Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort & Villas

This resort is located on and has a private access to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. White sand and pristine clean water. Every bungalow and villa is beach front and direct access to the beach. The location is very secluded with very few people around. Please note that this is not a luxury hotel, but a small business or family owned hidden gem. With simple but spacious and comfortable rooms.

The Cape Santa Maria resort has the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. the location is really good and the staff working there is amazing. The restaurant serves very good and fresh food.

The bungalow are nice and have lot of space but with the price we pay the night (almost $400), they could make some renovations inside the rooms so they look a bit more updated

The resort has access to some beautiful views, has great landscaping and layout, and is serene.

The accommodations are quite a bit outdated and worn. The beds were comfortable. The unit we were in used a mini split HVAC which kept the room cool , but humid due to the fact that the doors and windows to the room were all louvered, hence not sealable. We were there the last week of February so it was livable. Also, the sand fleas are horrendous. I don't recommend being on the beach without pants and socks/shoes. The staff were mostly pleasant with a couple exceptions where they were indifferent, curt, or terse. The food was okay, 7/10. Overall, I would say that for the price, it was slightly overpriced.

The site is amazing, one of the best beaches and seas ever. The staff, especially the native people, is wonderful: always trying to accomodate your needs and always willing to do something kind for you and your family. But aside from the wonderful seashore, once you get there you're almost blocked and in the hands of the resort's managers - and they know it. You can move by bicycle should you want to ride a bit, but if you want to either eat somewhere else or make grocery shopping (in case you opted for the residence formula), you have to rent the resort's car at around 80 dollars per day. To eat there are 2 possible options: (1) if you have the residence formula, and hence a kitchen, you can buy the food at the supermarkets (there are few, with not so much choice), spending additional 80 dollars for the car each time you go there or (2) eat at the very expensive restaurant of the resort. If you don't want to eat "a la carte" (in four people you can easily spend 100$ or more for a so-and-so breakfast and 200$ or more for a lunch or a dinner). You can choose from two meal options, full (breakfast, lunch and dinner) or "modified" (breakfast and dinner) - the latter stills make a lot of money, especially if compared with what you get for that money, not considering the daily issues in getting some ingredients or food, so that it's almost impossible to get what you want from the menu. Plus there are some unavoidable extras that the managers of the resort are very good at shaping. All guests with whom I have spoken were disappointed and willing to leave if they could. It would be more transparent to propose a room+meal plan cost at reservation, or seriously downsizing the meals cost for the guests of the resort. To make it short, out of about 1500$ payed for the room, with the modified meal plan and few activities (pigs, fish trip and katamaran trial), at the end we spent more than 5500$.

- No full transparency on costs. - Being litterally blocked in that location with no other viable options for food. - Had to pay for some "fancy" extras. About the trip to see the pigs, we've been told the cost was of 550$ for each boat (we were two families of 4 people). We got only one boat with a broken engine that was not working fine, so we had to reduce the journey: nonetheless we had to pay 830$ due to a different "formula" used for the calculation. Not fair, neither honest. - Some food is always missing. - Meal plan is crazy expensive, especially compared with what you get. A room+meal plan, with clear prices (including taxes) would be better. Reduced (for real) prices for the resort's guest would be appreciated.