Hotel Riu Ventura

The dining is a highlight. La Hacienda buffet runs breakfast, lunch and dinner with live cooking stations and themed nights three times a week, and dinner rotates through Kulinarium gourmet, Agave Mexican, Kaori Asian and Rimini Italian, the last three with starter and dessert buffets. The 24-hour all-inclusive covers snacks and drinks across six bars, the minibar and liquor dispenser, Wi-Fi, the gym, RIU Fit classes and daytime and evening entertainment, with live music and shows nightly at the La Fiesta bar stage. Beach loungers and parasols are included, and the Spa & Wellness centre offers massages, a jacuzzi and hairdressing. The recurring nitpicks are noise, including loud room air conditioning, uneven food at some a la carte venues, and a sense that Ventura offers fewer activities than RIU's other Cancun properties.

Riu Ventura is the right choice for families and mixed groups who want a large, modern, full-service Cancun all-inclusive with real space for both kids and adults. It is not a party hotel itself, but adults get free access and included transfers to the RIU Party pool parties at Riu Caribe and Riu Dunamar, which gives couples the nightlife without sleeping next to it. Light sleepers should request rooms away from the entertainment areas, and activity-maximizers might prefer the busier sister RIUs up the strip. The airport is only 14 km away, which makes for one of the shorter transfers in the hotel zone.