Brazil as it should be! (Club Med Itaparica)

Member Name: dfjordan

Product:	Club Med Itaparica
Date:	29/08/02 (504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautiful setting, excellent food, wonderful staff

Disadvantages: journey time from airport

I had always imagined this location of Club Med to be exotic and it was. Bahia is very different from other parts of the country; it´s food, people, music are so very different as was this Club. The accomodation is adequate without being luxurious, in 2 storey buildings over the lagoon. The atmoshpere is typically tropical, laid back, but at the same time, within the Club at least, everything works efficiently. As with Rio das Pedras, the vast majority of the GO´s are Brazilian residents which I think makes for better attitudes than say the English speaking Clubs within close proximity to the USA that seem to hire mainly recently graduated youngsters, who are out for 6 months fun rather than trying to do a good job.
The facilities are excellent, and for those with small children, the reef a few hundred meters out, keeps the water at beach level very calm and shallow. It may not look too clean, but it is; it´s just the type of sand/mud that makes it a little unclear at times. The grounds are beautiful, with space for everyone, and hammocks strung out for those who want their siesta under a palm tree. The food like normal in Brazil is excellent. Fruits that aren´t found elsewhere in the world, and the unusual but (I think) tasty Bahian cooking that´s offered each night as an alternative can be really recommended, along with the ever popular giant shrimps etc.
I would recommend this Club to most people, but there is one drawback which has to come from such a loevly location, and that´s the transfer time from airport to the Club- it´s around 3 hours! It´s not that it´s such a long way away, it´s that it takes about an hour from the airport to the port, from which you need to take a one hour ferry ride ( not exactly clean and comfortable, but it works), then another half hour bus ride the other side, plus the waiting around for the next ferry. Club Med has the whole transport thing well organised, but it seems to take forever to get there especially after a l
omg flight.

Summary: