TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

We had an amazing experience at Iberostar Selection Varadero during our recent trip to Cuba. Our stay in a newly renovated room in building 16 was exceptional – spacious, immaculately clean, and beautifully maintained by our wonderful housekeeper, Dianelys, who delighted us with creative towel decorations and fresh flowers daily. The buffet offered a great variety of dishes including chicken, pork, beef, and seafood, complemented by delicious desserts. Although the à la carte menu had a fixed selection, the quality was decent. Our favorite dining experience was at El Bosque Gourmet Restaurant, where we enjoyed a delightful pumpkin soup, lobster, and a scrumptious dessert. A standout highlight of our stay was the exceptional service from the pool bartenders, Rizzo and Dayron. They truly elevated our experience with their friendly demeanor and expert mixology skills, crafting delicious cocktails like Pina Coladas, Miami Vice, and Mojitos. Each visit to the bar was a memorable occasion thanks to their attentive service. The evening entertainment at Iberostar Selection Varadero was outstanding. Talented singers and dancers put on captivating performances every evening, showcasing incredible talent and professionalism. The variety of shows ensured there was something enjoyable for guests of all ages. The beach at Iberostar Selection Varadero was absolutely stunning, with soft sand and crystal-clear, azure waters. Ample lounge chairs allowed us to relax and enjoy the serene surroundings. During our stay, we also took advantage of the beach’s offerings of water sports activities. We tried paddle boating and kayaking, which added excitement and adventure to our beach experience. Just a note for future guests: beach towels require a $30 deposit per towel, payable by credit card at the front desk. Upon payment, they’ll issue a towel voucher that you can exchange at the towel hut beside the pool. Don’t forget to return the towels before checkout to reclaim your voucher from the reception. Exploring Varadero town was convenient with the hop-on-hop-off tour bus for just $5 USD per person. Pro tip: use Cuban pesos for purchases of food and drinks in town and USD for shopping at the flea market. Overall, our experience was fantastic, and we’re already planning our return to this resort on our next trip to Cuba. Highly recommended!

Our stay at the Iberostar was wonderful! Many little things added together to an awesome vacation. Elvis at the pool bar was always helpful and friendly. Amaury is a great entertainer always made staying by the pool lots of fun. There was live music and champagne by the beach at sun set. Mini disco is great time for kids. Dance shows were amazing every night. We will definitely come back.

"We paid extra for a junior suite expecting a better experience. We were taken to the room and the first impression was very disappointing. Although clean the room was due a major refurbishment. The bathroom particularly was not in a great condition with tired and worn fittings. There was water dripping in through the light fitting in the toilet which must have been coming from the toilet in the room directly above! Both of us woke the following morning with a serious number of mosquito bites particularly my wife who rarely ever gets bitten. Due to heavy rain a few days previous and the plane used to treat them not flying there was a serious infestation and due to our room being right next to edge of the hotel which would have been a huge breeding area. We were killing any number of mosquitos when in the room as they were everywhere. We were afraid to open the balcony door or use it. The food although plentiful in salads and cold options was lacking and hot options. by the second day they had run out of breakfast cereal and orange juice. The only decent option was omelette and large queues formed as a result. My wife is a cook and a lot of the meat was of poor quality and cheap cuts. We even witnessed one family bringing in their own cereal for the children. I asked the father why and his one word answer was "experience". My wife wasn't feeling well with flu symptoms so we elected to order room service at around 9pm. At 10.30 nothing had arrived so I tried to ring them again only getting a Spanish answerphone. I eventually called reception and was scolded for not calling room service. Somewhat annoyed I did point out that I had tried that. Something was mumbled in Spanish and the line went dead. I was about to go to reception when the phone rang and the concierge allocated to our block called back. I explained everything and she said that room service was overwhelmed with orders and she would bring something herself. She did arrived with a sandwich and I told her we needed to move rooms as it was infested. She said she would try to sort it and get the manager to call on us. My wife took one bite of the sandwich and said this doesn't taste right and ate no more. Being extremely hungry I ignored the odd taste and ate mine. There was clearly something wrong with it as I was glued to the toilet from 2am until 6. By lunch time no one had called. The concierge had changed to a new girl and knew nothing about the issues further adding to the growing sense of frustration and upset. I went back around to reception and complained to the TUI rep who was hopeless and went to try and sort it myself. Eventually I was introduced to Xavier the customer service manager. He said he would sort out the room and apologised for the food shortages blaming the political situation in Cuba as a whole. Had this been pointed out by TUI I would not have booked it. Another major annoyance is that the hotel has issues with anyone with an iPhone will struggle to connect to their WIFI. This was confirmed by the hotel IT guy. As they've moved away from paper menus and use QR codes makes it impossible to access anything or any other websites that may need to be accessed. The spa pool was being renovated which was a major disappointment as this was something we were really looking forwards too. Again something that should have been advised by TUI. We did move rooms and the replacement room was in a slightly better condition and far less mosquitos but when the maids clean with the the door open whilst doing so its inevitable they get in as a number were in the towels. The final nail came when I discovered that $120 had been stollen from my wallet. I had inadvertently left the safe door open which I know was my own fault. I reported it straight away but the reaction to the theft was what we found a little disturbing as they almost refused to believe it could happen stating that the staff wouldn't do it as they trusted them and the penalties too high but then went on to concede how poor the country is. They produced a report to show the safe was open which I had already told them it was. As we only had 2 days left of the holidays I didn't want to waste any more time on it and they were seemed really keen on not taking it further. We spent most of our time by the sports pool. There was broken tiles around the pool and tiles missing in the pool but although there was activities advertised there was no water polo or beach volleyball on any day. There was a constant barrage of Spanish music throughout the day which became increasingly difficult to listen to and considering the vast majority of the cliental were English speaking was surprising. The evening entertainment was a little amateurish. With lots of costume changes and the dance routines pretty much the same. One night which should have been musicals show but it was cancelled and a weird quiz done. Some of the pre-entertainment was actually better. The mosquito killing plane did start to fly which improved that but it was flying above the rooms quite low around 7.45am which meant an early start. TUI have to accept quite a lot of responsibility here. They need to be honest about the food shortages, the state of the hotel and the WIFI issue which is far from 5 star. Its 3 at the very best. Some of the food was better in the al a carte restaurants but not overly so. If you want good service then you must tip. If you don't then you can and will be ignored in favour of those holding money. You should tip having got good service and not have to tip to get it. There's nothing around the hotel so its a taxi or bus trip if you want to get out. The shame of it is the beach and the location are idyllic let down by the hotel and food. Not once was there chips in the main buffet and an English Breakfast is something they seem to be completely oblivious to and for the first time in any hotel I've stopped at there was no toaster. No toast, no serial, no poached eggs, no boiled eggs and no orange juice and its 5 star? No it simply isn't. With the various issues we had we had a number of discussions with Xavier who is extremely nice and understanding but for the most part is powerless to do anything other than apologise. A major disappointment was that we were not offered anything in recompense such as a room upgrade or a spa treatment. It would have gone some way to placate a very poor experience. Certainly one I will not look to repeat."

Just returned from 7 days at this resort and had a wonderful time. As a repeat visitor to CUBA (4 times) I am familiar with the country and its challenges, but it was my first time in Varadero. I have previously stayed at the Iberostar Selections in Holguin, in both the regular side with children, and the Coral adult side. I booked this trip at the very last minute through Sunwing, at the recommendation of a friend that had also been to both resorts. I recommend calling Sunwing customer service rep directly to book, especially is booking last minute, they were very helpful, as I needed two doubles in the room and the site said that they only had rooms with 1 King bed available. In summary, the resort is well maintained and clean, the staff are lovely, there was lots of healthy food to be found, there is always a lot going on, and the beach is gorgeous. More details below: Before you go plan to bring everything you will need for medications, ointments, cosmetics and toiletries. Polysporin, Blistex and Aloe after-sun treatment recommended. Bathrooms do have soap, shower gel and shampoo but you’ll want your own. Towels and facecloths in the room. Throw a roll or two of TP in if you want 3-ply but not necessary. Bring bug spray and afterbite if you plan to have drinks at dusk or walk the beach at dawn. Fill out your CUBA customs e-form in advance, and if you want to get through fast, bring a printed copy too. I brought 100 hundred dollars in Canadian 5$ bills and $200 in USD in small denominations to tip. In hindsight they really prefer USD for everything, or credit card, even market vendors. I tipped often and generously, I didn’t get the sense that this impacted the service, but it was very appreciated. If you plan to snorkel, I suggest you bring your own, others complained that those on the excursion were not great. I also brought gifts for my housekeeper, with a quick trip to Costco before leaving I brought children’s Tylenol, Advil, Gravol, ect. These are light to pack and desperately needed. You might want water shoes for little toes as the beautiful beach does get hot! The scoop on Vapes is they are completely banned – people do sneak them in, sometimes in their carry on, sometimes in their checked luggage, but they do scan everything and you will get right to the airport exit and they will redirect you to a desk next to the exit where they will search your stuff and confiscate them. You will be asked to fill out a form and you can pick them up on exit. Those who were successful seemed to have packed more than one and were prepared to hand some over to comply. This confiscation process did take time, but mostly due to people arguing. Once landed, the bus ride is about a half-hour, you can buy cold beer on the bus for USD. Well worth it. We arrived at 11 AM and our room was ready for us, which was a pleasant surprise. Check in was very easy, two room cards and a beach towel receipt provided. More on beach towels to come… The grounds are mature with large palms and flowering bushes, and everything is well kept and very lit up at night compared to other resorts. The lay-out of the buildings is quite compact and I found it easy to get around, I do not however have mobility issues if you do, ensure a ground-floor room. Our room was well airconditioned and had a ceiling fan. The décor was a little dated but classic Cuban. The furniture was all in good condition, the beds were comfortable, albeit a bit soft, the pillows were good and an extra pillow and blanket were provided in the cupboard. There is a room safe that opens with your room card – zero problems using it. There was a separate shower and tub, a bidet, and a toilet. There is a drying rack in both the bathroom and on the balcony. There is a TV in the room, quality seemed to vary by room, but there is CNN and a movie channel in English to watch if you choose. Our housekeeper came in and cleaned the room every day, provided fresh towels, made beds, provided TP, replaced our two water bottles without fail. We did not have any issues with the water. We drank the water from the bottles, used the tap water to brush, and used ice from the machine in our water bottles every day. I was impressed with the cleanliness, and I witnessed the housekeepers fully mopping down all the halls daily. You will need a converter for most sockets but if you are desperate the outlet for our tv was usable with our Canadian plugs. The wifi is not good overall, I had a daily data plan as did my son, and we had good access in the lobby and at the pool, but not in the rooms. The food – we ate at the Mediterranean, the Japanese and the Gourmet and then the buffet other meals. Lobster at the Gourmet was good but not as good as at the buffet, the other restaurants were ok but I preferred the buffet. I did not try the beach side grill or the snack bar. A fellow traveler had a funny tummy after eating at the beach side grill, but it was 4 PM and it was an extraordinarily hot day. I was again pleasantly surprised with the buffet. Supplies did seem to run out over the duration of the meal but if you arrived right at opening [7AM, 1PM and 7PM] food was plentiful and good. There were real eggs every day, bacon every day (if you like it crispy throw it on the grill), cheeses, fruit (watermelon, pineapple, guava, papaya), bread, doughnuts. There was margarine but if you want jam, peanut butter, Nutella, best to bring them. A savvy friend packed a thermal lunch bag with condiments she brought to every meal. At lunch and dinner there was always a pork roast, ham, fish, grill to order chicken, pork or fish. Burgers, pizza, pasta, rice, potatoes but no fries. Lots of fresh veg, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cabbage, romaine lettuce. Cheeses, breads. Tuesday night was lobster at the buffet, there was also cold shrimp almost daily. There was also a beef night, it was tough, and chicken and pineapple skewers. Always ice cream and treats. If you drink wine, I recommend the “bubbly champagne” over the white. If you want to dress your salad, there is an oil and vinegar carafe for every section, you just have to ask your waitress. I did not have a single tummy issue (and I am sensitive), my co-travelers each had a meal that disagreed with them, but overall we ate and drank well. It could be repetitive if you are there for 2 weeks but again, I did not explore all options. There are two pools, one main large one with a swim up bar and a shallow accessible entrance at one end. The other, a quieter, smaller pool very close by. The large pool can be quite noisy with activities occurring in the afternoon including water aerobics, contests, a Cuban dance show and a foam party depending on the day. There is schedule of activities posted in the main building. The pool is shallow, about 4 feet at most. Cool at the start of day and comfortable by afternoon. The pool is kept clean and we witnessed a team scrubbing it down completely at sunrise. People do reserve chairs and daybeds early in the morning with towels and clips, but we never had an issue finding a space, likely because there seems to be a turn-over after lunch with those preferring the quiet, heading to the beach. The beach is incredible. White powder sand and you can walk an hour in either direction. Having walked an hour south and 1.5 north I can say that the Iberostar beach set up seems the cleanest, the quietest, had the most chairs and umbrellas, had the best maintained beach side restaurants/bars and the widest strip of beach. The beach is shallow, and while we had two very windy days, the rest was calm and a variety of kayaks, peddle boats, sailboats available. There was entertainment every night which included a kids show, followed by lobby entertainment (musicians, pianist, magicians, water ballet) followed by a full-scale 45 minute show with dancing and singing to a different theme each night, starting at 9:30 over by 10:15. The large stage is two tiered with a full-scale live band playing above the dancing which was impressive. The quality of each show varied but lots of fun regardless. After the show you can head to the disco which had a DJ and seemed to have at least a handful of partyers every night. The drinks at the lobby bar were decent but they did not have all mixes. They did have Cuban cola everywhere, sparkling water, lime and pineapple juices. Vodka, whisky, tequila and rum available. The first few days the party scene was lively, the next few were quieter with quite a few families with small children arriving. The best coffee at the resort was at Star Café in the main lobby, both hot and cold choices available. We did not do any excursions ourselves but heard good things about the Catamaran Day trip. We did take the hop on and off bus to the Mall and Market. It is available starting at 9 am and running every half hour, 5$ USD there and return, keep you receipt for the way back. They will not take other currency. At the outdoor mall we found good cigars (had an aficionado with us) and both a grocery store and pharmacy for any necessities. For those that smoke cigarettes these were available at the grocer for $5 USD. An important tip is to remember to return your beach towels on your last day at the towel shack by the pool (they close at 6) to get your receipt. Bring this piece of paper when you check out or they will charge you for the towels. We had no problem. Our bus transfer to the airport was late, and when we arrived at the airport their systems were down. We ended up stuck with many others in the security line for two hours. Bring food and water to the airport, it is CUBA and you just never know how long you might be there. Ditch it at security if asked to do so. The plane was held but communication could have been way better and Sunwing reps more present. The Sunwing reps at the hotel were not very helpful both those at the airport were good. Their statement was they cannot be responsible for the actions of the Cuban government and its customs processes. Notable staff that made our holiday special was Jessica the towel girl that taught us about the Caprioska Cocktail, Roberto and Ellie at the lobby bar, his endless professionalism, and her energy made every night fun, Indira and her espresso abilities, and Debbie at the Mediterranean were all stand-outs. The staff at this resort were exceptional and this combined with the condition of the grounds and buildings are a testament to good management. I hope this long review is helpful. If I go back to Cuba I would return to this resort without hesitation and hope to, but the world is big and there are lots of new beaches to see. That being said, the incredible blue of the ocean here is unparallel – this, the white sands, and Cuba’s amazing people keep bringing me back.

Is my 23rd time here in Iberostar Selection Varadero they are like family to me. Food is great in all the restaurants, great service, very clean place. Entertainment is exceptionall!!!!! Albert, Chocolate,Anita. Yoisel,Marlon all of them Ely at the pool bar and all of them . A place that I would highly recommend.