Le Cardinal Exclusive Resort

Back just over a week from the fantastic Cardinal Hotel. My wife and I were there for 10 nights and had a wonderful time. The hotel itself is a boutique style with only 13 rooms. We had a beautiful room at the top overlooking the beach below. The room was stunning with traditional dark wood and a massive four poster bed. Plenty of amenities in the room which was large and comfortable including lots of outside space. Modern TV, complementary shower products and a large bath as well as shower. The public quarters in the hotel are modern and airy. Minimalist in style but lovely. The beach is small and intimate but perfect for complete relaxation. The water is only a few paces away and you are surrounded by fish almost as soon as you get in. Idyllic. The staff are lovely, a really personal service which you can only get in a boutique hotel. I wrote down several names to add to this review but sadly lost the piece of paper whilst travelling home. The highlight for me was undoubtedly the food. A beautiful menu with daily specials. I did not have a bad meal at breakfast, lunch or dinner with lobster, octopus curry and Dorado fish being the highlights. It is an ideal place to come and chill out. Fabulous from start to finish.

We stayed at Le Cardinal for 6 nights, I did a lot of research to find the right hotel on a great beach and it exceeded my expectations. Everything about the hotel is amazing. The rooms were large with wifi, streaming services on the TV, a massive bathroom with walk in shower and plenty of storage. The beach is postcard perfect and has decent sunbeds for use by hotel guests. We mostly spent the days on the beach then late afternoon in the pool which was lovely and warm. The best thing about this hotel was the service. Every breakfast and dinner was an experience. Breakfast felt like a 3 course meal and dinner was fine dining. The food was of a high standard and Shiva and the whole team were very attentive and friendly. We felt very well looked after. With it being a small hotel all the staff knew us by name, what we liked to drink, we haven’t stayed at a place with that personal touch in a long time and that really made the time special for us. I will be recommending this hotel to everyone I know and hope to return.

Another fantastic stay in this hotel. A quiet and exclusive resort hotel with a great beachfront location. The hotel being small has a very close knit staff who are very good at their jobs and have a great attitude. We were All Inclusive so some of the food and drink options will be different depending on your own option. Rooms are spacious and always clean. We had no issues for the three weeks we stayed there and had a turn down service every night. Mini bar is chargeable, but you can take the occasional drink to your room. All the rooms are beach facing. The food is Al La Carte. No buffet at all, but the menu is varied with a “Specials menu” each day for 14 days, before the choice returns. The standard menu has a nice choice and there are chargeable items on all of the menus, but we had no charges and were happy with all the choice at Breakfast, Lunch and Evening meal. All of which were well cooked and eaten in a relaxed atmosphere. Dress code was refreshingly good with men having to wear long trousers and a shirt/sleeved polo shirt/sleeved T shirt. And it was enforced with no complaints. If you are all inclusive the Casuarina directly across the road allows AI guests to enjoy the facilities including meals and drinks. The Casuarina is an entirely different vibe with night time activities so if you do feel the need for entertainment it’s somewhere else to go. The only criticism I had about food and drink is the Tiki bar at Le Cardinal was not always manned and you either had a wait or go and find someone to deal with your order. The beach was clean and tidy, very quiet and directly in front of the hotel the sunbeds/Palapas were for guests only. Security dealt with any issues promptly. Also there is a decent sized safe swimming area with an area that has some interest for snorkellers. A lot of watercraft traffic is outside the area so if you are snorkelling outside the area a personal buoy is a very good idea. A few beach sellers, but there are quite happy with a no Thank you and not pushy at all. In fact we ended up chatting to them without actually being asked to buy anything towards the end of the holiday There is a small pool, but this was also a nice place to retire to to cool down towards the end of the afternoon and set in the gardens which are well cultivated gives it a good quiet vibe as well. It would be unfair to single out any staff, but Danny and Vikash were my top two, but everyone else was also helpful and attentive. All in all a great holiday with very little to fault.