Latest Reviews for Sal

We have just returned from a weeks stay at the rui garopa in sal, cape verde. the hotel was very good easily a 4 star, the rooms were very clean and had tv which picked up 4 english speaking channels (news)great shower and plenty of drawer and hanging space. The food was good but very repetitious, but there was plenty of choice, we tried two of the four speciality restaurants, asian and brasilian, but found the main restaurant had more choice. The entertainment at night was very geared up for French and german and most of the time we could'nt understand what was going on, ( one day I won the shooting competetion and was told to collect my certificate on stage that night, but it was all in French and I did'nt hear my name called and never got to collect it). The disco was very much euro trash music and if you could find your way to the dance floor through the clouds of cigarette smoke it was claustraphobic.

The hotel was directly on the beach, but depending where your room was, could only be a 5 to 10 minute walk. It was windy and cloudy, but it was a warm wind and did,nt spoil things at all and there was a bar on the beach which was part of the all inclusive deal. There were kites , body boards, kayaks and pedaloes free and you could do scuba diving aswell ( charge), but i don't think you would be able to use the pedaloes because the sea was very rough, DON'T take young children and we never saw the pedaloes taken out. I would recommend the quad bikes though, we took a trip and while the safety aspect was not very good, this was, in a way better, because we could go and do things that probably in a few years will be tightened up on, BUT you will get absolutely filthy, but its great fun. We went into santa maria once, but all there is to see is building work and i would not have liked to stay in any of the hotels there.

The island itself is one big sand pit or should i say sand tip, nothing to see but a few litte shanty towns where you get stared at as if you have just come from the moon. Reports are calling it the new carribean, but without any vegetation of any discription i don't think so. This holiday is really an hotel based holiday and I wouldn't even consider any other hotels except the funana or garopa ( garopa is newer)but if you want to chill out and not have to spend anymore than the cost of the holiday and (visa which is 25 euros) go now, other wise wait a few years and it may turn out like any other resort ie tenerife, lanzarote

The resort is listed as a 5 star but I would only rate it as a 4 star. This is because:-

1. The hotel has 1000 roooms and you can end up being 150 meters away on the far side of the enourmous conplex.
2. There are no tea and coffe facilities in the rooms.
3.If you get a ground floor room in one of the 2 storey blocks you will probably find the balcony has a terrible few of the security fence around the huge complex.
4.There is virtually nothing to do unless your happy to do the same thing again and again. You can go to the town of Santa Maria but, once you have been a few times it get a bit tedious.
5.It is windy all the time and the weather can be very dull at times.
6. The island of Sal is a large dust bowl with no vegitation at all.
7. the rooms can be noisey at times because the ventilation system does not shut off.
The plus points are:-
1. The food is quite good.
2. The staff are great.
3. The onsite entertainment is so bad its good ???.
4. Good fishing.
5. Good for surfing etc.

For one week its okay.
Do not be fooled into beliving its the West Indies.

This is not a holiday for the feint hearted but if you are slightly adventurous and don't expect the impossible you could have a great time.

We flew out with Astreus. The plane was not full so had 3 seats between the 2 of us. "; films were shown and the food was reasonable. The flight was on time and took about 5.5 hours.

The arrivals buiding was packed as apparently a previous flight was late so 2 flights were trying to get through 2 passport offices at once. Took us about an hour to get through.

A taxi was laid on to the hotel which took about 10 minutes.

The hotel was pleasant but basic. We had a superior romm (on the advice of Sunway travel). The bungalows looked more basic. We were BandB and apart from this we did not eat in the hotel at all (lunch on the beach once). Breakfast was just about OK and what you would expect of a holiday hotel buffet. We did have the odd drink in the hotel but it was the most expensive place on the island, including other hotels. The pool was very windy, although surounded by the rooms the wind whipped around it. The pool at the neighbouring Novizonte was more open plan but had a wind break which made it more pleasant. It was very windy every day. Apparently more windy than is usual for the time of year but you should go prepared for it. You will still burn in the wind and partial cloud without realising it.

Do NOT spend all your time in the hotel. Take the walk along the beach and into town. People pestering you to buy has really been over stated. Yes, the odd one or two people a night will offer you shells or try and find out your nationallity to engage in conversation. Just ignore them and they will only try for a few seconds. We've had much worse elsewhere. Don't worry about going into the shops either. Along the path behind the beach there are several place to eat. Tunana was great for fish in the evening. The Atlantis was more up market and very good for an evening meal. The most expensive place we ate, about £40 for 2 incuding a litre of wine. The beach club in front of the Morabeza is a great setting for lunch (do not use the Belorizonte's beach bar. Expensive and just does sandwiches or burgers with chips. In town we found it better to eat 'second sitting' around 8:30. This seemed to be when most people had finished. We never had to wait long for a meal, even in the busiest places. Tam Tam is a great place for pre dinner drinks. Nibbles served up and very quick service at reasonable prices. We would normally avoid an Irish (or English) bar at all costs. But this worked. Other good places to eat were Americos, Chez Pastis (run by a French couple). Great and cheap for lunch was the Creole shack at the far end of town. Everywhere you will need to get used to the 'attitude' of the staff. They do not smile, they do not scowl, they do not frown. They are totally expresionless. Everywhere. Do not take this personally. Also, don't go if you don't like fish!

The tour of the island was fun as was the quad buggy tour. Watch the dust. You and your clothes will be plastered with it on both trips.

No real complaints. The welcome meeting would have lasted less than a minute as it went along the lines of 'Welcome.......any questions?' Also, the tour operator forgot to pick us up to take us to the airport! However, just hailed a cab and it cost about 8 Euros. The airport on the way back was slow again, and once through passport control the only 'cafe' just sold drinks and crisps. Neos replaced Astraus as they had 'problems' so the cabin crew were Italian. We had no films as they had no headphones. This mad the flight a tad boring. Flight not full again so plenty of space. Food was supplied by Atraus and again was OK>

We would go back, but purely for a weeks winter sun. We would not use this hotel (or any other) again but would rent an apartment and eat out.

If you are thinking of going, go now, before us tourists ruin the place forever (not sure how long until a McDonalds will open there). Oh and take an extra jumper for those windy evenings.

It was a 6 and half hour flight to get there on a very small Astraeus plane from Manchester. There is no entertainment on the plane but you are allowed to take your own DVD player, I-Pod etc. You get a meal and the usual trolley services. On the way back, its an 8 hour flight and the plane really is a nightmare. You stop in Gambia to change the crew as they can only work 12 hours and they can't fit a flight there and back in that time. This means you are sat on the very hot and stuffy plane with no entertainmet, no toilets, no food or drink for at least an hour while they re-fuel and change crew. I would not recommend this flight if you are at all claustraphobic or a nervous flyer. If you are a really inconsiderate/selfish person, you can recline your seat and that just magnifies the problem.

There is really nothing on the island of Sal. It is pure dessert. We stayed the the Riu Funana/Garopa near the village of Santa Maria. We ventured into the village but it really isn't worth going. There are so many men trying to sell you things - various African crafts that are all the same. They are an absolute pain. There are so many of them and they make it quite uncomfortable for you to walk round and explore. There are supposed to be some good fish restaurants there but we really couldn't be bothered to battle through all the hawkers to find them.
The hotel is spotlessly clean - plenty of staff but they speak very little (if any) English. Reception are very good and speak any language. We discovered that if you specifically ask for a branded spirit, you will get it. For example, we asked for Gordons and tonic and we were given it without any quibble. I know there was Jim Beam and Malibu for definate and there were some others.

The food is another matter. For the majority of our stay, it was not good - with the exception of the breakfasts. You can have a full English, croissants, European style, fruit, toast etc. However, the juices are not fresh. For lunch, buffet style, there are pizzas, pastas, salad, some kind of stew, chips, fish fingers, soup, cheese, bread. Dinner is much the same as lunch if you choose the main buffer style restaurant. We found that there were too many casseroles and cheap/tough cuts of meat used. There are 4 speciality restaurants but I would only recommend the Cabo Verde and Mandalay restarants. Cabo Verde serves more fish, ie, prawns, mussels and other white fish just identifed as 'Fish'. Mandalay is the Asian restaurant which served lovely Sushi, curries and stir frys. We were very disappointed at the lack of fresh fish in all the restaurants as fish is supposed to be plentiful, and the desserts were nothing to write home about.
You don't need to spend anything in the hotel, although there are 4 or 5 shops in the foyer selling touristy goods.
You will need a normal European electricity adaptor for this hotel - NOT a worldwide one. Take a hairdryer as the one in the room is little use. The hotel is geared towards Germans (Riu is a German chain) and there are a mix of German, French, English, Spanish and Brazilian people there.
The pool areas in both the Funana and Garopa (the hotel is split into 1 half Funana, 1 half Garopa)hotels are huge. Plenty of beds but they do get busy. The hotel has its own beach but in February it was too windy to use it. There is a beach bar but you have to go back to the hotel to have your meal. Its about a 5 minute walk to the beach from Garopa.

The weather in Jan, Feb, Mar is very windy but sunny. It can be deceiving because you don't think its hot because of the wind but the sun will burn you very quickly. You always need suncream on - even if the wind is cold. In the evening is it very cold. You need a good coat on to keep you warm - I don't mean a light jacket. I took a light jacket and I was frozen. There is air con in the rooms but we did not need it on at night.
The beaches are beautiful. Golden, white sand and lovely turquoise sea. Again, because of the wind in February, it wasn't calm when we were there and the waves were massive. The International Windsurfing Championships were on taking advantage of the waves.

Sal Airport is better than we expected. We checked in quite easily (Manchester and Gatwick flight checking in at same time). Be careful with your Visa application though - if you go through Holiday Options, its quite straightforward but there were other people having to wait ages because they didn't know how to fill in the Visa's and the language barrier is a big problem. There is a duty free shop, cafe and tourist shop.
Overall, we enjoyed it but wouldn't hurry back. There isn't enough there for 2 weeks and if, like us, you didn't enjoy the fod, there is nowhere else to go. The beaches are great but the wind is a pain. The island still needs a few years to come into the 21st century.

dont run away with the idea that this holiday is anything like the write up in the thomson book IT IS NOT.first lets talk about the hotel book says which ever of the hotels you book you can use the sister hotel.ITS NOT A SISTER HOTEL its one very large hotel enclosed in a fence to keep you in maybe take your spades you may want to dig yourself out after a couple of days.

dont book a pool veiw as we did there are none if your lucky instead of looking out on to a small courtyard you maybe able to look out over the dessert and waste land.dont book your visa before you go through liverpool as we were told to do this cost you £55 each were as all the others on the plane paid £15 when they got ther to the rep when the rep was asked about this she srugged her shoulders.

the hotels are very clean and the food is ok but dont expect all the seafood as written about in the thomson book you have to go to santa maria for that and pay £30 for HALF a lobster.the staff dont know how to smile but you cant really blame them with much of the hotel overtaken with a certain race that are rude dont understand the words there is a qeue and grab all the best sunbeds. there is no probs with beds on the beach or by the pool ther are pleanty to go around.dont bother with the special restaurants there crap better off staying in the main buffet one.3 euros takes you to santa maria a welcome break from the hotel but you wont be there long thers nothing to do, you could have a meal if you want to share it with the flies.

ONE LAST THING DONT MAKE TO MAY PHONE CALLS FROM THE ROOM IT COST £9 EUROS A MIN. you get a safedeposit box in your room use it for everthing with a value things go missing. DONT FORGET TO TAKE YOUR KEY WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES WE FORGOT AND LEFT it IN THE ROOM ONE MORNING IT COST US £200 EUROS THE CLEANER HELPED HERSELF FROM THE SAFE.

all i can say is i will never go back and never recommend it to anyone BEWARE.

Didn't know what to expect from this holiday. The hotel was basic but very clean and comfortable and was located 5 mins from the centre of Santa Maria.

The resort boasts beautiful beaches, white sand and turquoise seas which in January had a water temp of 21 degrees. There is a constant breeze which is refreshing and this in turn makes the resort a paradise for wind surfers and kite surfers.

Fishing and building are the main trades around here.

The fishing boats unload their catch of Tuna, Wahoo and Marlin onto the beach and these are transoprted directly ( by wheelbarrow) to the restaurants. We ate fish lunchtime and evening for two weeks it was delicious!! There were meat dishes on the menu should you want them, I did notice however that there was not much choice for vegatarians in the restaurants.

There are several restaurants in the village we found the best on an eveing was a little local one called Compad, we ate here several times and whilst it was'nt posh served good food and resonable house wine. A lt of red wine and 2 main courses was about £13 here. The restaurant on the square( cant remeber its name turquoise tables and chairs) offered good service and was great for a light bite and beer at lunchtime.

There are not many bars ( about 5 or 6 three of them Irish owned!!) but TamTams was the most welcoming and we thought and had the best atmosphere.

There is lots of building work going on and we were'nt bothered by people selling but there were lots of Del boys about who obviously thought they were going to make a quick million with their purchases.
The building didn't interfere at all with out holiday.

I took pencils and crayons which I handed in at the local school. If I go again I wil take small toys and balls for the children on the street as the children did'nt seem to have much and the ones I saw playing football either used a flat ball or empty water bottle.

In the back streets there is a lot of poverty. There is'nt a lot to spend your money on unles you like the woooden carved ornaments and small necklaces.

We hired a care from the beach to tour the island we picked the car up at 10 and had been all around by 2.30. This included a trip to the salt mines which was well worth a visit.

Take plenty books you'll surely come back relaxed.

Prices for drinks generally about the same as in England - we thought it expensive but given everything has to be imported its not too bad.

be aware thoug if travelling back to Manchester the flight took 9 hours as we had to change crew and re fuel in Gambia that was a real drag as there is no in flight entertainment on the Astraeus plane.

We travelled to Cape Verde in May 2005. There are no direct flights from the UK so had to travel via Amsterdam, but this wasn't a problem. The flight took 6 hours from Amsterdam to the island of Sal.

The Hotel Morabeza was fantastic - a 4* Hotel right on the beach. We stayed BandB and the breakfast was excellent every morning. The evening meals in the hotel were nice but very expensive. Eating out was not a problem and meals were cheap enough. We found a nice Pizzeria not far from the hotel. The resort itself has a long way to go. Cape Verde is still classed as a third world country. Sal is the most touristic island out of them all and has the 4/5* All Inclusive resorts. Roads and footpaths don't really exist, so you have to be careful in the dark especially if you have had a few too many to drink! Locals are very friendly and welcoming. You still get the people on the beach who will try and sell you the sun glasses and jewellery - dont think there is any escaping them wherever you go. The beach was amazing - the whitest sand i have ever seen and turquoise water - just like the Carribean. Best thing of all was there was hardly anyone on them - you virtually had the beach to yourself! Weather was hot - about 28/30 degrees but there was always a breeze which was nice. Went on a trip to the island of Boavista (by internal flight) and stayed there for a night. The island is one big sand dune in the middle of the sea - amazing deserted beaches. Went on a tour of the island off roading - FANTASTIC! The whole holiday was great.

If you are going to Cape Verde don't expect resorts like the Canaries. People think that because the islands are just south of the Canaries (well 800 miles south!) that they are going to another Gran Canaria - NOTHING LIKE IT! It is very African and Portugueese influenced - not at all spanish and as i said before they are still third world - go with an open mind and you will have a great time! And also go before it gets too commercialised - there is already talk of Airtours going down - they will completely spoil it!