Riu Baobab

Hotel znakomity, blisko do Dakaru i innych atrakcji. Jeśli chodzi o wycieczki, to świetnie je organizują chłopaki z plaży Pako i Emilio oraz Malik, można zobaczyć to, czego nie zobaczy się z okna autobusu na pewno i można im całkowicie zaufać.

This is an excellent hotel resort. Every member of staff we encountered was friendly, smiling, professional and polite. Our room (ground floor) was spacious with a balcony, and had a large king size bed which is very comfortable. The AC was good and very efficient. It was cleaned daily with essential supplies replenished, with bedding and towels replaced daily too. great service. The food was fantastic! There was a wide variety of choice, with very attentive restaurant staff. Definitely try the 3 free a la carte restaurants. We found the Asian restaurant the best, but the other 2 were very good too. The drinks were decent, with good draught beer (Flag), drinkable wine (rose being the best), and generous measures on shorts. Cocktails were a little 'hit and miss'. There was always an evening show, some of which was an act brought in from outside, and some by the hotel animation team. All shows were very watchable, some better than others. The animation team members work very hard, long hours, but are always smiling. Great to see. There were so many decent quality sunbeds by the pools that we never had any trouble finding a couple no matter what time of day it was. No need to set the 7.00am alarm to rush out with a towel to reserve a bed as it is in other resorts we've been to. There is a 'games' pool which is noisy, a bar pool where you never see any one get out (know what I mean!), and a quiet pool. The quiet pool water is colder than the the games pool water, but you soon get used to it. We sat around both (not bar pool!), and found the quiet pool best. There's a water park with 8 or so adult slides and a children's play park pool. There are so many sunbed, straw canopy umbrellas on the beach that there are always so many unused. The sea is rough, with a rip tide north to south, but there are plenty of lifeguards on the beach. I saw several transparent jelly fish the size of a dustbin lid washed up on the beach, so just be aware if you do swim in the sea. The beach is polluted with plastic pollution from the sea. It really is shocking! The hotel employ beach cleaners early in the morning to clean the beach of plastic pollution from the sea in the morning. By early evening, there is another tide mark of plastic pollution washed up by the sea. Outside of the confines of the hotel, plastic pollution on the beach is awful. It's not just plastic - discarded fishing nets, dead fish, dead jelly fish, soiled nappies, bits of wood, even a dead turtle. Truly shocking. This isn't a reflection on the local people, just global society as the pollution could come from anywhere. On the beach and outside of the confines of the hotel, there is a small beach craft market both ways. One vendor will come out and befriend you. They aren't too pushy, but don't forget to haggle and negotiate. Their opening price will be 4 times what they will accept. You don't have to do the deal on the first meeting! They will remember you, your name and the day you are due to go home! There is no need to buy local CFA currency. All haggling can be done in Euros or Dollars (I didn't try Sterling). They have no coins, so any purchases will be done in multiples of the lowest denomination note. There is no other hotel or resort anywhere near this hotel. I walked along the beach in both directions most days about 45 minutes before turning back. As well as the pollution, there loads of birds, stray dogs that follow you, men with horse an carts scavenging the pollution, fishermen etc. The beach is deserted, and you will be alone with not another soul in site. I never felt in danger or unsafe on any of the walks. The hotel employs security guards that are on the beach and in the hotel complex. The beach sellers do not come withing the confines of the hotel beach, and we never saw any incidents during our 2 week holiday. Would I recommend the hotel and Senegal as a whole - Yes definitely. But be aware that this is a very poor and deprived country so you will see deprivation outside of the hotel. If you haven't see it before, it can be a shock, especially driving through the small towns and villages in you air conditioned transfer bus, kicking up a cloud of dust as you pass. I expect that in 5-10 years time, this whole coastal area will be side by side hotel resorts. If you want a little bit of authenticity, go now. I highly recommend RIU Baobab for something different. Take in some trips to see more of this amazing country - Fadiouth Sea Shell Island, Saoum Delts, Bandia Game Reserve, Gorree Island etc.

We’ve spent 2 weeks at Riu Baobab and overall it’s been a mixed experience. Most of the staff have been lovely and polite, even when there’s been a bit of a language barrier, which we really appreciated. The food is decent but nothing spectacular, it’s generally tasty, albeit repetitive, what you’d expect from an all inclusive. The steakhouse à la carte was the best of the three options, the other two were unfortunately quite mediocre. One of the biggest disappointments has been the condition of the hotel. Despite only being built in 2022, it’s already in a major state of disrepair. The pools are in particularly poor condition the tiles have been coming up in clumps the entire time we’ve been here and there a huge patches missing altogether. The pool water is always filthy even from early morning. Especially the largest pool which has had black dirt constantly floating around, which we suspect is mould/debris coming up from the broken tiles? It doesn’t look like the pools have been properly cleaned in months. It’s not just unpleasant, it’s unsafe. Our child cut her foot in one of the pools and despite bleeding quite heavily no staff cleaned the area, poolside or even asked where it had happened. The bathrooms in the rooms are also mouldy and although our cleaner did her best, the room was tired overall, marked walls in need of repainting and the sheets and towels often had holes or stains (not dirty, but definitely worn and not what you’d expect from a 5-star). We’ve also experienced frequent power cuts throughout our stay, which became progressively longer and more disruptive as the days went on… not ideal when you’re on holiday and trying to relax. These also cause the pool pumps to regurgitate the dirt they’re trying, poorly, to remove back into the pool and cut out the WiFi and air con. The location of the hotel is quite remote, so unless you’re happy staying on site or willing to pay for excursions, there’s very little to do in the immediate area. Even the beach, while naturally beautiful, is spoiled by constant rubbish and plastic washing in from the sea, though there is an effort to keep it clean. This hotel has potential. The staff are trying and the setting could be lovely but the lack of maintenance and care really lets it down. It’s not a terrible hotel but it’s nowhere near 5-star and unfortunately we wouldn’t return.