Dunes Beach Resort Hotel

The Dunes hotel on Margarita Island. Venezuela was very nice, clean, and spacious. Our 1st room was not big enough for 4 but we were transferred immediately without hesitation to a larger room. The grounds are very clean & the staff is very friendly & helpful - even sending someone to the pharmacy in town to get antibiotics for our son who was sick & had a fever. The only negative to the Dunes is very low water pressure in the shower. We did not do the all inclusive plan because we wanted to experience more of the island in regards to food & activity & we are very glad we did! The prices on the island are incredible! Everything is inexpensive = .50 beers on the beach! Try the home-made empinadas from local vendors on the beaches, they are excellent! The best thing we did all week was hire Marcos Ochoa from Macrcos Ochoa Tours for the day. We contacted Marcos via e-mail at --------- before arriving. Marcos even called us at our home to give "Venezuela advise" which was very helpful before we arrived in Caracas! Marcos speaks English. He has a "Safari type jeep" that is open on the sides but has a roof. THE ONLY WAY TO SEE THE ISLAND is in Marcos' jeep! You cannot possibly take good photos from the taxis. The taxis are a trip all in themselves - we thought some of the cars might not make a 20 min. ride. Others are nicer but small cars. Most of them have dark or purple window tinting even on the windhshield, often the windows don't roll down & for some reason they all have sickening sweet airfresheners that make one carsick. Most of the taxis are small - we had 4 people in Marcos' jeep & had plenty of room!!! Everyone had a GREAT view!! Even better than the bus which is with the Dunes' tours. With Marcos we did an all day island tour, swam with dolphins, saw beaches, saw the National Park, SAW SO MUCH! It was our favorite day! Marcos is VERY accomodating & most friendly!! He provides drinks (beer, soda & water) for the trip and his tour included a delicious lunch. He will stop where ever you want but we left the touring up to him - and we are so glad we did! Marcos arranged for our pick up & drop off at the airport as well! We HIGHLY recommend touring with Marcos of Marcos tours - especially if you have someone with you that might get carsick! If you go into Juan Griago for dinner (15 min taxi ride from Dunes) we recommend the restaurant El Viejo Muelle - on the sand, lovely setting. We ate there 3 tmes in our week. Get there by sunset! We highly recommend the Dunes Hotel and Marcos Ochoa! If you do the all inclusive plan at the hotel - be sure to get out & see the rest of the island...it is beautiful!!!!!

went to the Dunes 26.5.05 - 09.6.05 with my partner, on the whole i would agree with the report from R.Wright 12th June, except for the food it was no way 4* more like 2/3* we stayed in block 14 rm 36210, clean and basic not 4*, great 24 hour shuttle to run you to reception etc.. (although only a 5 min walk)the food had no variety for non meat eaters it had been sitting there along time and not replaced, new food was brought out from the kitchen and put straight on top of the food already there, no seperate spoon/ladels for meat/veg sauce at pasta station. cold coffee for breakfast you asked for hot but it still came cold, also again no variety for non meat eaters unfriendly unhelpful staff, service was appalling for the star rating, i read lots of reports before going and the food was likened to Dom Rep 4* i cannot agree with that at at all. in the second week we got to know some of the staff who then became very friendly and helpful, the grill by the beach had better service and more helpful staff, all in all the location was excellent, beach excellent, rooms ok weather fantastic Factor 30+ definately needed or you will fry, pools lovely epeciallly the quite circular one. also the drinks at the pools & beach were watery, the cocktails were good. the wine at meal times was ok could have been better, the place is no more than a 3* if you know that before you go you will not be disappointed. also the Italian 'Luciano's' was excellent 5* food & service and a very good wine list all included in your 2 complimentary visits. Jose rep for first choice very helpful.

Great Resort - good food, great drinks. Drink Service was available both on the beach and at the pool. Beach was too rough to swim every day but one. We found we sunbathed at the beach and swam in the pool. Walk off the resort - out the front gate and turn right. After a 5 minute walk you will enter a small village that has a nice beach, restaurants and drinks. Lots of local children and vendors selling their wares. There was 23 of us and we all had a great time. Definetly recommend this resort.

I was pleasantly surprised how lovely the place was....(Basic rooms, but if you are not happy with the older parts of the hotel...ask to be moved....I did and they were fine about it) .......and despite being vegan, managed to find something to eat most nights.......the beach restaurant provided lovely vegan pizzas at dinner time. the place is quiet...and quite big, so you can lose yourselves if you want a romantic holiday, or you can check out the karaoke/disco/games areas for socializing.... I would recommend you get off the resort and visit some of the island..it is rather lovely..and go to Angel falls.......I was quite disappointed with them BUT the rest of the day was fantastic...and you get to stand behind and under a fabulous water fall....amazing! PLus the scenery whilst flying (about 2 hours) over Venezueal is gorgeous.... DO remember it is VERY VERY HOT........so sunbathe before 10:30am and after 3pm and you'll be fine (I am naturally blonde and so burn easily....) but even for the darker skinned people....the sun is a demon (in the nicest possible way!) Enjoy PDW

We had a fab time at the dunes the last 2 weeks - beautiful beach, good hotel facilities and helpful staff in th ehotel - however the sports team made our hols! A big thanks to Julio in the games room for his entertainment, Edgar, Junaika, but especially the gorgeous Diego! Anyway we will definitely be back.

We set off for margarita on 25th may for 2 weeks from manchester with first choice. Im 32 and my girlfriend is 30. my advice on booking this holiday is to look at the first choice web site, we got a saving of over £100. If your not happy booking on line print the price off then take it to a good travel agent who will match the price, as we did. The check in at manchester was great, no ques at all, the flight was very good, first choice have upgraded all there long haul planes with extra leg room and leather seats, the food was also good and the cabin crew were very professional. on our arrival in margarita we were met by our rep Jose who is a great guy. We were guided to our bus wich takes 40 minutes to get to the hotel, which is non stop. the check in is friendly and swift, you are also greeted by beautiful women dancing for five mins. The rooms are not 4*, think, spanish 2-3* self catering. they are clean and basic, but in need of modernising and a lick of paint. This was no problem to us as its just to shower and sleep in etc. but if you like luxury and comfort they are not for you. my advice would be to upgrade to a junior room, bigger but still old, or try the new block wich is used mostly for time share, they are slightly more modern, but are futher away from the hotel centre, about a 5-6min walk, there are golf buggies driving around all the time to take you to the reception or room etc. The hotel complex is very good, 6-7 bars, 3 restaurants, snack bar, 2 pools, 1 huge and booth cleaned every day, beautiful beach, great sea, yes it is choppy but its so much fun trying to dodge the huge waves and such a laugh when you get knocked over by one. Try swimming past the breaks and its ok to swim in.PARENTS DO NOT LET YOUNG CHILDREN OUT OF YOUR SIGHT NEAR THE SEA, the currents could drag them in. we saw so many idle parents sun bathing as their kids were splashing in the waves. stupid. We found the food to be of a good standard, especially at the beach restaurant during the day where the steaks on the menu are great, you can also order lobster from their for 70'000 BVS.=£17.50(4'000BVS = £1) loads of choice of fresh meat, pasta, salads. You will not go hungry. The a la cart is ok, i orderd the jumbo shrimp thermador, which i expected to be with cheese, the shrimps came in mash potato!! but the starter, wine and service were great so no complaints. I onlf found breakfast a slight problem, yet again horrible streaky bacon, very poor sausage etc, but this is no different to anywhere else, their is plenty for the germans, ham cheese, weird chicken dishes etc, but you can get a decent omlette or fried eggs. On the whole the food is 4* The drinks are very good, but as you can imagine the beer is served in small plastic cups, yet again like most places. They are served by the 2 best barmen in the world at the main lobby bar, Jorman and Alaxanjdro. these guys are lightning quick and you never wait too long for a drink at this busy bar. We tipped them $10 dollars(make sure they see the tipp) on the first night, they could not do enough for us, our glasses were never empty for the whole holiday, they are like a comedy duo, yes you could say its only because we tipped them, but i think good service deserves rewarding and they had already had the tipp, well worth doing in our view, and after all its only £6!! The night shows were also pretty good, as far as holiday rep night shows go, the disco is ok if you fancy a late drink, the all inc. goes on their untill 2am. The entertainment staff are fantastic, they are non stop from 11am to 2am, very hard working. If you have children they will take very good care of them, we saw loads of young children having high fives and fun with the staff. We did the tour to Angel Falls with walters tours, which is about $20 cheaper than first choice. its exactly the same planes guides etc, just a different coach you get on to take you to the airport. DO NOT BOOK THIS TRIP FROM THE BROCHURE IN ENGLAND. Its £220 in the brochure and $245 when you get to the hotel, so you have been warned. I could write a huge review about this trip but all im going to say is i will never do anything so amazing in my life untill the day i die, that should say how good it was, make your own mind up!!! My scoring of the hotel is as follows, ROOMS 60% FOOD 85% ENTERTAINMENT 85% HOTEL GROUNDS ETC 90% VALUE FOR MONEY 95% All in all we had a fantastic time at the dunnes and margarita island. ok its not 5* mexico/carribbean/barbados, with white sand and turquoise sea, but your not paying £1500 and nobody said it was. What you get is 5* value for money with a great hotel with some of the friendliest people and staff i have ever met, who are genuinely happy to see you on their somewhat undiscoverd island. You will not be disapointed with the dunnes or first choice. Anyone with any futher questions about the dunnes or margarita island feel free to contact me on my e-mail..

My party of 8 have just had a great 2 weeks at the Dunes ,its a hot place to visit though , very easy to get sunburnt so take plenty of high factor suncream ,the trips around the island and to the mainland were excellent as was the food and staff at the Dunes, no problems were too small for the staff to help with, loved it .

A group of 12 of us recently stayed at the Dunes during May, 2005. We were pleasantly surprised at the spaciousness and cleanliness of our rooms and all the included amenities. We found the staff very helpful and friendly. The grounds were immaculate with employees sweeping leaves every day. The only negative was the quality of the food. We chose to participate in the All Inclusive only twice during the week. The Mariners' (Seafood) Night was especially disappointing since we were looking forward to lobster, shrimp, crabs, etc. but instead we were served octopus, squid, a fish fillet, and shrimp lasagna. There was always plenty of pasta and rice. Luckily, we ventured out using cheap taxis to local restaurants in Playa Aqua and in Juan Griego for memorable dinners on the beach at sunset. Although we tried to prepare ourselves by reading many reviews of the Caracas airport, the experience of long lines and payment of various fees and taxes was frustrating and exhausting. Hopefully, the U.S. will someday again have direct flights from our mainland to Porlamar. We enjoyed excursions of horseback riding, fishing/snorkeling, shopping, and a Jeep Safari under the very capable assistance of Marcos Ochoa of Marcos Tours. We found Marcos to be prompt, knowledgeable, friendly and the most reasonable in costs for our pre-booked tours. We were able to contact him at any time via his cell phone and his bi-lingual talents was indispensable on an island where most of the residents speak only Spanish. His personal guidance and individual attention to us was greatly appreciated.

We have just returned from 2 weeks at the Dunes Hotel & Beach resort and i cannot think of anything bad to say about it, we had a fantastic time and didnt want to leave. The food is lovely and such a wide variety there is something for everyone, the burgers and hot dogs in the poolside grill are gorgeous and Lucianos A la carte restaurant is amazing. You dont have to lift a finger, everybody is so keen to help and couldnt be nicer, i have to say, everyone who works in the hotel and all the locals in Margarita couldnt be nicer. We went with First Choice and the rep Jose is lovely, very helpful and so friendly. As are all of the activity staff who made our holiday so much fun, they are a great bunch of people. The hotel is situated right on the beach, which is gorgeous and basically has everything you need for a holiday, several bars, restaurants, nightclub, shops, towel centre, activity centre, and lots more. We had a great time and are definatly going back! Oh and the weather was fantastic too.

Just returned from the Dunes hotel all i can say is how fantastic it is there. The staff are very friendly and you don't need to leave your sunlounger for a drink they bring it to you. Food is good with a wide variety including fish, meat, potatoes, rice and salad plus more. The complex is clean and attractive the rooms are basic but still nice enough for sleeping and getting ready in which is what you use them for. Maid service is daily and often the maids leave you swans made out of the towels which is a nice touch. The beach to the hotel is lovely the waves are rough at times but once you pass the breakers it becomes calm i swam in it everyday that i was there. Margarita island is beautiful although many of its beaches the waves are rough there is also quieter ones further up the coast and taxi rides are so cheap you can travel around. Would love to return!!!