Five out of our party of six suffered from quite a severe stomach upset. One member was laid low for five days. Many are still suffering even after arriving back in the UK on the 25th November. The dia-calm tablets were in high demand. Please take more than you would expect to use as medication on the island is very expensive. We noted "baby wipes" at 13 euros per pack. We suggest that moist wipes are also included in your toiletries. A colleague that travelled to the resort in September reported "Branded Drinks" were supplied ie. Famous Grouse Whiskey and Gordons Gin - Not so when we arrived and our complaints to the hotel were met with "When circumstances allow we provide branded drinks". There are no facilities for making drinks in the rooms and we found the 700m walk to the coffee machine a chore. The food, although perhaps a little repetative was well presented. But again take care - we don't know how or where we picked up the bug. All we can say is that we did not leave the resort hotel complex and the only one not to be affected was our vegetarian friend.

Our first visit was as two adults for the Christmas and New year period of 2007/8 and our second visit was in August 2009, this time with a baby in tow.

The hotel was extremely clean and although it was clear that staff were new to hospitality, they bent-over-backwards to make sure all needs were accommodated.

Although there are two hotels, the facilities of both the Funana and Garopa hotels can be used by all guests. The food was cooked well and in front of you. They tried to offer a good variety of dishes, we stayed for 14 nights both times and never had the same meal twice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The only slight problem was that some of the food is uncovered and could obviously attract flies but given that food had a fast turn over and fresh food was cooked constantly we didn't find this to be a problem.

The Christmas and NYE dinner menus were amazing and definitely level with 5* restaurants/hotels here.

All the staff work extremely hard and nobody is ever spotted hanging around, our rooms were cleaned thoroughly each day and everybody greeted us with a smile no matter how hard they were working or what time of the day it was.

The Funana is closer to the beach than the Garopa but it does say that in the brochures, hence the Funana being advertised as a beach resort and the Garopa not. We stayed in the Funana for one holiday and the Garopa for the 2nd and didn't find it an issue getting to the beach. We also happily walked to town and back with the baby and found the walk enjoyable. However, you also have the option of getting a taxi from the front of the hotel for about 3euros, return taxis seemed to be free even if it was a different driver that picked you up - just show your wrist band and they'll drop you right to the reception doors - if you tell reception you want a taxi, they'll explain every thing and get one arranged for you.

The shops on site are pricey and limited, the town is still getting used to tourism but there is slightly more choice there.

The complex is large enough not to realise how many people are actually on site with you. We never had trouble finding somewhere to sit or relax and generally it was quiet all over the site unless you chose specific places/activities to go to.

Queues for food/drinks were non-existent at most times of the day and even at the busiest times, weren't very long due to the many facilities.

We rated the entertainment as high because, although the night entertainment could be very cheesy, the animation team work so hard. They are up first thing in the morning and split between the kids club, pool games/activities, teen room and beach games. Later in the afternoon/early evening they can be spotted rehearsing and making arrangements for the night entertainment. They then entertain the children and dance with guests before performing on stage. When the night's entertainment is over they are encouraged by management to mingle and make guest feel welcome at the bars.

The nicest thing for us was the fuss they all made over the baby AND despite it being nearly 2yrs on and having such large numbers of guests - they all remembered us from our first visit and greeted us like old friends (this was genuine as we didn't mention it but they were able to remember conversations and events).

The only thing that stopped us going again last year was the fact we had holidays planned elsewhere. We are travelling there again this December and can not wait!

We found our stay in the Hotel Rui Funana was excellent in all ways.
The staff were friendly and did everything possible to make our stay enjoyable.
The cleanliness of the hotel was 2nd to none and the food was varied and to a high standard.
The entertainment was more professional than any other all inclusive hotel we had previously stayed in.
We will be returning in the future.

the hotel was clean the rooms and public areas are all air conditioned,our room had a balcony as we were on the second floor(only two storey buildings)your air con can be left on in the room while your out also there is a large ceiling fan above the bed, the bathroom had a large double shower,hairdrier,the safe was located in the open plan bathroom also which is free,there is a chinese restarant an african,a cape verdian which is mostly fish,and a grilled meat one,two other buffet restarants,and four or five bars,plus two self service bars open all night,then you have a beach bar with sunbeds.

we have just come back from this wounderful hotel the cleaners were great rooms were cleaned every day to high standerd the food was fab and i am a fussy eater but we all loved the food entertainment was so funny the staff were friendly we went on a trip round the island and that was amazing so much to see. the whole hoilday was great were going back again this year. there are all ages there there is something to suit every 1.

Stayed at this hotel and travelled with Thompson Holidays from the 19th Sept - 3rd Oct 2008.

I got severe stomach cramps and the runs from day 3 for the rest of the holiday. My fella got it a few days after me and he is Mr Iron Guts! Two nights I actually thought I was going to pass out as my tummy was that bad and I cried on the last night cause I was so upset about it all!

We could not go on any of the trips or into the town cause we had to know there was a toilet near us all the time within running distance as we were only getting about a 30 second warning if you know what I mean!!!

A few nights he was up all night with it as well but I only had it during the day thank god!

Kept listening in to other peoples conversations around the pool (like you do) and there was alot of it going about.

Complained to the rep on the last night cause it's not got enough for the amount of money we spent to go there! She didnt think it was anything to do with the hotel though!

We have been back 1 week tomorrow and are still not right.

I tried to publish this exact same review on the Tompson website but they have not published it - what does that tell you?

We stayed in the Hotel Riu Funana for 2 weeks all inlcusive. Restaurants were fantastic, plenty of choice of food and a real bonus having the option of the 4 specialist restaurants, chinese, grill fish or African. Hotel was spotless, as was the pool area and restaurants. Entertainment not great (when is it??) but the team did work really hard. I would definately go again.

Just returned from staying at the hotel for the second time. Cannot fault the place even a day of rain did not spoil the holiday.

The location is fantastic on the beach.

The food is plentiful and staff are excellant

What more do you want?

we stayed at the riu funana for one week the hotel is excellent,spotless and the staff are really friendly and helpful this is a great place to stay if your looking to stay within the complex or use the beach with its beautiful sands and free sun-beds with loads of activities all day long.There are guards on the front of the hotel and access to the beach,a fence runs round the whole complex so the beach can only be accessed from 07:30 to 18:30.
The hotel charges 9 euros a minute to phone home so get a taxi into town and its only about 1 euro a minute there.

I stayed in the Garopa and i have no idea where the people from the first post stayed. This hotel was lovely food, drink (inc. the wine) were lovely (a variety - if you book at the different restaurants - asia, african, grill and fish. This is free but there is only about 75 people in the rest and they bring drinks to your table, altho still self service for food!) There were 4 of us (22,26,40.48) and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, it was a lovely break from work. Definetly a relaxing holiday. no good if you want a fun packed holiday with lots to do. I heard that it was windy, the breeze is a very welcome breeze, nothing to worry about - i was glad that there was a breeze made it a lot more comfortable to walk around in! The only thing i would def. complain about was the eve entertainment, it was asbismal - worse then Butlins. The first night (a friday) was the worst - it was so bad it was insulting. But other then that FABTASTIC place to go and visit.