Not what you think!

This is absolutely not a 4 star hotel. Water leaks all over the hotel, including the buffet. Massive holes in the ceiling dripping all over the floor. Bird droppings all over the chairs in the buffet area. The beach was nice off to the left hand side but the right was full of garbage and un-kept. We were very disappointed with the overall state of hotel. Very run down and we spotted mold in the buffet as well as the Italian restaurant on the ceilings. Food was awful. Everything was under cooked  [... read more]including the rice..The one good thing was the location of the hotel. Close to town and the bars. I could go on with a list of other things but no need. Just do not waste your time and money.They shut the power off on us twice during our stay. I will not be returning there. And i do not recommend this place to anyone.

Great resort!

Grounds were spotless and we're maintained every day. The main buffet and restaurants were a 5 star! Staff were very curtios and helpful. Balcony room was very good, great Oceanview room! Entertainment was exceptional!

Better than expected

If you are going to travel to Cuba and enjoy yourself, you have to lower your expectations. Visiting Cuba is quite different than a holiday in North America. We did enjoy our stay at the Bella Costa resort. We had an ocean view room in the villa part. The room was very dated and needs work but we had no major complaints regarding our stay there. We had excellent maid service. Judy was our maid. Electricity in Cuban resorts is 220 volts. So take an adapter along if you plan to recharge electroni [... read more]c items. The room had a working fridge, hair dryer and TV (poor though). Two or three English channels are available on TV (CNN, CTV Montreal and a Chinese channel). The beds were okay. The patio doors required you and Arnold Schwarzenegger together to open and close. Very difficult to move either way. The food was actually not bad at all. Lots of variety. We found the omelettes to be a good choice for breakfast. Fried and boiled eggs were available too. For the evening meal we enjoyed the pasta. They have excellent pasta cooks. We did dine at 3 restaurants. The Italian one was excellent. The entertainment at night was excellent. Terrific dancers. The beach is well above average. You can walk for many kilometers on awesome fine sand. There is no problem getting a lounge chair on the beach if you just want to relax and people watch or listen to the waves pounding. But you should go in the water and enjoy the rolling waves give you a nice lift and ride. Much fun. The staff at Bella Costa is very good. If we had any requests, they were dealt with promptly. The swimming pool area is quite nice. We spent a lot of time there visiting with other Canadians and enjoying a drink. In the afternoon, they have games near the pool bar and anyone can participate and have a chance to win a bottle of rum. Of course the entire resort could use a major overhaul but it isn't going to happen. I would have to say that 2 of the downsides to going to Cuba are these. First, you have to buy their stupid tourist currency (the CUC). The exchange rate is brutal, near around 58%. It will cost you about $158 to buy 100 CUC at the hotel. You might do a bit better at a bank in Varadero. You can not buy CUC in Canada. CUC are a ripoff. The second issue is that use of credit cards in Cuba is very limited. NONE of the stores or flea market stands that I visited took credit cards. This is an old and tired resort. But that does not mean you can not have a good experience here. We did. If you are going to Cuba, I think you will have a good experience at the Bella Costa resort if you do an upgrade room choice. We paid an extra $60 each for the ocean view villa room and it was worth the money. Changes will come slowly to Cuba with the lifting of the US embargo. The ways of doing things there will not change quickly. The system is locked in the past and of course it is hampered by the Communist control and thinking. The impact of the changes will be both good and bad. I suspect that the resorts will resist the Americanization and Canadianization of their businesses. They have a good thing going right now. They are busy places and the workers enjoy a standard of living (due to tips) that is well above that of the average Cuban.

Nice Trip!

This is our 3rd time to Cuba, so we have a wee bit of experience with the island. Travel time was DE29 to JA05 Overall the resort is very nice. Good quick check in, nice lobby bar, elevators that work, staff are fantastic. Nice beach area and the lay out of the resort is really nice. We were a couple, no kids that traveled over the Christmas Break. Pros & Cons Food- Probably some of the consistently better resort food in Cuba. Perhaps its because it was New Years, but they did a pig roast, then  [... read more]the following day had ribs, pulled pork, bbq available by the pool - that was WONDERFUL - thank you so much for that. The next day they did a HUGE pot of paella - I loved that they took the time to do these special dishes for the guests. The pasta and egg stations were very good - they really should have 3 or 4 of them set up as they are high demand. The inside restaurant had wonderful staff, good choice in food and drink. Some food just wouldnt stay warm - heat lamps kinda suck. The meat was mostly overcooked, but from a resort POV, I think they are safer to serve it like that then trying to offer some rare...to much risk. LOVED the fresh orange juice bar - what a STUNNING idea - every resort should have one! There were a few areas that bothered me: a nice decorative piece of fruit beside the lunch meat was COVERED in ants. That kinda killed my appetite...but it was only once that I saw that. The outside eatery was ok. I have never seen that many birds at an outdoor eatery ( and I like them....) but this was a bit much...there were 100's of them flying and unfortunately pooping on everything. It was good that they had the food really covered up and keep separate, but they did have fruit flies trapped in the food areas on some days. HUGE love for the pizza offerings. Again - just excellent!! That lady should have some serious back up and a few more ovens that work. It was a very welcome change and it was very fair quality! good job! Pool- clean, lots of chairs and pool bar staff were excellent. Towels didnt come some days until much later, but we made due. Bathrooms - I really impressed with 2 things - all of the toilet seats and the paper products/soap were always filled and ready to go. That's a first for me. They constantly had staff checking on them. WAY TO GO! :) Rooms: We had the 3rd floor "garden view" that looked over the garbage shack. That was a little disappointing, but the ocean could be seen from our room....and if you were sitting in the patio chairs, you didnt see the shack etc. I loved the size of the patio and we spent some time out there before dinner and in the evening. It was a quiet place away from everyone and was much appreciated. Great sunsets and we even saw a group of parachuter's jumping out of a plane one evening! Cleaning staff were really nice and did a fairly decent job. I would have preferred that they sweep better (sand of course) and that they had sheets that fit the king size bed, but, overall, not bad. If we needed anything extra or replaced, they were happy to provide it. We were able to get a king size bed, it had a fridge and a few good channels for tv. Beach: pretty clean, lots of garbage bins. The slope of the beach is a bit awkward as it leans down a bit much. Chairs were ok to get...we went early, but as the day went on, it was hard to get one. Some people didnt respect other's space and items, but that's not the resorts fault. Glad for life guards and staff on the resort...I saw one gentlemen assist a couple that had a cane and needed chairs, he ran right up to the pool and scooped them a few really nice lounges. Way to be awesome buddy...so nice! We enjoyed the beach very much - and you can walk for quite some time down it so great for exercise. Palapas could be a bit repaired and others could be built down the beach so there are many more for guests. Shops: Nice to have a good choice of items to buy - cigar prices were better than town, staff were knowledgeable about them and they were stored well. Liquor and snacks available, hours of the shops were kept and the staff were great. Loved that they had some cold beer and Santa Carolina wine available :) Items were reasonably priced if you didnt want to hit the markets in Veradero. We didnt use the internet, but massage service wasnt too bad and the price wasnt to bad as well. Lobby Bar: Lots of staff, great choices of drinks - loved that they had live music and champagne available. Some snacks in the rounded alcove were available as well. I really wish they had big ceiling fans or screened windows to promote air circulation inside of the area. It would have been much more pleasant on the hot hot days. Again, staff were really nice and always ready to help. Entertainment: Lots of dancing - For New years, they did random draws and gave gifts away. They provided loot bags for everyone at dinner that had party favours in them...just an extra little something that was quite fun. The champagne flowed and was a great tasting sparkling wine. In spite of me catching a cold, I really enjoyed myself. Lots of dancing and fun. I loved that the resort let the staff have some fun, enjoy some drink as well...It was their New Years too... :) and...in spite of the huge mess everyone made with the confetti, glasses etc, it was cleaned up just about to 100% the next day..they really kept the resort clean. Al a Cart: Japanese - not bad...great service and the food was pretty darn good for Cuba! We love sushi and this was really surprising at how great they did. Again, good wine, decent food and lovely atmosphere. It was a nice break from the buffet. Wish list: Switch to reusable cups at the resort - less waste, less garbage on the beach. Stop with the straws unless requested..they were everywhere :( People are jerks and litter - again, not the resorts fault, but it would help in the long run. Maybe tidy up the beach restaurant of the birds...just a few too many making a mess. I would wish for sheets to fit the bed...but thats about it. Sorry for the huge review, but its probably our last time in Cuba for a long time. The Bella is a pretty darn good resort...glad for our time there!

This was a small resort but out side was very beau

the hotel lobby was very nice ,the rooms were old and musky,the grounds were beautiful,the beach was outstanding ,the food was a bit better then expected.the staff was all great to deal with .our sunwing rep was very very affeciant,no problem changing money.there were bugs if you know what I mean ,but I get it is a hot climate,we moved to grand memories resort the following week which was aweful would have gladly returned to bella costa

Great family trip

The beach was beautiful. Not too many chair savers either! It was about 10-15minute walk to the hop on hop off bus. The nightly shows were great! They had a kid shows before the main show. The facilities were clean and nice. Our housekeeper was great, but my sister wasn't as lucky. She had problems getting clean towels and water wasn't given every day as advertised. Food in the buffet was good.

The resort was a huge disapointment

We requested adjoining rooms and balconies of which neither was available. Our rooms were really not appealing-the bedding was gross and the bathroom had a clogged sink & the toilet did not flush properly. Towels for the beach were hard to secure. Very limited lounge chairs on the beach.

Nice resort

the resort was decent but the exchange rate was a rip off. All the other resorts were giving a much better rate . The food was ok but we found it to be a lot of the same thing on a daily basis. I don't think we will be going back there again.

Very Nice Resort for the money!!

We had a great time at the resort! Cubans are awesome friendly people! The food was really good, even our 8 year old loved it.. The staff always seemed to go the extra mile. We also recommend buying art from our new friend David who is a local artist that sells his prints at the hotel lobby. ( Say hi from Astro and Denise) Be careful of the money exchange, we once got charged 30% at time of booking excursion and then they charged my card in American funds which was another 30%.

Amazing trip

nice beach, nice bar, good service, I think the door of the room need to be fixed. it's too loud when closing the door, everytime I have to hold it to avoid waking up another room's people in the night time.

Good Hotel

Big suite with extra bed, nice people. beautiful beach(though I was not there due to a few raining days). The night shows are awesome! The food is acceptable. The only issue is the minibar is not being refilled every day. I have to report to the reception to get the bottle water and juice because my daughter need it everyday.

Good trip

hotel was dated but clean. one of the elevators did not work properly thru out the stay. Hotel staff was friendly. food was ok it was suppose to be a 4 day trip but turned out to be 3 days because of terrible cubana airlines flight times. the Havana tour was ok.

The price was right

The food at the buffet was good,, The a la carts were terrible. The rooms were old but clean. We had no water pressure st all. The staff very friendly. The pool area was clean and well kept up all day. The resort is close to down town. Lots of dry beach towels. If you leave them laying around, they go missing

Great Family Resort

The service impeccable the food was delicious the hotel & room was clean and well attended. We had an amazing week there. The only issue we had was with the towel & umbrella attendant. He accused me of taking an umbrella and wanted to charge me for a lost and stolen umbrella which I didn't take. I spent almost hour waiting for them to sort it out!

Amazing resort

The hotel is actually beyond our expectations, we read all the reviews about the hotel and other hotels, most of them complaining about hotel room condition and food, but after we arrived, we are quiet surprised the cleaness of the room and variety of food, the hotel staffs are very friendly, the beach is definitely nowhere to compare, enjoyed the whole stay.

Very good

very nice, well served. staffs were nice, every information was available. food is plenty, available all 24 hrs. anything and everything that i needed i got without any hassle. residents were nice. environment was calm and quite.

Beautiful all around!!!

Everything was wonderful, the people, the food, the hotel, the room, the beach... Thank you Bella Costa for the best vacation EVER!!!! I was amazed at how courteously we were treated. All the personnel at Bella Costa were so very kind and helpful. Smiles all around... The rooms were always impeccably clean and the cleaning ladies would use our towels to create swans and monkeys on our beds. They made our first exeperience in Cuba extraordinary. Thank you again! We will definitely go back again!

Relaxing Vacation & Wonderful Stay

My sister and I stayed here in May 2015 for four nights. It was the perfect length of time for a little getaway. The beach is beautiful and well kept. The staff were kind and hospitable. The resort itself is a bit dated and has a bit of wear and tear from over the years, however it was constantly cleaned and the staff did their best to keep it maintained. The drinks were great, and the machines were wiped down and washed daily. Glass and silverware was available in dining areas. The food was goo [... read more]d, and much better than other Cuban resorts I have stayed at. Because the resort is a bit smaller, the food is not made in as much bulk, and you receive more attention. The cooks are wonderful and make your experience more enjoyable. We spent most of the time on the beach and had amazing weather. The beach was cleared of garbage and cups regularly, and there are bars in close walking distance. We never experienced any issues securing chairs in the sun or the shade. There is beach volleyball and pool volleyball, and once a day a wonderful staff member encourages participation in other games such as bocce ball on the beach. The small catamarans and kayaks are included at no extra cost. To go snorkelling by the reef on the small catamarans is an extra 20CUC and very affordable. There is a show every night on the grounds by the pool, and they do a great job entertaining the crowds. Overall we enjoyed our stay and would likely go back for another mini vacation.

Amazing resort staff were outstanding, had a great

The hotel was very clean staff did a great job. Love the set up of the hotel you go out of your room pool was in the front the beach was out the back. You have food available at all times and it was delicious. They not only make great food but the pasta guy and omelet person put on show . These to stations on the buffet pump out a lot of tasty food while still maintaining a conversation with each and every person in line.

Is was very nuce

My stay at the resort was good a lil bit out dated stuff in our rooms many the beds. The staff were great and very friendly. I would go again for sure. The grounds of the resort were nice. The beach was unreal.