Reviews of Hotel Sitio Phoenix

08 November 2009 Alex would recommend this property

Liked: Overall this is a nice hotel but NOT in Jeri and by no means a good place to meet people! The hotel in itself is beautiful, the rooms are lovely, there is a gorgeous pool overlooking the ocean, there is a nice lounge area which gets the breeze. There are hammocks dotted around the place. The grounds on the whole are nice and well kept, however they were doing a bit of building works to the bar area while we were there. The main problem with this hotel is that it is NOT by any stretch of the imagination in Jeri. Jeri in fact is 12 km away. There is a public bus that stops outside the hotel at 4.30pm every day that goes to Jeri - it only costs 5 reals. It then returns at 10.30pm - if you miss this bus from Jeri, you have to wait for the following one in the morning which leaves at 8am or alternatively pay a local buggy around 70 reals to take you back to the hotel! We only found out about this on the second day, when we asked about how we could get to Jeri, the hotel originally offered to take us to Jeri for only 3 hours for 80 reals and did not tell us about the public bus! The following day we hired a dodgy motorbike (for 45 rreals a day)and tried unsuccessfully to reach Jeri ourselves, the sand is far to soft for two on a bike. This hotel is actually in a small town called Praia do Preá, there are a handfull of restaurants there, a supermarket and a kit surfing school. The hotel was under occupied while we were there and therefore services like the bar, for example were not easily accessible. In the day we often had to find staff to open the bar if we wanted a drink and it was always closed in the evening. A shame because it was a nice bar with a nice view. Although, this also meant we generally had the pool to ourselves in the day. The breakfast was nice, everyday we had ample fresh fruit and rolls, but it was not amazing. The beach overlooked by our hotel was an excellent spot for kite surfing, we watched them perform tricks all day long, but it was not good for sunbathing, as the wind is so strong it lashes sand at you constantly. It actually hurts! Overall, it was a nice place to hang out and relax for a few days, but it was very quiet and we spent most evenings in Jeri where there is a lot more going on, atmosphere, bars, restaurants etc. NB. The main Redencao bus from Fortaleza drops you exactly outside this hotel, you just need to tell the driver before you board the 4x4 bus which takes you the last hour journey. So getting to and from the hotel from Fortaleza was not a problem, it only costs 33 reals too! You can book bus tickets at the main Fortaleza bus station or at the airport. At the time of writing buses leave Fortaleza at 7.30am, 5.30pm and 7pm. You need to book your tickets in advance to make sure you get a space. The entire journey takes between 6 - 8 hours depending on stops.

Disliked: Alex left no negative feedback.