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Hotel Riu Flamingos is a family-friendly all-inclusive resort in Flamingos, Mexico with 820 rooms. Amenities include Beach, Buffet Dining, Family Vacation, Free Wi-Fi and Gym. Travelers rate it 4.2/5 across 12,584 Google reviews.
Room Upgrades
Restaurants (8)
| Type | Restaurants |
|---|---|
| Buffet | Chipotle |
| Mexican | Agave, Tiki Taco |
| Italian | Duomo |
| Asian | Sakura |
| Steakhouse | Steak House |
| American & grill | American Country, Pepe’s Food |
From the resort's own dining pages, checked . Only restaurants the resort lists are shown.
Amenities
Traveler Insights(1,100 discussions)
Hotel Riu Flamingos is the resort that spent years on our radar as the Riu Jalisco. Riu closed it for an ambitious renovation and extension, reopened it in December 2025, and announced the new name on April 30, 2026, taking it from the Condominio Flamingos area it sits in. The work was structural, not cosmetic: all 820 rooms were rebuilt in a brighter contemporary style, 120 of those rooms are brand new in an added wing, the outdoor areas were redesigned from the ground up, and Riu added the American Country restaurant, a Candy ice cream parlour and a sports bar. It is the middle property in Riu's three-hotel cluster on Playa Flamingos, more affordable than adults-only Riu Palace Pacifico next door and more energetic than Riu Vallarta on the other side.
The beach is the reason to book: wide golden Pacific sand with the hotel's own loungers on it. Behind it sit six pools, all rebuilt in the renovation and arranged along the seafront, with the largest carrying bar service, a second with a swim-up bar, two more given over to quiet and to sports, and two children's pools with games and slides beside a new splash pad. Dining runs through the Chipotle buffet with live cooking stations and themed nights, four speciality restaurants (Agave for Mexican, Sakura for Asian, Duomo for Italian and the Steak House), the American Country venue, the Pepe's Food grill and the Tiki Taco stand. Guests report the restaurants take walk-ins rather than demanding reservations, which Riu applies across its hotels and which travelers consistently rate as one of the brand's best habits. Reports since the relaunch are broadly positive on cleanliness, the renovated rooms and the staff, with food the one area that still divides people. The family rooms are the standout: two-bedroom layouts at 44 and 63 sq m and a three-bedroom, 66 sq m room with two bathrooms, which beats what most Riviera Nayarit resorts offer a family of five or six.
Flamingos is best for families and groups of friends who want a brand-new room, a real beach and constant programming at a price well under the Hard Rock and Dreams properties up and down this coast. The trade is food ambition and exclusivity for freshness, space and value. Two things to plan around: the exchange privileges reach Riu Vallarta only, and only for lunch, snacks and drinks, so do not book here expecting to eat at the Palace. And Nuevo Vallarta is a 20 to 25 minute taxi from downtown Puerto Vallarta, close enough for Malecon day trips, the Marina Vallarta shops and the Flamingos Golf Club, far enough that most guests do it once or twice rather than nightly.
Pros
- +Sits directly on Playa Flamingos, one of the better stretches of golden Pacific sand in Riviera Nayarit, with hotel sun loungers set out on the beach itself
- +Everything is new: Riu finished a full refurbishment and reopened the hotel in December 2025 with all 820 rooms redone in a brighter contemporary style, 120 of them newly built in an added wing
- +The outdoor areas were rebuilt from scratch in that renovation. Six pools now run along the seafront: four for everyone, the largest with bar service and a second with a swim-up bar, the other two set aside for quiet and for sports, plus two children's pools with games and slides and a new splash pad
- +Genuinely large family rooms rather than a standard double with a sofa bed. Two-bedroom layouts run 44 and 63 sq m and there is a three-bedroom, 66 sq m room with two bathrooms, with the new category sleeping up to six
- +Dining is spread across the Chipotle buffet with live cooking stations and themed nights three times a week, the Agave Mexican restaurant, Sakura for Asian, Duomo for Italian, the Steak House, the American Country venue added in the renovation, the Pepe's Food grill, the Tiki Taco stand and a Candy ice cream parlour
- +Nightlife is on the property, not a taxi ride away: Riu's weekly RIU Party and RIU Get Together Party, live shows and music, and an on-site nightclub
- +The small practicalities are covered and free: Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, parking, 24-hour all-inclusive, online check-in, an on-site medical service, a shop and a laundry service
- +Flamingos Golf Club is a short drive away and Riu guests get discounted seasonal rates there, which is unusual for a resort at this price
Cons
- −The sister-hotel exchange is narrower than people expect. Guests at Flamingos can use the facilities at Riu Vallarta, but breakfast and dinner have to be taken at the hotel you booked, so only lunch, snacks and drinks travel. Adults-only Riu Palace Pacifico next door is not part of the exchange at all
- −820 rooms is a lot of resort. Pool decks and loungers get competitive in peak weeks and the buffet moves in waves around the shows
- −Food is the most mixed part of guest reports since the relaunch. Several praise the Mexican restaurant specifically, while others find the buffet flat, and it remains a buffet-led operation rather than a reservations-and-tasting-menus one
- −Four speciality restaurants plus the buffet and the informal grill and taco stands is a thin à la carte lineup for a hotel this size, so dinner variety runs short on a stay longer than about five nights
- −The old name still clings. As of October 2026 Riu's own page title and photo filenames still say Jalisco, and plenty of travel-agent listings still show the pre-expansion 700-room figure, which makes it easy to research the wrong version of the hotel
- −This is not one of Riu's designated spring break properties. Student and spring breaker groups are accepted only on request, reviewed case by case by Riu's sales team, and must be 21 or over, so a group trip here can be turned down
- −Nuevo Vallarta puts you about 20 to 25 minutes by taxi from the Malecon and Puerto Vallarta's downtown restaurant scene, so getting off the property is a deliberate outing rather than a walk
Common Questions
Is Riu Flamingos the same resort as Riu Jalisco?
Can you use the other Riu resorts next door?
Is it a good choice for families with kids?
How is the food?
Is this a spring break resort?
How far is it from the airport and downtown Puerto Vallarta?
Google Rating
Google Reviews
“If you want to feel like you are at a swanky restaurant, go to the buffet and sit in Caleb's section. He is gracious and attentive. Just the BEST! And the rooms are the cleanest we have seen anywhere.”
“Excellent stay at newly renovated property. Probably the best part is the wonderful staff. Thank you to Aby in RIU Land for doing such a good job with the kids. Thanks to Carlos who ran the main bar in the lobby. Dianna at check in was very helpful f...”
“Just finished a lovely trip at riu jalisco. They had just completed their renovations and the place looked great. Some early hiccups with the restaurants and pools but by the end of the trip everything was running smoothly. We went down as a family o...”
