Hotel Verde Mar & Spa — Hotel in Ribeira Grande

My wife and I stayed here for a week with friends. Overall, we were happy with the hotel, but compared to other 5-star hotels we have stayed at, there is room for improvement and I expected more in some areas.

The location is great, as it is located a 20-minute drive from the airport and has lots of parking spaces available. There is a large grocery store across the street and some restaurants are within walking distance. The beach in front of the hotel doesn't belong to the hotel and swimming was actually prohibited due to water contamination issues. There is a beach suitable for swimming in walking distance (about 20 minutes), however we didn't enjoy it too much as it was pretty small and there was almost no shade available.

The rooms were large and clean, just as advertised. The balcony facing the ocean isn't huge but booking an ocean view is definitely worth it. The view is great, as there is only a small pasture and a road (not busy at all) between the hotel and the ocean. It was very nice to watch the waves and listen to the ocean.

The bathroom is also large and clean. However, the designer must have never actually stayed in a hotel with another person. There is a huge window between the bathroom (including the toilet) and the bedroom. There is a blind, however that leaves a pretty large gap that directly faces the toilet. There is also no real door (just a sliding door that doesn't even close all the way). There is zero (I'm not exaggerating here - zero) privacy. It's possible to not see everything if the other person stays in the non-visible area of the room, but it's impossible not to hear everything. Personally, I like privacy in the bathroom and felt very uncomfortable using it the entire week.

Both the outdoor and indoor pool were clean, though the outdoor pool was pretty cold. I also used the gym and was pleasantly surprised. The machines were new and there was a small but sufficient variety. The AC was a little on the cold side in the gym.

The breakfast buffet isn't bad, I can't speak to the quality of the food as I had to bring my own (see below), but there were a lot of options. Lunch/dinner is available at the restaurant or the bar. We never tried the restaurant, only the bar food. We found it to be a little on the expensive side and not overwhelmingly good. It's fine for a few nights, once we checked out the other options in the area, though, we chose to have dinner in those restaurants. The drink menu isn't bad and the barkeepers definitely know what they're doing. On some nights, it was difficult to get decent service (or service at all) and the pool bar was also closed sometimes in the afternoon. Nobody was rude, however we felt service/selling drinks doesn't seem to be a priority.

As a vegan, I always check with hotels whether or not they are able to accommodate this, especially for breakfast. I received a list of available vegan options, including options that need to be ordered beforehand. Great. However, we found that some of the foods mentioned weren't available at all (e. g. soy yogurt and vegetable butter) and the items we ordered were simply inedible. The "vegan pancakes" were a rubbery mess that basically just consisted of flour and had no taste whatsoever and the vegetables were drenched in so much oil that I literally felt sick afterwards. There were zero plant protein options available (this is also the case for the lunch/dinner menu) and the bread isn't labelled. I had brought some breakfast protein from home and we were able to buy soy milk at the store across the street. Had we not done so, we literally would not have had an ounce of protein the entire week. While I understand not every hotel caters to my specific dietary needs, I do expect more from a 5-star hotel, especially given the e-mail conversation we had beforehand. I also expect a chef working in an upscale hotel to understand the concept of a balanced meal and macros and to provide at least one plant based protein. This was definitely a big disappointment and I hope the hotel can make some changes...

The hotel itself is perfectly fine, but it is not a 5 star hotel.

Firstly, I just want to say that the staff are very friendly, welcoming and helpful and any negative comments in this review shouldn’t reflect on the staff at all.

I’ll start with the room, which was comfortable and had a lovely large bed. However I don’t understand why anyone would install a window between the bed and the bathroom. Who on earth wants to watch their partner use the toilet. Thankfully there is a blind. There was also a balcony, but not a nice view of the road opposite.

Breakfast was terrible. It’s buffet style. You get coffee from a machine, stale croissants and the usual fruit in a bowl of watery remnants and warmed up bacon and eggs. There’s also the weird sweaty cheese and ham that I assume some nationalities are into. Not good for a vegetarian and no love or care. 5 star hotels will cook your breakfast to order and make you a proper coffee. There is a very nice bakery within a 5 minute walk from the hotel, where you can buy a €5 breakfast of lovely cakes, sandwiches and coffee.

Whatever you do, don’t book a table at the restaurant without looking at the menu or checking what is on offer that night. We booked for our first night, not realising it was a €22 per person buffet. The buffet was terrible. The only good option was pizza, which you can buy in the bar for €10. However because they only brought out 2 pizzas to the buffet at a time, every slice disappeared within seconds. So I got two slices of pizza, some rice and salad for €22. If you’re going to eat at the hotel, just order from the bar.

The bar is great by the way, especially the cocktails.

Tip for vegetarians, there are two vegetarian restaurants on the island. Neither are within walking distance of the hotel. Other than that, go to the food vans or take-out style places and get pizza or burgers. Do your research though. There are some decent places to eat, but you will need a car. Most of the restaurants on the island sell meat / fish and potatoes. That’s it. Having spoken to a lot of locals whilst on the island, it’s apparent that the food on offer is not something they’re proud of and it would seem that the authorities stop or hinder any outside elements from opening nice restaurants.

Parking at the hotel is fine, but you may have to park over the road if it’s really busy. The area is pretty safe and most parking around the island is free.

You need a car if you want to see the most beautiful parts of the island. The area around the hotel is ok, but you will definitely miss out on a lot if you don’t explore.

The hotel pools are nice. We only used the indoor one. Only issue was people with kids in nappies in the pool. I personally think that’s gross, but it’s kind of down to the hotel having nothing for kids. If I had kids, I’d look elsewhere as they’ll be bored.

You can access a natural black sand beach. However it’s not managed by the hotel and there is a very poorly maintained road and patch of ground in between. On the ground, there are a couple of tethered horses. Once you get to the beach you need to have your own stuff and the sea is not particularly safe for swimming, unless you’re a very strong swimmer. It’s more suited to surfing. There is no lifeguard, loungers or facilities.

I think we paid very little for our stay and were bed and breakfast only, so I didn’t feel like I got bad value for money. Ultimately I didn’t feel ripped off going elsewhere to eat, despite having free breakfast available to me. However I wouldn’t pay 5 star prices for this particular hotel. 3.5 stars would seem reasonable to me based on other hotels I’ve stayed in.

For anyone planning a trip here, do your research on places to visit and food around the island, it really pays off.

To improve, I would suggest the hotel needs to add more service (i.e. food to order at breakfast, a decent coffee machine etc.) and waive the ridiculous €15 charge for room service. They could also utilise some of the excess space in the lobbies...

Very nice six night stay. We reserved a suite which we found to be spacious and comfortable. Both our room and the hotel, in general, were very clean. We appreciated the late check out on our final day. There was never a wait to be seated for breakfast. We never had to keep after housekeeping. The room always had been cleaned by the time we returned in the late afternoon. The hotel has a large indoor pool and an outdoor pool. I used the gym every morning and found it to be nice. We had interactions with multiple front desk staff. We found them to be friendly, helpful, and professional. The hotel is very close to the beach with nice ocean views. For geographical and environmental reasons it’s not typical on the island to have hotels directly on the beach. However, it’s a very short walk from the hotel down to the beach. The ocean temperature was about 74F when I came in early September, so fine for swimming. While I love watersports, I came to this gorgeous island mostly for sightseeing. You need a car to appreciate the beauty of this island. The hotel has free parking. And parking is free on virtually all of the island. Finding parking spots was pretty easy but could be a different story in July and August. While I enjoyed my stay at the hotel, I can’t give it more than a three star rating for the following reasons. The food is substandard. Lots of choice at the breakfast but the quality is very inconsistent. One day kiwis were on the buffet. They were hard as a rock and inedible. Some days the pineapple was very good, other days, not so good. I found the cold cuts to be inedible. The lettuce was wilted. The pastry was terrible. The oven baked eggs were a savior. We tried the hotel once for dinner and it did not earn a return visit. I ordered shrimp to start and then pulvo (octopus). Very average. We found mom and pop places all over the island to eat that were cheap and very good. The plastic loungers at the pool were uncomfortable. There is a nearby municipal facility on the beach with multiple pools and a swimming beach. It is only about a 3/4 mile walk from the hotel. Only a couple of Euro to enter. You can pay a couple of Euro more for a padded lounger. There are changing rooms, WCs and showers. There also is a restaurant and bar. With regard to the ocean views from the hotel, they are somewhat compromised because the hotel doesn’t clean the windows frequently enough to keep them clear. I understand that the wind, sand, and salt from the ocean can quickly soil the windows. That’s not an excuse. Finally, because the gym is located next to the indoor pool. There can be a massive condensation problem in the gym which creates a very hazardous floor. The door to the gym needs to be kept closed and the AC needs to be set on high. This is an accident waiting to happen. In sum, it’s a nice hotel but...