Casa Ondas Divinas — Hotel in Santana

We stayed in six different places in Sao Tome and Principe. This accommodation is only suitable for the brave, adventurous, nature loving, easy going, open minded folks. The accommodation is situated in a local village where people are living in poverty. You will have to either walk or drive through the village every day. The people are friendly and nice, thought. There are no facilities in the village, no restaurants and maybe one basic boot where you might be able to buy water. The front gate to enter your house is falling apart, the lock is fully rusty, so it's hard to lock it properly. The glass door to the apartment is locked with a padlock. Perhaps bring your own (a small one). There are glass walls on both sides without any dark curtains, so you don't feel privacy 100%, and the sun shines on your face early in the morning. (Nice way to wake up... Or maybe not for everyone). It's not a hotel or resort, there's no reception area and staff is reachable by phone only if you need anything. The apartment is specious and the views are stunning. WiFi is working perfectly and so is the shower and toilet. There's hot water. While we were there the wind was blowing and there were no mosquitos. We didn't need to use the mosquito net. The temperature felt just perfect both during day and at night. There are many cracks on the walls, which ensure ventilation. However, bugs, spiders, etc can also come in. Breakfast is probably the worst on the whole island with dry bread, artificial juice, no tea or coffee, little fruit and greasy other staff. They bring it to your room and then don't take away the dirty dishes until the next morning, only if you ask them. They also expect you to wash the dishes in the tiny washbasin in the bathroom without washing liquid or hot water (from the basin tap). As a result, the whole apartment is constantly covered in ants, they climb into your pants. After our first breakfast experience, we decided never to order fish from the accommodation staff, so I don't have information on dinner options. We couldn't enjoy our stay 100% due to the ants, spiders, disastrous breakfast, unprofessional staff not taking away the dishes, and we felt unsafe. Also, the sea was rough and we couldn't really enjoy the beach, which is by the way, not worth staying in Santana for. If you want to enjoy the beach, meaning swimming in the sea, you should go elsewhere, either North or South or...

Great value, stunning views, excellent food. Guesthouse is beautifully and simply designed with very friendly and welcoming staff. Would have loved to stay a few more days.

Getting there: There is a small turn off the main road between two walls, easy to miss on the east side of the road. Follow the cobblestone road until you reach a fork, then stay to the right and head straight forward, choosing the final driveway on the right with two modern looking buildings staight in front.

I stayed in the “top left” room called Nirima. The room is simple and beautiful, with cliff-top views facing east/southeast into the ocean. A breathtaking experience just taking in that view and enjoying the natural light that the space gets. It’s located at a convenient spot in the town of Santana on the east coast of São Tomé, where you’ll find number of attractions continuing south, with the airport about 25 minutes to the north.

The staff is very friendly, and can help arrange a rental car for your trip or airport transfers. The rooms are run as part of about a dozen spots in the vicinity and is decentralized, so don’t expect that the staff is on premise, but they are a call or message away. The food is outstanding — delivered to your room at an appointed time.

One thing thing to note is that the walls are very thin with the adjacent unit, so there is not a lot of sound privacy. Didn’t bother me but worth...

So much potential but unfortunately I can not recommend - There is no maintenance done on the house, so when it rains it rains inside; lots of termites (ie lots of tiny pieces of wood in everything); very basic offering for kitchen supplies etc, and not secure at all. Doors/windows not secure, security inefficient. I had nearly 500 euros stolen from inside the house during the day, on the same day the cleaning staff was in the house. Unfortunately there is no competition so the management can be lazy and get away with it...