Riu Garopa / Funana Reviews

We stayed here over Christmas and the New Year 07 - 08. This hotel at Christmas is a great place to be. The hotel was bedecked by christmas decorations (a bit weird when you are in the sun !) and the staff wore santa hats - and got really into the festivities. The gala dinners on Christmas day and New Years eve were fantastic - champagne flowed all night, and all manner of very expensive foods were on offer. Throughout the holiday we ate well and had good choice of food and drink. The staff even came around with fruit during the day whilst were were sunbathing. The hotel is very large - but there are plenty of places for sunbathing - no fighting for sunbeds ! The pools were very cold - especially the jacuzzi in the spa. The rooms were great - large, had a fridge, and fantastic shower - however, we did have noise from the corridors from children running around (we were surprised to see so many children there at Christmas). The beach was stunning - although the sea was very rough - not for a quick paddle. Weatherwise - it was overcast on a few occasions - but always warm with a constant breeze through the days - it got quite chilly at night - so you might want to take a wrap/cardi. Overall a fantastic holiday.

Thomson - would it be possible to have the opportunity to upgrade the seats on the plane please ? We did not have them on our plane - and 6 hours is a long time in a cramped seat.

The hotel is massive and the facilities excellent. The service left a little to be desired but we put this down to it being an emerging holiday destination.

If what you want is a totally restful holiday on one of the best beaches in the world then for the price and flight time, this was a good choice.

We certainly chilled out and got out of the holiday what we needed.

I have just returned from Cape Verde, having gone for 2 weeks with my boyfriend and friends of ours. We all had a brilliant time and would recommend Cape Verde to anyone wanting a relaxing holiday.

We stayed at the Riu Resort. In the brochures the resort is advertised as two separate hotels (and can use both hotel facilities) We opted for Riu Garopa. Having arrived at the resort though, the Garopa and the other hotel Funana is just one massive resort, so I'm not quite sure why they are advertising as two separate hotels. It really does not matter what one you book as they are both the same, although I think the Funana is slightly more expensive.

The resort was excellent. Rooms were spotless and were a good size. All the restaurants served nice food. We did not have one bad meal whilst we were there. There are four speciality restaurants and we tried them all out. The asian restaurant was our favourite, serving chinese and sushi. There is no need for you to get bored with the food if you try out a different restaurant each night.

There are two massive swimming pools (although they were freezing!) and plenty of sunbeds for everyone, so no need to set the alarm to put your towels out. The beach is also really nice, with plenty of sunbeds. I didn't go into the sea though as is it looked a little choppy.

Entertainment is not great - the usual miming to songs etc. We usually ended up going to one of the bars that had a band on each night. Pacha is your usual hotel nightclub - nothing more you can say about that!

There is nothing really to do outside of the resort. We went on a half day trip around the island that was worthwhile (just to say we have seen some of the island). I would not recommend the snorkling trip as there were no fish!

The weather in June was nice and hot (late 20's). It was a bit windy, but that was quite nice during the day. I would recommend ladies taking a cardie and sometimes it can be a bit chilly in the evenings.

If you are looking for a holiday to just relax and flop on a sunlounger for 2 weeks, then I would def recommend this holiday. If you like to be a bit more active and go to the shops etc, you will be disappointed as there arn't any!.

We have just returned from our 2 week holiday in this new holidaty resort.We stayed at the Riu Funana.

On approaching the hotel it looked like a giant sandcastle.On arrival we were greeted by the hotel staff with a cool glass of something.We checked in which was completely effortless and given luggage labels to put on our cases which were delivered to our room not long after we found it.The complex is quite large but not overpowering.The rooms were clean and inviting and as my daughter says the shower is massive.......

The food in the hotel was good and plentiful with a good selection day and night .With speciality restaurants also you won't be bored.Even though we did'nt eat in them people we meet did on several occassions.The beach is idylic with soft white sands and tourquoise blue sea however very rough and not really ideal for bathing especially not children.The winds on the island were present every day some days stronger than others.During our stay the cloud was heavy and we had 3 whole days of sunshine and a couple of hours on other days when the cloud was thicker but still managed to get sun burned quite badly so beware...use high factor.

We did venture into Santa Maria and it was exactly what we imagined ,not a lot there really but you have to see it to believe it.Lots of building work going on here but it's all part of this up and coming holiday destination.Our reps in resort were spot on and very helpful,already knowledgable about this new resort.One thing I will say is if your a chocaholic try to take some with you as it cost a fortune in the little shop in the hotel we paid a euro for the equivilent to a bitesize Milky Way ,Snickers ect ,it does get quite costly if you have children that want chocolate.The evening entertainment was generally good some nights better than others but you see the annimatioin team working from morning till late at night..give them a break.

All in all our holiday here was superb and extremely relaxing ,we could have quite easily have stayed another 2 weeks..Enjoying Cabo Verde with NO STRESS.Go now to see the resort unless you want to pay a small fortune in a few years time.

excellent hotel, with great food and drink. Rooms spacious and spotless. Beach great but you must be a strong swimmer. Cape verde is windy so take a jacket. Go into santa maria, you get a little hassle but a polite no is enough. Take a treat for the dogs they are very friendly. There is a lot of building work going on but this did not affect us. A great holiday, go now before the prices double