Melia Dunas Beach Resort & Spa

Stunning resort. Open, airy and very big! The hotel wasn't at full capacity so there was a lot of areas to relax in. No need to rush out to loungers. From the beginning to throughout my whole stay the staff are so friendly and attentive. Nothing is a hassle and you are always greeted with smiles and humble locals. My room was located near reception so the beach and a la carte restaurants were a bit of a walk away but the grounds are so well maintained and pretty I didn't mind the walk! There is a piano bar by reception, handy when grabbing a beverage on way to my room after a peaceful day on the beach. This is 1 of 2 places for evening entertainment too. Live bands and a 'White' party were guests got involved with salsa dancing. The amphitheatre is located a short walk from reception. Entertainment was focused around children but was good to go and see some shows. Initially I thought the beach was dirty but turned out the sand is mixed. White and black sand. Strange but beautiful. Again, plenty of loungers. Note, it's very windy so hair clips and beach towel clips are recommended. There are toilets located behind the beach bar and they were kept clean. There is a good selection of restaurants. As a Level Guest I was spoilt as I was able to dine at the a la carte restaurants as often as I wanted. This includes breakfast served until 11am at Atlantic. The food was so fresh, everything tasted amazing. I had a culinary experience I was not expecting. I am a foodie so this was heaven for me. The buffet catered for all, breakfast here was good too. Choice of everything from Cereal, eggs whichever way you prefer, salads and fruit. I treated myself to a devine massage. The masseuse was fab. There are other spa facilities and a well equipped gym onsite. As a solo female traveller I felt Very safe. The men are very respectful to women. The beach is guarded and there is always people about. I loved my trip to Cabo Verde and look forward to going back.

Very calm days, it was a very great experience, which I made myself comfortable to enjoy very great restaurants. But as I wanted to live a unique kind of travel, I decided to try a particular restaurant called Signora Sassi. I was served really good, very good people welcoming the visitors, a menu with plenty of options also vegan ones. It was a very nice night, where I was able to enjoy my own company but also chat with the young people working there, very polite persons but also respectful. Great food, great drinks. I started my dinner with a cheesy Garlic Bread which costed 2.5€, then I enjoyed a very great Spaghetti alla Puttanesca for 10€ while degusting a nice wine, my dessert was a Homemade Tiramisu for 6.5€ and my dinner was around 30€. The price was okay, for a very fresh Pasta and for a nice evening like this I'd pay really really more. Thank you Signora Sassi's team, you were incredible and I would highly recommend, and go there every time I can. Ps: it is also for non residents of the Hotel and Extra charged restaurant. Top Tier.

Overall 2/5 stars disappointing for what was paid. At time of booking rated as 5-star then changed to 4-star. Overall impression would suggest a borderline 3-star resort. All inclusive option should be relabelled full-board. Hotel was constructed in 2014. In need of desperate maintenance and renovation in some areas. Overall cleanliness across the resort was poor with some areas cleaner than others. Very pushy on upselling from walking in the resort doors. VIP at a cost of €50pppn Adults and €30pppn Children (10-18) is not worth it. This package would be deemed the all-inclusive at many other resorts. Since 1st May the Sol Dunas side of the resort has had an element rebranded to TUI Suneo Dunas. This has resulted in disgruntled guests who have been left with only one restaurant to eat at. They can still use 5/6 pools and standard bars but not the a-la-carte. Recommend to others: unfortunately I would not. Please see below for detailed reviews by area. Reception & Staff - 3/5 Check-in process was smooth and Stivin was polite and efficient same with bell-hop. Check-out - paid €40 for late check-out (16:00) but they forgot to reactivate room key so locked out and took 20 mins to resolve. Staff - generally appeared like they did not want to be there. The moral felt low. One morning in the Spices restaurant a guest accidentally dropped and smashed a plate. They ended up cleaning up themselves as no staff came over. The Room - 2/5 2-bed apartment consisting of double room en-suite, x2 single beds, shower room, lounge/kitchen/dining. Air-con available in double room and lounge as described. Air-con showing signs of lack of maintenance, evidence of leakage. Decor tired looking with occasional touch ups. Paint drips on skirting where looks rush job. Blankets on bed looked like off-cuts from old curtains. Shower head was leaking from the hose but replaced same day. Water doesn’t drain so accumulates whilst showering. If you ran the bath the water was yellow looking which either meant issue with water or was exaggerating the discoloured bath. The bath shower panel was missing rubber seal so water went everywhere. Double room and attached en-suite where off centre so the furniture didn’t sit right resulting in narrow gap between wall - wardrobe - bed and table. Not good design. Wardrobes had good space for hanging but only 2 small drawers so not enough for family. Lounge area was dated with unclean sofas (food crumbs between cushions). Fridge available along with hob and coffee machine and kettle. Teabags and coffee pods not replenished unless paid for (or upgraded to VIP). Net curtains to patio doors dirty and the doors themselves required a bit of effort. Small Melia shampoos provided day 1 and not replenished. Catering - 1/5 Spices - breakfast. buffet style which was hit and miss and repetitive. Atlantis - not reviewed as unavailable Provides breakfast for guests upgraded to The Level / VIP. Mosaico - lunch and dinner for all. Buff

I don’t know where the last reviewer is staying, but it is not the mela dunas that I’m staying at. Arrived at 4 pm room not ready eventually put in what looks like a disabled accommodation, overlooking the front entrance. Not a great start, asked to move rooms, been told 6 pm today. So 2 days wasted and haven’t unpacked . Seems like unless you upgrade to the level at £50 each a day you get the old rooms . Never again Forgot to mention stains on floor

The hardware of the hotel is not bad. The location is good unfortunately the attitude of the staff are poor. There are many staff there, but they tend to chat with each other and ignore you and every time you ask for services they make you feel like you’re wasting their time. The quality of the food is and the food in the buffet are not replaced even it is empty for a long time

Bad experience I try to book local restaurant in first day and already I said fully booked.How come? How is possible like this? For booking have short time between 10:30 in morning until 16 in afternoon.This restaurant have only few days program

My husband and i have just returned from Here, on arrival they wanted us to upgrade to VIP for €50 per day per person. This upgrade is what you would get in a Rui Hotel as standard.The rooms are very tired and attached pictures will show you. Our room was over the general store and the balcony overlooked a cobble street which became very noisy as the electric vehicles use this to make deliveries and a cut through, its starts at 6.30am until 12.00am. Towels were clean everyday and re-stocked water daily and bed made. Do not buy trips with TUI go to the man on the beach in the orange T-shirt he is a third of the price for an island tour and you get a driver in a 4x4 and a guide who speaks good English. The food is cold in spices and mosaic unless you get there when they open. We both had diarrhea while we were there and had to go to Santa maria Pharmacy in a Taxi. They don't have all the drinks on the All inclusive list , you would think they would take them off. They give you Raspberry's in the Strawberry cocktails. You can get lunch from the Aqua restaurant as part of the all inclusive and you can book for evening meals. Rancho did not have steak on the night we booked and its a steak restaurant !!!! . THE beach is beautiful and sea refreshing, and it was always empty. no getting up early for sunbeds as there was always loads still at 10-11am. I would not stay here again i would stay at a Rui as we did last year in Boa Vista.

I recently stayed at Melia Dunas for a week and had an absolutely amazing time! The resort is impeccably clean and well-maintained, creating a very pleasant environment to relax in. The staff were incredible – always friendly, helpful, and willing to go above and beyond to ensure a great stay. The food was consistently good, offering a variety of delicious options to choose from. As a solo traveler, I particularly appreciated the constant events and activities happening around the resort. There was never a dull moment! I have to give a special shout out to the Animation team, who were outstanding dancers and entertainers. I had the pleasure of taking a dance class during Cabo Verde Day and attended both the ''Cabo Verde Show'' and the ''Mama Africa'' show. The dance routines and costumes were simply incredible. A big thank you to the dancers Rute, Eliezer, Alex, Milene, Henry, and Ivan for keeping us entertained with your spectacular performances. It was also lovely to see you around the resort, always greeting me with a smile and a friendly hello. You have an amazing entertainment team at Melia Dunas. Keep up the fantastic work! I hope to return one day and experience the magic all over again.

The staff within the hotel (reception, spa staff, house keeping, dining staff) were all very friendly and accommodating. However the security guards were very rude to me and a visitor that I invited. We used to all go to Santa Maria together and hang out, but we all stayed in different places. One night, we had all hung out on the beach the entire day and went to the bars at night. My friend’s phone died. I wanted to make sure he got home safe, so I invited him in come charge his phone. The resort is huge. My room was close to the beach, so i always entered the resort from the beach side. This had never been an issue before. That night however, a securityguard ran after us and asked if we stayed at the hotel. So i told him yes and i showed him my wristband and roomkey. He asked if my friend also stayed there. I told him no, my friend is only visiting. He told me my friend was not allowed to enter the premises, because he did not have a wristband. I told him, but my friend is not coming to eat or drink at the hotel or use any of the pools. I simply invited him over to the room that I paid a lot of money for. He told me we needed to go outside and enter through the reception to buy a wristband. So i told him fine and we got back out and walked to the reception. Infront of the reception theres another security post. He told me my friend was not even allowed to enter the parkinglot, let alone sit at the reception. I was getting highly frustrated, cause this man did not speak fluent English. I tried explaining the situation to him via google translate, he refused to read it. He was being very rude. Eventually another staffmember came outside to see what was happening. I told him what had been going on. Again I was told only people with wristbands were allowed to enter the hotel. I am all for abiding by rules, but if I had been informed ahead of time that they had a no visitor rule as part of their hotel policy I would have stayed at a different hotel, because I am a social person. We were allowed to enter at the hotels where my friends were staying without any issues. We all entered at the other resorts and hung out as a group, so I found it extremely upsetting and uncomfortable that my friend was treated like trash at the gate. Afterwards I spoke to my travelagent from tui and he even told me there is no such policy. I was allowed to have visitors in my hotel room. The only thing they werent allowed to do was used the pools or eat and drink without a wristband