Hotels near Pachamama Eco Park - Viveiro Botanical Garden, Santa Maria

Rooms are extremely clean, resort is very quiet and most of vilaverde town is uninhabited like a spooky place, supermarket is hidden and coffeeshop closed, bicycles can be rented but quality is low standard better hire in santa maria, beach is in walking distance, overall if you like relaxation its a good place to stay, beds are below standard a simple bonell system with foam layer, its bad for weak backs. Tapwater is drinkable because all water in Sal is made from reverse osmosis seawater, take in account wateroutages are common practise. I had a good stay and enjoyed the beautiful beaches and weather

Have stayed before and gave in 4* Was bit disappointed this time Paid extra for pool view as last time was kept awake by Pirate disco. Were initially shown to top floor room directly opposite disco. We asked to be moved and were given a room by the pool. This smelt of damp and there was a large patch of mould on the wall. The toilet leaked water from the back. There was not hot water for the full week. The sunbeds were all reserved by 8am-luckily few guests knew about the upstairs terrace which was great. Breakfast was very good but chaotic constantly running out of everything. The evening meal was ok but service was terribly slow-the poor water was rushed off his feet doing everything. We ate out the other nights and there are loads of good restaurants in 2 mins walk Its basically a decent value hotel with great staff and a fab location 3mins from pier and beach--would I go again ?? --probably. If you want 5* you can probably get in an AI out of town --but you will miss so much.

Thanks to everybody at the hotel for a wonderful 10 days. really could not fault it - quite near the main town -nice friendly little Portuguese bar nearby - and shops - we had B+B which was perfect. good pool for adults and kids alike. No sunbed wars thankully :-) Santa Maria is certainly more vibrant than when we went 5 years ago - Highly recommend this hotel as a good base to explore.

The best hotel in the whole island of Sal, except for Riu, is Hilton. Unfortunately, there is no Riu at the time of booking, but Hilton is very new, the decoration is very beautiful, and the facilities in the room are very modern. The hotel swimming pool is very large, the beach is outside, the greening is very good, the photo is beautiful, but the room is a little far from the beach, only half of the sea view room.

Excellent hotel in central Santa Maria. We stayed one night on our way back to the UK. The hotel is on the main pedestrian street of Santa Maria, absolutely bang in the centre of everything. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. The room was clean and comfortable. The bathroom was lovely but it took a long time for the hot water to come through. The beds were comfortable. It was nice to have a balcony but with the number of people passing by on the street I felt like I was a mannequin in a shop window, so I didn't use it. There was air conditioning, which was a very nice thing to have on in the heat. Breakfast was included. They made us fresh omelettes, which were delicious. Also a good selection of fruit and a bit of chocolate cake. There was more on offer like bread and cheese and meats, but I don't eat much for breakfast. I didn't like the coffee from the machine, but it is probably just my personal taste. The staff were very nice about checking out and they even kept our luggage for a few hours before we went to the airport.

We had a fantastic holiday at the funana, service was great, really good food and drinks. Our room was spacious and very clean with comfy beds. Only negative was the sunbeds, they had seen better days, although I believe they are due to be changed soon. Suggestion for the management, it would be good if you could add a margarita and expresso martini to your cocktails list! We will be going back.

Super clean hotel with the most amazing staff. Breakfast didnt have a lot of vegetarian options but it was okay. The hotel is situated in a local area which was amazing. Thank you for making our stay amazing! Hope to see you again in the future! 3 girls from Holland :)

RIU Palace Hotel, Santa Maria Review: Arrival: After a delay due to the storm we arrived on Saturday 25 January 2025 (a day late) for what would now be a six night holiday. On arrival at the airport we found the transition through passport control and baggage collection smooth. Staff were very efficient. There was only ours and another flight that had arrived at this time. I can imagine if it was any more then there could be some delays. The bus transfer with TUI was straightforward. We were the sixth of seven drop offs however this meant only a 25 minute transfer in total so not too bad. Hotel: The reception was busy on our arrival although there were plenty of staff available. **TIP** download the RIU app before you travel. You can then check in online. This means at reception you take the left hand desk (much shorter queue). There is a room tax to pay which can be paid in euros or by card. Once checked in you have the option of having your cases delivered to your room or you can take it yourself. We did the latter as we thought it would be some time given all the luggage to deliver before ours arrived at the room. We were staying at room 6141 in block 6 with a sea view. This was about a five minute walk from reception however this is all on the flat and wasn’t too arduous. There are 6 blocks in total, three either side of the main walkway from reception to the beach. All blocks are on two levels with no lifts. Our room had a bit of a stale smell when we first entered however this dissipated quickly when the balcony door was opened. I think it might just have been due to a bit of dampness in the room which obviously cant be helped given the climate. We had a couple of the hanging moisture bags for the wardrobe and these worked well. Inexpensive from B and M’s. The room itself was very spacious with a well-stocked mini bar and optics. In all honesty we didn’t use much from the mini bar but it’s there if required. Safe in the room is free to use. Bathroom area was again roomy and had plenty of soaps, moisturising cream and shampoo. One big issue is that the linen is of very poor quality. The bath towels especially looked frayed and thin. There was no issue requesting more through the app but all were of the same poor quality. Definitely something that could be easily improved. Hotel Grounds: As stated the hotel grounds are extensive to say the least. One you have the geography of the place sorted it is all very easy to find your way around and all on the flat. The swim up bar pool was generally very busy throughout the day. Anytime I passed it was all very cordial with no issues. The other large pools either side of this were similarly busy but there seemed to be plenty of room. I did notice people out early securing sun beds however there were plenty and I never noticed a time when every bed was taken. Most of our time was spent at the beach. This was very pleasant and the beach itself was beautiful. Again there was more than enough sunbeds to g

The official rating of this hotel is 4 stars, and with a bit of cosmetic upgrading and better staffing in the kitchen, I could see it reaching that level (it seems like it may have once been a real 4 star). As it was, the room quality itself was more 3 star, and the outside area was 4 stars. We had a 'deluxe sea view' with no terrace. There was lots of rough paintwork and lack of maintenance on the small details in the rooms, but overall it was fine, with a huge comfy bed and a nice shower and a lovely view out the window. Unfortunately the entry was at the street side of the hotel which was our smoking area, and that view was just the dirt road and some houses. Overall we would stay here again as the room was fine, the staff were great, the pool area was amazing, nobody had any screaming kids (very quiet and peaceful, great for couples) and while the beach required stepping over rocks, it also had the best snorkeling area with the most fish. Another sandy beach with less fish and two beach bars is a 3 minute walk away, and the main ***** with the main beach is a 10 minute walk (that one is useless for snorkeling but great for swimming). Besides snorkeling, it's also a preferred spot for wind surfing. We happened to try the hotel restaurant on a really bad night apparently, we waited an hour for our seafood paella which was average quality but double the price of the ***** restaurants. However, according to the other patrons who did all inclusive, the service was usually much faster. and the food usually much better. We did also have burgers for lunch one day, and those were expensive but very nice. Breakfast was included in our stay and it had an extensive and delicious continental selection, plus hot eggs and bacon on order, always very fast. The staff were super attentive and completely on their game, absolutely fantastic service. We got a great deal on a package holiday with LoveHolidays, so for the price we were very happy and would definitely stay again.