Hotel Rifoles Reviews

Stayed here just for a week on a BandB basis. i would recommend going BandB here, as there are many other restaurants close by, and the meals at the hotel are rather expensive. As previously mentioned, the Thomson rep, Claire was very experienced and excellent. you CAN pay the departure tax in US dollars, and indeed it is much cheaper to so. Be warned however, only pay in pristine notes, no writing or anything on them. I'd advise taking US dollars cash and change them at the local shopping center, no problems there.

We only went on 2 trips, the dune buggy one which is NOT to be missed, and the Pipa one (a beach resort some miles away) which I wouldn't bother with myself. As previously stated, the sun here can be very fierce and we mostly used factor 20 while here. The pool areas had several shady areas and umbrella's and so on. Also the beach had umbrellas you could use. There was no charge for sun beds or umbrellas. One advantage of the beach was that several non hotel vendors come along and sell drinks etc at much better prices than the hotel.

All in all, I'd recommend this resort and the hotel.

The hotel was excellent - the staff couldn't do enough for you. English is quite limited as we are new to the area, however the staff were always friendly and willing to learn new words. A few words of Portuguese is welcomed which the rep, Claire was happy to provide a useful phrase sheet.

ADVISE - MONEY CHANGING FACILITIES ARE VERY LIMITED. Take plenty of reals with you, rather than travellers cheques! If you do take travellers cheques make sure they are US Dollars and NOT Sterling. The hotel were unable to change travellers cheques and the exchange facility in the nearby shopping centre (Praia Shopping) was very unreliable - he often sent you away asking to come back tomorrow as the system was not working. This was not only on one occasssion but happened frequently.

Hotel is situated directly on a lovely beach and the restaurants in Ponta Negra are about a 20 min stroll away. There is also a selection of restuarants on the main road leading into Ponta Negra about a 10 min walk away. it is quite safe to walk around these areas at night and you don't feel intimidated - but you will need flat shoes, forget the heels!!!!!!

Food - found the menu very boring after 2 weeks and felt like i was eating junk food with chips served with every meal - vegetables are a rarity in restaurants. Rice was also popular, but they were not accompanied with anything else other than meat or fish. A couple of good italian restaurants in Ponta Negra (Fellini's). If you want something different try the Abade restaurant just outside the hotel, it is more expensive and men have to wear long trousers but the meals are great - and you can get veg!

If you are missing home, try Habib's in the Praia shopping centre for lunch (thier equivelent to our burger king but much bigger portions!).

Very difficult to get a ";snack"; at lunch and a simple sandwich is hard to come by, again every meal is served with chips.

DO BE CAREFUL OF THE SUN, EVEN SEASONED TRAVELLERS WERE GETTING BURNT. The breeze makes it very deceptive.

Only drawback of the hotel was the lack of shade, the snack bar area by the pool was outside so very little chance to escape the sun.

All in all a good holiday, but if I was to return I would probably try a different part of Brazil.

We spent the last two weeks of January in Ponta Negra in sweltering heat {nothing below 70 deg all night } in this lovely resort. The hotel was based on a ship theme with all the staff including the cleaners in naval type uniforms. The hotel classed the floors as decks and the rooms were named as cabins. Our hotel and cabins wrer kept very clean and bedding changed every day along with the towels.

As we only went as B/B we can not comment on the lunch/evening meals, but breakfast was not bad at all,usual buffet style with plenty of fresh fruit and champagne to indulge in.
In the two weeks we were there we didn't eat in the same restaurants twice, not because we did not want to but because there was a lot of choices and all within walking distance. We recommend the two Japanese sushi places and Mezzanos {Italian} oh and Funchals, where they send a taxi down to pick you up and ferry you back to the hotel for free.

The best place to change your money up is at the Priar shopping mall, its an experience as they only let you in one at a time to do your exchanging, recommened to go first thing in the morning as queues can build up during the day.

BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING!!!
Although the holiday books say at departure you can pay in US dollars YOU CAN NOT they will only accept the Brazilian Real. The other thing is that you will be charged hotel tourist tax which at the time was 2.20 Real per day{approx 50p}which is also not stated in the books and can give a nasty shock if you have not budgeted for this. Also if you don't want a nasty extra bill at the end of your stay pay for every thing up front and don't be tempted to lounge around the pool ordering drinks etc and then just sign for the items as it has been known to add o few extras on and when you leave the hotel all sorts of arguements break out with the reception, quite amusing to watch went you haven't gone down this road.

All in all though a very lovely holiday and we will definately go back. In the meantime if you go before April say hello to Caire our rep whom was exceptional and very helpful lady, you can't miss her as she has a vey infectious laugh, nice one Claire.
HAPPY HOLS IN PONTA NEGRA