Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
A secluded sanctuary tucked away on the Puerto Rico Caribbean coast, Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve is an idyllic resort where both new and timeless moments answer the desire for discovery. More spectacular than ever, the resort features luxury amenities and facilities. Our Ladies and Gentlemen are pleased to welcome guests once again at the most enchanting Puerto Rico luxury resort — one that calls to those who believe every journey should be a voyage of discovery. With its serene coastline, private residences, spa retreat and a harmonious sense of place that blends masterfully into the natural surroundings, Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve is a rare resort that invites guests to arrive spellbound — and depart speechless.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is lauded for its luxurious atmosphere and pristine amenities, with reviewers frequently praising its lush landscaping and immaculate pools. Guests have called out the spacious and comfortable rooms, particularly enjoying the unique outdoor showers and ocean proximity. While the service is generally recognized as attentive and professional, some travelers have experienced occasional inconsistencies.
In terms of value, there are concerns about the cost, with some feeling it may not fully justify the experience. Additionally, guests note challenges in securing pool or beach chairs and the removal of certain complimentary items.
Atmosphere
Luxurious
Rooms
Comfortable
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Immaculate
Service
Attentive
Amenities
Lavish
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Having traveled all over the world in my quest for the perfect beach resort, I had never considered Puerto Rico as for some reason I didn’t think it was exotic enough. I had recently returned from La Samara in St. Martin and believed I had finally found my nirvana . My son told me that he had recently experienced the most fabulous vacation at Dorado Ritz Carlton reserve so although I didn’t think anything could surpass La Samana I thought I’d give it a try. Dorado not only surpassed La Samana but was even more spectacular than my trip to Lake Como Italy. Many resort beaches are lovely but none are as dramatically breathtaking as the beach at Dorado . Boulders in the water create coves for swimming while providing the beach goer with a display of crashing waves. The several vanishing pools are pristine and the jungle like plantings with massive palm trees and other lush shrubbery and trees make a visitor feel that they have entered paradise. The rooms are so close to the ocean that you can hear the waves as you sleep- and the rooms are exquisite with stone bathrooms that have magnificent indoor and outdoor showers . And the food was fit for a gourmet’s taste.The staff must all take happy pills as they are always looking for ways to please you. To be fair all this vines at a price but it is well worth it. One caveat - check in is at 4 and checkout at 12- as we had a 6:10 flight back to New York we asked for a late checkout. We were told this was not possible - I’m sure housekeeping couldn’t clean all the rooms at the same time so it would seem that 4 hrs would be sufficient to allow people with late flights to check out later. This was the only negative. Two staff particularly stand out as going the extra step to make guests happy- Walter and Ingrid-bravo
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Date of stay: January 2025
Value
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This place is changing a bit, and not for the better, but it remains a happy place for me. The main pain point for me is that it's supposed to be in a Reserve, meaning a quiet place where you can feel free. Dorado is getting overdeveloped, and you can't walk or bicycle along a road for ten seconds without having a car in your way. It's worse than many residential neighborhoods back at home. They are building many more condos and thinking of building a JW Marriott hotel which will be large and probably turn the area into a circus. Here's a list of things the hotel you used to provide that it no longer does: hammocks at the pool, snacks in the gym, foam rollers in the gym, little bottles of sunscreen, dishes by the outdoor showers in your room with amenities such as soap and shampoo. I wish they would bring back the breakfast buffet. I found that sending a pre-order through my butler helped speed up breakfast although I still had to wait 15 minutes for my food to be brought to the table. I figure it's only a matter of time before they phase out the popsicles you get upon arrival. The Spa Botanico remains a wonderful spa but do you think that $375 for a one hour massage might be a bit steep? I prefer the upstairs rooms because you have more privacy instead of everyone walking by and looking at you in your room. Amex Platinum gives you a "property credit" and you figure that you can use it at the spa or at the restaurant at Encanto beach club. You can't. The credit is only good for the 2 hotel restaurants and room service. They have a promotion giving out $500 property credits for 2 night stays and I"m wondering where anyone is supposed to spend the credits except at the two restaurants. All in all, a room here costs about $3,000 a night, which is about the same as a junior suite at the Cheval Blanc in Paris. That's probably a good comparison and along those lines, the price is right. What you do get here is AC in your room that works and stays on all night, fruit and treats in your room upon arrival, electricity that doesn't go out when the rest of the island does, a beautiful pool area with a heated pool and a jacuzzi with a pretty ocean view, butler service, a calm beach for swimming due to the breakers (which is very hard to find anywhere else), a good 24 hour fitness facility, a water park with 2 slides and a lazy river, a decent gym that also makes good smoothies, bicycles, probably the best food on the island, and a gated community with very upscale living 35 minutes from an airport with lots of flights at good prices.
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Date of stay: January 2025Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Wonderful resort. The setting, the views, the landscaping, the beach, the history - all just so special. As others have noted the room location being so close to the surf is unique. We woke up every morning and just opened our doors and listened to the waves crashing.
The service was top notch. Team members are excited to converse and talk with pride about the hotel. Special thanks to Will and Arelis at Positivo and Chen our embajador. Also we had a great time with Santos at Encanto restaurant (not part of hotel but on the bigger property). We liked their bar and their burger and chicken parm!
The spa is pricey but worth checking out for a treatment in part so you can enjoy the wide range of facilities (steam room, plunge pools, hot pools. etc).
We loved how small and intimate the hotel feels - yet with every comfort available. It’s also nice that, since Puerto Rico is part of the US, there were no passport/customs formalities for us. We were on the beach within ~1 hour of landing at SJU!
Very much looking fwd to a return visit.
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Date of stay: October 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Absolutely fell in love with this place. Spectacular beach, huge room, great pool vibe, great staff, we are eager to return.
We stayed in a second floor room on the East Beach and we were very happy with the accommodation. The room was massive and had a fantastic, very private view. An outdoor shower is always a treat and we used it every day. East side is less expensive than West side and I debated where to be, but I feel like we made a very good decision. West dropped you straight onto the gorgeous beach and was closer to the market and the Encanto pool, but East has gorgeous huge ocean views and is only a 2 minute walk down to the Positivo pool/ main pavilion where we spent the bulk of our time.
We stayed 6 nights and didn't tire of the food selections - COA and Positivo Sand Bar are great. We also tried Flor de Sal and it was a beautiful space, but food was not nearly as good as the other two restaurants. If you don't like Asian cuisines you may get a bit bored with the offerings, but we had one big dinner at COA, two dinners at COA bar and two dinners at Positivo and had different and delicious choices each time. Especially recommend miso margarita from Positivo if you're a marg fan, subtle lovely taste and the Green gin cocktail poolside is a perfect hot weather drink.
The physical property is amazing and very well maintained, many walking paths and again that beach is just pure fun, the softest sand, clearest water and easy entry in and out as a breakwater helps keeps the waves manageable. My husband spent a morning at the spa prior to a massage and he raved about both the offerings at the spa (steam room, etc.) and the actual massage.
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Date of stay: December 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Last minute trip to get out of the cold. Resort beautiful. Rooms are great and large and comfortable. Butlers attentive and respond quickly to requests via text. Property beautiful. Positivo Asian restaurant is amazing as well as the servers super friendly. Resort felt very empty despite being Christmas week.
Couple of negatives. Requested turn down service nightly at 8:00. First evening there no turn down service provided. Coa for breakfast I would not recommend. Went first day and bird poop on all the chairs outside and birds and poop all over tables. Waitress put towel on chairs to cover the poop so didn’t sit on it. Service was lacking and left dirty tables that were attacked by the birds. Hotel needs to do something about the birds- completely unsanitary. Some Mexican hotels have trained hawks keep birds away they should look into. Went to La Cocina for coffee the rest of the stay was great with great cookies. Service at beach slow. Ordered lunch one day. After an hour we complained and waiter said food was attacked by birds while bringing to us and remaking it. They did right thing and comped the lunch. Tried to get couples massage and had zero availability throughout the stay. You would think they would extend spa hours festive week. On day of check out as Bonvoy gold member requested 3:00 check out being that there were at least three of my category rooms available online that day but of course they claimed high occupancy and made us check out by 1:00. Manager made no effort to accommodate us despite many unsold rooms in same category as ours. For $7000/night for a room the hotel should not have this many negatives.
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Date of stay: December 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are at Day 4 of our visit to the Ritz-Dorado and have regretted our decision to stay here almost from the day of our arrival. Let me start by saying that my husband and I are frequent luxury travelers. This is NOT a luxury hotel. We gave explicit instructions to our butler to have house cleaning come at 10am. For the first 3 days, we had to request the room to be cleaned upon our return to the room at 1-2pm in the afternoon. One afternoon, we happened to be in the room relaxing, and a worker just came into the room (without knocking or announcing herself) to replenish snacks, only to realize she was in the wrong room and hurried out. On Friday evening, we decided to go to La Cocina for the wine dinner. We were the first to arrive. The chef and the somelier were very friendly and greeted us warmly. When the other guests arrived, the hostess Natalia opened the dinner by only addressing the Caucasian guests. Today, we took a trip to Old San Juan and upon our return to the hotel, we provided the security guard at the front entrance our last name and room number, only to be repeatedly asked if we are staying at the Ritz (if we werent staying here, why would we give a last name and room number). We pay premium to travel and to be treated exceptionally well (or at least to be left alone) and this trip has been an absolute waste (of both time and money). I will end this by saying that Arelis (sp?) is a phenomenal waitress and Ricardo at Encanto ensured we had an authentic Puerto Rican dinner. Overall, the hotel staff is generally friendly and attentive; however, I deeply regret not staying at the St. Regis. Let's hope we dont have any additional issues with our remaining days.
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Date of stay: September 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Ana Henriques, General Manager at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Responded Sep 6, 2022
Dear ncwashin6, Thank you for staying with us this past weekend and for choosing our property. On behalf of the team, we deeply apologize for the issues that you encountered on the initial days; We really appreciate you allowing us to personally discuss it and hope that you enjoying the remaining of your stay. Providing the highest level of hospitality is our top priority and I sincerely apologize for failing to meet your expectations. I have shared your feedback with the leadership team to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place and reviewed with proper immediate training to prevent the issues from re-occurring in the future. We do hope that, despite these incidents, you enjoyed your stay and look forward to welcoming you back in the near future. Sincerely, Ana Henriques General Manager
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The setting for the entire property is absolutely exquisite. I have stayed on the West Beach and the East Beach. Objectively, neither one is better than the other. They just offer different experiences. If you are staying with family and would like direct access to the beachfront, the West Beach is a great choice. If you want the same ocean vista but are comfortable with the more rocky surf, you get a ton more privacy on the East Beach. The entire resort is structured so that everywhere on property is convenient. I have stayed in a large 2 bedroom suite and on a separate trip a deluxe ocean front room, each with a pool. The rooms have every amenity needed to ensure a comfortable stay. From a fully stocked bar and pantry to the bathroom amenity packages just about every need is cared for. Service is also proactive and highly attentive. The butler teams manage everything from dinner reservations and spa appointments to any off property excursions. Trent was devoted to our suite during our earlier trip in April and when we returned in December, he remembered us and treated us with extra bonus attention. We definitely felt spoiled rotten in the very best way. The restaurants are all amazing. I wish I favored one over any of the others but they were all fantastic and offered different culinary experiences. The pool and beach areas are nice. Unlike other resorts where it is hard to find space when the property is crowded, this was only the case on one of the days and the beach and pool staff handled it professionally and worked extremely hard to make sure all guests could be accommodated. We reserved a day bed for two days and found that it was worth the price to have a certain spot to go to each day. I would recommend the day beds which are available at the beach and by the pool. I really can't say enough about how magical a place this is. We are already planning our return trip this spring.
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Date of stay: December 2024
Value
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Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Make dinner reservations to access the special dining experiences. Reserve a Day Bed/Cabana at...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband I stayed at Dorado Beach for the first time and lets just say we will be back. We live in Texas and have told each other that we wanted to find a resort that is direct flight from Texas, amazing food, great service and wonderful rooms and let's just say "WE FOUND IT"!!!
From the beginning to the end of our trip we had the absolute best time.
The check in process was very smooth and the staff was very friendly upon arrival. The entrance walking up to check in desk is gorgeous with all the water features!! Matthew at check in was so friendly and gave us some great recommendations as we were first timers!!!
Restaurants: We ate at Coa our first night and had a great start to our trip. Our server nicknamed Kiki was so great. The service was a bit long( 2hours ) but the staff was attentive and even gave us a round of drinks due to the wait. I highly recommend the Dover Sole fish and the pheasant. Our second night we went to Flor De Sol and had another great server Rosi and it her attitude matched the amazing Fishermans Risotto and Branzino!!!
Beach: We had beach chairs set up everyday for us outside our room and Mike was so great and friendly. He checked on us routinely and I even left a cover up out one day and he made sure to get it back to me the next day.
Pool: We spent first day at the adult pool and beach spot and had wonderful service from Jessica and Naomi. They were so sweet and friendly!!
Our butlers Chen, Angel and Trent were so attentive and all I had to do if I needed anything was text them on Whatsup and they would respond and make sure we were always taken care of. We changed our excursion and Chen was right on top of it. Trent gave us some great historical information about the property and the geography of the area.
Spa: My husband and I had a couples massage and I would the spa is very gorgeous but the cost is a bit pricey.
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Date of stay: November 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Dorado Reserve is an exquisite property. Lush and well maintained, this is an absolutely beautiful setting. Before anything else, let me say they are Covid Safe and Covid Conscious. Masks are required in any of their indoor facilities but unrestricted outdoors. All staff wear masks. The grounds are enormous, yet within the immediate room, pool, beach areas you don’t feel it’s enormity. The ocean view rooms are large and modern. The amenities are many. The open shower concept is delightful and there’s an additional outdoor shower as well as tub. Downstairs suites have a plunge pool upstairs suites have an enormous well appointed balcony. The pools are large and luxurious. Molded seats and multiple fountains overlooking the Caribbean. Pool service is, for the most part, excellent. Many nice touches include the circulating morning berry cup, morning guava ice cup, and afternoon Coco-Frio offering. The pool staff are warm and friendly. Very attentive. Pool menu is good. Not extensive. If you’re there for a week I would suggest switching it up between pool areas and restaurants. The COA breakfasts are superb. Dinner at COA is another review entirely. Negatives: I understand the industry suffering through a Covid year but when I discovered we were paying DOUBLE ( $2000/night) as opposed to the usual $1000/night, it was a bit shocking. If you booked earlier in year you lucked out at customary pricing. Now the head-scratcher. We asked the front desk and concierge 4x to have someone in reservations contact us while we were on property as we want to book a week in January 2022 for my daughter‘s 30th birthday. And we have specific room requests. In our entire six day stay nobody got back to us. And that was probably the only disappointment but I just don’t get it because that’s future business based on a very great first impression and wonderful vacation. So if anybody from management is reading this review please get in touch with us! Reservation name is Muller. You have our info.
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from George Sotelo, General Manager at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Responded Oct 12, 2021
Dear brnbrklyn, I am thrilled to hear that you had a memorable time at Dorado Beach and that the property was exquisite. I have followed up with our reservations department and they will be reaching out to you shortly on your inquiry for a future stay. The team and I look forward to welcoming you back to celebrate such an important milestone. Warm Regards, George M. Sotelo
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This resort is one of the finest. We were upgrades to an Ocean Front room. It was gorgeous with a beautiful patio with generous seating. The bedroom was large and the bathroom was special. We had an indoor and outdoor shower and a free standing tub with bath salts supplied. There is a nice mini bar and they also left some gifts in our room. I would recommend highly.
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Date of stay: March 2025Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Very nice Spa. Wonderful breakfast.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The water is relatively calm as there is an extensive barrier wall, which breaks the waves. It was very windy when we were there, and we still swam every day. We plan to return with our grandson as there is an extensive sandbar area which is like an enormous kiddie pool.
The East Beach, which is about a 10 minute walk, does not have the barrier wall, and therefore the waves are quite large there. This is where we saw kite surfing.
The water was also quite warm… and we were there in January.
Enjoy!
There are more places to choose from in the Dorado area.
PRICE RANGE
C$2,297 - C$5,278 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
CaribbeanPuerto RicoDorado
NUMBER OF ROOMS
114
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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