Hotel Belorizonte Reviews

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.