Such a pleasant vacation

Basic, but nice resort, stunning beaches. The beach at the resort does not have enough umbrellas though. Friendly nice people and amazing staff, especially Yordan -the snack bar chef, Marcus from the animators, Ivo - the beach bar, Ivan and Dunya from the snack bar. No complaints from the food at all.

There are people who love or hate Cuba

This is our 10th time to Cuba. We've been to Cayo Coco and Varadero but first time in Cayo Largo. If you love nature, please go. You will not regret it. Take the catamaran sunset tour, turtle sanctuary, and go open minded. In Cuba, there is hardly processed food so don't expect cereals for breakfast, or Nutella or catchup etc. The food is simple but very tasty. You will not lose weight. I could never get my calculations straight that you can go for $1,000 to Cuba for a week, more than half is a  [... read more]airplain ticket and taxes, and there is so little left for Cubans to feed us all week, clean after us and all that with the smile. We've traveled the world but Cuba is the most convenience and the most relaxing place to go (if you live in Canada). To rent a cottage in Canada would cost me more, never mind traffic problems to get to any cottage country place. So stressful. Cuba is my go to place to get my vitamin D, relax, and physically and mentally recover for busy Toronto life. We loved Cayo Largo. There is even beach for nudists (if you practice). Room was very clean with bottle of 1.5 L water every day, two rolls of toilet paper, shampoo, shower gell, soap, ground area clean, swimming pool with salt water (loved it), food was amazing (they have every day roast pork, chicken, fish, burgers, sweet potatos, carrots, beets salad, eggs, guava, mango, watermelon with seeds (yes with seeds, all natural)... Please don't ask for strawberries, cranberry juice, blueberries etc. And take the bumpy ride to Paradise and Sirena beach. At Sirena they serve free food and drinks like wine and beer. Yes, sometimes people who live on an island would run out of things, so please don't be mad if one day they don't have red wine but they offer you champaign or rose instead. Who cares? Do you really drink that much at home every day anyways? Do you get mad at your friends if they don't have your favourite drink when you visit them? No. BYOB if you cannot live for a week without it. Love you all! Great to see you are considering Cuba. :)

Beautiful resort

The hotel was beautiful. The grounds are very well kept. Our butler, Ernesto was amazing. He is definitely an asset to this hotel. He even phoned our room when he knew we were a little under the weather. He also arranged all of our a-la-carts and anything else we needed! Luis Miguel in the dining room made the best omlettes and always with a smile!

Awesome As Always!

Clean and well organized. Diamond Club is a plus! Everything as good or better than in the past - except for the lack of a beach. Shout out to Ivo, Miguel, Yosbel, Celia and Kirenia for outstanding service!

Amazing Resort, amazing staff ! Will come back for sure!

I would like to share my amazing vacation experience after staying at the Cayo Largo Memories resort. I was travelling alone, but honestly, I was not feeling this way because, at the resort, you are immersed in a family-like and super friendly atmosphere. The animation team is amazing: dynamic, positive, and energetic! At the snack bar, tourists can get a daily bachata and salsa experience. Marcos Antonio Mendoza Martinez, who is a part of the animation team, is an awesome person and [... read more] dancer and will offer you a hand while teaching you the steps of the dance. It would be great if, in addition to the public dancing, there could be private lessons for tourists who are interested in sharpening their dance experience for a reasonable price. I am pretty sure there will be a line of bachata and salsa funs for it!!! ALL - resort, clients and the animation group members would get some benefits from this service. I would like to have a chance to say "hi" to all the amazing staff at the hotel—"you are the best!" I forgot to mention outstanding 3 beaches: at Memories, Sirena and Paradise ! It was an unforgettable experience! coming back for sure!

Nice resort

Maria and I were pleasantly surprised. Our room was great, the bed was comfy, lots of hot water in our nice bathroom. The food was good plus all the staff were very helpful. George runs a tight ship and do not forget to ask for a mega Dunya coffee. Oh yes let’s not forget the beautiful beaches, and the train ride. Thank you.

Lovely Resort

I was happy to see the resort and grounds just as beautiful as I remember when it was the Sol.. Of course the big setback now is the beach in front of Memories Cayo Largo has been washed up over the years , which is no fault of the resort. It was still beautiful , just not as much of it , and can no longer walk the beach from resort to Paraiso and Sirenis…. The hotel provides shuttle trains to these beaches and also provides buffet lunch which was very good! The ocean in front of resort can [... read more] be quite rough.. 5 of the 7 days was red flagged.. The lifeguards were always there and attentive. Still very much a stunning location to enjoy Mother Nature at her finest. Wonderful Ranchero restaurant overlooking beach which had great house band play during lunch. The buffets were quite good considering the food shortages in Cuba right now. Always choice of fish, chicken,pork, beef and assorted vegetables. Pasta bar and pizza bar quite busy for dinner.. which is a good sign. The snack bar by the pool had the best Spanish coffees and Pina Coladas, as well as good sandwiches and burgers . My room was fine. Hot water, A/C TV all worked fine, and had a lovely balcony . Very friendly staff..everyone employee I encountered was so cheerful and helpful . One negative thing I can say is that there were flies all over the buffet tables and the food was basically uncovered for the duration of meal times.. Perhaps food should be covered up and have an employee serve the food to the guests..?. I remember Memories Caribe did this during Covid precautions .. As far as Covid precautions went..can’t say there were any .. business as usual ..very few masks were seen and no social distancing .. This was not an issue for me at all .. In general, the resort was very clean.. always tp in the bathrooms and beautiful flowers everywhere.. I really enjoyed the saltwater pool… and I’m not a pool person . Very nice vibe and various activities going on in the afternoon. I enjoyed my stay very much . Wonderful place to unwind and enjoy the surroundings. I feel my trip was very good value.

Highly recommended

Wonderful service with great staff. Would go back tomorrow. Not impressed with Sunwing flight delays and cancellations. They could at least provided more information on website and saved us much hassle at the airport.

Not worth more than $750, 20+ trips to Cuba...seasoned advice:

As always, let me start of by saying I am a seasoned Cuba traveler, and with that I have a lot to compare to...over 20, 3 and 4+ star hotels within the last few years. Since November of 2021 (pandemic times), 6 hotels in Cuba. I am comparing Cuba to Cuba. I’ve never been to Mexico or Dominican. I find that sometimes people will go there, then come to Cuba and “be shocked”. Cuba is different, and even more so worse than before the pandemic. If you’ve been to one of these, that’s wha [... read more]t my comparison is based upon: Hotel Parasio (Pestana), Colonial in Cayo Coco, Memories Flamenco, Tryp Cayo Coco, Melia Jardines Del Ray, Occidental Varadero, Roc Arenas, Grand Memories, Melia Varadero, Be Live Collection CSM, Play Cayo Santa Maria, Memories Parasio, Sol Varadero, Playa Costa Verde Holguin and Grand Sirenas CSM. Top faves would be Playa Cayo Santa Maria, Melia Jardines Del Ray, Grand Sirenas and Sol Varadero. These range from 3 to 4.5 stars. Some 30 years old, some 4. Tips about reviews: If at the top of the review you see “1 contribution”, that’s a red flag, perhaps management. Also, be ware that on social media, some admins will delete anything negative, so you won’t see the true story. Rooms: Sunwing pics are 100% not accurate, they are what the prototype for the new rooms are GOING to be like. The resort is 20 years old, so are the rooms. While NO, I don’t go to Cuba for the rooms, it’s not a pleasant vacation when the sheet/blankets smell and you can’t sleep, can’t shower cause the water is only cold, or like us, burned us cause out of no where went super hot! Same as with the super loud AC, can’t sleep. No fan in the room, and super dark. Rusty old lamps that are enough light of a candle, hard to find stuff in the dark. The electric sockets also came out of the wall when you tried to take a plug out. TV didn’t work (fuzzy screen), not a big deal but one night we just wanted to chill in the room. One lady had the sliding door fall on her, one lady claims she was electrocuted in the shower. I don’t care about the layers of paint, or stains in the tub, but safety stuff like that is pretty important. This was the biggest “Con” of the resort. Lack of sleep due to AC noise and smells. Entertainment: I wish they had an on site disco. The shows were great. Some of the staff were great, some bothered us (chasing us down the beach) about leaving “gifts” even though I hadn’t interacted with them all week. Buffet: Note that we went 1st opening week. Management puts out the best of the best so that word gets around how great it is, and more people book. I spoke with them about this, it won’t always be the same food. It was a good variety, good pastas, but again…I don’t want people booking in say Feb, and being disappointed that “They said the food was good!”. The 1st and 2nd day staff were pretty good, on it if we needed water/coffee/wine. We tipped. Then 3rd day on, we noticed service getting worse and worse…maybe because we weren’t dropping $20 per meal (which is what we saw some people were doing, that’s a months salary, no wonder now $5 bills get laughed at, what did some people create?!) they started ignoring us. Meat grill guy was nice the first day, then day 4 told us we need to pay for lobster $20 per piece or give him our clothes lol. Management said everything in the buffet was free. We got the lobster, and it was surprise….raw. Lobby: The 3 gentleman that work there are amazing, such hard workers! They made fabulous drinks, always quick. I wish there was more seating around the lobby bar as it got packed in there fast in the evening. Only about 10 tables with 2 chairs each inside, so when it rains, you can’t even move around. I would suggest adding more tables to the night show area, at the back, kind of extend the lobby area. Beach: Ah, the big question you read on the forums/fb pages: “Is there a beach?!” Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Day 1 the water was up to the rocks, no sand visible. By day 6, 20 ft of sand. It changes according to the moon/winds/tides. If there is no beach, you can take the train (it’s basically a tractor, painted to look like a train, there’s no railing) to Playa Sirena or Paraiso, however…we were told it won’t always be free. Same as with drinks, food and shade spots at Playa Sirena, won’t always be free! Just note, it’s about 20 minutes and goes over very bumpy sand roads. If you have back issues, are senior or what not, it’s not very comfortable. Taxi one way for 2 people was $8USD on credit card, and goes much faster. Pools: Great layout, I like a good pool vibe after the beach in the PM. Not a whole lot of shade, spots get taken. Somewhat clean, although some people mentioned the pool bar pool was a bit smelly. Snack Bar: Amazing service, had a few things on the menu each day (Burgers, fries sometimes, shrimp sandwich, cabbage/cucumber/avocado salad) I appreciate a good old ham and cheese after too much vino blanco during the night haha. Note: I don’t go to Cuba to make friends with staff. I don’t go with rose colored glasses and ignore the bad because of the friendly people. I will still review the “negative”, people have a right to know before they spend their hard earned $ on vacation. I don’t bother reading reviews that state “I’ve been coming here since 1941, it’s the best! I never go any where else”, why? Because they don’t have anything to compare to. How do you know it’s the best when you’ve never been anywhere else?! Lol. Then you get comments like “If you want 5 star go to a 5 star!” Well, I went to Sol Varadero, 30 year old hotel that’s 3 star, and almost everything was much better, service, rooms, etc. I went to Cayo Largo to try it out. I had a great vacation either way! Would I go back? Sure, if the price is under $750 out of Toronto for a week, it’s worth it 😊

Good resort!

The hotel has nice grounds, good rooms and decent food. My room didn't have hot water, but my friend's room was fine, so I guess it depends where you stay. I liked the entertainment in the evening, although a nice addition would be a schedule of the shows for each day of the week and schedule of the activities by the pool. The beach is very good, and I liked that in windy weather I could escape to the Playa Sirena.

Some good, some bad. Under $700, per week, go for it!

As always, let me start of by saying I am a seasoned Cuba traveler, and with that I have a lot to compare to...over 20, 3 and 4+ star hotels within the last few years. Since November of 2021 (pandemic times), 6 hotels in Cuba. I am comparing Cuba to Cuba. I’ve never been to Mexico or Dominican. If you’ve been to one of these, that’s what my comparison is based upon: Hotel Parasio (Pestana), Colonial in Cayo Coco, Memories Flamenco, Tryp Cayo Coco, Melia Jardines Del Ray, Occidental Var [... read more]adero, Roc Arenas, Grand Memories, Melia Varadero, Be Live Collection CSM, Play Cayo Santa Maria, Memories Parasio, Sol Varadero, Playa Costa Verde Holguin and Grand Sirenas CSM. Top faves would be Playa Cayo Santa Maria, Melia Jardines Del Ray, Grand Sirenas and Sol Varadero. These range from 3 to 4.5 stars. Some 30 years old, some 4. Tips about reviews: If at the top of the review you see “1 contribution”, that’s a red flag, perhaps management. Also, anyone posting a negative comment on the facebook groups will get banned, so people don’t want to say anything at all. Rooms: Sunwing pics are not accurate, they are what the prototype for the new rooms are GOING to be like. The resort is 20 years old. While NO, I don’t go to Cuba for the rooms, it’s not a pleasant vacation when the sheet/blankets smel, can’t shower cause the water is only cold, or like us, burned us cause out of no where went super hot! Super loud AC, can’t sleep. No fan in the room, and super dark. Rusty old lamps that are enough light of a candle, hard to find stuff in the dark. The electric sockets also came out of the wall when you tried to take a plug out. TV didn’t work (fuzzy screen), not a big deal but one night we just wanted to chill in the room. One lady had the sliding door fall on her, one lady claims she was electrocuted in the shower. I don’t care about the layers of paint, or stains in the tub, but safety stuff like that is pretty important. This was the biggest “Con” of the resort. Lack of sleep due to AC noise and smells. Entertainment: I wish they had an on site disco. The shows were great. Some of the staff were great, some bothered us (chasing us down the beach) about leaving “gifts” even though I hadn’t interacted with them all week. Buffet: Note that we went 1st opening week. Management puts out the best of the best so that word gets around how great it is, and more people book. I spoke with them about this, it won’t always be the same food. It was a good variety, good pastas, but again…I don’t want people booking in say Feb, and being disappointed that “They said the food was good!”. The 1st and 2nd day staff were pretty good, on it if we needed water/coffee/wine. We tipped. Then 3rd day on, we noticed service getting worse and worse…maybe because we weren’t dropping $20 per meal (which is what we saw some people were doing, that’s a months salary, no wonder now $5 bills get laughed at, what did some people create?!) they started ignoring us. Meat grill guy was nice the first day, then day 4 told us we need to pay for lobster $20 per piece or give him our clothes lol. Management said everything in the buffet was free. We got the lobster, and it was surprise….raw. Lobby: The 3 gentleman that work there are amazing, such hard workers! They made fabulous drinks, always quick. I wish there was more seating around the lobby bar as it got packed in there fast in the evening. Only about 10 tables with 2 chairs each inside, so when it rains, you can’t even move around. I would suggest adding more tables to the night show area, at the back, kind of extend the lobby area. Beach: Ah, the big question you read on the forums/fb pages: “Is there a beach?!” Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Day 1 the water was up to the rocks, no sand visible. By day 6, 20 ft of sand. It changes according to the moon/winds/tides. If there is no beach, you can take the train (it’s basically a tractor, painted to look like a train, there’s no railing) to Playa Sirena or Paraiso, however…we were told it won’t always be free. Same as with drinks, food and shade spots at Playa Sirena, won’t always be free! Just note, it’s about 20 minutes and goes over very bumpy sand roads. If you have back issues, are senior or what not, it’s not very comfortable. Taxi one way for 2 people was $8USD on credit card, and goes much faster. Pools: Great layout, I like a good pool vibe after the beach in the PM. Not a whole lot of shade, spots get taken. Somewhat clean, although some people mentioned the pool bar pool was a bit smelly. Snack Bar: Amazing service, had a few things on the menu each day. Note: I don’t go to Cuba to make friends with staff. I don’t go with rose colored glasses and ignore the bad because of the friendly people. I will still review the “negative”, people have a right to know before they spend their hard earned $ on vacation. I don’t bother reading reviews that state “I’ve been coming here since 1941, it’s the best! I never go any where else”, why? Because they don’t have anything to compare to. How do you know it’s the best when you’ve never been anywhere else?! Lol. Then you get comments like “If you want 5 star go to a 5 star!” Well, I went to Sol Varadero, 30 year old hotel that’s 3 star, (went in Feb 2022) and almost everything was much better, service, rooms, etc. I went to Cayo Largo to try it out. Overall, I had a great vacation either way! Would I go back? Sure, if the price is under $700 out of Toronto for a week, it’s worth it 😊

Excellent resort, but waiter service needs improvement.

Hotel still excellent despite age. Grounds, rooms, common areas well kept. Don't like new grey colour and white outdoor lamps. Prefer coloured cabins, terracotta lamps. Food servers don't spend enough time continuing to fill water and wine glasses, or getting tables ready, or seating guests in buffet. Often when replenishing soup or juice didn't notice there were no spoons, bowls or glasses. So food but no utensils. No eggs, cheese for several days. Service at special dinners excellent [... read more]. Beach non existent because of high surf and wind. Palapas overturned.

Great hotel,but the rooms need attention

Hotel is nice,the gardens, palm trees and beach are beautiful. Food is ok but not bad, the only problem is that there is to many flys on the food and the table, Drinks are not premium, for example, 7 year old Havana club you have to pay. Staff are friendly.

Wonderful time!

Spent a week at this resort and would 100% return! Beautiful beautiful beaches and such a great little island! The only downfall is sometimes the beaches can be washed away but the beauty is that you’re never far away from something even more wonderful down the island!

Same old SCL with new paint

When you want to really spoil something, send in a new manager who is into team-building and re-branding. Fortunately, the new management didn't get all their own way, so the old hotel doesn't feel too different. For 9 days the southern trade winds blew strongly, to all the beach was washed away in front of the hotel. But the much-advertised hotel renovation seems mostly just paint. They COULD be trying to compete with the Pelicano, which has one 120v AC outlet in every room, so we Canadians can [... read more] charge our gizmos.But the SCL continues to ignore this issue, so you still need to bring a heavy-duty voltage converter. Factor that into your 50 lb luggage limit. Some of the paint is gratuitous, just to see that something has been done. Why paint heavy battleship grey all over the front of the El Cayito bar, covering up all the nicely-painted designs? The joke of the SolAzul pool bar is to first ascertain whet the kitchen does NOT have, and then make your order accordingly. At the buffet, there were sun-dried tomatoes, for 2 whole days. All of a sudden (never seen them at the SCL in 10 years) there were churros at the breakfast buffet. Mario, best bartender in Cuba, is now a head-waiter, and the El Cayito bartenders are back to their old tricks of overloading your drink with cheap rot-gut booze. .

Great stay at The Sol

They are deep into reno-ing the resort. The beach was gone but we found some beach chairs in the dunes so we could sun and see and hear the ocean. Our room was tired but clean. It was very relaxing! The staff was fabulous. We will return ... again.

Great resort - very relaxing!

we went to Sol Cayo Largo for a week January 12 2020 and were pleasantly surprised! we feel this resort should deserve a higher star rating. grounds were clean, food was excellent with lots of choices, entertainment was varied and well done, ocean was beautiful and the staff was friendly, helpful and courteous.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good - beautiful white sand beach that goes on for miles with no other resorts west of this resort. Also most of the staff at the resort was friendly and helpful and the hotel is only a 5 minute drive from the airport. The Bad - the beautiful beach was completely washed away after 4 days into the stay when the extremely strong winds started and stayed on for the next 3 days. The food was average with hardly any fresh fruits and vegetables and buffet food is usually cold with no warming tr [... read more]ays. Also the whole island seems to be infested with small black flies even with a plane flying around spaying a few times during the stay. If you are looking for water sports, nothing is available at the resort, you have to travel to Sirena beach (hotel shuttle available for 5 CUC or 2 hour walk on the beach if you are up to it) for any water sports. The Ugly - the initial room that they gave me had no hot water, multiple areas with water damage and then a major fresh water leak happening in the bathroom. The upside is that they did give another room which was better, but the resort is dated and needs some TLC.

A piece of Paradise!

The groups are very lush and well kept. The flora & fauna are endless, white sands, crystal clear waters with occasional waves (went in Dec). Very peaceful & relaxing Island to visit. Love the cats! Please feed them people and be kind as we are all God's creatures.

Very pleasing stay

The resort was very good! Staff was nice, even to us first-timers!!! Room was good, beds, not so much but the overall feeling was great. Sure, there was a lack of OJ, tonic water or mint for Mojitos but still, the sun, the sea and the company was really, really nice! Will go back for sure!!@!