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All-inclusive resorts in Costa Rica
The criterion, stated first
A resort qualifies if it is an all-inclusive in Costa Rica whose operator publishes a readable official page we could source at least ten facts from. Both entries met that; no other Costa Rican all-inclusive did, which is a statement about retrievability rather than about quality.
Commission plays no part in this order. We hold no affiliate relationship with any resort listed here, and when we do, it will be disclosed on this page and it still will not change the order. How we make money.
Hotel Riu Guanacaste
A family all-inclusive on Playa Matapalo with a published water park, four pools including a children’s pool with slides, and a two-bedroom family room category. It shares its address with its Palace stablemate, so the two are neighbours rather than options in different places.
The catch: Counts the bars but not the restaurants
Skip it if: Adults wanting a child-free resort
Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica
Six pools and seven bars against five restaurants, on the same Playa Matapalo address as its sister hotel. Every room category published here is a junior suite or better, which is the clearest published difference between the two.
The catch: Counts five restaurants but does not name any of them
Skip it if: Adults wanting a child-free resort
What this list actually is
Two hotels at one address.
That is not a shortlist in the usual sense, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Costa Rica’s all-inclusive sector is small and concentrated in Guanacaste, and of the properties that exist, these two are the ones whose operator publishes information we can read and cite.
The useful thing here is not ranking them. It is that they sit on the same plot, so the comparison strips out location entirely.
Riu Palace Costa Rica — for the room and the pool count
Why it is here: Six swimming pools, five restaurants and seven bars, all published as counts. Every room category is a junior suite or better.
The catch: It counts five restaurants and names none of them, so you know how much variety you get without knowing what any of it is. It does not say whether any of the six pools is adults-only.
Who it suits: Couples, or families who would rather have suite-grade rooms and use the connecting junior-suite pair.
Riu Guanacaste — for the children
Why it is here: A named water park, three large pools plus a children’s pool with slides, and a Superior Family Room with two bedrooms — a single unit rather than two connecting rooms.
The catch: RIULand is named but its age band and hours are unpublished, which is the fact families most need from a resort whose main selling point is children’s provision.
Who it suits: Families with young children who swim, and anyone who wants a genuine two-bedroom family room.
What neither of them tells you
Neither publishes a room count. Neither publishes a distance or drive time from Liberia airport. Neither publishes a mandatory fee schedule.
That last one is standard across this market. The airport omission is not — it is unusual for two resorts in a province where the beaches are spread out to both stay silent on the drive.
What we are not claiming
We are not claiming these are the two best all-inclusives in Costa Rica. We are claiming they are the two we can document from primary sources, and that the difference between them is legible.
Who should ignore this list
Anyone whose reason for visiting Costa Rica is cloud forest, volcanoes, wildlife or the Caribbean coast. The all-inclusive sector here is small, Pacific, and a different holiday from the one the country is known for.
Prices
We do not publish prices for this resort yet. We only publish a price when we can state the amount, what it covers, the basis it is quoted on, and when we observed it.
We have no affiliate relationship for this resort yet, so this is not a tracked link and we earn nothing from it. When that changes, this page will say so and the disclosure will appear above it.
Sources
- RIU Hotels & Resorts — read 2026-09-13
- RIU Hotels & Resorts — read 2026-09-13
Last verified 2026-09-13.