Great experience

Beautiful grounds, VERY good food and large rooms. Beach shade is not directly on beach rather on a cliff which is not convenient but beach is beautiful and rooms could use paint job. Customer service was exceptional.

Great First Stay!!!

I am a fairly picky person, so I did not know what to expect for my first Cuba trip. I was very pleasantly surprised, as everything was so much better than I could have expected. The food was incredible, and there was so much selection - something for everyone in the family. The resort restaurants - a la cartes - were beautiful and delicious, with lots of selection. There were bars and an ice cream stand (which was a hidden gem - they have more than just cones) and a snack bar open all hours,  [... read more]which was so helpful for late night chicken fingers and fries. The fresh fruit and the home baked pizza were the tastiest items in the buffet, and the Asian a la carte, Panda Rojo, was our particular favourite - we couldn't have ordered something unappetizing if we had wanted to. The staff was friendly and helpful right up to the day we left. Even the housekeepers were wonderful - cleaned the room right back to the way it was when we had first arrived, and left us notes, flowers, and neat towel designs. The room was clean and nothing like the reviews I had heard about typical Cuban rooms. The AC was amazing to get back to in the heat of the day, and the TV had a great selection. No bed bugs, mould, etc. that I had heard was normal in such a humid place. Very clean and they brought us new towels every day. The pools/beach were also amazing. Very clean and relaxing pool area, with a bar at every single one. The pool was clean and refreshing, with plenty of seating area and lots of sun cover. The beach was also clean, beautiful, and breezy. They did have to close it one of the days we were there due to inclement weather, as a huge storm rolled in (no one's fault). However, this was not a negative thing as we had a huge selection of pools to choose from, and plenty of places to escape from the rain. There was a long bus ride to get to the airport and back, but we didn't mind as you got to see some of the Cuban landscape, people, and relax after your flights. There was always fun Cuban music playing somewhere, clean walking paths, and beautiful foliage, as well as a club house to play ping pong, chess, checkers, pool, and sit and relax. There were plenty of stands to buy little souvenirs, but I recommend not purchasing any wood products as they will not let you bring it back to Canada with you and will confiscate it at security. There were many other hidden gems such as the giant chess set, the bus tours of the area, and the beach snack bar (all you can eat ice cream). Everything was laid out well and clean, happy and helpful staff. I am definitely going back there as soon as I can!

Very nice and clean and friendly staff

Beautiful resort, the grounds were immaculate , the rooms very clean, the staff very friendly. Would love to go back there some day. Will recommend this resort to all my friends. Very enjoyable vacation. Thank You

The same quality as last year.

The resort is still new (built 2011), and the rooms are nice. Everything works in the bathrooms, food is better than average, by Cuban standards. Service is quick, both at the restaurants and bars across the resort. The beach and ocean are gorgeous!

Love itttttt

Amaising hitel.friendly staff and very children friendly!!!my children loved the ice cream bar.and if you want to go out for the night the cigar bar was nice and the music was great.very clean.lovedd ittttt

Wonderfully relaxing resort

Very pleased with this resort. Grounds, room and beach were above par. Food was very good. Large selection of food choices and all were very good. Would definitely return here. Entertainment was great!!

A week in Cuba!

This was our third time traveling to Playa Cayo santa Maria. All three times we really enjoyed ourselves. Staff was nice, beach was amazing, and food was good! I would go back a 4th time and probably will!

Beautiful beach!!

Fantastic first trip to Cuba. We have been to Mexico, DR, Jamaica, Caymans, BVI's, etc and we finally decide to try Cuba. We had a great time with our 2 very young children. The staff was amazing with them!

AMAZING..AMAZING..AMAZING

My husband and I went toHotel Playa in Cayo Santa Maria in April. What you see in the pictures are what you get. Tourqoise water, white sandy beach and the grounds were beautiful and very well kept. Plenty of beach loungers so there is no point to go and put down your towel in the pool area or beach area. More then enough food, a person will not starve. If you are that picky person and snub your nose because its "CUBA", then stay home and cook from your kitchen. We tried everything. If we didn't [... read more] like it we didn't try it again. Pretty simple. No vendors anywhere on the beach. We rented scooters and went off the resort to a market which was minutes up the road which was amazing and had so much to buy and choose from and was again, another amazing site. On the way there we saw a pond with about 150 flamingos in it. We will definelty go back. The resort, people, food, rooms, alcohol, everything about the trip was not a disappointment. I thank my travel agent because she was amazing and really gave her honest thoughts on everything that we asked and wanted. Thanks Stepahanie!!!!!! A person really has to experince what we did. Really happy we went!

Extremely dissappointing

This hotel was rated as a 4-4.5 star hotel the Playa Cayo Santa Maria in Santa Maria , it was at best a 3-3.5 star we have stayed many times in Cuba , Varadero and this by far was a very sad , dirty and dated hotel it seemed like . From the totally bad flight service from Air Transat on there dirty coke splash monitors to having us to deal with none English Declarations and being told good luck with that by the Head Steward I will never fly Air Transat again and definitely not return to this res [... read more]ort especially when several people from several provinces told us on the same flight they paid 550.00 less then us and booked close to our dates for the trip same package

Loved this resort!!

My sister and I stayed at this resort May 2-9, 2016. The resort is a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the airport, but we had great tour guides and the time flew by! The rooms were clean and spacious. We stayed in building 8 and was very happy with the location. It was right in the middle of 3 pools, the buffet, theater and main lobby bar. The beach was absolutely beautiful. There was a bar and a place to get food right at the beach and there were never a shortage of lounging chairs to sit on. We alter [... read more]nated between the beach and 2 other pools on the resort. The main pool with the swim up bar was more of a party pool and had activities daily, but we were just more interested in the quieter pools. The food was very good. The buffet had many things to choose from and various stations such as: pizza, stir fry, omelettes, fried rice, grill, pasta, crepes and more. There was also various types of chicken, fish, beef, etc to choose from. I was a little disappointed that the breakfast buffet didn't have homefries or anything like that, but otherwise everything was great! We also went to 2 a la carte restaurants. The italian restaurant was good, no complaints with that one. The japanese restaurant was amazing!!! I would definitely recommend dining there! We went on 2 excursions during our trip: land and sea, and the carnival one. The land and sea included taking a boat to a designated area to go snorkeling, and then a 2 hour boat ride to tour a cave. We had thought it would be a cave where you could swim and just spend time in it, so we wore dresses and flip flops. It was actually a 20 minute hike from the boat through the forest and a one hour tour through an actual cave. We definitely enjoyed it, but wished we prepared differently for it! After the cave we had lunch on the boat and then took the jeeps through the bush and on the roads for the remainder of the trip. It was a long day, but we did enjoy the excursion. We were disappointed with the food, however. In the morning they had a snack on the boat of crackers and mayo. By lunch time we were starving and lunch just consisted of lunch meat, cheese, crackers, cold fried chicken and fruit. Considering the price of the excursion, we were expecting a much better lunch. Otherwise, the trip was good. The carnival excursion was great! A bus brought us to see a live cuban band. They were wonderful, and they had professional dancers to perform and engage the crowd. Afterwards a DJ took over and there was a foam party. We had a lot of fun and definitely recommend it! The staff at this resort were amazing. I can't say enough positive things about the people working there. They were all wonderful and made the trip that much better. The resort had performances every night and we went to all of them but one. The dancers and performers were incredible. My favourite shows was the cabaret, cuban and the mixed entertainment show. I definitely recommend the performances. They were wonderful! Overall we were very pleased with this resort. I would definitely recommend it to anyone planning a trip to cuba!!!

Average hotel

Very far away from the airport. I had to wait long time most of the time for the servers at buffet at dinner to simply get our drinks. The beach was beautiful on non windy days. Not sure how is this hotel 5 star. But not bad in general.

Great vacations

Just came back and I had an excellent time at Playa Santa Maria. The ressort is well-maintained. The gardeners are doing an excellent job with the plants, flowers. The hotel has 4 main pools, some area are more quiet than others, so you can choose what you want. I stayed in bungalow 6 (closed to the beach) on the 2nd floor. Great location. The room was always cleaned. The staff is always smiling and always helpful. The beach is nice and water is so turquoise blue, amazing. I have met some people [... read more] that have been hurt by jellyfish and medusa, but I have not seen any. The only inconvenient is the food. I have not been very impressed and got tired with the same kind of food offered everyday. There are no much variety and also I was disappointed that there was so few seafood or fishes...I would quote a 4 because I will definitively come back.

Nice resort

The beach and the pools are five star. Resort is a bit tired looking. Rooms are nice and quite modern, the beds are very hard. This resort had lots of little extras that we loved. It is a far drive from the airport but it is a scenic view. Resort appears to be very large but once you get the lay of the land it is layed out nicely,.

Fun resort.

Sometimes it's the people that make the vacation. The staff at Playa were great. Lots to do and fun to be had. Rooms were great. Not that you spend a lot of time in them. I go for the view and the fun. Not the food. You won't starve. Lunch on the beach with the pizza oven was the best.

Loved every second of it!

Staff are amazing, the Beach was the best i've ever been to. Food was...well It's Cuba. If it was prepared it was delicious. It's slightly falling apart, but meh...it's overall a fantastic experience.

Wonderful Resort

Staff were extremely friendly and always went out of their way to please you. Very clean resort.Loved our room and the housekeeping staff did an excellent job.Would return again and recommend to family and friends.

Great holiday

A very nice resort, pools are awesome, as is the beach, service was warm and friendly, food at this resort was great, compared to others. Buildings are starting to show their age, and require maintenance, but was a minor issue. Overall was great !

Decent Resort

The Staff and service was exceptional. The beach was very dirty, filled with garbage and sharp rocks and sticks. The beach is best when the tide is all the way out, this reveals the best sand. The food is okay, but very long lines and my wife ended up getting quite sick. Very large resort, this causes a lot of time to be spent just walking around. Too many children is another negative.

Amazing staff!

The best part of this resort is the staff they are amazing! Roberto st the Japanese restaurant was fabulous! Also Yassel at the pool bar works so hard and is always friendly. These two guys are the best! Also had a great time with the entertainment team especially Lester and Freddy who were also friendly and polite!