Hotel Riu Cabo Verde - All Inclusive Adults Only

Just the standard RUI Hotel setup…unable to get a booking in any of the specialty restaurants. Buffet restaurants the same repetitive food. Polite cleaning staff. Reception staff need to be more customer focussed I arrived at 8pm given a keycard and a map and pointed in the direction of the room…no one to help with baggage. Requested late checkout on the RUI app had it confirmed and then I find keycard not working on the day after spending the morning by the pool headed to reception was told I should have requested this at reception…at no point in time did the app state this. I was told that the bell boy had put a note under my door..that’s ok if I could actually get into the room to read it, but there was no note ! Would not say this is a 5* hotel more a 4*.

We are currently staying at this lovely hotel. We weren’t sure what to expect because of the negative reviews, but we quickly learnt that you can’t please everyone. Yes the rooms are tired and need a bit of TLC, but are you going on holiday to stay in your room? NO, well one would hope not. It’s a fairly biggish resort, so you get your steps in. I’m not sure why people are moaning about the sun bed situation. Yes, there are those people who reserve them and don’t appear all day, but we found you could still get beds by 9am. Food is good for all inclusive. The staff are lovely, so friendly and very beautiful! The app is great. We ordered some more drinks and they were delivered 10 minutes later. Quick check in. All in all, I would recommend this resort. And it’s definitely no stress!

Struggling to find fault with this hotel. The RIU app is great for checking entertainment timetable, booking a la carte and requesting room maintenance etc. All staff at the hotel are friendly and helpful. The hotel is super clean and the food and drinks are excellent. The entertainment staff are fabulous and work really hard.

First time in Cabo verde. Had block 5 which was close to beach and pool. A nice walk up to main hotel area. No faults with food. When it came to my allergy the chef looked after me. We were told to use bottled water and not have ice cubes. We did not have one upset stomach. Did we get drunk, no, but we do not go on holiday to get drunk. The wine flowed and refilled as ofter as you wanted it to, and it was a nice wine. Coffee bar very nice also. Staff really do try and always have a smile on their faces. Always happy to help. Bed comfortable. Had to ask on a couple of occasions for towels as when room cleaned none left. Use the RIU app for requests. Worked most of the time. There are cats in the hotel but in most hotels I do to they have cats. They dont bother you unless you feed them. Also in town there are dogs, again same as any other country. As you enter the beach you will see many lads selling trips. Locals who are trying to make a living. We went with CENT tours (Jonathan) (has CENT written on his t-shirt) and can say apart from saving a lot of Euros by going with the locals we had a brilliant day out around the island. Then did a sunset horse ride along the beach. A little pricey but it was a lovely experience. One day we walked along the beach (as your looking out to sea to the right) and had a few drinks and fries at the local bar. 6 drinks and fries 14 euros. Staff again friendly. Took a taxi into the town. Nice walk about. Went to the Dubliners and another beach bar. Would we go back??? yes definately.

Absolutely love Riu Cabo Verde. Staff so friendly and helpful. It may be useful to have toilets nearer beach if possible.

My wife and i booked a 2 week stay at the 5 Star rui cabo verde Hotel Complex in Cape verde. We arrived at the hotel around 21:00hrs. We had already checked in on line, so it was relatively easy to get out room keys . We had to pay around 50 euros for the local echo tax at the hotel reception. We were also given 2 cards that we could exchange for pool towels the following morning , at the pool towel booth located next to the 2 pools that are surrounded by lots of sunbeds . We could change our towels whenever we wanted but had to make sure we obtained our cards back on the day we checked out. If not, a 10 euro charge was levied for each missing card. The room we stayed in had a king-size bed with a small sofa and a separate bathroom with a shower. All rooms come with a small balcony as well. I know the complex is advertised as 5 stars, but the rooms are quite basic, although nice. The rooms are cleaned every day along with a change of fresh towels. The grounds of the complex are very nice and clean , with lots of palm trees. Their is also entertainment every night. Their is one main buffet resteraunt which we tended to eat at a lot, only criticism is that the food was a little bit repetitive but nice. Their is a resteraunt around the pool area we're you could get snacks from during the day as well as drinks. Staff are very friendly across the whole resort. The pools are nice, and staff are always trying to entertain the guests. We went to the steak restaurant (alacarte ), which served really nice food. Forgot to mention Their is a wonderful coffee shop located in the hotel reception area, well worth a visit . We also visited the local spa complex and had a wonderful all-over body massage, well recommended. The dress code is informal in the buffet (shorts and t shirt) and long trousers for the alacarte, although lots of men just wear shorts and to be honest I wish I had. We visited the main town, santa Maria, which was a 5 euro taxi ride. Nice but small with a small pier that dogs the local fish. The local people, when you get out of the taxi, pretend that they work at your hotel and are on their day off. Quickly realised they look at your wristband the hotel have given you. It's very sneaky but clever. They do leave you alone once they realise you are not interested in what they have to say. We had a walk about and bought a few trinkets, then had a coffee and ice cream. You can keep your hotel room on for 10 euros per person per hour on your day off checking out if you want to. Overall ,we had an enjoyable visit and would definitely come back to this hotel.

As experienced holiday goers from a Carribbean cruise to beach holidays we can’t rate RIU Cabo Verde high enough. We requested a room in block 4 via email as we were in room 4011 last year. We were delighted to receive a reply from Elidi da Cruz that the team would do their best. We were delighted that they were able to accommodate us. Room 4012 is amazing and near the pool and beach which is exactly what we wanted. Angelina our room maid was excellent and our room was beautifully decorated when we arrived. Thank you Angelina and the management. The Promenade buffet restaurant is amazing with a fantastic selection of dishes for breakfast lunch and dinner. There are 3 a La carte restaurants which are also amazing. Service is 2nd to none and all the staff are so helpful and friendly. Bar staff at all the bars are very friendly and great at their jobs all working very hard.Always smiling. Entertainment is great but the White Party on the Friday is exceptional with great singers and everyone joined in the dancing.(Look out for it on Utube) Alex the fitness guy is great & the Aquafit is brilliant as are the Step, and the yoga classes.. suitable for all levels. 5 euros taxi ride to Santa Maria village, where the fishermen bring their daily catch to the jetty, defo worth the trip. Irish bar The Dubliner also worth a visit, very traditional Irish pub here in Cape Verde. The beach is only a couple of minutes walk from the pool, beautiful sandy beach and sea though the waves can be a bit strong, plenty of lifeguards on the beach. There is a beach bar serving beer and soft drinks. Only area for improvement could be the seating in reception as seats very uncomfortable. All in all a brilliant destination and we are looking forward to our next visit.

Arrived from birmingham 24th may.easy check in.block 5 as requested close to beach and really couldnt of been closer.room was spotless and spacious and bed very comfy.mini bar in room great addition.food varied and tasty and ala cartes made a nice change.drinks we fine gin and tonic excellent in lobby bar.the entertainment is not really our thing but the staff put amazing effort into it.all in all we had a great time and the beach was stunning with fab weather.thank you to all the great staff

Where to begin? Other than do your homework! I wish I had! Definitely nowhere near a 5* resort but that does seem to be the case with most on the island, judging by the people chatting on the plane on the way home. Very much like Dominican Republic 25-30 years ago when it was just getting established. Firstly we were told by TUI that premium drinks are served. A bit lenient with the truth as the Coke, Fanta and Sprite are indeed premium brands. All alcohol is local brands and not very tasty! The local beer is ok. Drinks menu very limited but we don’t really drink so not too much of a problem. But would have liked a tasty cocktail. We arrived on Tuesday evening and put all valuables in safe which immediately locked us out. Went to reception and reported it. Told the manager is the only one who can unlock the safe and he would be back at 9am. So we waited ….. nobody came so back to reception we go only to be told the manager is no longer on the premises but he will come at 6.30pm so we head back to the room at 6 and wait. Call reception at 7.15pm to be told it’s fine to go to dinner and let them know when we are finished and they will let the manager know. Manager was not told of this and went to our room at 7.20pm and couldn’t unlock when we weren’t there - so when we got back to our room the manager had been and gone. Told he would come at 9 on Thursday. He didn’t arrive. So by this time we have spent most of the time in our room waiting to get our phones and money. Spoke to TUI rep and within 10 minutes safe was unlocked! A side line from this we were in a room next to people who were partying hard- fair play they are on holiday. So asked if we could be moved somewhere quieter. This was no problem and a room was sorted for us. However, we couldn’t move due to our valuables being trapped inside the safe! We asked for extra water and again this was not a problem. Delivered to room straight away. We had a sports massage and combination massage in the Funana next door and also booked to use the whirlpool. The area clean and tidy. Massage was good especially the deep tissue massage. My Fiancé said it was one of the better ones he’s had. The hotel is clean, rooms cleaned every day and water replenished. Staff are generally friendly and helpful. Food mediocre at best. There is a vast selection of food at the buffet most of which was cold and some items not cooked through. Typical all you can eat repetitive buffet. We tried the specialty restaurants which did not serve the food advertised on the menu. At the Italian restaurant 3 people had poorly tummies from the seafood spaghetti. The steakhouse restaurant served uncooked cold steak (asked for medium to well done) it was taken away and we asked for well done. Still had blood coming from it. The gourmet restaurant served slightly better food but the vegetables were so salty lots of people couldn’t eat them. Most left the pumpkin soup and banoffee pie! The coffee shop serves lovely coffee and is air co