A belated review, so not recent and something to bear in mind. We last stayed a week in Apr06 halfboard. It was our 4th visit to the hotel since 1998. Our first 3 visits were great, it was a hotel that suited us. However, the last one was quite disappointing for the following reasons:

1 Hotel staff indifferent - not as customer friendly.
2 Terrace floor rooms are spacious but now in need of updating/better maintenance (burst pipe/flood in bathroom at 2am!)
3 Hotel used to be 5* and attracted a mainly middle class, middle aged german clientele. Now it's 4* and together with cheap prices/deal offerings, the clientele has changed. Men also used to 'dress for dinner' ie. jacket, but not any more, people were turning up in t-shirts & jeans etc.
4 Quality and variety of evening buffet disappointing.
5 Hotel entertainment poor.

I am surprised it has such a low popularity rating given that quite a few of the reviews are positive? However, one of the best things about this hotel is its location. Also, you can lounge around the pool (as long as a bed is 'bagged' by 8am!) with the most fantastic uninterrupted view of the sea. My children have loved it here, despite no children's facilities! Will we return this Easter - I think I will research other hotels first?

We booked this hotel anticipating an "A La Carte" experience but were let down.
Check-In was great offering us a glass of Sparkling Wine while our passport details were recorded and room allocated.
Room had a great location with sea view at the front on the 4th floor. Very clean with plenty of wardrobe space and spacious private balcony.
Our 1st dinner experience was disappointing at 8pm with congestion at every buffet table for a very limited selection.
This put us off eating in the main dining room, so we opted for the "La Caleta" restaurant by the pool for the rest of our stay which was fantastic.
The breakfast buffet had lots to offer, but all the meat was pork based!! Not good for certain faiths!

2 nights of our 10 we ate in the sister Riu Arecas and the buffet dinner was fantastic with a great deal more choice!!

To sum up, the holiday was great but the hotel buffet dining could be improved.

My wife and I have stayed here from 1999-2006 inc. and are returning again this year! The Mangement and Staff are 1st.class complimenting the superb quality of food, ambience and location.
DONT go if you like "in-your-face"hotels with unruly families(ALL age groups) in a noisy location!

The Riu Palace is a great hotel but it is the positon of it on the coast that I particularly liked. I am a big fan of Tenerife (some parts of playa des americas excluded!) and was pleased to find that this Riu hotel was overlooking the sea with unbroken views of the island of la gomera. There is direct access to a costal walkway that runs for miles alond the coast in each direction. A short walk away there is a ice cream palour and a few bars and restaurants opposite a sandy beach with lovely views and further on still, there is a stylish shopping centre and an outdoor market. In the other direction along the coast there are some idyllic seafood restaurants in caletta.

The staff at the hotel were so friendly at all times. We were upgraded on arrival to a large ground floor room with french windows onto the garden. The breakfast was outsanding and the buffet at dinner was so good that we only had the a la carte menu once. We especially liked the seafood each evening. There was an interesting selection of evening entertainment and a friendly and busy bar each evening provided in the lobby.

Los Cristianos is very close by taxi or bus and has a great market twice a week. There are lots of boat trips from the port there too.

The Riu Palace is immaculately clean and the pool area is a delight with lots of facilities two beautiful pools and a lovely restaurant and bar area. I would definitely return to this hotel again. This hotel seems to be popular with older travellers in january/february and a much younger crowd in the summer months.