Villa is well appointed and has all you need. It's modern, clean and clinical and whilst it is to standard you could find in many places around the world you should book this villa for the opportunity it brings to enjoy Santa Maria, Sal and Cape Verde.

It's on an all inclusive resort and we had no problem enjoying the pools, bars and entertainment and the resort next door allows you to enjoy the 'Bikini Beach' club too.

The walk along the shoreline to Santa Maria is breathtaking. It must be a couple of miles so on the sand is fairly hard going but we took an hour to hour half walking it several times, enjoying the kite surfer's spectacle and breaking waves along the way. Santa Maria has a nice mix of modern and very traditional bars, cafes, restaurants. It's not the Mediterranean but we loved it for its developing charm and the sheer friendliness and joy of the local people. Every local bar even the ice cream parlour has some music on the go come the evening and pedestrians take over the streets at weekends. Forget all inclusive, book direct with this villa and enjoy the real charm of the locals in Santa Maria.

The lunar landscape of Sal was brilliant for the quad bike hire we did and we enjoyed a sailing trip on Cuba Libre.

No car is needed. Taxis are plentiful and from airport was 15 euro and taxi to Santa Maria was 3 euro during the day and 4 at night. Euro and escudos were used in parallel so need to get local currency. We self catered a few nights and the supermarket, Cazu in Santa Maria was adequate for this or buy a fresh fish direct from the fishermen on the pier. Enjoy.