. Well not here. Firstly the hotel has three speciality a la carte restaurants which we could include in our all-inclusive use twice each on our stay. One was a seafood place and the food here was absolutly perfect. The other was a Japanese / Chinese with the food cooked on massive stoves in front of you. The show the chefs put on is great theatre and again the food just about as good as I have eaten anywhere.

Back to the main restaurant though. For breakfast there was all manner of options from the unhealthy artery clogging bacon, sausage and eggs, to continental cheeses and meats to my favourite option of tonnes of healthy, delicious, fresh and exotic fruit. Every morning for the two weeks for breakfast I has the freshest mango, papaya, pineapple, jack fruit, bananas and all manner of other fruits. We can get these in the UK, normally frozen and shipped from Spain or from some far flung country via a long haul flight. In Mexico the fruit is so, so fresh it almost tastes like different types of fruit. Actually, I'm not a saint and I did mix this with freshly cooked pancakes and maple syrups some of the days.

From breakfast where next. Well the days we weren't out and about following the way of the Maya we were either on the beach - a short walk to a short golf buggy ride to get too. Or we were (more often than not) by the pool. It would have seemed rude not to be here with the all inclusive beer at the swim up bar waiting to be tapped into. The pool bar and surrounds offered great sun bathing opportunties for me and also great shade for my wife and was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the perfect Mexican weather. The staff at the swim up bar were only too happy to help and really friendly. The swim up bar also had a restaurant (obviously out of the pool) which, throughout the day served up burgers, chips, pasta and all day round, help yourself ice cream. I'm fairly sure that everything a human being needs to survive could have been obtained without walking more than 10 meters.

The food at night was great too. Whilst not perhaps the fine dining experience of the specialist restaurants, the food was varied and well cooked. They have theme nights too to give greater variation so look out for the BBQ nights or the Italian and Mexican nights.

The beach for the hotel is a short golf buggy ride away through the hotel's sister hotel, the Riu Yucatan. Again, with the all inclusive at the Tequilla we could use the facilties at the Yucatan through the day so didn't need to leave our beach side sun lounger for long. The sand of the beach is the stereotypical Caribbean white and the sea that stunning azure blue.

At night and also for the energetic, the hotel has the Animation team. By day they run volleyball sessions, salsa and pool games. By night they put on various shows. Some of them really good...some of them really bad in fact so bad that they become unmissable. The Michael Jackson show stands out as a must see! To give the staff their due they work very long hours and night or day are so approachable and friendly. The night shows become a staple for us, obviously aided and abetted by copious amounts of cerveza. There is also a small night club which has thumping Euro beats playing most nights and a mostly American crowd. Whilst the music and djing are pretty poor the atmosphere is nice and friendly.

On returning to our room we not only found that it was cleaned everyday but also our fresh towels were arranged into animal shapes with petals for eyes. We had most notable an elephant which was so good I took a photo (how Japanese of me!!).

Some people we over heard liked the resort so much they never ventured beyond the gates for the full length of their stay!!!!! Why would anyone do that?? Mexico is such an amazing country to visit. Close and easy enough to get to from the Riu resort complex are Tulum (previously reviewed on Dooyoo) an amazing beach with incredible Mayan ruins and Chichen Itza is only around 120 miles away. Two amazing eco-parks Xcaret and Xpu-Ha are less than an hour away.

Even staying closer to home to get a flavour of Mexico taking a short taxi ride to the town of Playa Del Carmen gives you some perspective on Mexico. Whilst much of Playa Del Carmen in tourist driven it still has pockets of the real Mexico and some great places to eat and shop. We managed to a haggle a great price on a marble carved chess set that cost around 25 USD and weights an absolute tonne. We found a great taco bar on the main strip and after a short walk around the Coronas with lime tasted all the better.

Please go to the Rui Tequila hotel, but please, please, please use your airfare wisely and get out and about and explore this amazing country with incredible civilisations and history.

Summary: The best hotel I have ever stayed in. Great food, friendly staff and stunnning surroundings