Back at Hotel Kohly again, and things are not quite as good as last year, but nowhere near as dire as the two reviews posted since my review last year.

Stayed here two weeks with my wife, and only once did I have a hooker speak to me. Certainly no middle of the night phone calls to the rooms offering fun. The music at the bar always went off at midnight (and from our 5th floor room upstairs from the bar, it wasn't too loud to go to sleep), and no sound of any after hours parties in rooms. The Venezuelan guests were usually in ther bar playing dominos at night, but hardly drinking anything at all. Didn't see a single cockroach in our stay. Smell of bleach after room service is done is to be expected. And the first two days we were here the pool was closed and empty for a full clean.

Kohly appears to be less of a western tourist hotel than a year ago. Only a few Europeans and Canadians here for the occassional night ot two during our two weeks here. Mainly Venezuelan giovernment workers and some Mexicans as guests, plus some out-of-town Cubans on business. On the weekends, the pool was busy (but not crowded) with well-to-do Cuban families paying for day use. But little things had slipped: leaves that blew into the pool on some wind-storm days took days to get cleaned up. More shortages of things than last year (such as the bar having no fruit juice for a few days). But this could be as much related to the worldwide economic downturn (which affects Cuba too) as the hotel intentionally dropping its standards. We saw more issues with shortages of things elsewhere in Havana this year than last year.

The standard of the breakfast buffet has also dropped a bit, but the fresh made-to-order omlettes/eggs are still a great breakfast option. Food at the bar and pizza restaurant were as good as last year - maybe even a bit better.

The buses mentioned in my previous review are still a good option for getting around Havana from the Kohly. However, I have marked down location this time because the buses are not quite as frequent and are more crowded than last year. So, a taxi might be required more than in the past. (That said, it now seems that private taxis are much more willing to pick up foreigners, and 3 CUC seems to be the going rate for 2 people.)

Overall, we expect to be back again, and will choose the Kohly again.

I stayed at the Kohly with a group of parents and high school students. It is located about 15 minutes' from central Havana with a large pool and garden area in the grounds. However, unbeknown to us it is used as an R and R hotel for Venezuelan soldiers and every night turns into a combination disco/brothel with loud music going sometimes all night. If the music stops in the bar, the parties continue in individual rooms with men and prostitutes roaming the hotel. Men in our group were often approached by the hookers, even when in the company of their own wives!
The staff appear unable or reluctant to act on complaints from other hotel guests. The soldiers obviously bring in a lot of revenue to the hotel.
The hotel maintenance is poor. No one in a group of 60 people had a bathroom where everything worked. There was no hot water and some rooms had overflowing toilets for days.

hygiene - if you dont mind cockroaches which are symptomatic of poor standards of hygiene this is the place for you. still suffereing from food poisoning 3 weeks later which may well have come from this hotel. this place is disgusting.

health and safety - dirty filthy beyond the pale. just look at green slime in the vents in the swimming pool. possibly never been cleaned. need i say more?

brothel - looking for adult fun or a place to stay with your family ?. if the former fine. all adult males are propositioned in the bar and all guests rung in their rooms in early hours of the morning to see if they need some 'fun'. procedings watched by pimps in the bar.

location - miles away from havanna. costa round £30 return taxi. dont let your tour dump you here!

My experience was similar to beentherebeforeu minus the bed bugs, thank god.

First thing to note -- if you want a resort holiday at the beach/pool this is not the place for you. This is a good base for people who want to check out Havana and don't mind either some very long walks (10km+ into old Havana) or possibly some expensive cab rides (4-8 dollars to Old Havana or the Capitol). There was apparently an all-day shuttle for 3 CUC but I was told that it was permanently cancelled on my second day there. A cab to the beach will cost you minimum of 50 CUC -- not bad if you have a group of people, but even then it's going to be a long ride so you're best of staying at the beach.

First thing to note - if you're flying into Varadero you have a long (and punishing) shuttle ride ahead of you and you're going to be at the end of the line as the bus will drop people off at all the Playa Del Este hotels first, then the downtown Havana hotels, then finally bring you out to Playa. In the daytime this could be a nice bit of sightseeing but seeing as I arrived at about 4am I just wanted to get to bed.

The upper floors actually seem to have a similar design to the Tropicoco - although this is a bit nicer hotel, but still has that Soviet austerity that makes you feel more like you are in a hospital or prison than a tropical resort, despite the fact that there are nice green areas and a relatively appealing pool, etc . There are obnoxious (although I must admit they were very attractive) hookers working the pool bar, since the hotel tolerates it they are presumably getting a cut of the money one way or another.
That bar has an open air PA system that can get rather loud although I think they do turn it down at a reasonable hour. The hotel bars and pizza restaurant, etc seem to be a hangout for local people at night.

My room was pleasant enough by Cuban standards, although the bed was absolutely horrible - extremely uncomfortable with painful springs poking up into you all over the place. A patio looking out over the forest and the city. Did not take as many showers as I would have liked due to a total lack of hot water -- also I had a strange feeling there were some sort of wormy bugs living in the walls of the shower that seemed to get washed out when water hit them. Terrible (ie complete lack of ) soundproofing as is usually the case in Cuba. The mini-fridge was broken and stowed away.

This is not an all-inclusive, and they make a point of milking guests with lots of extra charges: My in-room safe was locked before I got there (nice little scam they have going with those) - so I was forced to pay 12 CUC to have some guy open it for me (once it's open you can key in your own code to lock and re-open). I was also obligated to pay 1 CUC for luggage storage on my last day (the clerk actually wanted me to pay 20 CUC for a late checkout since I was leaving that night but I declined). I also had to pay 2 CUC to make a 30-second call to the Sunwing representative to confirm shuttle pickup.

Also worth noting is that the hotel will do money exchange but as far as I can tell they charge you an additional fee: Canadian money was worth about 71 cents CUC according to the Cuban banks (ain’t that ridiculous!) but the hotel only gave me 67 cents, so it might be a good idea to visit a bank or Cadeca to exchange money.

I found the hotel food ok -- they offer a free breakfast with omelettes, bread, cheese if you get there in time, fresh fruit (oranges, sometimes grapefruit, sometimes pineapple, watermelon), etc. Typical 2-star Cuban hotel buffet food, although the juices were the worst I've encountered yet -- just sweet drink mixes. The pizzeria was really good by Cuban standards and very cheap. I had passable cappucinos in the pool bar.

The hotel is in a nice, upscale area, near a forest and civic park. There's a good restaurant with gourmet pretensions (nice atmosphere) called El Lugar just down the hill from the Kohly's sister hotel the Bosque. I had the spaghetti with garlic and oil a few times and enjoyed it. The hotel is also within short walking distance of Casa De Musica Miramar, and also close to El Aljibe, Dos Gardenias, pan.com etc. Although can be a bit of a confusing walk due to the crazy shifting grid systems and highly confusing street naming in place in Havana.

Most days I walked into Old Havana -- a long walk but an interesting one. At the foot of the hill from the hotel, you can cross the bridge over the river and walk straight down 23, passing by a Fresas y Chocolate and a nice mall with food and drinks in Moneda Nacional (I had a 5 cent ice cream, and what I think was a 5 cent CUC cappucino although I paid 25 cents for it). From there you're just steps away from the beautiful cemetery which is an excellent tourist stop.

From there you can continue on 23 down La Rampa and hang out in Vedado -- there are lots of nice tourist-friendly things to do and see in that area like the G-Cafe, the Hotel Nacional, Coppelia ice cream, Zorra Y El Cuervo jazz club, the Huron Azul for music, the Malecon sea wall, etc etc. Also some good paladar restaurants -- I can recommend El Gringo Viejo.

Or you can follow along by the cemetary out to Paseo and then head down to the Revolution Square which is another good tourist spot, and also home to a few great music clubs -- Mi Habana and Delirio. Like the Casa de Musica's these clubs have both a cheaper matinee (4 or 5pm) and a late show and they offer the best in Cuban music (salsa, timba, rumba) -- bands like Pachito Alonso, Pupy Y Los Que Son Son, Haila, etc etc.

From the square you can head over to Salvador Allende and walk straight down to the Capitol and then into old Havana. But like I said, it is a fair walk, although not so bad if you take breaks along the way.

If you try to hail a cab from the hotel, they will rip you off. They were asking 8 bucks when I was there, whereas a metered cab from the capitol costs 4.60. So if you have the energy, you're better off walking away from the hotel and hailing one of the less touristy rip-off cabs at your first opportunity.

Overall, I found the Kohly was not a terrible place, although I found all of the extra charges irritating and the bed almost unbearable, and it is still fairly removed from Havana, so you will either spend a fortune in cab fares or walk yourself to exhaustion (like I did). If you want to check out Havana you're better off spending the extra cash to stay at a hotel in Vedado, or if you want the mix of beach and Havana you're going to be far better off at a beach-side resort like the Club Atlantico or (dare I say it?!) the Blau Arenal or the dismal Tropicoco.