Review - Resort Rio near Baga Beach, Goa

Resort Rio is a very nice family resort in a not so nice location. It is close enough to Baga Beach (a happening place in North Goa) but does not have very good road access making it a pain to get to it on foot or a bike at night. There are plenty of cabs available but that is your only option if you want to stay here.

Despite the road to it, the resort itself is a pleasant place – with great food and plenty of space in and out of the rooms. We booked a three bedroom villa there with an all meals included package. The villa was huge with two floors. Upstairs there were three bathrooms and bedrooms - with very nice beds and linen. Downstairs there was a huge sitting area, dining room and a kitchenette. The kitchen had a coffee maker and a big fridge but was missing a stove/microwave. However, we had opted for an all meals inclusive package thus never missed having a proper kitchen. The meals were served buffet style and it was really good food with a good Indian, Chinese and Continental selection at every meal. I had been skeptical about the meals but was pleasantly surprised.

Their swimming pool has a separate area for kids and is clean and beautiful. I liked their gym and also enjoyed the free morning yoga class on the lawn. Their landscaping is not as classy at Taj or other five star resorts but is pretty enough.

As mentioned before the location is a pain but they tried very hard to make up for this by providing a cab drop off and pick up ( during a few set hours) during the day and keep a well-staffed travel desk to meet our other needs. If I were to book there again I'd make sure shuttle pickup/dropoff was included in the package.

This resort is very new and they are overall very eager to please. I am not sure if the food quality and service overall will last the seasons but for this trip I must say that they outdid themselves


 
To note:

Look on travel site like Make My Trip before booking. The hotel site does not offer the best rates and even shows rooms as full when you can get a cheaper booking through travel sites. I was really surprised when I contacted them directly for a booking and they did not meet makemytrip's offer. Interestingly I found an offer where it was cheaper to get an all meals included package than just the room and we really enjoyed that.

Insure that beach pickup/dropoff is included in your package – it is Rs 250 for a roundtrip but you will get a little sour paying for it every day.