Hotel Riu Palace Boavista

We went as a family of four (two adults, a 13-year-old and a 9-year-old) for two weeks. The hotel is approximately a 5–6 minute drive from the airport via TUI, which was brilliant as it meant we could start our holiday almost as soon as we arrived. There are also plenty of taxis outside the airport, which charge approximately €10 to the hotel. We saw a few people from our flight take a taxi directly. When we arrived at the hotel, we were met with refreshing welcome drinks and check-in was really easy. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes. We did have to take our own bags to our rooms, which I thought was a little bizarre, as at their sister hotel (which is adults-only and a short walk from RIU Karamboa), staff collected guests’ luggage upon arrival. We were advised on the coach that this service was only available at the adults-only hotel. I’m no princess though, and my husband was happy to take our bags to the room 🤣. We had two separate rooms, with my husband and I splitting up so that one adult stayed with each child. Sadly, our rooms weren’t next to each other; however, this didn’t impact us significantly. Rooms The rooms were clean and fairly basic. There is a minibar and drinks fridge which was supposed to be restocked every two days. However, ours was only restocked once during our two-week stay. We didn’t complain as there were plenty of drinks available throughout the hotel. The drinks on offer were good quality and certainly came with a healthy top-up! 😂 I particularly enjoyed the Long Island Iced Tea and the gin and tonic. And let’s not leave out the fabulous Cosmopolitan that one very attentive bar lady prepared for me — absolutely delicious. When we arrived, the rooms did smell quite damp and there was mould on the curtains, around the shower and up parts of the wall. I suspect some of this is due to the humidity. The blankets and sheets also felt quite damp. We weren’t overly bothered by it and worked around it, as most of our time was spent at the beach or pool. However, I would say that the RIU is in need of some updating. The hotel itself is beautiful, but the damp issues and general wear and tear do need to be addressed. Food We were pleasantly surprised by the variety. There is enough food to cater for most people’s needs, even picky eaters like my daughter — if it’s not beige, she won’t eat it! 😂 We tried the speciality restaurants and our favourite was the BBQ restaurant, which served really good ribs followed by a delicious trio of desserts. The one significant issue for us, and something we heard mentioned by a number of other guests, was the flies. I mean, it was biblical. Persistent and relentless! For a large chain like RIU, I really think more attention needs to be given to protecting the food from flies. There were a significant number around the buffet and, unfortunately, we saw flies sitting on food and occasionally dead flies on food. It was pretty unpleasant. My daughter developed a bad stomach for around five days and several other guests we spoke to had also experienced stomach problems. My husband and son were affected too. We obviously can’t say for certain what caused it, but naturally the number of flies around the buffet made us concerned about food hygiene. The boys still managed to enjoy their holiday, albeit with frequent trips to the loo 🤣, but sadly my nine-year-old daughter wasn’t so lucky and it affected several days of her holiday. The staff were pretty robust with encouraging the use of hand sanitiser, but I personally don’t think enough was being done to protect and cover the food. I saw some guests using little fly fans at dinner and wished we had brought some with us! Medical Supplies We needed some basic medical supplies for my daughter, but unfortunately the hotel doesn’t sell these on site. There is a local pharmacy, but I would encourage families to bring a small supply of the basics they may need while travelling. On one of our excursions, the organiser happened to be a first aider and was absolutely brilliant when my daughter became unwell. She helped us with what we needed and my daughter was like a different child afterwards. Thank you, Giggle Cheko! Entertainment Gosh, the entertainment team work so hard. They were brilliant at getting adults, children and teenagers involved in activities such as football on the beach, beach volleyball and beach darts. The pool parties were brilliant and suitable for both adults and children. The evening entertainment was OK and about what you would expect from a large chain hotel. I would definitely suggest mixing up your evenings by going off resort for activities and experiencing some of the local life too. They held a White Party while we were there, but strangely it was adults-only despite this being a family resort, and there was no childcare available. I popped over on my own just to see what it was like and honestly thought I’d stepped into a time machine and been transported to Ibiza! 😂 I have to admit, it was pretty epic — fireworks, lasers, DJs, balloons and podium dancers. It was extremely well organised and definitely worth seeing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay too long because the music was a little loud and the strobe lighting was too much for an old girl like me 😂. However, I would still say you absolutely must go and experience it because it was pretty awesome. Customer Service This was probably the most hit-and-miss part of our stay. Unfortunately, I felt that quite a few members of staff didn’t particularly want to be there and weren’t especially friendly. There were, however, some lovely exceptions. Diane, the bartender at the main bar, was lovely, and Antonio from the entertainment team — who I lovingly referred to as my adopted son by the end of the holiday 😂 — was brilliant. Unfortunately, we also experienced a particularly rude interaction with one member of staff. She spoke to me very rudely, even in front of her manager. Her manager looked at me, looked at her and then looked back at me, and I genuinely think he was just as shocked as I was! After nearly two weeks of inconsistent customer service, that interaction was the final straw and I did raise my concerns with the manager. We spoke to several other guests who unfortunately felt that the customer service could also be inconsistent. Excursions We did so many excursions and booked with several different providers. The ones my children particularly loved were: • Sand dune surfing • Fishing — we did a private tour and this is an absolute must! • Buggy ride around the sand dunes, caves and shipwreck — 10/10 • Turtle watching at night — I thought this was incredible, although my daughter was a little grossed out 😂 • Ice cream in Sal Rei — genuinely some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted! I would absolutely recommend getting out of the resort and seeing Boa Vista. The island is beautiful and some of our favourite family memories from the holiday came from our excursions. Pros • Entertainment team • Location of the hotel • Value for money • Variety of food • Pool • The beach! The beaches are incredible. We have travelled quite a lot, including the Bahamas, Maldives, Thailand and the Caribbean, and I would honestly say the beaches in Boa Vista are amongst some of the best I’ve seen. Cons • The flies, particularly around the food • Inconsistent customer service • Damp/mould in the rooms Would We Return? This is definitely a mixed review, but an honest one. Would we return? Probably not. Not because we had a terrible holiday — we didn’t. We made some fantastic family memories and Boa Vista itself is BEAUTIFUL. We met so many guests who return year after year, and I can understand why they love it. For us, though, Boa Vista was one of those bucket-list destinations that we wanted to experience, and now we’ve ticked it off, we’ll be on to our next adventure. Despite the issues I’ve mentioned, we had some wonderful experiences, and the beach and excursions in particular were unforgettable. Sorry for the incredibly long review! 😂 But if you’re anything like me, when you’re spending thousands on a family holiday, you want a proper, honest review from someone who has actually been there with children. I hope you find this useful!

Just about to leave, it been fantastic! Right on the beach, next to the pool also. Reps are brilliant, lots of games for all ages. Fine to get a sun bed, which is a bonus. Room are fine, good value. Kids entertainment not late at night, always has a show on every night. Keep washing hands, they are good in the restaurant but there are flies. Did a day trip with tui, was really good. They could do with more pool tables in the games room. Get rid of table and chairs, it’s so popular with that age. Also need a chalk board or something to say who’s up next. As causes a few arguements. All round really good fun!