Riu Garopa ClubHotel

24 readers found this review helpful

Hi, I am a middle aged woman who travelled to the Riu Garopa with my husband, ten year old son and two teenage daughters (a pair of piranhas!) who are aged 18 and 16, not 3 and 4 in July this summer. First of all I would like to say that the island is barren like the moon, as there is no vegetation and only around two days of rainfall a year. In my helpful review for all you delightful readers I will comment on different aspects of the hotel, along with my personal opinions and advice:
The Beach: The beach is the home of the real sun worshippers and the beautiful people. The sun loungers were complimentary and there were plenty of them. I found the waves to be choppy but a real laugh! There was a bar on the beach - handy to get water in the scorching heat. I preferred the beach to the pool as there was a cool breeze but you could still tan.
Workers and Entertainment Team: The Cape Verdians are physically perfect specimen, and were never seen without a smile on their faces and an OLA never went a miss. The Entertainment Team were all smashing dancers and friendly people that performed brill shows each evening - I particularly enjoyed Studio 54 and the Grease show - if only I was a few years younger and I would have bagged myself a Bruno (my fav entertainer)!!
Food and Beverages: There are a number of restaurants, some are buffets and some you have to book, but if you do book a restaurant it would be helpful if you get the right day and not drag your family out of the room early, a mistake I myself made! The buffet is splendid and I particularly took a shine to some cute little heart shaped biscuits, which I often ordered my two daughters to fetch me! There was a great variety of food and on the door some evenings they offered drinks such as imitation Baileys! The 'Mandalay' Asian restaurant was brill and had gorgeous authentic decor. There is a restaurant open 24/7 which serves cold food such as salad, fruit and cold burgers and hot dogs.
There is a selection of cocktails and a number of bars, one which also stayed open 24/7 for my daughters to terrorize! I would recommend the Pina Colada, which I often took back to my room!
Cleaning: Although a dead cockroach appeared in my daughters' room, the hotel is spotless and the maid service is faultless. Clean towels were frequently provided and the rooms were left gleaming every day.
Summary: Having the Riu Funana and Riu Garopa sharing facilities meant that the hotel is very large and was very busy in the evenings; not everyone could find a seat at the show. The club 'Pacha' was fab to entertain people who want to stay up late and have a sneaky boogie, which is exactly what my daughters did. There is not much to do on the island, however the hotel absolutely makes up for it and was really value for money. I would recommend this hotel for people of all ages, and would recommend to go soon before the island is spoilt by tourism, although I noticed construction on the island which had been stopped due to the recession. I very much enjoyed my holiday in the Riu Garopa in Cabo Verde, but will probably not be returning as I do not believe in visiting the same place twice (apart from the fridge of course!).

28 readers found this review helpful

The short version - it's cheap, hot, clean and really very good
The longer version - the reviews some people write baffle me, they complain that the island is poor/a dustbowl etc. They say it is not like the west indies/ seychelles etc. That the entertainment is dull, that the food is repetative and not a tropical buffet of fresh fruit etc.
OK here is the point, this is a cheap holiday, I have been lucky enough to visit the Maldives, Bahamas, Mustique etc etc, They cost many times what this holiday does. If you want those places - pay the extra and go there. Most small islands in the tropics have no fresh water, limited electricity production, little or no fresh food grown there and have to import everything - Sal is no exception. As for entertainment, it is what you make it, I do not expect entertainment in a hotel so whatever there is must be a bonus.
The hotel workers are cleaning all day and well into the evening, the whole resort is as well preened as Monaco, every plant is pruned and watered, the public areas clean as a whistle. The staff are friendly, some write that their English isn't great - well how is your Portugese? make an effort and learn a few words, it will be met with a broad smile by the staff.
The food is plentiful and of a good standard, yes there are the same things available each day but that doesn't mean you have to eat them each day! Some of it is fairly basic, but it is good and what were you expecting for £600 per week all inclusive - Gordon Ramsay?
I would urge you to upgrade your seat on the plane - it is a little extra but the extraa room, and service is great, just make sure you get seats together - Thomson allocated us separate rows for the outbound flight.
The sun is fierce and you can burn easily, the very welcome breeze made the temperature around 28 when we were there, but a guy with a thermometer said it was 45 in the sun. Take plenty of high factor protection with you,
Go visit the town of Santa Maria, spend some money with the locals - they could really do with it, but do barter hard - two ornaments were originally offered to me at 150 euros in the end cost about 20.
Read up on where you are going, learn a few words of portugese and then relax and go with an open mind and enjoy yourself - yes you can find faults - but instead look for how good it really is.

The Hotel itself is very nice, it is clean & the food was edible, but a bit the same each day. The comments about the same cake being served every day are all true. Also, most mobile phones don't work on the island, & the hotel charges 9 Euros per minute to call The UK. I wouldn't say that this is a 5 star hotel at all, I'd give it 3 stars personally.
There isn't any entertainment at all that is worth seeing, it ranged from tribal dancing to Una Paloma Blanca & most nights there was nothing at all! In fact, we were so bored every night that we just went back to the room & watched TV. Most of the people we met were also very fed up, which showed on their faces and nobody was smiling at all. You had to get a sun lounger very early in the morning, or you wouldn't have one. One week was more than enough here, I'd have gone nuts if I had to be there for two! We usually like to go for walks on holiday, but you can't really do that in Sal, as there isn't anywhere to go, & even less to see. All in all, The hotel is nice, but boring. Sal is very boring indeed. We wouldn't bother to return to Cape Verde. This was the worst holiday we've ever had.

The worst holiday we have ever been on. This is only a 3 star hotel. The facilities were overcrowded, like margate beach on bank holiday. There were insufficient loungers on the beach and many broken. We never managed to get a seat around the pool before the germans. The pools were too small for the 1000 guests. (2 hotels with five hundred people sharing facilities)
The food was average but not 5 star or even 4. We have been to many hotels throughout the world from 1 up to 5 star and this was the worst.
The rooms were small, basic and poorly furnished. Cleaned, but there was mould growing around the shower and we did catch a cockroach.
The weather was surprisingly cold, not the hotels fault, but that meant we stayed in the hotel along with everyone else.
One trip out was badly organised and we were not advised well by the rep. and were not prepared properly. Got over it but should not have happened that way.
Some people went home early because it was so bad. it was not up to the standard of the other Riu hotels.
Offficial complaints to Thomson, the travel agent were just brushed aside and we were dismissed as if we were of no consequence.

I have just returned from Riu Garopa and I would like to advise people about some issues that I had in this Hotel.
1. Bad food (almost everyday you will eat what was left from the day before, no tropical fruits, like mango, papaya, sea food... and the same cakes every single day)
2. Police violence at the beach hotel
3. No electricity for hours... and also water
if you do not want to see a policeman beating up a 15 years old child at the beach do NOT GO to this hotel!!!

10 readers found this review helpful

A fantastic hotel, the staff can't do enough for you, the food is superb (considering they cook for 2000+ people every day), and the activities are varied. There are some down points but these aren't major:
* Their ability to cook cake is limited be prepared to eat the same cake for the duration of your holiday!
* Sometimes the service could be improved; we had a bed put in our room, which it took them two days to remove.
* There are some issues with maintenance, one day we had no hot water, and during our stay the ceiling collapsed in the bedroom corridor because of a leak.
With this said there are a huge number of good points:
* The staff are always smiling, even the painter wished us a good flight home!
* There are 4 themed restaurants as well as the main buffet restaurant, the Mandalay one was best, but there is choice for everyone.
* The entertainment is none stop, from 10am to 11pm, but if you don't want to take part you don't have to!
* The weather is superb, we didn't wear anything but shorts and T-Shirt for 2 weeks, but there is a dress code for the restaurants (no shorts, or sleeveless t-shirts but Bermuda type shorts are ok, as long as they are below the knee, strappy tops for women seemed ok too)
* Bottled water is available, as the tap water can't be drunk; it's free from reception (2 bottles a day)
* Beach towels are changed whenever you need by the pool.
* The animation team will come and chat with you and one night they even came and played cards with us!
* The list is endless!
All in all it was a fantastic holiday, don't expect any scenery, but do expect superb beaches, and a warm sea. The facilities on the beach are great, kayaks, windsurfs, pedalo's and snorkels are available free (for an hour).
I would recommend this hotel to anyone, our flights with Astraeus were painless, and we got a free meal, transfers were quick and efficient.
RIU have got this hotel sorted, and the comments which go for the Garopa will also apply to the Funana, as apart from the rooms, you can use the facilities at either hotel (I’d like to find out where the division is, as both hotels look identical).

2 readers found this review helpful

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 rooms and you can end up being 150 meters away on the far side of the enormous complex.
2. There are no tea and coffee 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 view of the security fence around the huge complex.
4. There is virtually nothing to do unless you’re 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 gets 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 vegetation at all.
7. The rooms can be noisy at times because the ventilation system does not shut off.
The plus points are:-
1. The food is quite good.
2. The staff is great.
3. The onsite entertainment is so bad, it’s good?
4. Good fishing.
5. Good for surfing etc.
For one week it’s okay. Do not be fooled into believing it’s the West Indies.