Riu Garopa / Funana Reviews

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.

When we arrived in Sal it looked just like the desert, when we arrived at the hotel it was just like a palace, you couldn't fault the hotl, it was so clean, and the staff were very friendly, very good choice of food, it was better to go in the dining hall about 8:30, as the foreigners get there when it opens as they think there isn't going to be any food left, and rush about when they do get in there, we always found enough when we went in. Cleaners came in the rooms every day plenty of cupboard space. Bar in reception could have stayed open later closed at 12, everywhere we have been has long as people are there, they stay open, not everyone wants to go to a disco, when we did go one night it was full up with all the hotel staff,

entertainment was done by the staff, the compare never once spoke in English.Be careful when visiting the beach no flags up, sea got very rough about 4pm. All in all lovely hotel great food, friendly staff, if you want a nice relaxing holiday but nothing outside, the next town Santa Maria was like Shanty Town people pestering you all the time, maybe in 10 years time I might think about going back, we are not into discos and Karoke, but like a bit more life than just the hotel

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.