Riu Palace Meloneras

A well maintained hotel and grounds. All credit to staff who make your stay relaxing and enjoyable. Buffet style breakfast and evening meal with a good choice of hot and cold food. Your table is assigned on your first visit so no need to look for a seat. A casual atmosphere so no need for formal dress.(So no need to change your outfit straight after your meal). Didn’t go to on site restaurants where a more fitting attire should be worn. Evening entertainment ok to good. The tables in the outdoor seating all have ashtrays and the area is large enough not to impact on non smokers. Sun loungers available all day so no need to reserve a spot. Obviously the pirates get up early for their preferred place(guilty). The hotel is ok for those with reduced mobility but you may need to find the best route. Just ask a member of staff. The location is relaxed and comfortable. English beach is a short taxi ride away that caters for the party crowd. Hotel riu palace meloneras offers excellent value for money. The team are well deserving of their 5 star status. Download the Riu app and it gives you more information about entertainment, menus and amenities.

We had a lovely family week at the Riu. 5 of us across two rooms next door to each other. We were in the main building so the sea view is very limited and far away, with the main restaurant block below the balcony. The rooms in the villa blocks are closer to the sea, but presumably more expensive. The rooms themselves are surprisingly small. The third bed added to our room for our youngest child was squeezed in beside the sofa, making that unusable, so the room isn’t really designed for 3 people. And the rooms themselves, while nice, are not particularly luxurious. Certainly not 5 star.

Reception staff are great. Very professional and efficient. But again the reception itself doesn’t feel particularly 5 star.

The pool area is the highlight. Because it’s divided into separate areas it feels more intimate and quiet. As opposed to a noisy extra large single pool. It also means the loungers are more spread out. And while people tended to reserve their loungers in the morning, it was about 8/8.30am at breakfast time so plenty available. And even later in the morning we could find a few spare. The pool side bar service was excellent. The staff work so hard all day and always had a smile. This was the 5 star service. And the prices are reasonable too.

The main restaurant is buffet for breakfast and dinner. Like all buffets, it becomes monotonous. However there is plenty of choice and the quality of ingredients is superb. Note that men are requested to wear long trousers at dinner. It’s not enforced, and indeed could be very hot some evenings, but maybe 50% of diners did adhere to it. But I would advise some effort is made to dress for dinner.

Dinner is available in the other 2 restaurants on site. As often as you like, but menu doesn’t change. It’s a good offering to break the monotony of the buffet. We only tried Krystal in the end. And it was terrible. So bad that we just laughed about it. It’s a strange space that serves no purpose. It’s like the put some tables in an old office space. Doesn’t feel like a restaurant at all. Staff are very nice though. After the poor experience in Krystal we opted against the other restaurant Ocean View, but it did look nice.

The evening entertainment is ok, but wasn’t on every night. And when it was it finished early. And then the hotel quickly got very quiet. Some nights we were in the bar at 10.30 and practically no one there.

Melonares itself doesn’t offer much either. The beach is about 10 mins walk but isn’t great. And the shopping area is largely higher end. Some nice restaurants though. But generally very quiet as evenings centre around the hotels.

Overall the Riu Palace is lovely and we enjoyed our stay, but it’s a push to rate it as a 5 star hotel. Probably better for winter sun rather than high season summer holiday.