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

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

everything is incredibly beautiful and friendly here. Pool, jungle, beach, hotelressort .. this hotel is really exquisite. You get what you pay for. The praia banana is the "housebeach" one of the most beautiful beaches in this area. They can bring you per Jeep up and down, if you are not good on feeds , or the humidity animates you, not to walk one meter more then nessessary ;-) They have a bar at the beach, and High-quality berths with wooden loungers.

The venue is spectacular with a truly breathtaking sea view from both the main terrace and dining area, especially during the sunsets. It is such that often, you simply prefer to sit and enjoy the view to leaving the hotel area. They also arranged a dinner with Sao Tomean live music at a view point halfway to the beach one of the nights. If attentive one can actually see a whole range of birds already from the broader hotel area. I managed to see both grey parrots and the two main types of kingfishers. The pool is on the smaller side but it is fully possible to swim in it and you will anyways prefer to go to the beach (the hotel arranges an included shuttle service to Praia Banana, including towels and snorkeling equipment, on demand and there are several other nice beaches to visit on walking distance, many of them amongst the best I have seen on the Western side of Africa). Unlike many places in the region, it is generally safe to swim at the beaches. The snorkeling trails are amongst the better I have experienced in the region where I saw beyond a dozen species of fish, starfishes, morays, sea urchins, rhodolites and even small squids and a turtle. The turtle night tour to Praia Grande, I would strongly reccomend and the hotel offer a large range of activities. The museum on the premises is well worth an early visit. If you are new to the region, you can see many tropical plants and butterflies in the immediate area (bananas, cocoa trees, pineapples, mango trees, sapsap trees, cotton trees etc). The staff are service minded and really keen to make you feel at home. I stayed in the Manor House Luxury Suite and would definitely recommend one of the rooms in the Manor House for the stunning view and practical location. I had a little balcony with sea view directly from the bed room and there was also a French balcony overlooking the courtyard from the living room. The only point of improvements is that while the food was by all means fully satisfactory, not fully a five star option as the rest of the stay. This is probably partially due to the remote location practically limiting options but they could for instance have more juice options for the breakfast and more variety for the dinner (as a vegetarian, they were very helpful and flexible in providing very good options so I was indeed very happy with the food). There are actually more options than they always put forward for the breakfast such as cerals with milk, bread and tea. As is to be expected and common in this part of the world, there are ants around the venue. I had initially planned to visit Bombom resort but booked Bela Monte as Bombom is undergoing a renovation. I did not regret this and would definitely book a stay at Bela Monte again if I return to Principe. Highly recommend - you wont regret your stay!

Absolutely stunning view, though in our eyes the whole hotel is overrated due to the very (!) relaxed service and the normal, basic food. Staff, however, is very forthcoming, friendly and lovely. They really make you feel at home. Some of the minor drawbacks: Plates were often dirty and had to be cleaned again. Breakfast and dinner buffet were late most of the time, but then again, you are not in a rush on Príncipe. A laundry rack would be great to have in the rooms, since clothes do not have a chance to get dry in Príncipe's climate without one. What we loved: The lovely garden, the lush pool area (pool enclosure itself will need restoration soon) and the trips to the beach which are quite a treat. The museum is very informative. All in all, if they put a bit more effort into the quality of the food, the cleanliness of the dishes and work a bit on a structured hotel environment, it is the perfect place to forget the world around you for some days. We would always come back.