Hotel Riu Funana - All Inclusive

How this gets away with calling itself 5 star is beyond me. An outrageous claim made by TUI. F54, F44 & M18 year old. Upon arrival given room 80 & ** in block 11. Furthest away from all facilities even though advised months prior of reduced mobility. Room was dark, dingy & smelt of mould. Exposed electrics, continuously running toilet and shower room ceiling leaking water and ready to collapse! Reception staff reluctant to help and only reallocated rooms when I really put my foot down and then they behaved as if they were doing me a favour! Moved to block 7 which was better but still not what you would expect from a 5star. Only two plug sockets in main room and over the other side from the kettle?! drinks tray with everything apart from milk so unable to have a cuppa. Very basic shower area, shower head not staying up properly, cracked tiles, grubby, but as already complained about first room didn’t want to again. No private space to change as toilet and shower open out to sink area then straight on to main room. Was cleaned when requested. Food was repetitive but ok, separate restaurants not much better disappointingly. We didn’t get ill so that was a bonus. Awful wine but ok cocktails. Lovely pool area and plenty of beds but tightly packed and people do reserve beds regardless of rules. 10 min walk to the beach along the gauntlet of lookie lookies . Beach is beautiful and the sea when safe to go in was lovely. Beach bar only serving beer and soft drinks. Neon party was fun and effort put in to and most staff generally friendly and hard working. 5€ taxi into Santa Maria for bars, restaurants and shops. Worth a visit but you will be repeatedly hassled. I really feel cheated out of 5K after looking forward for six months. TUI has received my formal complaint as that room was a health and safety hazard and no paying guests should have been staying in there. We would return to Cape Verde but definitely not to this hotel.

Absolutely loved our visit to riu funana. The food was amazing. We didn't go to the speciality restaurants as the food was so good at the buffet restaurant we didn't feel the need. Can't understand how they do so many different choices with such quality. Loved the freshly cooked pizza especially the blue cheese. The entertainment team worked so hard and were so professional . A special mention for Kevin who arrived on our 2nd week. His aquarobics were such fun. He had 60 people all laughing and engaging in his class. Also loved the twice daily dancing by the pool. Thanks for such an amazing fortnight. Can't wait to return.

Great Staff service with a smile all the time, some all inclusives slow up the alcohol service but not RIU. Food is very good for an all inclusive and extensive range to choose from also the separate restaurants gave extra variation. Main areas of the hotel are well maintained however the accommodation blocks while clean do need al little TLC bits of paint and plaster coming away from the walls. Overall good value

Stayed here for 2 weeks. Excellent hotel from start to finish. Staff very friendly and always positive. Hotel provides great entertainment throughout your whole stay. Rooms really nice and room attendants really attentive with cleaning. Do a terrific job. Never a fight for sun loungers, always a fair few available. Plenty of shaded areas and non shaded areas. Pool really close to snack bar and regular bar. Hotel states that it is close to the beach. It is close but it’s not directly on the beach. It’s around a 4 minute walk from the rear hotel gate. The adjoining hotel next door is closer and is more directly on the beach. However, the walk there is scenic and is nice to do. Beach area has plenty of shade if worried about the sun. Also has a beach bar (all inclusive of course). Has hoses and showers to wash off sand before you go back into hotel if you wish. Plenty of choice for food. As a picky eater, I personally struggled some days but there was always at least something for me to have. Always options available like pizza/pasta. Hotel store pretty pricey for imported food/snacks. If I came again I would probably bring my own. Souvenirs are lovely, cheap and handmade though. Definitely worth purchasing. Overall stay very pleasant and would definitely stay here again!

What can I say? You wouldn’t put your worst enemy in the room me and my fiancé were given. Upon entering the room I was greeted by a minimum of 20 mosquitos on the rusty air con vent, walls and curtains. I paid extra for the superior room to have a little more room space but was presented with a dirty, damp mosquito ridden room with holes in the walls, doors and the toilet didn’t even flush (see pics) I complained and was greeted with at the hotel door by a porter with a huge can of fly killer. I refused to sleep in that room so was given another room that was smaller in another block which had the same mosquito problem. I had no choice but to sleep there. Between those 2 rooms I was bitten over 200 times by mosquitos. No exaggeration. On day 3 of the holiday I paid to move to the hotel Cabo Verde next door. The room was better but on the first night there I woke at 4am to find my bites were getting infected and being diabetic went to the hotel nurse who immediately sent me the clinic where I was prescribed intravenous hydro cortisone (3 bottles in the clinic, 2 at 11am and 2 more at 5pm) plus creams, antibiotics and antihistamines and told to stay out of the sun!! In Cape Verde!! I spent days in my room and was a sideshow when I left due to the severity of the bites! It completely ruined the holiday. Don’t go! See pictures I’m not over exaggerating

I have been to this hotel twice. I have always enjoyed it greatly! We were there 9years ago and there were only small palms on the beach. This april the palms creat a great shadow and a kind of windless oasis where we could have rest, read and sleep. Even the beach volleyball courts were partly in the shadow which was great! The beach is wide and endless. I love morning walks, doing yoga on the coast and just watching the rough ocean. Our teenage children LOVED jumping through the waves until the sunset. The ocen, howere, is not for small kids and older people. The waves are really powerful. I would say kids aged 12 and more will love it! We also made halfday trip by buggies all over the island. We saw an amazing mirage, salt mine and an extraordinary shark bay. On Sunday morning we experienced a special mass in the church in Santa Maria where locals celebrated life. Food and drinks were gorgeous! Especially caipirinha and always smiling Mrs. Rita made our days special. What we DO NOT LIKE was the way to the beach. We absolutely hated being separated from the hotel park and walking behind the fence separating the dirty and shaby way from Cabo Verde. As guest of Riu Funana we found it totaly weard and humiliating! What is more, this way behind the fence was full of suspicious people asking our children for food and drinks. No hotel stuff, no guards were here to prevent from these unpleasant situations. Hotel management should allow Riu Funana guest to be able to walk through the hotel park directly to the beach otherwise you will lose visitors :/

Lovely hotel, friendly welcoming and helpful staff. Comfortable beds, open plan bathroom, took some getting use to. Rooms kept lovely and clean, the entertainment makes this hotel as it was excellent. The only negative was that they don't have prosecco, which was such a shame. Close to the beach with a beach bar, nothing much outside the hotel. Well, it's worth a visit and will definitely be returning at some point

We spent 12 days at the hotel. My opinion is 100% objective and not malicious. This is absolutely not a 5-star hotel. At most, we would give it 3 stars. The first room we received (I should add that we paid extra for a better room when booking) was old, with a noticeable smell of dampness and mold. There were small bugs on the walls, and there was mold inside the refrigerator. After reporting this and sending photos to TUI, they changed our room the next day, which was better. Not much better, but still better. The hotel definitely needs renovation. The bathrooms have no doors, and the whole room smells of sewage, which is unbearable at night. The children's pool is simply dirty. The food in the main restaurant is okay, but the vegetables often have visible mold, such as tomatoes at every breakfast. There was also mold on the cheese, and it wasn't blue cheese. The hotel beach, like others on the island, is beautiful, but this side of the island has very large waves. The hotel grounds are also beautiful, but unfortunately, that’s where it ends. I certainly would not recommend this hotel to anyone with even a little sense of aesthetics and comfort. However, if someone accepts that it is a 3-star standard (really a generous 3 compared to European standards), then the atmosphere, surroundings, and entertainment make the holiday enjoyable.