 | This review is based on my first visit to Rio’s on 19/07/23, a Wednesday. I paid £32 as a single male. They accept all major credit cards. My visit was from 3pm - 8pm.
Venue:
As others have mentioned, it looks quite old from the outside, with signage straight from the 80s but inside is a different story. Using the door with a handle (there are two doors), I entered into the front reception area. I made my payment and was handed a towel. I was buzzed through the door and the very friendly security guard showed me to the changing area and gave me a brief description of the layout. The lockers while narrow, are tall enough to fit a backpack. They also have two hooks on either side. You’ll need £1 to lock them and remove the key, which is attached to a rubber wrist band.
Beyond the changing room is the lounger area with about 8-10 loungers, small tables and a tv playing. You can use mobile devices here but not beyond this point.
After this is the bar area and M/F toilets. Toilets have a single cubicle. Pro tip, the locks displaying vacant/engaged are reversed. Hopefully you won’t attempt to force open the door when it is actually engaged like I almost did! :D
Bar area offers unlimited water, squash, tea, coffee and biscuits. No food or alcohol on offer but you can bring your own to put behind the bar. You can also get a fresh towel from here and dispose of your old one in one of many towel bins about the place.
After the bar are the showers, hot tubs, pool, steam room, sauna, private rooms and a garden area. I won’t go into detail on those as there is plenty of information about them here.
Thing to note, Rio’s does not offer massages anymore.
Staff:
The real stars of the show. Everyone working here is friendly, professional and attentive. They do their best to make sure things are running smoothly and that you get the service you paid for. They patrol the area frequently, cleaning, tidying and addressing issues.
My experience:
Once inside the first thing I noticed is that there are many people wearing bathing suits, trunks or even underwear. Previous reviews mentioned that this did not happen much but that was not my experience. I learned that going natural is not enforced anymore (even on the so called naturist days). Maybe it’s to ensure nobody is alienated, which is good for Rio’s business but not for the naturists among us. I just wished that if people had to really cover, they would cover with bathing attire, for hygiene reasons if nothing else.
As a lot of reviews have mentioned the ratio is heavily men leaning but that should come as no surprise. While I was there I counted about 10-15 women over the 5 hour period. Roughly 50% going natural. Most of the girls came as couples. The number of men was probably 3-4 times that. I like to talk to people and I found people here were friendly and pleasant to talk to. There were a few people who weren’t interested in conversation but it was all done politely.
I noticed that the steam room and larger hot tub were made accessible around 5pm. Probably because these are more expensive to run so they open up access during the busier periods.
As previous reviews have stated, you’ll have a good time if you go without expectations of play or sex. Just chill, soak up the vibe and go with the flow. If you act thirsty or like a creep it will get noticed by everyone there.
I’ll definitely be going again as I enjoyed the service, conversation, facilities and of course the lovely natural ladies. I wish they were stricter on the natural aspect but oh well.
Date: 20 July 2023
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