"Exceeded our expectations, well done to everyone working at this hotel"
We came to this hotel as we were looking for a quieter family holiday than usual. Search for a hotel with less excursions and things to do, but good on the food, pools & beach.
This hotel delivered, and exceeded our expectations.
It is about a 10 minute coach from the airport, or a taxi outside is 3 minutes, we offered 10 euros which was gladly accepted. We purely got the taxi to the hotel as it gets you ahead of the coach and speeds up check in.
Hotel is very large but is quite spaced out so you don't feel everything is on top of each other. The room was very spacious. We had a king sized bed and a sofa bed for my son. The bathroom was was also large with a very good shower and lots of space. We also had a mini bar or four different spirits on the wall, tea/coffee making facilities and a fridge always stocked with water, soft drinks, beer and tonic water. There were other single story rooms that only hold two people, which had swim up rooms, looked a bit open to those walking past, but I wonder if a lot of this is due to the complex still growing lots of trees and bushes.
Food - Excellent, best AI food we've ever seen. The choice was enormous and the quality was between good and excellent. There are three themed restaurants, we tried the steak one, this was ok, but we found we liked the buffet so much we just stuck to that. Whether it be Breakfast, lunch or dinner everything was fresh and being cooked in front of you in small batches. You had 8+ different types of fish every night, from tuna and swordfish through to trout, salmon and hake, never eaten so much fish in my life. Loads of different meat dishes, in sauces and kebabs to roasts. 8+ different kinds of pasta style dishes, pizzas galore, 6 different garlic breads, 10 different cheese in the cheese board area, veggie section that had loads and in the middle was the salads, cold meats/fish and dozens of deserts. As you can imagine the variety at breakfast was just as vast, plus they make fresh juices every morning. We found the Kiwi juice very tasty. We found the quality of the white and red wine to be better than most AI hotels, more than happy having a bottle of red with the evening meal.
Pools - There are 3 large pools, two family pools with loads of sun beds and pool bars, one adult pool, again loads of sun beds and a great pool bar. They are strict with the adult pool, anyone under age will be asked to leave. Some people get quite offended that they were told it was adults only and they had use of the two massive pools only 20 meters away. Bar staff were excellent at this pool, everyone of them. They were quick, always happy and made what ever you wanted. If you want a premium brand, just ask, they dont care, but the default is the local brand, which also wasn't bad at all. Beer tasted great as well. Found the cocktails a little too sweet.
Beach - Just meters away from the pools and was pure sand, although there are some rocks in the sea, we found that if you want to go in the sea properly, head up towards the other hotels (to the right as you look at the sea) as up there there are no rocks. Sea is warm and clear, although not idea for kids as it can have big waves as you are hundreds of miles into the Atlantic. There are men trying to sell things on the beach, we just said no and they left us. There are also some huts where you can buy things from, Cabo Verde football shirts are EVERYWHERE, we ended up coming back with three as well. As with these people, they go high on the price, but you just barter. I find the best way is to decide what you want and what you want to pay. Stick to that price and as long as you don't take the pee, they will take it, or just go to the next hut that will. As a guide, we paid 15 euros for one football shirt (she was very happy, they ask for 25 euros) but we also purchased, 2 shirts, 2 shot glasses and a metal Cabo Verde plack for 40 euros, they wanted 70 but I said 40 was all I have an I was going home that day.
Staff - Fantastic, think of the happy, polite, positive people in the Caribbean and then tone down the in your face full on attitude. They were all smart, helpful, happy and couldn't fault anyone across the whole holiday.
We dont usually do a Spa, but as we were so relaxed we went for it, couple of full massages, very good quality and well priced. Gym was ok, little dated but good enough to keep the body moving, or in my case to wear off some of the food I was eating!
We will def go back here, maybe the tow of us and get a pool room next September for a weeks break.
Thank you for a relaxing holiday, didn't realise how much we needed it :)
