Beautiful Resort, Great Location With Level Upgrade

We stayed at the Melia Varaderoin January 2018 on the Level. The Service was amazing Mabel's team did not disappoint, including Umberto at the beach. Everything was taken care of for us, we can't say enough about the service and the upgrade perks were most defiantly worth it. We enjoyed all the a la carts, my favorite was the Tex Mex steak house. Buffet staff was friendly and quick to clear the tables. Entertainment staff was engaging. I would recommend this resort.

Beach and ocean too rocky!!

It was almost a perfect holiday, but it was our first time at this resort and we felt it would not disturb the environment if the beach was cleared of all the rocks. It certainly would have made a difference if we had been able to safely take the kids down to the sand and let them go into the ocean.

Great Resort

We loved the compact feel of this resort as everything was close by (restaurants, bars, pools etc). This resort is very clean, even the outdoor bathrooms. The food was plentiful and good, no issues. The one issue is that there is a beach bar but no bathroom on the beach so every time you needed to go, you had to walk all the way back to the pool area. I highly recommend this resort.

Beautiful resort!

The Hotel is surprisingly in good shape after Irma. There is some damage to the balconies which are currently being fixed. What I love at this hotel is the proximity of everything, beach, restaurants, pool. The staff is extremely friendly! What I found is missing is some entertainment at piano bar located outside. There was no music at night in that area.

Clean resort

The check in was fast. they had five elevators, but only 3 were operating for our 5 day stay. the Lobby was clean. Lots of seating on the main floor. The lobby bar has the best drinks and bartenders. The room was spacious with decent decor. Nice view of the sea. Rooms are close to elevators too. The Buffet food was okay, good restaurant service. The towel service was quick. Enough lawn chairs outside to lounge. Great music throughout the resort. They were repairing and painting a large portion o [... read more]f the resort, but this was due to the hurricane. But this did not interfere with the stay at the resort. They usually do this during sunrise or in sections not frequently visited by visitors. Along the beach you can see the path of the hurricane. Several palm trees were destroyed, sand from the ocean was dumped on the pavement walking area, and workers were building bamboo hut umbrellas. The water was pretty warm for most of the trip, huge waves. Ample shade if you don't feel for too much fun. The shows were okay, great singers and dancers, but at times the speakers were wayyyy too loud and deafening for the audience. The resort has souvenir shops and a plaza very close by. Great options for souvenirs. There's also a double decker bus that picks you up from the resort and brings you downtown varadero for 5 CUC, which was amazing. You can walk around down town Varadero and visit the local shops.

Great resort in Varadero

We just returned from Melia Varadero, after staying a week from August 12th to the 19th. Firstly, the hotel as you enter is very pretty, marble tiled floors and pillars. The hotel is very clean so no worries. We booked two rooms, one for my husband and I, and one for our two sons. We asked for adjoining rooms but we couldn't get that upon arrival. It was ok though, we were only a couple of rooms apart on the same floor. My husband and I were in room 4109 and our sons in 4111. They had the bette [... read more]r view. Both rooms overlooked the tennis courts and ocean in the distance but the boys' room was on a corner and had an unobstructed view. Our room was a bit over the front of the property so the only drawback was buses and cars ran underneath our room and at times woke us up. We were going to change but in the end we decided to just stay as the view was pretty and the room very clean. Only negative was the king size bed was extremely hard. Water pressure was great and lots of hot water. Mini fridge stocked with sodas and beer. Always fresh bottled water. The grounds of the hotel were very pretty. The pool closes at 6:00 p.m. which was disappointing, but there was always the ocean, which is gorgeous! We were blown away at the turquoise crystal clear water. The beach has been affected by the storm last winter and it is quite rocky, however, once you are in the water the sand on the bottom is fantastic, nice and firm. No seaweed at all. The first day we went to the beach on the left which was disappointing. Full of locals and lots of garbage thrown in the ocean, such as beer cans and bottles. We quickly discovered a path in front of the property by the sea that lead to the other side where the beach is rocky but the ocean is not crowded at all, in fact we were often the only ones there, and the water is so clean. No garbage at all! We went there everyday. There is a lot to do at the hotel. They have music always playing at the pool as well as Zumba in the pool and volleyball and salsa lessons. The entertainment at night was amazing. We couldn't get over the musicians and their talent. After the evening show it is always followed with a "disco" where many younger people attend. Our sons were in their late teens/early 20's and they met tons of kids their own ages. They had a blast. The only negative I can really say is that the pool wasn't deep and not very clean. It appeared as though they had a problem with their filtering system. It was beautiful though with a bar in the centre (not swim up though). The food was fine, no one in our family was sick, and there are two of us with delicate stomachs. We ate what we wanted and were fine. Many drinks had ice and we were just fine. The breakfast buffet has a lot of choice, different than what we are used to, but always something to eat. Our lunch was always at the restaurant by the ocean and it was great, loved the fish. Lots of fish and rice...beef not so good though. The a la carte restaurant, Fuerventura (sp?) was great. The lobster was delicious. All in all a fabulous trip. Make sure you go to Havana on a day tour, well worth it. On the down side, the plane was delayed 3 hours and it didn't take off until 12:45 a.m. so that was a drag to end our trip with. Weather was fantastic! Had a great time. A special thank you to Tanya from Trip Central, she was great! Make sure you budget money for tips...this was something that got a bit overwhelming at times. Where ever you go people want tips so be prepared.

Great vacation!

We just got back from a two week vacation at this hotel in Varadero. It was our first time in Varadero and we really enjoyed almost everything about the hotel. The staff was amazing, and we really, really appreciated all the help we got from Humberto at the beach!! He really takes care of every client at the beach. We upgraded to the Level, and it was really worth it. All the staff at the Level were really friendly and helpful. It's a very clean hotel and we enjoyed the food. On the down side, w [... read more]e didn't appreciate the loud music on the beach and by the pool. It was too loud and it was constant. Sometimes we couldn't go out on the balcony and enjoy the view because of the REALLY loud music by the pool. On the beach, even if we were on the Level section, we still could hear the music. The only restaurant we didn't enjoy at all, is the Fuerteventura. The steak was so hard we couldn't eat it!! And last comment, we didn't appreciate having to pay 20 CUC for two towels that we forgot on the beach chairs. It was our first day at the hotel, we were very tired and we didn't know that we had to bring back our towels. The manager downstairs told us that they would try to find the towels, but if not, we would have to pay 10CUC for each towel. If you go there, always bring back your towels with you!!!!

Friendly Staff

Was impressed by this hotel as everything was as expected or higher than expected. Everyone we met was very friendly. The beach was amazing and we often did snorkelling right off the shore line. Great resort.

Beautiful vacation in a lovely peace of paradise

Dear friends at Melia....I have spent a beautiful week as a single person in Melia Varadero at the beginning of April. My time there has been every little bit wonderful as I was hoping. Vacationing alone was never causing a single issue and made it for even more interaction and caring by the hotel staff... Melia Varadero Hotel is kept in excellent shape, well maintained and clean. My room (436) was beautiful, on the 4th floor, standard with ocean view. Everything in the room was lovely, and it w [... read more]as kept clean and welcoming by my sweet maid, Jaqueline and supervised by Balkis....Both where extra friendly and helpful and went beyond their jobs to make my stay wonderful! The hotel is situated on the lovely stretch of white sandy beaches, and even though there are some rocks on beginning of the beach and a bit of walking to "clear sand", it was absolutely georgeous. Landscape, views from the grounds, sunsets and many places to sit, relax and look at the ocean make it for amazing experience. Two outdoor bars are excellent for the morning coffee and breakfast or those daytime mojitos, coffee stops and casual sitting in your bathing suit.... I enjoyed chatting with the wonderful and acommodating hotel staff (Luis, Dania and a few others)... I visited all of the hotel restaurants except for the stake house (dont eat red meat) and can recommend all of them. Food was very good especially when you get to know what are the specialties of each one... My favourite place for lunch quickly became either Trinidad, by the window, with excellent calamari and white Spanish wine or deliceous paella in Brasas...at night I loved visiting Brasas again for atmosphere, food and people; I also enjoyed my sushi experience and an evening at more upscale Fuertaventura with amazing food and nice music... Among best restaurant staff is the trio in Brasas: Erianna, Henry and chef Dashael; preparing great food, serving you with smiles and are so lovely and friendly...! Entertainment in the hotel was very good, excellent young dancers and animation team, active but not too pushy, though is a little noisier by the pool as usual... I joined aerobic classes with Daira which where great... Live daytime music was lovely, thanks to the wonderful and talented Trio Vocal Renaserra... who are awesome entertainers and became my dear friends so quickly... Please keep them !!! Special pleasure were visits to the lovely and affordable art gallery in hotel, as well as chats with Liudmila who will cheerfully book your restaurants and make great suggestions...Reception was very fair - one and only issue with my room phone was fixed right away. The only suggestion for hotel would be a fresh coat of white paint outside and not as loud evening music in disco which didnt disturb me, but can see it a problem for guests on lower floors. The place I did not enjoy was the buffet restaurant: it is too big, too loud (lots of cutlery and dishes dropping) and definitely needs redesigning of some sort....Food there didnt impress much either, but fresh juices were great! ...then I didnt need it much with all the other food options... you can also take the breakfast and eat outside as well....I used to spend most of the time at the ocean, but pool is very nice and clean and makes for great alternative. Plenty of showers, lots of towels.... Smiles, sun and music everywhere... Overall, it was an amazing stay and I would definitely recommend Melia Varadero and people who make it so special...Cuba and wonderful Cuban people never disappoint!

Fun

All was good did a great job on my daughters wedding.. Staff was good... Buffet could use a bigger verity of food... Overall a great trip... Beach is the best... Had a good time going into Veradero in the old car's... Always enjoy the Cuba people

Amazing vacation

The hotel was very nice and was in a clean state at all times. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Booking restaurants and things in the hotel should be a bit easier but other than that it was fantastic!

TOO BIG FOR ME

There has never a time I've been to Cuba where the people of the island don't helped to create an incredible experience and holiday. This resort for me to was too large, the buffet restaurant food was very below par. They could really do with a decent chef. The environment is extremely noisy because of the low ceiling in the buffet restaurant. The Japanese restaurant served up frozen coined carrots. The beach was amazing. Riding a CAT out to the reef just in front of the beach for a sn [... read more]orkel is in amazing.

Melia Varadero

The resort was great with the exception of the food. I would suggest upgrading to the upper levels in order to eat at the a la cartes every night. The beach was beautiful and weather was great the entire time.

Beautiful resort to stay in! Nice staff

The areas around the resort were very clean and all employees were very respectful. Facilities were always usually stocked and easy to access. The surrounding area and being close to downtown varadero was a nice feature of the resort.

Awesome Wedding, Amazing Trip

The hotel was very clean, the views were absolutely amazing. The beach was fantastic, close to the hotel. It was so nice having the Plaza right beside us to do some shopping. It was really easy to get to downtown Varadero from there, and really close as well. The food was very good, their breakfast buffet was good, and most of the a la carte's were really excellent. Would definitely go back there in a heart beat. I also had my wedding there, I was so nervous beforehand, but Rosalind took care  [... read more]of everything, and it was just the most perfect day. I couldn't ask for anything more. Truly awesome.

Great resort, beautiful wedding!

The resort and accommodations were excellent and well maintained throughout the duration of our stay. Stayed in the ocean view suite and loved the view. The beach was amazing, and is where I spent most of my days.

Great resort!

Beautiful hotel and great service! My favourite part was the resort itself it was very beautiful and clean. The service was also really great. I would definitely stay here again and recommend it to a friend.

Nice place

There were some good a la carte restaurants. The buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner was below average. Nice bar and some nice entertainment options. Nice and friendly staff, place, beach, cleanliness.

Very clean and comfortable hotel

I have been to varadero 3 times this hotel is the best in cleaning rooms was amazing washroom in all areas all the time was perfect and clean we were too much happy except with the food the buffet was discusting only one of the ala cart restaurent was good the rest not great

Good for Cuba standards

The grounds were very nice and well kept, the staff was friendly. The pool wasn't heated but the beach was very nice with no vendors to bother you. The buffet had plenty to choose from although selection never changed. The food was nothing to write home about.