Belo Monte Hotel and Museum

We had a spectacular 2-night stay at Belo Mondo. Upon our early morning arrival, Lucia, the hotel manager, greeted us warmly and personally escorted us around the beautiful property, giving us helpful orientation tips, before showing us to our rooms. Our upgraded rooms were spacious, luxurious, and beautifully decorated, with the adjoining terrace, an added bonus. Before lunch, we walked down a steep hill to Banana Beach, pausing at the halfway lookout point to take photos of the famous beach below. Arriving at the beach, we found covered platforms, each with 2 lounge beds, from which we could enjoy the view of the azure waters and uncrowded white sand beach before us. The water of the sea was so clear, we could see down to our toes. When we were ready to return to the lodge, we called for a ride and were promptly transported back up the hill. Our al fresco meals on the terrace were all delicious, accompanied by beautiful views. The entire staff were warm and friendly and made us feel most welcome and like family. We were surprised to find they even provided turn down service at night. On our first evening, Lucia invited us to her favorite spot to view the sunset over a class of wine, and took photos of us as the sun set. Overall, we had a most memorable stay and would be happy to return.

Este Hotel tem uma vista fabulosa sobre o mar a partir da varanda da sala. A praia mais perto do hotel e a praia Banana. A praia Banana e quase virgem. A agua e quente e com muitos peixinhos para quem gosta de fazer sonrkeling. A diretora Lúcia , o Helder e o Filé são muito simpáticos e atenciosos. Um especial agradecimento a diretora Lúcia. Muita simpatia e verdadeiro interesse pelo nosso bem estar. A ilha vale pelas natureza e pelas praias

Rooms are lovely and spacious. Cleaners did a great job. Architecture is beautiful and views are stunning. Lots of birds in trees. We arrived from airport with another couple. The manager greeted us, asked us what time we would leave on departure day, thrust a key into our hand and told us to go to our room. It was very strange. We didn't know where the room was. Once we found it my husband went and got our bags and brought them to the room. The other couple got a welcome drink and had a big chat. Food and service very disappointing. Buffet the first night had no food left at 7.30. Limited lunch menu with not everything available. The worst thing was no beach bar. No drinks or food available, which meant an uncomfortable journey back in the truck to get lunch. New years eve party on beach was nice. So much plastic on beach and in water. We collected a large sack full. On the second day the staff raked it into piles and left on the beach for the next tide to take to sea. We met 2 other couples that moved to Bom Bom because of their issues with hotel. Would stay somewhere else and go for a visit to see the view.

Arriving at Roça Belo Monte is quite an experience! From the airport to the hotel, you'll be driving through rainforest on a bumpy road, which you wont be too annoyed by thanks to the stunning sights and sounds. Once on the premises, we were greeted by the manager (?) and a lovely fruity welcome drink. We received a quick tour of the bar & restaurant and were taken to our room. We were upgraded from a plantation room to one of the suites, which was a nice surprise and we were quite happy with our room - a spacious bathroom with two individual sinks, seperate shower and bathtub. What was missing and we kind of were expecting from a hotel in that price-range: A mini-fridge! The bottles of filtered water were restocked every day, so we had plenty of water, but to keep it refreshing (especially when going on a trip or to the beach), somewhere to keep it cool would have been nice. Room: +spacious and "comfy" room +quiet and private, but still with a feel of "out in nature" +clean and well taken care of -no mini-fridge -bathrobe was taken with other towels, but not restocked Of course, the main star of this accomodation is "Praia Banana" - and having seen other beaches on Principe as well as Sao Tome, this one really is "it"! Clear water, yellow-white sand contrasted with black volcanic rocks and no deck-chair-desert eyesore! The hotel provides shuttle-service to the beach, but we chose to walk the three times we went to spend time there. Maybe for the better, given what we experienced on the service-side during our stay (foreshadowing)... The on location museum was definitely worth a visit...or two (we had to split our visit, there is much to read!). Location: +calm, paradisic ambiance +most beautiful beach in walking distance +museum with interesting facts and information about the islands +different locations to enjoy the view The first dinner was held outside in the courtyard - beautiful ambience and good food! Sadly, this was the first and only time when that would be the case, coming to a first, major "bad point" The food (we had half-board) was good, not exceptional for this class of hotel, but ok. Same goes for breakfast, were in addition to the buffet (which sadly felt a bit neglected from time to time, you never knew if they ran out of stuff, or just didn't get around to refilling it) you could order from a range of things - omletts, eggs and so on. IF your order made it to the kitchen, after a more or less reasonable time, you got your omlett or scrambled eggs on a plate. It happened more than once, that they simply forgot about our order, or for some other reason, took 45 Minutes to make an omlett. Now, had the hotel been fully booked, that (in combination with the island's motto, "leve-leve") could have been understandable, but usually there weren't more than maybe 3-4 more tables to serve, with each 2 people - which should easily be manageable by a hotel that has space for up to 40 people. We were informed, that the owners birthda

The plantation buildings have been sympathetically transformed into a comfortable hotel. A friendly team of staff with someone available at all times to assist us in any way conversing with us in English. We enjoyed three excellent excursions, it’s worth listening to advice and local knowledge to get the best from the trips out. When I was feeling unwell I was shown kindness, understanding and help. The beach is magical, the views from the hotel of sea are beautiful, good food, rooms are clean and the museum interesting. We had a wonderful time; however it is Africa and a small island so expect a lack of seatbelts, breakfast not always ready on time and an element of waiting. Go with the flow, don’t let it bother you and enjoy this special slice of paradise.

Staff was very friendly and courteous and happily answered all questions. I wanted to do a small hike on my first day and instead of trying to sell me one of their guided tours they suggested one I could do without a guide, a very nice change of pace compared to other place where profit drives everything. I did use their guide for a cultural tour around Principe and it was quite good too, the only minor complaint was that the guide struggled a bit with English so information were partly in porteguese and it was difficult to ask follow-up questions. Food was excellent and I had both lunch and dinner and was pleasantly surprised by each meal. Breakfast is sparse with limited choices with some fruit, bread, cereal, eggs and sometimes bacon but that is to be expected when you are on a tiny, tiny island. Since I prefer walking I didn't utilize their beach transport to Banana beach, but that is also a great service and excellent choice after a long day on the beach.