Our hotel was around thirty minutes transfer from the airport and a mere five minutes (if that) drive down a bumpy cobbled road on the west side of the main town of Santa Maria. We’d chosen the hotel on two counts; firstly it was small; forty bedrooms, and secondly we were told that Thomson would not book anyone under the age of eighteen into the hotel.
All rooms over looked a garden area with the swimming pool as the predominant feature. There are only two floors and three sides to the hotel accommodation whilst the forth side of the square is a covered walk way broken up with white hanging canvas bordering the pool in a lush grassy area in which is planted a number of palm trees offering interest and shade; mind you they were somewhat sharp to the touch if you got too close to them!
There are limited sun sunloungers around the pool but all rooms have their own small table and sun chairs. We tended to use the sunloungers in the morning returning to our first floor accommodation for lunch and then enjoying the afternoon sun from our balcony. By and large there was no problem in getting a lounger, but there again we do tend to be early risers on holiday.
We were generally very impressed with this boutique style hotel. Our first floor accommodation for two had a good sized bedroom with two real comfy single beds and a decent sized side table. A shelved wardrobe was the only source of storage for clothing but as we’d travelled extremely light there was no problem finding somewhere to put our clothes. Although I guess if you’d carried extravagantly you might find the space a little light.
Air conditioning was available as standard and most nights it was pretty important to ensure a decent night’s sleep. On the third day a fuse blew on the system and within minutes of reporting the fault a technician was on site repairing the air conditioning service. As usual if there’s a chance of something breaking it will happen to us and a day after the air conditioning failed the fridge packed up. Again I reported it to reception and ten minutes later a couple of guys arrived and disconnected the fridge, removed it and replaced it with a new one. How’s that for service.
There was a well-lit basin just outside the bathroom which was fitted out with modern, good quality fixtures. Although I could not describe the bedrooms as luxurious they were well laid out with higher than average specifications and certainly meriting the 4 stars that had been awarded to the hotel.
Room service was spot on and the maids visited daily providing fresh towels every day and clean sheets on alternate days. Although shower cream and shampoo were provided on the first day these were never replenished, not that it mattered because we had brought our own.
Beach towels were available freely from the hotel’s reception and although they had various systems in place to “track” the loan of the towels I was never convinced that they knew who had what!
The area around the swimming pool was extremely well maintained and there was always evidence of maintenance staff who worked quietly and unobtrusively. The pool itself was de-salinated water and so there wasn’t that awful taste and smell that you get with chlorinated pools. I’m not sure that it was heated as it could feel a bit chilly when you first got in, but we were brave! Indeed for the first time ever we swam daily and for a couple of non-swimmers completing 40 lengths on each occasion was quite a feat.
We’d booked a bed and breakfast deal and the hotel’s restaurant put on a fairly decent breakfast buffet with cold meats, cheese, fresh fruit, cereals, various breads, cakes, biscuits and an “interesting range” of jams. There were plenty of hot and cold drinks. The scrambled eggs (the usual “cooked” breakfast) were variable in quality but it was easy to check out the quality by both the appearance and smell.
After the first day we realised that most people were “stocking up serviettes” with bread and cake for lunch. We joined the trend and happily sat on our balcony with a ham and cheese roll followed by an apple, pear, banana or orange. We’d normally “rescued” from breakfast a biscuit or two for afternoon tea (I’d actually remembered to take our travel kettle for hot drinks.
We had a real enjoyable two weeks at Hotel Dunas de Sal in the tranquil and relaxed setting of a small “family” hotel. I’d certainly recommend this over the large impersonal hotels that are evident across the resort.
From journal Were on our Way to Cape Verde