Typical 3.5 star in Varadero

This hotel is very dated but kept very clean. The food is basic and the main downfall of this resort. The rooms are large but old. The staff is great. The shortages in Cuba are very evident here. We got what we expected for the price we paid. In my opinion this is a typical 3.5 star in Varadero. I will probably not return here mainly because of the food but i think it is worth what they are charging.

I was impressed by Los Cactus

This is my 18 visit to the island, never thinking of visiting Los Cactus, big mistake, the resort is AMAZING, best rooms i get in years, service is great like allways in Cuba, very clean inside and out, 24 h pool tables and pingpong, tenis court, piano bar, the pool is bigggg, i recomended to check it out, i am back in March for sure.

Home Away from home

We spent a total of 14 weeks there in the November to June period. Many changes have taken place, as the country recovers from covid 19. WE go there for 4 primary reasons, the staff, beach, weather and golf. The accommodation is fair, the price is fair. There are many hotels in Varadero with varying services and are priced accordingly The food and beverages change constantly one week good another week no so good. Our perspective if we get bored with the food we go into town for a meal. My wife  [... read more]and I wouldn't spend so much time there if we didn't enjoy the experience, what else can I say.

Almost our second home after 12 visits

Staff is terrific. Beach is WOW. Water was great. Food was very good. Rooms and maids are great. We always get a suite overlooking the Ocean. Not many Canadians at this time of Year. Met alot of Nice Cubans on 3-4 day holidays. They have a bit of catching up to do at both the Hotel and at Varadero Golf. It was totally shut for 2 1/2 years. They are trying. Only one downfall at this time of year. MOSQUITOS. Al

Be Live Adults Only Los Cactus

This is a very nice resort. The rooms were clean and spacious, the grounds were well maintained. There were plenty of paths through the grounds to enjoy the beautiful plants and flowers and the beach was beautiful. The food was good with a lot of choices and all of the servers and wait staff were very friendly and helpful in fact all of the staff at the hotel were friendly and welcoming. I would have no problem recommending this to my friends and family, in fact I am already coming for an [... read more]other 2 weeks this March. Can't wait.

Wonderful Break

After being closed for many months we were excited to be back again for 3 weeks. The employees were as always respectful to our needs, the hotel grounds do need some work but with the number of trees it is an ongoing task. The rooms we stayed in were clean and functional. The beach was terrific, white sand & aqua water what a site for sore eyes. This is not a 5 star resort but staff is friendly, the food is excellent, the liquors good and the wine poor. We will never stay anywhere else in Cuba.

I’ll be back!

Be Live adult only Los Cactus has the most welcoming vibe. It’s super comfortable, maybe not the newest, and that might be why it is so relaxed and friendly. The staff knows what they are doing and are helpful, respectful and friendly. It’s Cuba so the food is different, and I completely enjoyed every meal I had. The resort is the perfect size, nothing is too far away. Bars and restaurants are all good and very well run. I love the safe, clean, friendly feeling we had on this vacation!

Not a great resort overall

Grounds were clean, staff is extremely friendly and welcoming. Food was bland and the same choices everyday in the buffet. Room on the other hand, not so appealing. Large section of mold on the bathroom ceiling, constant drip of water ran down the wall from that section in the ceiling wetting the floor. Told the front desk but they couldn't move me rooms and did nothing to make it more acceptable. Found a bug in my bed, housekeeping didn't replenish much other than bottles of water. Not enough a [... read more]ctivities around the resort. One disco which was only open for 3hrs at most if at all,. Spoke to returning travellers and they said it had hugely diminished in quality over the years. I won't recommend. Hugely Disappointed in my first Resort stay ever.

Resort was great

The food was typical Cuban food . You could always find something to eat. Workers were very helpful . Resort was clean. Our maid was amazing. she helped us with places to go . phone calls . places to eat I would go back . Things to note, they do not stock your fridge every day with beer or rum if this is important to you. Over all a great trip.

Great vacation in Cuba

We have stayed at this hotel 8 times. We also book the gardenview suites. The staff is excellent. The food is average as is expected in Cuba. They run out of things but usually arrive again a few days later. The beach is spectacular and pool is nice too.

Resort looks ok

this is a very big resort....grounds are well maintained ....rooms are kinda old...needs lot of improvements for sure a painting job...great coffee bar,too bad is opening at 3 pm....food it s always the same and waiters are very friendly....most beautiful thing is the beach ,fine sand and clear water....will be back

Decent resort

Standard overall hotel. The rooms were a little run down, needed a good clean. I think because of the dampness in the air things like the sheets felt and smelled a little mouldy. The buffet restaurant didn’t have enough tables or staff to accommodate the number of guests. If you arrived late to meals it was hard to find a clean table. There was at times a shortage of certain food items and beverages and some of the food was too salty. Loved the coffee bar -best specialty coffees. Most of the [... read more] staff were pleasant. Some of the activities were later than their specified times or didn’t happen at all. The beach was great only sometimes not enough beach chairs available or trees for shade. I enjoyed my week overall and think for the amount paid it was worth it.

Good Resort

the resort was good ....pool beautiful,rooms good ,everything one needs,few hicupps ....grounds need some improvement ....but staff wonderful like this resort because it is only 2 storey ...one area is 3 floors ....

Lovely resort

I enjoy this hotel mainly that we can golf. The grounds are kept well and clean. The food was good. The bathrooms not so clean. I enjoy going to this resort as the staff are friendly kind and very efficient. The resort Never had wine most days. We had to buy it in the gift shop. They should have a notice explaining the reason for only having a few bottles a day instead of us asking all the time. We have been to Los Cactus 5 times. We paid more to upgrade our room to a suite.

My recent stay

Positive: beautiful beach , lots of long term friendly staff , junior suites building smells moldy , but garden suites nice and spacious, we were in I block loved the location , golf course close by, coupon for golf offered by resort..Great coffee bar outside Cuban restaurant minor updates visible Negative: public bathrooms frequently ran out of toilet paper and cleaning limited especially in junior suite building outside Martino’s restaurant it was gross . Lighting in walkways at night ve [... read more]ry poor, many lights fused. Ran out of wine daily before even lunch or none at all even in al la carte restaurant, no tonic water for drinks, we had to purchase bottles of wine in the gift shop , as we only really drink wine or maybe a gin and tonic, shortage blamed on embargo, ran out plates for days then butter for 5 days days , never refilled fridge even staying for 2 weeks Many repeaters and long term stay people, so very popular resort, and quite the repeaters group here Will I return most likely as despite it all I love this resort..

Not bad resort

The Junior suite building that we stayed in smelled of mould and so did our room. There is a nice long beach to walk for miles and one large clean pool. The food was so so. The staff at the bars were friendly and also the cooks. Great entertainment on resort. Take a ride into town . Sunny every day . With a smaller resort we met lots of people.

Decent for the price

The property itself was very clean and maintained. The food was mediocre and they seemed to have ran out of a lot of options. Most of the staff were friendly and welcoming. We only spent 3 days so didn’t get to experience much of what the resort offered in terms of activities. Overall it was a decent place to stay for a short getaway.

Amazing Resort

Important : Bar close to a beautiful beach and Friendly staff , this combined with good entertainment made for a great vacation. The dancers were incredible. Good food , but tone down your expectations this is Cuba and the shelves are empty for the Locals.

Good but not great

I'll try to be as fair as possible because I did have a good time but there were some bad things too. I've been to Varadero before at another resort so I knew not to expect too much going into it. We had the garden view suite which was nice, spacious, the bed was huge and there was a little sitting room with a coffee maker, 2 water bottles, and 2 beers in the mini fridge (they change the water bottle when they clean the room). The AC wasn't the most powerful but good enough to keep you cool  [... read more]at night. There was also a small patio with a couple chairs where you can sit and smoke a cigars. The hotel is nicely laid out and clean, the pool is big and really nice surrounded by lounge chairs. There is a snack bar with burgers and hot dogs for when you get hungry between meals (the burgers are really good!). There are 3 bars that I saw, 1 at the lobby, 1 by the pool and 1 by the beach. The bartenders were nice and cheerful (of course they're even nicer when you tip them), and they know how to mix good drinks! I suggest bring one of those big cups with a lid and straw that you can buy at the dollar store before you go so you're not using their little disposable plastic cups every time you get a drink, they'll fill it right up for you, it'll stay cold for longer, and you can get more in one go than you would from their cups. The dining area was really nice and big. The food was decent, some really good, some pretty meh, and a couple times there were some salads that tasted like they were going bad, but overall I liked the food. There was some decent variety during every meal though a lot of it was the same every time. The servers were mostly really nice and may stop to chat with you when its not too busy. There's cats that wander into the dining area which most people seemed to think it was charming and would give them bits of food here and there, they don't pester you or try to steal your food, they mostly just hang out, my girlfriend thought it was adorable though I had to keep reminding her not to pet them because you don't know where they've been lol. The highlight for me was the beach! Lazy chairs all along with some "beds", big palm leaf umbrellas for shade, the sand is white sand and super smooth, the water has small waves that are fun to splash around in. I spent the majority of my time laying on a lazy chair sipping piña coladas or rum and cokes. The atmosphere at the resort is really chill and its nice that there's no kids running around screaming. There was some live music during meals at the dining area from time to time, really talented musicians which was really appreciated. They also play music by the beach bar during the day though I wish they would have more variety than "La vida es un carnaval" by Celia Cruz, and endless versions of Guantanamera. As for the bad, it ranged from mildly inconvenient, to annoying, to just unacceptable. Our shower curtain kept falling off because it wasn't screwed to the wall. Most of the bathroom stalls throughout the resort had broken doors (as in they either didn't close all the way or there was no latch to keep it closed). The power outlets in the rooms are the kind that only have 2 prongs, my laptop charger has 3 but we found that there was this electrical converter box (I don't know what the technical term would be) that is used to connect the mini fridge as the power cord on the fridge is 3 pronged, so I would use that to charge my laptop, though I don't know if its the same in every room. Some of the staff was really rude and I don't understand how they work in the hospitality industry. The worst experience I had though was one night when we called the lobby for a couple of towels, we had been out all day and kept the "do not disturb" sign on the door while we were out because we didn't feel like we needed the room cleaned that day. We called the lobby around 8pm to ask for a couple of clean towels. 15 minutes went by and still no towels, I called the lobby to ask what was happening and I got a really terse "ok I'll tell them again" response from the lobby. Another 15 went by, at this point we realized there was a puddle of water on the floor by the bed coming from a closet. We opened the closet and it was full of black mold and a mess of hoses, one of the hoses was dripping water so we put a towel underneath for the time being. I called the lobby again to tell them about it and they just assumed I was calling about the towels so before I even said anything she said that they would tell the maid about the towels again, I had to cut her off before she hung up to tell her about the leak. She sounded like she couldn't care less and said she would send someone. Again another 15 went by and I called them again, at this point I'm really annoyed because we just want to get on with our night but we have to wait for them to come, how hard is it to bring over a couple of towels! Finally AN HOUR after we first called for the towels they show up, I told the girl that brought them that what had taken so long and she said something along the lines of "well if you want your towels changed you shouldn't leave the "do not disturb" sign on"... which was completely irrelevant to me asking for towels now! Anyways after multiple calls and the maid radioing them about the leak, the repair man finally showed up, I'm assuming he didn't speak English because another maid came with him to translate (I speak Spanish so I spoke with them in Spanish), at no point did the repair man say hello or acknowledge i was there, and the maid looked like she was annoyed by all this, as if I was being a bother. The whole time she didn't say anything to us, she had her arms crossed and had her knee on the bed while the repair man looked at the leak. It turned out it was some kind of condensation coming from the AC which he drained and left, then the maid came back with a mop and mopped up the water and left, closing the door behind her. They had left the door to the closet open and the towel on the floor. I went outside to ask them if they were done and they said yes, I told them "well you could have at least told us!" and closed the door on them. That ruined the rest of my night because of how mad I was at the poor service and their attitude. The next day the hose was dripping again so we put a towel under it. I called the lobby to tell them and they said they would send someone, we left to go to the beach assuming they would fix it while we were out but when we came back there was no sign anyone had been there and the drip continued. At this point we just gave up and put a towel under the drip and left it. So all in all this is a nice hotel but there's things they can do to improve which shouldn't take too much effort, you would expect to be able to close a bathroom stall at a 4 star hotel when all it would take to fix would be installing a new latch. Most of all, the quality of service and attitude from staff is what put a damper on my experience. I would personally not come back here just because there are a lot of other resorts in the area to choose from, but who knows, maybe your experience will be different.

Repeat stay

This was our second time at this resort and we had another wonderful time. It is a smaller resort so it is not crowded. Staff are very friendly and welcoming. Situated on a beautiful beach with direct access to the ocean. Lots of loungers, umbrellas and cabanas. We really enjoy our time here. Food is ok, you can certainly find something to eat. You can not compare it to our food at home but hey it is Cuba. We are looking forward to going back in the near future.