Introduction to my review of the Riu Hotel Touraeg on the Island of Boa Vista Cape Verde, let me get this out the way straight away spoiler alert This hotel is amazing, this hotel is absolutely a 5 star, now, let me explain why....

On arrival at hotel, I was slightly concerned about this Island tax that Tui mention when booking (basically each visitor is subject to a one off payment of around £30, But if you register through the Tui app, then Tui cover the cost of this for you) So I was slightly surprised that there is also a hotel tax which is payable on top of the island tax, this wasn't mentioned as far as I can remember when booking, so we payed for this and accepted it goes toward the Hotel economy.

The lady at reception was very polite and explained to us about the general layout of the complex, mentioning the opening times of restaurants, bars, pools etc, they give you a little paper map, which in the first few days is so helpful to navigate the complex.

The room was very clean, excellent air con system, plus there is a ceiling fan, which we didn't even need, various TV channels in all European languages and English, the bathroom benefitted from his and hers sinks, which was a nice touch, shower was excellent, overall very nice.

The main restaurant, is the one we used mainly almost exclusively, this restaurant was just amazing, variety of food was second to none, extensive salad bar, fresh fish, fresh meats, pasta bar, there is even a carvery with Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes every night, cold meats, cheese selection, soups, basically there is too much choice, the food is cooked perfectly.

There is also a snack bar, which I found to be for quick and easy food, I'd stick with the main restaurant personally. There are also some VIP restaurants on site, which we were informed that you needed to book in advance, I didn't use any of these because the main restaurant was so good.

Breakfast lunch dinner, was as you'd expect, lots of choice, standard of food was excellent and a special mention to the service, staff are extremely helpful and even when busy the buffet system stills works very well.

Pools: Why do humans congregate so much in concentrated areas by the pool? Personally I avoided the pools, because they were quite busy as expected.

Beach: It's unbelievable, honestly, why would you want to sit around a cramped pool, when you can use the most beautiful beach you have ever seen, the sand is literally perfect, zero stones, just golden sand and the beach is basically empty! I literally don't know why people are not using it.

One word of warning though, the waves can be quite big and it's worth treating the sea with the respect it deserves, there are coastguards monitoring the water during peak times.

Weather: obviously this is in the hand of the gods, when we stayed there, we hit the jackpot, it was 26°C everyday and it was wall to wall sunshine, for me 25-26 is absolute optimum temperature, it's hot enough to sunbathe and not to uncomfortable to walk around in it, anyone that says I like 40+, no you don't. In the evenings it dropped barely to 21°C, you hear often about wearing a sweater in the evenings etc, No! a light shirt is ample, if you wear a sweater you will take it off trust me.

One nice touch is the local Police patrol the lobby on a nightly basis, you don't really notice them but if there ever was someone stupid enough to create a problem, rest assured they would swiftly deal with them.

WiFi: amazing!!!! The wifi signal is so strong, you can get signal all the way onto the Beach, the rooms, the pools. WOW! This is such a plus because everyone is on their phones all the time now.

There is a 24hr lobby bar, serving all inclusive drinks, very handy for a late or early drink.

There is a Nightclub, which I didn't use, bit old now lol

Evening entertainment was pretty good, the entertainment team are high energy, super friendly, it ranged from singing to dancing just what you'd expect, personally I spent the evenings in the lobby bar chatting.

Gym equipment: there's been quite a few comments about the gym being a poor standard, first of all who goes on holiday for the gym lol, I used the gym and it's absolutely fine for what you need, there are a range of machines, free weights and a couple of treadmills.

Generally the hotel is excellent, service is amazing, staff work tirelessly, whoever gives this hotel a 1* review is literally a Karen.

It has to be said, there were some facilities I didn't get round to using, jacuzzi pool, steam rooms, also it's worth mentioning I'm a sauna officianado, I know the difference between a sauna and a steam room, there is only a steam room but there are two of them, mens and womens.

I would absolutely recommend this hotel to anyone, we stayed for one week early January 2025, on reflection one week is not enough, the perfect stay would be 10-14 days.

One reason I picked early January, is that I imagine Christmas week will be too busy and by the 6th of Jan, most children will be back at school, what I didn't factor for was children aged 1-4, so there were a few families with very young children but by far the most common demographic was middle aged couples.

I was amazed at the amount of people with the same idea as me, trying to escape that herd mentality of July August en masse summer holidays, playing devil's advocate for a second, if the hotel was at absolute peak capacity, I could see a different review but that's why I would never go on holiday during school holidays.