Melia Tortuga Beach

Daniel C

Overall, a great hotel and a very enjoyable stay. The buffet restaurant was fantastic and, in our experience, much better than many other all-inclusive buffets. In fact, we found the buffet food to be of a higher standard than the specialty dining restaurants. While the à la carte restaurants were fine, they didn’t quite live up to expectations compared to the buffet. The beach is wide, lovely, and a real highlight of the resort. The rooms are basic in style but very spacious and comfortable. The resort itself is very large, with well-maintained grounds and two nice swimming pools, so it never felt overcrowded. Staff were attentive throughout our stay, and the overall level of service was good. Despite a few minor shortcomings, we really enjoyed our time here and would recommend it as a solid all-inclusive option in Sal

Andrew Carroll

I’m here to provide an honest review of this resort, so you can make an informed decision about whether it’s a good fit for your next vacation. First, let’s set some realistic expectations. This isn’t a 5-star resort based on Western standards; it’s closer to a 3-star. It’s part of a large complex of hotels owned by the same group, all semi-connected by a beach boardwalk. Each hotel is quite similar in standard, with unique layouts. I wouldn’t say any one hotel is “better” than the others. We stayed in a 2-bedroom family suite. The rooms are basic and lack amenities. The beds are uncomfortable, and everything feels cheap and dated. It’s as if nothing has been updated or replaced since the hotel opened in 2011. The hotel grounds are pleasant. There are two large pools, one with a swim-up bar. However, the pools are missing many tiles, and it seems like there’s no effort to replace them. The beachfront is lovely, but be prepared to be bothered by local vendors who walk up and down the beach all day trying to sell souvenirs. Overall, the atmosphere is decent. The food is comparable to an average buffet. It’s not great, but it’s not offensive either. It gets old after a few meals, especially if you’re expecting something more gourmet. There are five restaurants in total. One is the main buffet that’s open mostly all day. The other four are basically the buffet with a nicer presentation. The food is quite literally the exact same. It’s not worth it unless you’re looking for a change of scenery. This was probably the most disappointing part of our stay. The restaurants have so much potential, and if they served unique menus, they could be brilliant. The majority of the staff was kind and welcoming. They all seem to genuinely love children and go out of their way to interact with them. Overall, it was a fine experience. If you’re looking for luxury and excellent food, you might want to look elsewhere. However, if you’re looking for a nice, affordable holiday, this resort might be a good fit.

Freak

I really enjoyed my stay here at Tortuga. We stayed in the villa which was pretty clean, although the pool wasn’t always maintained. Luckily we didn’t really use the pool as we didn’t have the time, but one the odd occasion when we did want to it was unkempt. The welcoming in the villa was lovely though with drinks and snacks for when we arrived. The cleaners always kept us stocked up with plenty of towels and water everyday however, there were a lot of ant situations going on in the room. Despite us making an effort to keep it clean and have food out the way, the large amounts of ants that would be there at times were a problem. I have no idea where they came from to be honest, but we’re not very squeamish and got rid of them ourselves using spray. The remnants ended up being cleaned away by the cleaners when they could be. The beds were comfortable and there was plenty of space in that villa, we did really enjoy staying there- it wasn’t far from the restaurant and we still had close access to the all inclusive buffet, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The food was super yummy and there was a great variety of it too. For myself who didn’t eat any of the meat, I still had so much fish and vegetarian options which I enjoyed. The staff were good and really attentive in the restaurant also. There is a private beach which is nice to have if we didn’t feel like going into Santa Maria. The private beach does go a long way it’s quite big with plenty of seating areas. Santa Maria (the centre) is about a 45 minute walk I would say, but they do have a shuttle that takes you there and back at set times. I would say we’re in a good location- although it isn’t completely central, it’s a nice quiet location where the resort is. The gym isn’t great at tortuga, very limited equipment compared to their other branches. We paid VIP for a day where we upgraded our stay to get access to their neighbour resorts (there’s like three others). From doing this I did find there are nicer lounging areas and gyms, but all in all we had everything we needed in tortuga itself. We tried the spa facilities at tortuga- we were able to enjoy the jaccuzzi and sauna- this is charged at an additional cost (but included in VIP upgrade). We weren’t able to find a massage booking time that suited us so we didn’t get to experience that. We did book some of the restaurants at tortuga which is free for all inclusive guests, but to be honest we preferred the buffet. There is a Japanese restaurant at one of their neighbour branches which we tried. This was a nice experience to try some different food but is also at an additional cost. We did order room service once and it was lovely the food but it took over an hour for the food to come. We didn’t utilise the bars much as we mostly just drank water, but there are plenty of bars spotted about for drinks. The resort itself is clean, tidy and quite pretty.

Lucy Dixon

Update following the hotel's response below: to be absolutely clear, we did not try to take food away from the restaurant at any point. This suggestion is false and insulting. Its part of the problem we experienced in the first place! Perhaps you have us confused with some other guests of colour? An error like that from the hotel would be consistent with our experience so far... This was an awful, degrading, and deeply racist experience that completely ruined our holiday. From the moment we tried to access breakfast, which we had already paid for, we were treated like criminals purely because we are Black. On two separate occasions, staff aggressively challenged us in front of our small children. The second time was beyond humiliating. They literally ran after us and stopped us in front of other guests, publicly accusing us as if we were trying to steal a meal. Meanwhile, white guests were allowed to walk straight past without question. The contrast was impossible to ignore. The embarrassment, anger, and distress this caused, especially in front of our children, is something I will not forget. It is heartbreaking that this treatment came from staff who are themselves Black, enforcing a system that clearly targets certain guests while others are left alone. This hotel should be ashamed. No apology can undo the humiliation we experienced, and no amount of comfort can compensate for being made to feel unwelcome, suspected, and disrespected because of our skin colour. We will never return, and I strongly warn others, especially Black families, to think very carefully before staying here. What should have been a relaxing holiday was instead a painful lesson in how racism is still very much alive in places that claim to welcome everyone. Horrendous.

Yola Fort

A haven for the soul. The location is breathtaking, with endless views, and the services are perfectly balanced for relaxation — everything you need to unwind is here. The staff is warm and genuinely caring. Any issues in the apartments, or during your stay in general, are resolved quickly and with understanding. I’d say it offers good quality without pretension — a place where you can truly relax and be yourself. The apartments are spacious and cozy, though they could use some renovation as things are showing their age. One drawback: dogs. There should definitely be signs reminding guests not to feed them.