Oasis Salinas Sea — Hotel in Sal

At the beginning I have to explain that I’m very careful and not careougus person, so the decision that we had made in the travel office with my lovely husband was very surprising for everyone who knows me. Even for me, when we came back home and I realized what I had just done. New destination, outside of well-known Europe, very long flight, small island in the ocean near Africa. I was terrified. But also curious about our new adventures. Well: Seize the day!

Everything was so amazing. First of all - PEOPLE. People on the island of Sal were beautiful. Everyone was very kind, friendly, helpful and so pure: They had really beautiful souls. Secondly FOOD and MEALS. Although there is no agriculture on the island, every day we ate fresh fruit and vegetables, which were imported primarily from Portugal, in the hotel Oasis Salinas. (It’s worth mentioning that the island Capo Verde was a Portuguese colony.) Every dish was very well prepared, very tasty! I also recommend “live-cooking” in the main restaurant. Excellent for us were also additional meals (a la carte), which let us know new tastes (e.g. local cuisine, grilled dinner or Asian cuisine). I would like to add that great snack bars were by the pool as well as on the beach. And thirdly ROOMS. Everyday our room was cleaned, we got fresh towels and big bottles of drinking water. The room was big and well-furnished in the modern way with a very comfortable bed. There was everything we needed, e.g. a safe (for free).

The big surprise was for us ENTERTAINMENT-TEAM. The smiling young people with lots of energy and passion for their work (Greetings to lovely Marcia!). Everyone could find and choose something appropriate for themselves. My husband took part (almost every day) in step aerobics and I decided on refreshing aqua aerobics. There were also lots of activities for children (e.g. pirates day with painting faces or dressing-up day). Thank you all for being very active and having a really fit time:)

By the way, I would like to recommend a great swimming pool with snack bar and separate little pool for small children. To get more relaxing experiences, it is also worth trying massages (with bamboo canes was perfect for me) in the fresh air in the middle of the hotel's garden. After this treatment I felt like a newborn.

Next thing I would like to describe is the breathtaking VIEW!!! Nearby hotel there is a wonderful beach with extra soft sand, comfortable sun loungers and crystal water. I hadn’t even seen so many tones of blue. Honestly, I could never leave this place. It felt like a paradise.

TRIPS with the local office (Greetings to Patrick) was the best idea to explore interesting and unique places of the island (like e.g. Salinas, Murdeira, The Blue Eye, The Shark-Bay, or to see the phenomenon of mirage in the desert), buy some souvenirs (like Grog or works of art made by local artists) and to learn something new about the culture. I also highly recommend taking part in a catamaran voyage to admire the wonderful ocean as well as beautiful rocky coasts. During this sea journey you can swim and snorkel in the refreshing clear water and after that have fun on the board with snacks and music. And this all under the banner of “NO STRESS”.

But the MOST EXCITING EXPERIENCE for me was the rally in the desert by “BUGGIES” (by No Limits Adventures Cape Verde) . Everyone from us (me, my husband and our little son) got appropriate equipment (special uniform, helmet and goggles) to be safe in the car and protected against wind or dust. We looked like we were taken out from a “Mad Max” movie. The “Racing” Guides were real professionals. They looked after all participants of this event and cared that everyone had fun. Amazing dusty landscapes, bumpy “off-roads” and spectacular views from “Serra Negra” mountain. Amazing 2 hours in the desert.

I have to say, it has been a holiday of my lifetime and of my dreams. I hope I will be back...

If you are looking for the place at Cape Verde with beautiful beach, clean ocean, night life and great services you can´t choose better!

Accomodation Room is very nice and cosy, each room has TV, sofa, big balcony and very nice decorations which makes you feel very comfortable. The bed is big but matraces are a bit hard for sleeping. You have 3 possibilites of the room to choose: standard, garden view (you pay the fee) and sea view (you pay the fee). Bathroom is also very nice and spacious with a big mirror. The room services cleans the room and change towels every day. There is also a small fridge in the room where you still have cold bottles of water. You can also use the air conditioning which is very silent and user friendly to manipulate.

Restaurants and food There are 3 restaurant: basic restaurant, Tradicion and Beach restaurant. In the basic restaurant you have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The food is very good, every day you get fresh fish, vegetables, frutis - you will not miss anything.

Tradicion - you can get a voucher at the reception to this restaurant. This restaurant has a la carte system and it is available only for dinner. You have to book the term of your dinner at the reception. At this restaurant you degust 6 meals (2 small starters, 2 small meals and 2 deserts). It is very tasty, we absolutely recommend this place.

Beach restaurant - you also have to book the term for the dinner by the voucher you get at the reception. This restaurant is very romantic with many lights and nice place near the beach which makes this place very romantic. There are not so many people as in the basic restaurant. It is barbecue self servies with fresh meat.

Bars - There are 2 snack bars and 4 drink bars. They serve you coctails mostly with their Cape Verde alcohol so sometimes the choosed coctail doesn´t taste like the one you know from the Europe but it is still very good. The beer is ok.

Beach - a long beach from Santa Maria to the edge of the island is very clean with a white sand. It is very good to play voleyball and footbal with animation team every day. There is a lot of space for sun loungers and there is still a lot of space around so you will never feel like at the crowdy place.

Pool Pool is small and mostly full of children. It is not deep. There is a pool bar with water chairs so it is very nice to sit in the water and have a drink at the same time but the ocean is much more better :) You can also get towels by the pool every day from 8am.

Personal Everybody was very happy, kind and friendly. They always tried to help. Nothing is problem for them but sometimes they don´t understand English. The staff at the reception speak english very well.

Animation program You can look forward to show every evening. The animation team tries so hard to make you feel good and prepare a great show for you. They are very good dancers :-) You can join them also during the day to play voleyball or football or other games.

This place is very romantic and in our opinion it is also great place for honeymoon. It looks much better than what you can see at...

This has been by far my least favorite hotel in Santa Maria, Sal Cape Verde. When I was checking in, the individual at the front desk goes over everything I purchased online and says, "looks like you didn't pay all your fees online so we are going to have to charge you the rest now BEFORE WE DO ANYTHING". I then try to make the conversation a little less hectic by saying, "welcome to Salinas and hope you enjoy your stay here". He then tried to tell me that the fees would cost me 2000euros/night for being a foreigner, which I then responded, " you are out of your mind my friend, because I am not paying that". When I asked to call the manager, he then calmed down and said, I meant to say it was 200euros/night. "VERY SUSPECT". Long story short here is a list of the reasons why I would NEVER RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL TO ANYONE COMING TO SANTA MARIA CAPE VERDE. To iron your clothes you have to make a reservation for a iron, and there's only 1 burned iron throughout the entire hotel. White shirt I had planned to wear first night "RUINED". 2nd day I walk out my room and notice few men sanding down the wood balconies. As I walk through the men and try to look around for safety, I get hit with a pile of wood dust. Would of been great to have this part of the hotel secluded from all guests. I then go sitting poolside and walk up to the little cabana to order food and the employee says, "if you're not sitting in this area we can not take your order", but then again mostly everyone had a plate of food poolside. I simply say, "OK, WHATEVER ILL JUST GO GRAB SOME FOOD AT THE BUFFET AND EAT HERE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE". Later on that night I try to shower and head down to the new Casino they have out here, BUT THE WATER WAS SHUT OFF. I then call down to the lobby and ask, how long until the water comes back on, (ladies answer to my question) I DON'T KNOW, WHEN THEY TURN IT BACK IT ON, ANYTHING ELSE I CAN HELP YOU WITH. I calmly answer, nope, that was all. I then go to bed and wake up at 7AM with a full construction crew making renovations to the hotel. I call again down to the lobby and ask, is there still going to be construction done tomorrow morning, (gentlemen simply answers): I HAVE NO CLUE, I WILL LET YOU KNOW TOMORROW AND SEE IF THEY HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO FINISH. Me: I think the sound of construction waking me up tomorrow at 7am is what I'm trying to avoid. I then ask to be moved to another room. They gave me another room a little further away from the construction site with a dirty shower. It was my last day so I was done with the complaints since I noticed staying at this HOTEL had been the worst decision. At check out I ask to speak with a manager on duty. I spoke with her, explained my situation and asked if they had any policy in place for unsatisfied guests. Her response was, there’s nutting we can do for you and walked away shortly after that. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME...