TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Honestly the Best resort ever!!!The staff is absolutely amazing.Dayana in customer service is a gem!!!Buffet is awesome...lot of choices....never hungry. The beach is beautiful, breathtaking. All the areas are very clean. We Will come back

We went from January 14-21. This review is for those who have never been and have read reviews and are on the fence as well as heard stories from friends and family. Here is my honest review and I hope it is helpful. Why would we book Cuba? For the beach of course! We have travelled in the last couple years to Riviera Nayarit, Cancun, and the Dominican (PP side) and crave a beach and ocean that is clean and clear and boy did we get one. This beach was unreal. Calm waters, teal blue and crystal clear. We had two glorious days of green flag calm days and 1 yellow flag day where we got to enjoy the waves. Clean water without floating trash or tons of weeds. There are free rentals of the pedal boat to enjoy which we took out twice! Never had to worry about saving spots as they were half capacity when we were there so tons of seating available. The bugs do bite and we did bring bug spray but at night they still get you. I have about 11 bites and they are really itchy so bring after bite as well! The rooms were nice. Now this is not a super fancy hotel and the "renovations" of fresh paint are not done by a professional painter as the paint splatter was all over the wall and on the floor but I am not visiting to sit in my room and look at the paint job. Because my kids are 13 and 14 they placed them in a room beside us. My teens loved not sharing a room with us. The wifi was decent (it would kick you off after an amount of time as it is a timed session, easy enough to reconnect) plus we had a land line phone to stay connected with them next door if we couldn't trust our internet connection. The power/lights will work when you put your key card into a slot by the main switch. (trying to save you time as I ran around trying to figure out why the lights were not on lol) We were on the main floor with a pool view (Superior Rooms 1066 and 1065). The pool view was a walk out which I loved as we could sit by the pool and easily run to our room and back without going through the hotel hallways or using stairs or elevators. My husband and I had a room with king size bed and my kids had their own room beside us with 2 twins. My favorite part of these rooms was the dehumidifier. Yes our rooms came each equipped with a dehumidifier. If you have ever vacationed before in tropical humid destination, you know that the mildew smell can wallow in a room. These little units filled up fast but my vitamins stayed dry and no mildew odor! The AC unit was clean and not filled with gross dirt and dust from neglect. The rooms also came with umbrellas! on the rainy day we had we could stay dry when walking around. Plugs for chargers and computers were fine and labelled - I have attached photos. The only issue with the room facing the pool that some people did not like was that some of the shows at night were at the pool. They have a pool/swim style ballet show and music volume at this resort is always turned up to 11. The AC and dehumidifier were loud in the room so the music and entertainment playing until 10:30 at night might upset some people but it did not bother us at all. They are renovating the top floor so after 8am we would hear them working but I am not on vacation to sleep in so this did not bother us at all either. The food. I have a very picky eater in my family and he did not starve. This resort had a great selection for all. Tons of salad options, breads, pasta, pizza, french fries, burgers and more. Our tables came with salt and they would cook with it at the omelet station. I did bring packets of ketchup and salt and pepper for our use but we did not end up using all that I brought. We did have actual eggs on the first two days of our stay but after that all we could get was scrambled eggs or an omelet so I assume they have a powdered mix they substitute when actual eggs are not available. This is Cuba, and when you educate yourself on the country and embargo you can understand the shortages of some items. The amount of waste some people left on their plates was a tad disturbing. My suggestion is to go early when the buffet opens so you can get certain items they may run out of after an hour of service, especially when you have guests that take half the butter on 1 plate for themself. Fries usually ran short as well but I blame that on waste by people taking way to much on their plate. Deserts were tasty and that ice cream was amazing! Tons of fish and when we went there was lots of pork options. Sol Palmeras is Spanish owned hotel chain by Melia. We had hot water in our showers at any time and we always had power. Staff here was amazing and love to chat with guests when they are able. It was amazing to get to know so many amazing staff members at this resort. I did share boxes of KD, art supplies, allergy meds and chocolates that we took to pass along as gifts for some staff. I did not have any issues booking the al la carte restaurants but I was up in the morning and she would book them all in a row so I have no idea why people had issues on other reviews. We tried the Latino (twice haha), Italian and Chinese. Enjoyed them all even though some items we had we had already eaten at the buffet but again, this is Cuba. You can walk along this beach to the neighboring resorts. I did share a photo of the resort model they have on display by the main entrance. You can see the bungalows and how far they are. If you are thinking of the bungalow just remember it is a ways to get back n forth to the hotel but beach access is pretty easy from anywhere as there are many paths heading to the beach. I was also told the bungalows did not have dehumidifiers and for me that was a major bonus in the hotel room. There is also golf carts that transport people too from the bungalows. We had a great trip and I would be happy to stay at Sol Palmeras or Melia Internacional if we decide to come back. I hope this review is helpful to those looking to book a trip to Cuba!

Our first time in Cuba and this was an excellent experience. The resort and the beach are beautiful. Rooms are clean and if anything runs low just ask for more. Lots of food, good variety. All staff are friendly and accommodate all of your needs. We hope to come back next year and see no reason to stay anywhere else.

2nd time we have visited this hotel in 2 years and we're once again very impressed with the food, staff, grounds and overall experience. Food- great selection daily for all meals. Food was well cooked and tasty. Service at the buffet was top notch and the staff were great with the kids. Staff- Always helpful and as mentioned above. great with the kids. From the food and beverage staff, to the house keepers, all were fantastic. Grounds- hotel property is well maintained and the beach is spectacular. well done to all of the grounds staff for a job well done. Room- We stayed in a bungalow and although they are dated, they work perfect for us to have a separate quiet space with a separate bedroom for the kids. Overall, great time at sol palmeras and we are already discussing a return trip.

Food was very good, the entire place was very clean, beautiful beach. I will go there again. The whole facility gave us a wonderful experience. I would recommend this to everyone that wants to experience Cuba. not far from downtown Varadero.