I was very worried about staying at this resort considering the negative reviews it has been getting lately. In my opinion, some are justified, others would depend on your personal opinion.

I will give a run down of the various aspects of the hotel:

Rooms: Generally pretty good. A bit rustic, but OK. My air conditioner was not working and advised the front desk 4 days in a row to get fixed, but it never was. I slept with a sheet only and was OK.

Food: I was never hungry. The selection was not that good compared to the larger resorts, but there always seemed to be something to eat. The hamburgers seemed raw on day one, but just ask for them to be well done. If this fails, go eat at Kiki's down the road as I had two excellent meals there. Ate at the Italian a la carte and was OK.

Hotel Grounds: Kept very nicely.

Beach: There were plenty of beach loungers. When the hotel fills up you might find an issue getting shade. The ocean was interesting to get in, and big waves this week. Had an awesome time riding them. Not the best beach by any means, but still decent.

Bars, Nightly Entertainment: Really the only place people drank was the upstairs bar, and a bit at the pool bar. Very little choice, and served cheap rum and draft beer. The first couple of nights this seemed OK, but by the 3rd/4th day it started to seem like Groundhog Day... Nightly entertainment was OK, got the crowd going for a bit, then blasted dance music to 1130pm or so.

Staff: There have been some very up and down reviews about the staff. Myself and two friends did not have any issues with staff. Tip when you receive good service and you will be looked after. Even the front desk staff were pleasant.

Varadero itself is a beautiful place to visit. I would have to add 'safe' as well after walking home from Calle 62 bar to Playa Caleta. Very fun pub crawl.

Took the bus to Havana for $40 and got dropped off. Toured around on our own and had a blast and saved some $$$.

This hotel is a 2.5 star hotel. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and rounded up to 3. If you can get here cheap, great. Check out the Varadero map as it is at the far end of Kawama making walking distances quite far.

Drop me a line if anyone has any questions about this resort.

It was okay, food was good, and I loved the fact that in the morning you could have your NATURAL juice made right in front of you.
Coffee was great as well!
SERVICE: Service at the bar was good,although it pas packed at all times. Service at the restaurant was good, not excellent, but good. Waiters polite.
BEACH: Excellent, white sand, deep. It burns if you have no sandals / flip-flops on.
VIEW: - if you get a room facing the ocean, the view is SPLENDID, especially if you are on a higher floor. You can hear the waves break. The color if the water, WOW!
- if you get a room facing the other side, the view is just regular, you get the view of the canal and possible some smell from an oil refinery in Varadero.
Hotel was rated 3 star when we went, I don't understand why it is rated a 3 and 1/2 or even 4 now.
Expect a 3-star hotel. It is for regular people like you and me.
Not for (very) picky people.
Perfect for the regular traveler, like you and me.
We only paid 740 tax in, it was great value for the money we paid.

We went there for a week from the 1st of February. Everything was great !

Rooms were cleaned on a daily basis, clean towels and clean sheets every day. We had a room with the Canal view on the 3rd floor. We didn't smell anything too weird and the view was great.
Food was good. I think most people went there with really high expectations and were disappointed thereafter. We on the other hand, read all those negative reviews and were ready to face dirty beaches, smelly rooms and rude staff. It was NOTHING like it. The staff was amiable, some may not smile often but most will ! Yes the tipping does help, but there is no need to tip every time you get a drink or whenever you’ve been served. Most Cuban workers there advised us that we only need to tip when the service was great ! So don’t worry too much but do make sure you get coin pesos to be able to tip them.

Now for the beach : GORGEOUS ! There may have been a straw here or there but it is not dirty, it is formidable ! You need to bring your towel from your room, it’s not given to you at the beach (it’s usually blue/green) and you can ask your maid for a clean one whenever you want.

Drinks : as everyone mentioned earlier, bring your own big cup ! It’s not convenient to keep going back and forth to the bar when you can have a hug drink with you. I got mine from the dollar store, but I also bought one from the “mall” downtown.

Food : It was decent, we didn’t get any pains and I didn’t hear of anyone getting any. I did once find a tiny piece of plastic in one of my plates, but to be honest with you, it happened to me many times in other countries and Montreal itself. Just put it aside and continue eating, or throw the food and get another plate. Do ask for a reservation when you check in for the Italian restaurant and Casa Blanca. I ordered the Russian plate in Casa Blanca, and the Lasagna from the Italian one. They were both very good ! The wine in the regular buffet wasn’t good. But the FRESH orange juice during breakfast was too good to be true ! Go for the omelette in breakfast, they’re really tasty ! As for lunch and dinner, there’s always a different variety of fish, chicken and meat. The burgers at the snack bar were awesome ! especially when you had too much to drink at the beach.

Drinks : We went for Pina Colada most of the time, but the Playa Caleta drink was good and Cristal beer was great, I have never tasted anything like it !

We didn’t have many problems with mosquitos, so I didn’t use my repellent but you might want to bring one just in case. Also, the sun down there is stronger than I expected, so be careful not to burn yourself.

For entertainment, it takes place at 9h30 almost every night, it’s so much fun. Go a bit earlier to get a table in front and be prepared to be asked on stage =P !! Of course if you don’t want to, no one forces you. And after the show, people go on stage and dance. They did have the same CD repeating every night but if you want to have fun, you will !

We went clubbing once to Havana club, it was nice and safe, no problems with anyone. We also took the double decker bus for 5 pesos the whole day, you get to see the market and the mall and some amazing scenes.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I will certainly go back to Playa Caleta ! It’s unforgettable =D

I spent Jan 15 - 31 at this resort. Was a great experience to visit varadero. I have been travelling for the last 10 years and I would rate this trip to be my worst experience. I have stayed at numerous resorts and this resort is definetly not a 4 star. May have been 10 years ago and they have never changed their status. The hotel lobby washrooms smell nasty. Rooms are standard but the toilets also smell horrible in the rooms. At around 5 am in the morning you awake to a strong fuel smell. The plates in the restaurant are always dirty and greasy. I took toilet paper each time I went to eat to clean my plate. I got sick in the second week I was there. Threw up for 3 days and could not stand the smell of the food. If you get a package deal and only care about drinking at the bar and nothing else matters then this is the place to go. I read all of the review prior to going here and most of them are correct. I do not have to stay in a 5 star when I travel as long as I have somewhere to sleep at night so I did not expect the red carpet treatment there. My biggest complaint is the odors of the place and dirty plates. I tolerarted everything else. Needless to say I am not in a rush to go back to Cuba and if I were to visit there again i will not stay at the same resort. People are friendly and it is safe in Varadero. I can only hope that if we stayed someone else our trip would have been more enjoyable.