Ouril Pontao Hotel

Très bien

Have stayed before and gave in 4* Was bit disappointed this time Paid extra for pool view as last time was kept awake by Pirate disco. Were initially shown to top floor room directly opposite disco. We asked to be moved and were given a room by the pool. This smelt of damp and there was a large patch of mould on the wall. The toilet leaked water from the back. There was not hot water for the full week. The sunbeds were all reserved by 8am-luckily few guests knew about the upstairs terrace which was great. Breakfast was very good but chaotic constantly running out of everything. The evening meal was ok but service was terribly slow-the poor water was rushed off his feet doing everything. We ate out the other nights and there are loads of good restaurants in 2 mins walk Its basically a decent value hotel with great staff and a fab location 3mins from pier and beach--would I go again ?? --probably. If you want 5* you can probably get in an AI out of town --but you will miss so much.

The location is good and the facilities are good. We spent most of our time on the roof terrace more than the pool as it was quieter. The pool was a pleasant place to be but the terrace was our personal preference. Unfortunately I cannot give a review on the rooms as we had to sleep elsewhere. We arrived at the hotel, shattered from our flight, and we were told we had to sleep in another hotel as they had "electrical issues" in our room. The receptionist at the other hotel (Ouril Julia) told us that they'd overbooked. Whatever the truth of it is, it meant a bit of back and forth on our holiday. Fortunately Ouril Julia is about a 5/10 minute walk down the other end of Pedestrian Street so it wasn't terrible but there was a lot of carrying towels and swimwear back and forth. Pontao is actually in a really good location, close to the beach and close to the town but slightly round a corner so the nightlife doesn't disturb the hotel too much. Ouril Julia was right on the high street so it was loud at night, but the actual room was very very big - it had an upstairs and a downstairs. If you're a light sleeper, a decent pair of earplugs should do the trick. In my opinion, Pontao and Morabeza are the best two hotels in Santa Maria, in terms of location. We decided to go full board as we'd never been to Cape Verde before and didn't know what to expect. So we thought it would be less stressful to buy all our food ahead of time. The only thing to bear in mind is that full board doesn't include ANY drinks, not even water, after breakfast. This caught us off guard a bit, but there are supermarkets nearby which they let you bring in if you want to save a bit on drinks. I found that the food service was quite slow, not because of the attitude of the staff but for the lack of the number of them. The staff they employ are pleasant and friendly, and speak enough English to get by. There were 12 tables all wanting dinner at the alloted dinner time, and only one waiter and one chef. It was disappointingly slow at times and made the bedtime very late for the children. Also, be aware of the tourist tax, which is about 2 euros 50c per night, per person. This was an unpleasant surprise upon checking out. But if you allow 30 to 50 euros for this then you won't be caught off guard. Also bear in mind the airport tax. This has nothing to do with Pontao but just a general warning as we're on the subject of tax.