Hotel Dunas de Sal

Staff were exceptionally friendly and polite. They took my birthday recognition with pride and made the live band sing a happy birthday for me on Saturday the 22nd of August 2026.

It's not what I didn't like but just an observation that not all lovely staff members can freely speak English, it was a little bit of a struggle.

The swimming pool was exactly what I was looking for!

Price for a pool towel hire, bar prices - which reflect similar hotels in Santa Maria - are not good value for money.

Nice swimming pool. Good service at the reception. ATM in the hotel, although often running out of bill. Good music duet in the evenings.

Very slow and poor service in the restaurant, especially during dinner, but also during breakfasts. Some problems with shower draining and electricity in the room.

The staff were lovely, even though some obviously needed more training in 'customer relations' and service. The pool was big, beautiful and very clean! The location was good - quite close to the beach and not too far from Santa Maria. Lunch (a la carte) and dinner were generally quite tasty.

No porter to help us with our luggage! A small and very temperamental lift on our side of the building. Very difficult to operate and it broke down completely while we were there. The rooms (junior suite) were spacious and the main bed was comfortable. However, the other 'bed' was actually a sofabed - big, but not as comfortable. Only the main room had a/c. The other one had a fan which malfunctioned so badly and noisily in the middle of our first night that it was impossible to sleep! Thankfully it was repaired quite quickly. Breakfast was OK, but rather repetitive and limited in scope, apart from the pastries. Nor enough on offer for 'plant-based eaters' though. We felt that there were too many 'restrictions' in place. E.g. Only one bottle of water at a time was put there for the entire breakfast room and glasses were small. The coffee cups were also small and the coffee came from machines - common practice nowadays. The birds were a nuisance at the buffet! Very off-putting and not very hygenic as they jumped on and pecked at food on the buffet! We acknowledge that this seems to be a general problem in hotels in Sal. Oh dear!