Extremely Relaxing Experience

Well kept resort. Staff is constantly working on updating something and seem to be very proud of the property and their work. We stayed in the Villa section which is very quiet and a completely different experience to the hotel and was just what we wanted. Food was good, entertainment was good and people/staff were outstanding. The beach and the area in general was the highlight. Probably the clearest water for snorkelling I have ever seen with excellent snorkelling right off the beach. O [... read more]ur favourite restaurant on the resort was the Seafood restaurant which is right on the beach and was open for 1 visit for dinner but anytime for lunch or breakfast.

Experience Cuba

Brisas Villa room- just what we needed to retreat to from the hot, Cuban sun!! Our room was well situated on the sprawling hotel complex. 2 members of our group reported Lost jewelry. However the Front Desk simply added our items to a "Lost Items" notebook, leaving us feeling our items would not be found, at least not during our remaining stay at the Hotel.

Brias

thx everything was amazing.the grounds were so clean.the rooms were perfect and the staff so nice.we loved it thx.cant beat the value.well worth the amount.would go back .in a heartbeat.thx again .........................................

This Resort has it all!

My Husband and I have been to Cuba 23 times in the past 13 years. We have stayed in different Resorts from one end of Cuba to the other ie Varadero,, Cayo Coco,and Camaguey to name a few,but, Holguin won us over. We tried a few other Hotels in Holguin until a Friend suggested we try Brisas Guardalavaca. Best advice ever! We just returned this week from our 8th visit there and will return again on March 3 rd. We have taken several Friends and Family members with us over the years and no neg. [... read more] comments from any. What is the drawing feature you ask? Well, there are many. The Hotel is admitedly tired, but, clean. You have to look beyond that as most Hotels need updating frequently due to the many Tourists and the impact the sun and weather has on the Buildings. We always stay in the Villa section of the Brisas ,as it is quieter, has it's own Pool and Restaurant and is away from the maddening Crowd at the Hotel. There are 5 A La Carte Restaurants which are all exc. Our Favorite. is the Seafood Restaurant where the Lobster is to die for and you are entertained by the Musicians that serve you. Several Waiters are professional Singers and sing while you eat as well as serve you. There is a Buffet in the Hotel lobby that serves exc. food and there is entertainment from 6:30- 8:30 p.m.in that Lobby each night, which could give Toronto Competition!. The Talent we have seen there each night is top of the line! There is also nightly Entertainment on a Stage outside which is decent. There are horse and buggys parked in front of the Hotel which will take you to a Fishing Village, Market, Local Farm or the Village of Guardalavaca for a few Pesos. You can walk along the Shore to a Flea Market 15 min away. The Beach is as good as it gets and no sand fleas to bite you! I can't say enough about this Resort and wonder why it isn't rated higher. We have stayed in a couple of 5* Hotels and this has them beat. The friendly Staff has no qualms about relocating you to another Room if you are not happy with your accomodation. I hesitate to brag about this place as I want to keep it a secret, but, the more the merrier.

Really love this resort

We enjoy our visit again to this resort the service is excellent, food also very good people very polite & friendly will recommend this resort to our friends & family. I like to take my walk in the morning all around the surroundings

Nice resort

Hotel is in need of a little tlc. Staff amazing also great service. Lost my jewelry bag glad I only had costume jewelry except for a pair of gold earings. Will be in touch with my insurance to place a claim.

Really enjoyed this good resort and its outstanding staff!

We’ve been to Cuba (pretty much all over) fifteen times and this was our first stay at Brisas Guardalavaca. It was truly a great week! The resort has two distinct sections. One is the main hotel (231 rooms), which is the houses the lobby and buffet restaurant. It’s the centre as far as most activities are concerned and here many activities going on during the day and evening. The other is the Villas area (206 rooms), which is considerably less active and is much more quiet. Each section  [... read more]has its own swimming pools. There are four in total, including a childrens' pool. We had the pleasure of being in a second level Villas section room, which was spacious, well appointed, kept very clean and had both garden and ocean views. It had a comfortable king size bed, mini refrigerator and was spotlessly clean, thanks to Sonia from housekeeping doing an excellent job! We very much enjoyed the food in all restaurants there. We have high standards as far as food preparation and presentation are concerned and the and variety of well-prepared fresh food in the buffet was a pleasant surprise. Breakfast featured a diversity of prepared hot and cold foods, as well as fresh fried egg, omelette and crêpe stations, along with a wide array of foods, such as cereals, pancakes, French toast, sausages, cheeses, cold cuts, fresh fruits, juices and yogurt. Lunch and dinner were comparably good. We enjoyed our allowance of three of the à la carte restaurants (Seafood, International and Italian), with the Seafood and its singing service staff being our favourite. The beachside (Patio) restaurant, El Guayabero near the snack bar and the snack bar itself were good to. No complaints whatsoever! Bars are plentiful and we especially enjoyed going with others to the Martini and Havana Club bars during the evening. The beautiful grounds and gardens were very well maintained by the ever hard working crew. The beach is long, wide, has nice white sand as well as some rocky areas. There is a nice walkway that runs parallel to the beach between the beach itself and the hotel and goes well beyond the resort and the neighbouring one right to the Guardalavaca market. Aquatic activities include Hobie catamarans, which a staff member took us out on and the view of the coastline was beautiful. The beach wasn’t crowded and there were plenty of palapas and lounge chairs, as was the case with the pools. Entertainment and recreation staff are constantly running activities throughout the resort in the day. Although there are live shows each evening, we only took in a couple, which were both quite good. Although we didn’t take part in any organized day or overnight excursions, there are several available. We did hire a taxi driver to take us to a baseball game at the Calixto Garcia stadium in the City of Holguin. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Each and every staff member we encountered at Brisas Guardalavaca during our stay was extremely and genuinely polite, friendly and helpful! They give the place a very soulful atmosphere and truly made a good holiday great! We were pleased to see that the resort encourages its guests to reuse their disposable plastic drinking cups and refill their water bottles at the bars. We recommend that you bring a reusable cup or mug for getting drinks at the beach and pool bars. From an environmental standpoint, I invite you to think about the amount of plastic waste that disposables produce. We are talking about a relatively small (compared with some) resort of approximately 437 rooms. At full capacity, if everyone there (at two persons per room) used just six plastic cups each daily (and they probably use more), it would amount to 5244 cups per day, or 1,914,060 (yes! one million, nine hundred and fourteen thousand and sixty) cups per year. That’s just the cups, not including bottles! Pretty alarming, when you consider that they are derived from petroleum and end up in a landfill site or burned after only just one use!!! We went to Brisas Guardalavaca with realistic expectations, open minds and had a wonderful week. It’s now on our “must return” list!

Amazing vacation

We stayed September 16-23rd. It was amazing. Our Villa was spacious and clean. Everyone was friendly. The food was excellent. I have Celiac's disease and I had no issues finding lots of wonderful food both on the resort and while we were on our excursions. We took part in the Jeep adventure excursion it was awesome. We loved the fresh coconut. This was our first time to Cuba and it won't be the last. As it was our 20th wedding anniversary the hotel gave us a complimentary breakfast in our room a [... read more]n extra a la carte reservation with white wine and a special anniversary cake. We had a perfect day. We did snorkeling both at the hotel and on our excursion. Snorkeling rocks. We went kayaking at the hotel and met lots of amazing people both guests and employees. We had a great time at the market and while having a personal tour of the town by horse and carriage. The shows were colourful and entertaining. The ocean water was amazing, I wanted to bring it home. I highly recommend this hotel.

Great resort

Had a great vacation at Brisas great weather amazing staff always found something to eat would recommend this resort lots to do horse back ridding horse and buggy ride swim with dolphins catermeran trip jeep excursion market We love cuba

Boring

The resort itself was nice and as usual the workers are amazing...if you're looking for a night life this is not the place. You have to be quiet after midnight and there is security everywhere like its on lockdown. The food was the worst I've had and I've been to 10 other resorts in Cuba. The rooms are pretty nice and a fair size, always clean. Overall we had a good time and made the best of it but I will not return.

Great resort

I like the Hotel everything is close by nice clean, rooms are clean people are friendly I have been there 3 times and I will go again! The only thing I did not like is the airline we went with I wish Cubana airlines go there the next time I go, love the place!

Good resort - bad timing

I enjoyed my stay at Brisas Guadalavaca . Some great things: the Cuban people , the food, the churros , everything I needed was in walking distance. The wait staff and cooks did an excellent job and were very friendly at the buffet & ala carte restaurants, The not so good: the view from my room was air conditioning units on top of a roof ,there was a lot of construction noise while the first floors were being worked on, and the pool, was closed for repair during most of my holiday, the other  [... read more]pool by the villas had no shade and poor bar service. I spent most my time at the beach - it had shade and was less noisy than the pool area. The grounds of the hotel were well kept especially considering Hurricane Matthew had just gone through. A couple of things you may want to consider: have someone at the reception desk that actually understands English and can smile. Same goes for "customer service" - when I asked a question - I was told to go to the rep desk and check the book.- not so helpful... If the Air Canada rep is scheduled to be at the hotel from 11-12 - have him be there at 11. I did not appreciate waiting when I could have been enjoying my vacation instead.(although he did apologize for being so late) The lobby bar had only one lady that actually made an effort to serve drinks. The rest of the staff seemed more interested in the TV and made inconsistent drinks - usually we had to get out own drinks .

Amazing Resort

This was my 11th time at this resort, so I think that says it all. I feel that it is good value for the price, the grounds are spotless, you constantly are seeing the gardeners working to keep the public area tidy. Everyone is friendly from the cleaning staff, bartenders, waitresses, waiters, cooking staff entertainment staff right up to management. There are 6 a la carte restaurants, 2 buffets (during busy season) and several bars to suit your needs. I never lacked to find something deliciou [... read more]s to eat.There is also a 24 hour grill and bar. Two of the a la cartes are open for breakfast and lunch as well. Evening entertainment was also very good especially the water ballet show on Thursday evening. I was unfortunate to be there during the impending hurricane Matthew but was totally impressed with the way the staff worked tirelessly to safeguard the hotel and the guests. Many thanks to Stephanie for coordinating with the group leader for my granddaughter's wedding group. Thanks again Trip Central......

Nice place!!!!

I like everything about the hotel...not new but very clean rooms..service great...food on the bad side but maybe this year...(my friend told me before was better) ..Shows beautiful...Beach clean and not crowd..Come back..? .YES..!!!

Loved this resort!

We have been to Cuba quite often but this was our first time staying at Brisas Guardalavaca and it is now one of our favorite resorts. We stayed in a villa and it was lovely, very spacious and close to everything. The only issue was the TV did not work for 4 days out of 7. The beach was beautiful and every day we snorkeled off the beach to a most beautiful reef (about 100 meters from shore). The resort location is great - 20 minutes walk to the market and town - walking distance to a fis [... read more]herman's village (bring gifts for the children - they appreciate it so much). You can take a 'caleche' to the market and back for 5 pesos per couple and the driver waits for you while you shop or for 10 pesos per couple he will drive you around for 1 hour. The food was very good - had delicious stir-fried shrimps every day and lobster at a couple of a la carte restaurants at no extra charge. The staff was so helpful and friendly. The entertainment at this resort was the best! It started at 6:30 in the lobby and went on all evening. The music was beautiful and the entertainers so talented! You cannot get bored at this resort! Will be going back for sure!

Lovely resort

This resort has great staff and is clean and welcoming. The grounds are beautiful and the beach is well just magnificent. This resort isn't too big so the grounds are very easy to get around. The entertainment is great especially the water ballet. The food isn't bad but isn't as good as the authentic Cuban food that my family were very lucky to have tried. There is a nurse on the resort and the doctor is on the next resort over which is a 3 minute walk and they are great and friendly. [... read more] My family and myself had a great time and will be coming back to this resort in the future.

Amazing

The resort was clean and all the staff were friendly and welcoming. We had no trouble with anything there. Brisas is just like a home away from home. This is my second time staying here, I'll definitely stay again

Fantastic resort

the hotel was clean,staff were great and always willing to help. The food was very good and plenty of it. the bar was always open. The beach was clean and very safe. the view was amazing. lots to at the resort. something always going on. The staff all spoke English to some degree. I will be going back again next year.

Worst vacation EVER!!

This was our 7th trip to Cuba, first time to Holguin. We read the reviews on trip advisor and we must say this was the worst vacation we have ever taken. The resort was a disappointment, the food was awful and it wasn't very clean. Locals approach you on the beach and in the water for money, food and toiletries. Several staff members actually asked for money because they were not paid enough at the resort. And to top it all off...our room was broken into and we were made to feel like the cr [... read more]iminals when we informed the hotel and our Rep, our first trip ever of not feeling safe.

Cuba's Treasure

This was our 7th trip to Brisas Guardalavaca and truly won't be the last. Amazing people, good food and lovely beach. Not a thing to complain about. I could continue to rave - check it out you won't be sorry.