1 independent reviews for Sao Tome & Principe vacation
Reviews for Sao Tome & Principe vacation
Sarah Mitchell review 22 Jul 2022
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
* We loved the boat trip out to Islas Dos Rocos - having lunch on the beach and being able to go straight from the eco lodge was excellent. * The guided walk out of Sao Tome including to the Monte Cafe plantation was excellent - fantastic gentle guide who knew so much, and fun lunch, great day out. * The team on Belo Monte hotel on principe - miles and veronica and team were amazing. Such nice people, made it very special. Wifi excellent, Museum excellent, Beautiful place - especially the daily cocktail in the bar watching the sun go down. * Meeting Claudio Corelli in ST to learn about the chocolate was such a special moment.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Can strongly recommend the tour operator. From sorting the visas the day before we left (when the embassy said we didn't need it, I had paid, turned out we did) to rearranging our transport on the last day out there. Nothing was too much trouble. Excellent advice. 1) The dinner at the Pestana is quite expensive if you are staying several days (25 euros pp x 4 plus expensive wine) which adds up and is medium quality. Not many of the restaurants in town are open in the evening despite what the guide books say. However, hotel very friendly and efficient apart from that. 2) At the eco lodge (praia inhamane, try and not have a room next to where everyone parks their car - third row back from the sea, felt we were a bit short changed. 3) At the eco lodge you need to arrive for supper on time - there is a set time they put the buffet out and if you are late, most of it is gone and there is only a limited supply. Quite an issue when a group stays and don't realise this. Also try and have lunch out - the octopus gets a bit repetitive. And very hard if you were veggie. 4) On Principe you do need to do trips out, otherwise the lack of sunshine (was cloudy all days except one) means you get a bit stuck. The hotel only has three cars which they also use for airport collections so good to get organised and make plans as soon as you arrive. We did the all day boat trip and the day walk to the Waterfall which was excellent. But the lunch at Roco Sunday was really over priced. 5) Really worth traveling to the south of Sao Tome and seeing the plantations and villages. Get quite a different perspective than if you just did capital and Principle lux.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Absolutely. Everywhere we stayed was trying - employing local people, eating local food, recovering from Covid, promoting sustainable conservation. Very impressive.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Was a fantastic vacation. Really different and interesting place to go. Lovely people everywhere. Not a place to get a tan - and do need to plan to have enough to do but absolutely lived up to our expectations.Read the operator's response here:
Due to the late booking of this trip we really had to take what we could get at Praia Inhame and were lucky we did. We always request as close to the beach as possible but with late bookings we don’t always get a choice. The lodge itself has less than 20 bungalows so you are not too far from the sea. In this case we were lucky to get the space but we do understand the clients’ remarks.
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