Hotel Bella Costa: Standard Cuban experience

Beach was great. Hotel was clean. Buffet was better than expected. Rooms very old fashion and in need of repair and upgrading. Staff friendly but unhelpful. Local rooster woke us up almost every morning at 3:30am with non-stop calling.

Hotel Bella Costa: Worn, but good service.

The hotel is older. It's worn but clean. In my hall there were a number of water leaks from the ceiling. Other areas looked renovated. Room was clean but again, worn. Shower leaked and was hard to use because of it. The food, was subpar. But that's Cuba. Did not get sick but chose things carefully. Beach is very nice. Grounds are well maintained. The 4am rooster wakeup calls were unpleasant.

Villa Tortuga: would go back and would reccommend

The location, layou,t entertainment, rooms, games, be,ach,beer sun, rum are all great.but ...food sucks! dinner is served at 7 which is too late for us we ate out at local restaurants are reasonable and close to this resort

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Loved the Blau

Enjoyed my stay at this open air hotel, staff always nice and helpful. Entertainment exceeded my expectations and food was better than I anticipated. Rooms starting to show a little age, nice location

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Very Nice Resort!!

We had so much fun. the rooms are huge, large walk in closet, large bathroom with separate shower and tub. People are so friendly and always with smile. The ground are properly maintained. The beach is clean and nice. The shows are great and very entertaining! Food is ok - as expected with Cuba. Easy access to go downtown Varadero via public transit - only 5 pesos for day trip. Overall we had a great time.

Playa Caleta: Make the most of it!

I found the hotel to be rather dirty. There were stains on the sheets, the floors seemed to be dirty all the time, the cooks were using spoons that fell on the ground. But you make the most of it!!!!!

Melia Marina Varadero: NICE NICE WEEK

We stayed at the Melia Marina from Jan 24-31. Check in and out was simple and fast. English is well spoken and understood. Good initial information was provided at check-in. Stayed in room 1528 with Marina View. Room was clean and everything worked as it should. Zovaida our maid was VERY NICE. She kept the place just right and added the towel art for a bonus. She was VERY appreciative of some gifts and CUC's we provided. Pools are very clean, lots of lounges and seating. Servers bring drinks and [... read more] sometime even skewers of fresh fruit....nice touch. The beach is a short walk (or golf cart ride) away. it is quite narrow in the Melia "area". Lots of lounges...no problem to get one. The first day the beach was loaded with seaweed..not nice...but after that it was fairly well cleaned. You can walk for a LONG way in either direction on the beach....we really enjoyed watching the Pelicans dive for fish. We went to two a la cartes....Bana (oriental) and Don Pepperoni (Italian)....both were very good...great service and good atmosphere. The Buffet restaurant can be quite busy at times, but there are lots of tables and servers to look after you. The food was good, lots of variety. The cook stations were busy. Particularly enjoyed a large pork roast, crepes in the morning and the salad offerings. There are good hamburgers and fries if you need them. The Marina location is very nice. Lots of activity happening. Entertainment in the evening was quite good. There was a variety of acts during the week...some excellent..some just OK Overall we had a great week at Melia Marina, it was good value for the money. We spent one day on a tour to Havana with a private tour operator called Cuban Connections....HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Muthu Playa Varadero: Great time

From all the negative reviews I seen before going I thought it would be awful but it was fantastic. The food was superb. The rooms adequate and any problems where dealt with swiftly. Staff was very nice. The resort itself was beautiful. Beach was great. Excursions where amazing.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Best bang for your buck!

Good service, beautiful beaches and friendly people . the food isn't the greatest at the lobby buffet but if you book your a la carte restaurant the foods good and off resort the food was great! I recommend the catamaran for an excursion it was amazing !

Club Kawama: Absolutely not a 3*

Simply put...do not go here. Just returned from Cuba on Jan. 21, 2016. Booked Kawama without high expectations as we know you get what you pay for. However, we have stayed at another 3* resort listed on this site in the past, that is also of a comparable price. We expected similar standards based on the same rating. There was no comparison, which is why I would rate this a 1* to be fair to the other 3* resort in Varadero we stayed at in the past. We arrived at 10pm to a very tiny lobby filled wi [... read more]th people hanging out. It was so tiny you were bumping into people and everyone was smoking so the air was just a haze. Reception was not friendly or helpful. Bellboy was nice and helpful. He walked our luggage without even a cart 1kilometer, yes you heard that right, 1 kilometer to our room. The walk was super scary. Dark and past buildings that looked to be condemned. My 13 year old was terrified during the walk. Get to our building and the neighbour has underwear, yes, multiple pairs of men's and women's underwear hung between the lights between our room and theirs on a makeshift clothes line at eye level. The rooms were disgustingly dirty with dead mosquitos all over the walls. My husband's bed (they do not have rooms with a double, queen or king bed...only those with two singles) after sleeping on it the first night was soaked through top and bottom and stunk like urine. It must have been soaked on the inside and when the pressure of his body was on it, the water soaked through. Disgusting. We complained and he was only given new sheets with an extra sheet if he wanted to put it on top. He couldn't even flip the mattress because it was soaked all the way through! We both slept in one single bed the next night and left the resort first thing the following morning when the arrangements were made. Pools were so green you couldn't swim in them. Only 1 buffet operational even though they were to be done renovations and have the other one open the day we arrived. No masseuse even though they boasted having one. Said two a la carte restaurants but there is only one that is about 5 blocks down the road from the lobby that was already 1 km from our room. Complained about these things. Was told the masseuse just quit and the one a la carte has two different menus and changes back and forth daily. There isn't a slushy drink to be found. The 24 hour snacks that they boasted is actually only ham and cheese sandwiches and only after midnight. We were starving after we arrived at 10pm and had to wait until midnight for a sandwich. All we ate there was one breakfast, one lunch, one supper and one ham sandwich at midnight. But the food was fair I guess for Cuba. Not good in comparison to the resort we changed to, or those we've been at in the past, but not horrible. We literally got out of there as fast as we possibly could and switched resorts. The biggest issue was that no one was happy. Not the guests, not the staff, no one. It seemed like a prison, not a resort. Do not go here whatever you do, unless you want a 1* resort which is what this really should be rated based on other 3* resorts in the area.

Starfish Jibacoa: Nice, quaint resort

Price was right, nice, small resort. You got to know the people really well. Beach was great, snorkeling was fantastic. Food is pretty mundane, but it's to be expected. Resort was clean staff was friendly.

Hotel Tuxpan: Low budget resort.

Trip Jan.20-27, 2016: Hotel smells like mold and bleach. Many people complained about mold in their rooms. Mold is very evident in the main dining lounge on the windows above the food. Rooms are kept clean though (if you don't have mold). Outside food service is very slow; I think they do it on purpose to save on people from ordering; hence, saving food costs. Food quality is very poor. It is like eating third day left overs every day. I will not lie, some people were getting sick but we did not [... read more]. Ocean is warm and a 10/10. Pool very cold - there was only 2 people I seen go in it. Male main dining servants were rude. Budding in front of customers at the juice machine, not waiting their turn. Outside bar servants were great! They did a good job. Evening shows were all the same people, same dancing, just different songs and costumes each night.. all dancing. They need to do some skits or something different. I wanted a cheap place to get away but I think next time I will splurge a little more and get a better hotel.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Very nice resort

We visit Arenas Blancas in January. It is beautiful resort with a lots to do for everyone. Beach is clean and beautiful. The setting of the resort is close to the downtown of Varadero. Nightly entertainment spectacular. Food good with a good variety. Rooms and building clean.

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Not what I expected

The rooms were the worst, they smelled like mold. The beds were very old and had stapled tge material that was falling apart. The pillow was a piece of foam folded in half.The food wasn't the greatest. The grounds were good. The lobby lounge bar was the best especially the bartenders Michael and Fernando. The beach was nice except for the seaweed at the edge of the beach.

Hotel Los Cactus: average

With out good friends this trip would have been a bust. A t age 58 - 60 we felt like we were the young ones, there fore making it a quiet resort. We had terrible weather for two weeks, rain, overcast and lots of wind. The hotel was average for Cuba, an older resort and it showed its age. The service was good, especially our maid. job well done. The food was the same daily for two weeks. Recommend the ala carte restaurant. The Italian being the best. Had a great trip to Havana, well worth the mon [... read more]ey. The Golf course was good for the price.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Disappointed and Disgusted

My wife and I spent a week at Memories Varadero in early January 2016. I'll start off by saying that our expectations were not very high going into the vacation, as we were warned about how Cuba is a level below other Caribbean destinations. We decided to pay the extra money to upgrade our package to the Diamond Club thinking it would improve the vacation, but it just seemed to bring on more frustration. First and foremost, the resort is humongous. Someone told us it is a 1.2km walk from the lo [... read more]bby to the beach. It feels even farther when you're walking in the rain to get your room key reprogrammed for the second time that night. I believe there are over 1200 rooms on the resort. The resort is seriously understaffed to handle that many people. We rang the front desk our first day to get our safe fixed and it took over 20 minutes for someone to answer. It felt like Second, this is a not a four star resort. The food is not great. The rooms are musty. The whole resort needs an overhaul. One of the women's washrooms near the lobby was out of service the whole week we were there, and the other two were beyond disgusting. The toilets were all full with toilet paper covered with urine and feces, there was used toilet paper on the floor of the stalls. Most stalls were out of order causing long line-ups. We reported this to the Diamond Club staff, but they brushed it off and the manager of the Diamond Club went on about how they are aware of how poor the conditions of the hotel are and how they are not up to the standards of other hotels around the world.  Why don't they correct them?  Lastly, this resort lacks service. The resort staff were in not interested in providing service. I tried tipping well and seeing how that went, but there are far too many people on the resort to stand out.

Hotel Acuazul: Friendly,good hospitality and great reception.

Overall hotel is good, convenient location, great reception, good buffet, large bedrooms, great nightly entertainment , sandy beach was a delight to walk on for long relaxing walks with plenty of room for sunbathing.

Hotel Villa Cuba: Sadly not a good repr sensation of Cuba!

Let me put it in point: This was not close to a two star hotel. Our balcony door fell off and was never fixed. The water in the toilet overflowed. The smell of sewer several days made me vomit Twice there arose a bad smell of petrol. The 7 cats, 3 dogs and countless chickens trotting about were something.... The mould on the closet wall ( that door was off its hinges the whole week too) was bad. The beds were old, hard and grubby., and you could watch tv through the sheets as they were so thin.  [... read more]The staff seemed as though they didn't really care or bother. ( so different from past experiences) The food was pretty bad ( beef heart? Bird mincemeat? Fish casserole with fins sticking out?) Cockroaches are a natural thing, but I hate to see them on the food tables where the dinners are being prepared. The sign out front said this was a five star hotel... Maybe in 1984. It is run (RUN) down. After asking twice a day, we got a tv remote on day three. We had no hot water for three of the seven days there. The water in the pool was too cold to get in. The beach was wonderful though. And finally, we got up from bed as water was pouring from the ceiling ( air conditioning unit). That took a trip to the desk and stern words to get resolved. I have photos of some of this, as I am sure no one would believe me. We've been to Cuba several times and this by far was the worst. I felt bad for the folks we met who'd never been before to this country, as several said, "never again!"

Resonance Blu Varadero: You get what you pay for

The resort was really big, lots of walking because their shuttle service was really bad (only got use it on arrival and departure). The whole resort is really run down (facets were loose, bathtubs area overflowed every time taking a shower, some public washrooms were locked in common areas due to being unusable). The food was ok not great but I was able to eat at every meal with no issues. Really bad service to get extra blankets or towels had to call several times before getting them.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Awesome resort clean and very friendly staff !

There was a lot of rain no buddies fault !! Went the restaurants closed down in between breakfast , Lunch and dinner they all did at the same time !! Other than that everything was top notch !! The specialty restaurants that we booked at where very nice treat !!