Winter Sun at Riu Touareg - Daily activities and evening shows

Since the hotel is so remote you don’t have lots of entertainment options in the area, unless you want to go on an organised trip. See my review on the Desert Delights trip I did while in the resort.

https://www.onepawinthesand.com/post/winter-sun-at-riu-touareg-tui-day-trip-well-night-trip

The hotel has a jam-packed activities schedule if you want to participate. They have 3 main areas that these activities fit into RiuFun, RiuFit and RiuStage. They start at 10:30 each morning and run through to the evenings. I have been in hotels where the activity staff are really in your face and try to make you participate, but here they just make an announcement or give a shout around the main pool area and you can join. So what sort of things can you expect?

RiuFit

There are classes each day in the dedicated structure near the pool on in the pool itself. These include more low-key yoga and stretching sessions, or high-intensity step and circuit training. They also had Aqua-fit, Aquagym, Healthy Back and Riumba classes running on set days during the week. You don’t need to pre-book these, but space is limited, so it's good to be in the area just before they start.

RiuFun

These are group competitions or activities around the pool or beach. They included beach volleyball, beach football, bingo, French balls, darts, water polo, dance classes, archery and sjoelbak (shuffleboard, this is the Dutch version). I didn’t see all of these, so some might be held in other areas of the grounds. There is also a basketball court on-site which wasn’t ever open for use during my stay (no reason was given for this), but might be available as an activity at other times of the year.

RiuStage

Each evening the animation team (entertainment team) had a kids party by the stage in the ‘town square’ they then had a ‘warm up’ act of a musical duo until the main show at around 9 pm. Some of the warm-up acts were great. It was nice to be able to sit outside the main restaurant and listen to some great music while having your meal. The main entertainment was generally a show put on by the team themselves, but occasionally they had a Kahoot quiz or a larger band on the main stage. When we arrived I expected to see a lot of repetition to the shows since we would be there for 4 weeks, but I only actually saw one show advertised more than once. We didn’t really go and watch the show specifically, but it was on in the background while we sat playing cards around the Atlas Bar.

TIP if you want to watch the show sit in the area directly in front of the stage. This is a huge area that is very well set up, with plenty of tables and chairs available. The acoustics in the rest of the area weren’t as good, and seem to bounce the music around and distort it somewhat. That said, the music is not intrusive and overbearing in those further away areas, so it is not too much of an issue.

I will say I didn’t always get the vision behind the visuals of the show, but the team put 100% into each and every show. The music was great, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves which is the most important thing. While we were there they had shows themed on Rock, Grease, Abba, Africa and Cape Verde.

The hotel also has a small gym, if you want to keep your workouts going while you are away. They have 2 exercise bikes, 4 elliptical machines and a few different weight machines and free weights so it's not the biggest or most varied gym, but it can get the job done. They are only letting in a few people at a time so you need to pre-book your session. Just head into the Wellness and Spa and speak to the lovely people behind the counter. The building looks like it is just a spa and hairdresser but the gym is tucked in here, as well as a jacuzzi and steam room.

RiuLand (kids pool)

This closed-in area designed for young kids and families has some activities but this does seem to vary week to week and since I don’t have children I didn’t see these first hand. As we had to pass there to get to the restaurants and pools, I can say that it always looked to have people in there throughout its opening times.

They also have RiuArt just next door, which has its own schedule displayed outside the door. These classes have different themes, I saw acrylics and oils being offered while we were there. There is a fee for these classes to cover the materials used, so I didn’t do any myself especially since we are trying to get rid of our stuff for the move not make more.

There are things going on at the hotel throughout the day so you can keep active if you want to. Everything is listed in the activities section in the RiuApp, so it really is worth downloading so you can have a look each day. The team won’t pressure you and will let you just relax and enjoy the music if that’s what you want, so don’t worry about trying to disappear and not make eye contact (I’ve been to some of those hotels). I don’t know how they have so much energy, but it really should be appreciated by everyone who takes part in one of the sessions. I started referring to them as the energiser bunnies because they never seemed to run out of energy! The evening shows are extravagant, and the whole team put their heart and soul into everything they do. The hotel has really put in a lot of effort for the animation programme, and keeping their guests entertained while in the resort. The only thing I would say is they don’t communicate what and where things take place apart from through the App, so some people could be missing out. The App only tells you what time activities are happening in the day, it doesn’t say where the activity takes place. The hotel is spread over a very large area, so when I went to find some at the start of our time there I felt literally a bit lost, but I’m sure the staff could point you in the right direction if you can’t find something, they are all really helpful, or just head towards the main pool area.

It was definitely one of the best entertainment programmes I have seen in a hotel and if you want something to do there are plenty of choices. Most people would be able to find something they like as they have most areas covered and the team were friendly and inviting. If you are in the resort have a go or enjoy the shows and let me know what you think.