Riu Palace Mauritius

We stayed at the RIU Palace Mauritius in February 2026 in an Elite Club Junior Suite that had a view of the ocean and Elite Club Pool. We arrived at 09:45 and were quickly checked in (we were offered Champagne which was very nice but later inspection of the bottle showed no sign of the word Champagne). Being so early we took advantage of one of the Courtesy Rooms to shower and change after our overnight flight. At 10:06 we received an email informing us that our room was ready so we picked up the door cards and went to our room on the first floor (our block had 3 floors and no lift which is the norm for most blocks). We were also given pool towel cards but it was “help yourself” to towels around the Elite Pool without restrictions. The cards would probably be needed at other pools. Our room (4102) was modern and in excellent condition approximately 18 x 12 feet plus hallway and bathroom. We requested a King bed as opposed to twins, there was a settee and a small desk. We did not investigate all the channels on the large (probably 55”) TV as we only watched BBC News and a tennis channel (we are big tennis fans), We later found out that a list of the channels was available online. The bathroom had a large walk-in shower, twin basins and a toilet. The shower had both wall mounted and rainfall heads and the water got hot very quickly. Hand wash was in a dispenser on the wall by the basin and Shower Gel, Shampoo and Conditioner were in dispensers in the shower. There was no “amenity” kit. Only just adequate shelf and drawer space, plenty of hanging space and hangers. If you do not specify King you may be in a room with large twin beds that may be pushed together. Any drinks and/or snacks consumed from the mini bar were replaced the following day. The aircon was quiet and kept the room cool, though changing the setting did not seem to make a great deal of difference. There was also a ceiling fan. The mains sockets were universal, accepting UK 13A square pin, European round pin and flat pin, there was one in the bathroom, one over the desk and one at one side of the bed. At the other side of the bed was a USB-A and a USB-C charging sockets. The power to the room required a card to be in the slot by the door, we found that any card would do. Remember to leave a card in if you leave anything on charge while you are out. The room was serviced to a high standard every day. However, one of the cleaners insisted on rearranging all my wife’s toiletries etc that she had put out in the bathroom, very annoying. The main buffet restaurant provided a huge selection of good quality food. Being buffet it meant sometimes some food was not as hot as we would have liked. The A la Carte restaurants need to be booked via the RIU app which was a bit confusing at first but ok once we got the hang of it (reception are always at hand to help). The Palace A la Cartes are small so need to be booked as soon as possible. At the Turquoise next door we only tried the Steakhouse which was much bigger but also had a lot more people wanting to eat there. The Palace A la Cartes had limited menus but as there is a limit of 2 visits per restaurant (except Elite restaurant) this was not too significant. Supposedly an A la Carte breakfast is offered for Elite Club guests but this did not seem to happen. All the food was very good in the A la Cartes but not quite exceptional. Entertainment was almost non-existent at the Palace, just a DJ or musicians/singer each evening around 7:30-9:30 at the seating area by the shop. A drinks service existed during these performances but was very variable and it was often quicker to go to the bar. The main entertainment was in the Turquoise pool area during the day and the theatre in the evening but we did not go. Around the Elite Pool were 10 Bali beds in the first row and more behind these. Each Bali bed also had one or two sun beds. There was only one afternoon that all 10 front row beds were taken. We were informed that the hotel was about 50-60% occupied. During our stay the weather forecasts showed maximum temperatures of around 28-30 degrees but a thermometer that we had often showed 33-34 degrees. Pool temperature was a very warm 33 degrees. It was too hot to sit out for long and we would have preferred sunbeds with umbrellas to the Bali beds. The Elite Club pool bar was open 8am to 10:30 pm and provided better quality drinks than elsewhere and a good selection of snacks and good quality fast food (burgers, pizzas, salads etc.). Online weather forecasts that predicted rain at various times were not very accurate, we did have a few short showers and a couple of heavy downpours during our 10 day stay. Staff were quick to provide a fresh supply of towels. Overall, a very good hotel with exceptional staff, always ready to help with a smile, well worth a Tripadvisor 5 rating. It was also good to see the manager always around the resort. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the airport and to a lesser extent Air Mauritius. Because of this we will think twice before returning to Mauritius. On being dropped off for our return flight to Gatwick we were met with a seething mass of people, it took 40 minutes to check-in, about 10 minutes for passport control and 10 minutes for a disorganised security. At check-in we were told our Gatwick departure gate was 28 so we sat in that area until we noticed people queuing for the gate despite no announcement for our flight. We decided to investigate, only to see the screen by the gate was displaying a Paris flight. We asked an official who told us our Gatwick fight had been changed to gate 19. The nearest screen confirming this was not visible from the gate 28 seating area and there was no announcement. (There had been announcements about the Paris flight which were difficult to hear and as it was not our flight did not concern us). We ran to gate 19 as it was well past the start of boarding time only to find our flight had been delayed as there was no available stand for our plane. Information was only obtained by asking staff at the gate. Other passengers had had the same experience regarding the gate change. Once boarding had been completed, we were informed that the plane was overweight and that 2 tons of cargo had to be taken off before we could depart causing another 20 minutes delay. Despite the captain trying to make up time, we disembarked at Gatwick well over a hour late.

Very nice atmosphere. Service is very nice. We have been to other RIU. This one is the best. Food available 24/7. Great time.

We are currently coming to the end of our 2 weeks in paradise vanish And the bar team looked after us very well. Thankyou to everyone

Best experience we have at riu place especially ishal the waiter who always smile all the time and served us on time and so friendly and all teamber and Vishal also we will definitely come back again

We arrived directly from the airport after 18 hours travelling. Admittedly, the last 12 hours with Air France in biz and with flat beds for the last 12 hours, but one get tired anyway. We got a room as long from the reception as possible, and had to walk for a long way (it felt like a kilometer or so) to get to our room. The room was OK. The "view" from our room, was directly into the bush, we had some ants-problem during the night, and we had to use pillows to turn off the light outside by the door (which was crooked in relation to the frame). We have never tried out the concept "All Inclusive" before. And we have never been served SUCH poorly prepared food anywhere on earth. At the pool-bar, they served really overcooked "hamburgers", sausages and chichen. In the buffet restaurant, the level of cooking skills were totally absent. They had a sort of bowl, there the presentation said it was Sauce Bolognese. When I asked if they had spagetti (as in the well known dish spagetti Bolognese), the person in chef's clothes asked me if I could take it in English. The worst example on absence of cooking knowledge, was when they presented "Thai fried rice with egg". I asked if the recipe told him to put a fried egg, sunside up, on the top of a small pile of rice, and he confirmed this. Luckily we were only going to stay there for three nights before moving on, and we will never return to the Riu Palace Mauritius.