Mediocre

The location was great 1 minute away from the beach and main downtown attractions. The food was mediocre and often repeated. It was also not replenished often once done during buffet times nor warmed up again. Our room was also just mediocre, the main mirror had a big chunk where it was shattered. We had to look through each corner of it. Maids cleaned our room nicely and were trustworthy. Out of 4 pools only 2 were open, but they were great. Buffet staff wasn’t that nice or attentive but bar  [... read more]staff was great and reception was nice. We had some issues with our room keycard , had to go back 3 times.

Central location downtown Veradero

The location of this place is great; walking distance to a lot of night life. It's a 3-star...so you have been warned :-) 3-4 nights max is recommended at this place. I stayed here a full week once and it was a bit much. Also... I would recommend going during peak season, as opposed to off-season, as they close down a bunch of the amenities for "renovations" in the off-season. The lobby is always a fun place to hang out at night. You never know what type of people you are going to see hah.

Worse resort in all Varadero AVOID

We arrived in Cuba at around 4:00 in the morning to discover that the whole hotel was a total scam. The pools had been emptied out, with the only one remaining having cloudy water and trash at the bottom. The rooms were infested with ants, we had 3 rooms and the AC wasn't working in 1 room, we asked for a king size bed but got two singles pressed together with the springs in the mattress making a squishing sound when we would move. The paint on the wall and cement all around the resort was [... read more] deteriorated. The breakfast buffet consisted of toasts and a rack of cold eggs. We went to the Sunwing office and explained the situation, after verifying our story, Sunwing immediately sent us to another hotel across the street, the Cuatro Palmas, covering a big part of the difference in price and offering us vouchers for the catamaran trip. Thank you to Sunwing for saving our vacation but I would recommend to anyone to avoid making a deal with TripCentral as they will scam you and send you in misrepresentative hotel. The pictures are NOT the reality. By the way Cuatro Palmas was great, would entirely recommend.

1 star is too high! Worst dump ever!

Outside of hotel looks impressive till u step inside. No elevators in operation. Mold and bug infested rooms. We asked for another room that was even worse, the mold was so bad we couldn't breathe. 1 pool closed, the other is falling apart, as you swim the tiles and paint chips are in the water. Filthy and subpar. We talked to other patrons who didn't have hot water or a toilet that flushed. 1 building is closed down and building 4 should be condemned. Food was beyond disgusting, breads and [... read more] desserts hard & stale, everything else cold & tasteless. No working locks on the doors and looked like bullet holes in the walls. Glass shards in the pool water from drunk partiers. Mixed drinks were disgusting but if u only drink beer your ok. Lobby closes at 11 and next bar doesn't open till 12. If you want a snack at the side bar better go early because we were told several times nothing left. Beach is supposed to have chicken steak but is actually hard stale rice with a chicken leg. We saw an entire bus leave after 1 day to go to another hotel but this hotel couldnt care less because 2 bus loads checked in right after them. My bf had been to this hotel 4 times before and was shocked at the decline. We complained to our AC rep how bad the mold was and was told it would be at least another $700 ea to change hotels. Even the staff who worked there were embarrassed. Do yourself a favor, spend the extra $$ and don't waste your time with this dump. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to my worst enemy. I'm rating this hotel a 1 star but even that is too high.

Surprisingly good!

My 3rd time here recently (Sept 28 to Oct 5 2019. Not much has changed since I was first here 14 years ago. It's a nice resort. Basic rooms. Beds could be a little more comfortable but still adequate. We had a few nice surprises with the food...a couple of our meals were extremely good. always something good to eat...we never went without. Beach is beautiful. Bar and restaurant there are awesome. Staff was nice and helpful. One of the pools is closed. The one with the pool bar. Hotel is downto [... read more]wn so it's very close to restaurants, market and nightlife. All very safe to visit. Definitely recommend this resort if you're looking for a "no frills" vacation.

Worst vacation ever

It was not a good experience. The hotel is in bad condition, rooms are moldy and smelly. The bed sheets were damp and smelly when we arrive. It took 4 hours for them to be changed after complaining to the front desk, by then it was almost midnight. While they did tidy up the rooms everyday, some towels were not fresh, seems like unwashed. The food is not clean, flies everywhere, cockroach in soup, when complained to the cook, he said it was just spice, errrrrrr.

Love this hotel

I always stay at this hotel, amazing staff and in terms of room and food; you get what you paid for. I usually dine out most of the time, depending on the night and the type of the food available at the buffa. Overall the location is 5 star and that is what I’m looking for.

Good resort

It is a good resort situated close to everything. I have been a few times and the staff are friendly and helpful. The food was okay and great deserts. Lots to do in the area also. The resort has several swimming pools and a snack bar as well as a few a-la-cart restaurants including Cuban and Italian foods.

Laid back fun!

This hotel is pretty big for a 3 star. It has 5 buildings 3 pools, a large buffet area, 3 restaurants and the entertainment stage is awesome. The entertainers are so talented. The beach is beautiful everywhere in Varadero. The staff are friendly and accommodating. I’ve stayed here before and will stay again.

Ok if it's cheap

grounds are deceit, the rooms and hall ways could use a up grade , not a bad hotel if it's cheap enough. nite entertainment not very good in the summer months .staff are fair .the biggest complaint would be the food after the second day all about the same

Very dirty

For checking in I was waiting for about 3 hours Bars are very dirty Rooms are very dirty Pools are smelling of pee. I've seen a little boy peeing next to the pool. Parents didn't say nothing. The only positive point is the location. Is right in the downtown

The surprise of june 20 th week

my first room was on the fifth floor and we had to take the eleavator up but it just went to the fourth floor had to carry me lugage up to the fifth floor we get their and there is no key to the safe and no remote for the tv so we asked for another room so they told me to check the seconded floor room but it had two single beds and I asked for a king bed and I would have to walk up the stairs still then they gave me a room on the first floor the room was good everything worked but we had alot of [... read more] mosqiotos all week and the food was not good at all and the workers said it was because their was alot of cubans their that week but the staff was trying their best

It's ok not great

was there in April 2019.was better then .I went June 2019 , many mosquitos in the room and so many in the lobby bitten hundreds of times it was unreal .was wasn't very good this week only good on two days , room was cleaned every day and front lobby bar was good as last time .I've been to Cuba 60 plus times , just so you know I'm not that picky if the resort is around 550 to 600 I think it would be ok . bring lots of bug spray , the rooms are old and pool bar one needs some fixing up cuba star [... read more] rating would be 2 to 2.5 at max .

Not good

June is a very busy time for the cuban people to vacation. Big lines for food and drinks. Had to eat out every day.the staff are friendly though. I did lose a towel issued by the hotel and even though it was my fourth time at the resort they still changed me 20 pesos when checking out

Stay away from this resort !!! Disgusting! Disgusting!

I have stayed at this resort on several occasions throughout the years. This was the final stay for me. Food is horrible! Beds are old and springs jabbing you in the back! Rooms have bedbugs, and the worst part is it’s steadily going downhill. Nothing gets fixed. It only gets macgivered! Put a bandaid mentality. They recently opened it to the local Cubans and it’s not a resort you want to be at while they are there. They drank all the alcohol at the swim up bar daily and you never see them l [... read more]eave to go for a piss to the washroom. You best your ass they pissed in the swimming pools! It did not matter if it was breakfast, lunch and dinner, the plates where always greasy! Disgusting!!! Disgusting!!!! Disgusting!!! Do yourself a favour and spend a couple bucks more! Stay away from anything owned by barchelo!

For people with experience with 3* cuban hotels

Been at hotel Palma Real from 21 to 28th May 2019. I only gave a 2 stars even though I am an experienced cuban traveler and have used casas particular, 2-3 stars as well as 5 stars hotels and have stayed at Palma Real many times. This particular time, I arrived during the cuban's vacation time. Unfortunatlly for us tourists, it often means, very loud guests, empty buffets, shortage of about everything on the site (bottled water in rooms, choice of drinks, closed restaurants due to lack of f [... read more]ood) poor service and rooms that greatly need clean ups in general. If this is your first time vacationing in Cuba and are looking for the beautiful pictures we see in magazines, I suggest you take another hotel. If you are a seasoned cuban traveler, don't mind basic outfits, going out to eat a few times in town and get a really good deal (less than 650$) this could be for you. *** At this time of the year, book the special restaurants on weekends (advised by the hotel staff), because boatloads of cuban buses arrive daily from friday to monday. Don't get me wrong, I love cubains, but I did save all year for one week of relaxation by the beach. I would appreciate to have more than rice to eat. If it was not for the swarm of cubans invading the buffet, and the basics missing, I would give it a 3 to 4 stars, because of the great pools,and the location (close to calle 62, walking distance to the markets, restaurants and clubs. Otherwise, I had fun like I always do, with other tourists and cubans alike. Must mentionned Canadians were outnumbered by Cubans and Russians, witch made it a bit sad on the beach with cuban and russian music competing on who would be the loudest. PS: Also warning about the shops inside (and I guess outside too) the hotel. They rip off every foreign guests by charging a fortune for anything. 5$ chip, 3$ coka-cola. Here is a tip: REQUEST and INSIST that they use the bar code gun. This one doesn't lie. The price will be exact. If they start punching a hole bunch of number on the cash... it's just to rob you blind. I saved 3 guests 22$ overcharge on just 3 chips and 3 cokes just by telling the cashier to start again with the gun. Sad but true. 2nd PS: Other Canadian Travelers from upscale resort faced the same problems with food and cuban guests. Sadly, many on our plain back home mentioned that they would not come back to cuba for their future vacations because of that. A least we had amazing weather all week long.

You get what you pay for

We got a good last minute deal on this resort and with that had little expectations. Rooms: AC worked well in our room - the majority of the time the water was cold - we were told we would be provided with a new water bottle each day, but this never happened Pools: The pools always had garbage in it and a lot of the tile needs to be redone. Food: Food is bland and not much variety. However, they offer two al a carte. The Cuban one was not bad, but still not much selection. The Italia [... read more]n one was good. I really enjoyed my pizza there. Staff: Staff were nice enough - there were a couple who stood out like the pool bartender was awesome. Location: I was a little sceptical about having to walk across the street to go to the beach, but this was not an issue at all. The beach is the biggest perk of this place, as it was beautiful and not too crowded. The location is also close to a bank, some markets, and some good restaurants/bars.

Honest Review!!

Wanted to share a little bit about our experience at the Allegro Palma Real in Varadero Cuba. First let me start by saying that we have visited Varadero numerous times and it is our favorite vacation spot. We have stayed at 3, 4 and 5 star resorts in Varadero. We have always enjoyed being close to downtown Varadero so we decided on the Allegro Palma Real for vacation this year. This was our 2nd visit to this resort and our previous stay was quite enjoyable. This time our stay was 10 days as op [... read more]posed to our usual 7 day all inclusive. During our first visit we knew it wasn’t a high end resort however we enjoy being within walking distance to downtown Varadero, so we took the chance again to visit the resort…WOW. Upon arrival we were quickly checked in and got a poolside room on the 3rd floor however we requested to be on the 2nd floor. This was resolved within an hour and we were moved to the 2nd floor poolview without issue. The room was as expected basic, clean and a large balcony. Being in a 3rd world country numerous times of course we anticipate bugs, flies, ants etc…and come well prepared with afterbite, bug spray and benedryl. However after 3-4 days the mosquitos were so unbearable in our room we had to wear long sleeve shirts and pyjamas pants to bed everynight to minimize the mosquito bites(holy hell). We literally spent an hour every evening killing mosquitos and spraying bug spray over the bed linen, door frames, windows and ourselves and still got bit. We spoke to a few other Canadians staying at the resort and they also had the same issue and had never seen it so bad either. The biggest disappointment came 4-5 days before our departure. The resort became available to all local residents and therefore the hotel became more than overwhelming in a very short period of time with individual family sizes of 2-10 overtaking the resort. Because of this the buffet for all meals was inaccessible. The locals literally bullied other resort guests we were not able to get into the buffet for 2 ½ days and if you did manage to get in after lining up for the buffet it was cleaned out. Along with not being able to visit the buffet for our meals there were large groups of local people in the pool at the swim up bar anywhere from 4-6 hours at a time without leaving the pool (gross…we all know what happens when consuming alcohol). Also to note it seems that the locals that visit this resort feel that they all need to outdo each other with wireless speaker boomboxes including the entertainment staffs music and games. We do split our time between the pool and beach however after a day of trying to get food and drinks we spent our remaining time there at the beach and at local restaurants. Considering these are local residents the disrespect for a local property was a real shame and unbelievable. I don’t think I have ever seen people disrespect other’s property in terms of disposing of trash (cigarette butts, bottles, glasses), not to mention one’s personal space. Also to note numerous resort staff actually asked us and other resort guests how we were doing once the locals vacated the resort. Clearly they understood how unbearable it was. Cuba is a beautiful country and we will visit again however this resort is a no fly zone for us. We did visit a couple other resorts while there for our future visits. Please feel free to reach out if need an honest opinion. The review is asking for star ratings i will rate the stars based on the last 4-5 days of stay.

Allegro Palma Real is getting better ..>!

The hotel is getting better every month, new renovations and more entertainment than before. To all my Canadian friends, I highly recommend this Hotel. The Beach house is the place. I had been to Cuba 12 times, I like this Hotel is fun and nice....alive ..!

It’s Palma !

This is my 7th year returning to Palma real ! I love the location of the resort . They are slowly working on upgrades and doing a fantastic job( lobby bathrooms are amazing compared to before ) . The rooms could use a little work but they will get there ! I return every year for the location ! The food was great I didn’t starve . I wish the lobby bar was open past 11pm and that the snack bar had French fries .Service from everyone at the resort was amazing . All & all a great trip !