TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The food was great! The service was awesome! The dancing and entertainment team is was fabulous! Sol is the best The local people were beautiful the beach is close and clean ! I come back here again ??

We’ve been to Varadero multiple times and this is our second trip (we were at Sol Palmares last time) in the last 6 months but we NEVER thought it would be this bad. The beach is beautiful. Having said that, the rest is all downhill from there. Don’t let anyone fool you when they say the food situation is not as bad as people are saying. I can confirm it is and more. We are not picky eaters by any means and will eat pretty much anything but the food was horrible. No bread several days in a row. 3 buffet tables, all have the same 3 items. Rice, steamed pumpkin, boiled plantain rice (again), steamed white fish (50% of the time undercooked and I mean hot sashimi, not pink in the middle) and what I like to call Halloween chicken. Halloween chicken is basically yesterday’s chicken disguised as today’s chicken. When we mentioned the fish wasn’t cooked to the supervisors, nothing was done. Cuba is known for not having lots of spices and herbs. We bring hot sauces, Nutella and peanut butter as well as salt and pepper. There are not enough condiments in the world to make it better. The drink situation was just as bad. No pina coladas. Not mojitos. All they had was rum “punch”. When asked what was in it, the answer is “a mix of whatever we have left and rum”. Ran out of white wine day 2. Basically we had access to water, lemon water and Fanta that passed as orange juice for breakfast. I do have to say that the serving staff does their best to make the experience the best they can as they too know that it’s not what it’s supposed to be. The lunch buffet is basically a prison line up, cafeteria style service with the same items. If you’re lucky, you might get hamburger patties or hot dogs cut in half that are cooked on a grittle. Still, no bread. “Snack bar” has no snacks. Supposed to open at 10am, no “food” available till about 11:30 am and it’s eggs or a half a hot dog (no bread) with a slice of tomato and a slice of cucumber. We’re heavy tippers so the maid service was great. Room is super old and run down but clean. A/C ran very well. Front desk help was acceptable (being generous). We had no hot water in our section for 2 days. Reported it one time and followed up the next day (1 time) and got attitude. Lobby bar was ok service wise. Two young guys serving were friendly. Coffee bar wasn’t very nice to my girls (13 and 14). They would tip $1 USD per coffee and were not treated nicely. Shows in the evening were alright. They did their best. Dancers danced and magicians did magic. Cuban day was Thursday. It was basically banners with the colours of the Cuban flag but that’s about it. There was a pit where I assume they did pig roasts but it was so rusted and bare, the last time they roasted a pig there was the day before Fidel won the revolution and kicked out Myers Lansky and his crew. Lots of disappointed faces on practically all guests. From as far as Russia to Spain, South Americans and Canadians from coast to coast. All saying the same thing. Although I get that this is a country wide problem as everyone on our plane home was saying the same thing regardless of the star ratings, I would say that the tour operators should at least reduce the flights and all inclusive packages by 2/3 to make some sort of impact on the tourism there in order to make a dent in the pockets of that regime so changes are made. It’s not the people fault as most do their best but all in all, stay away unless you don’t mind throwing money away and feel like you’re camping in a third world country. I would also like to say that we did research before leaving and read TripAdvisor comments on all the hotels we were considering (we chose this hotel because of the bungalow with the 2 rooms. It was the most expensive option btw). I saw that the negative comments made by previous guest were followed by Iberostar Bella Costa PR team saying they apologize for the experience and are working hard on solving these problems. What I have to say to you is don’t bother commenting because your follow up comment means nothing. I’m sure nothing has changed and it’s only getting worse. Save your words and do something about it. For those who doubt, by all means, go and experience it for yourselves. Looking forward to reading future comments.

We travelled here from apr 4-10 .Personally I went through each review with a fine tooth comb on every and any review site I could find . We were searching for a place to bring our kids that would be able to meet all the needs . For starters we definitely aren’t picky travellers , we have been everywhere and this is my third time in Cuba , with that being said the room was less than advertised . The rooms ,elevators definitely needs some up keep in the main building . They are working on it as I noticed first hand and that’s all you can ask . We were staying on the fifth floor with a beautiful amazing view of the ocean the pool and the show which was on ( outside ) every night . The bed was definitely uncomfortable , but we sleep with 100 pillows at home . There are tiny ants in the bathroom sink so be cautious pouring wine or beer down and not rinsing afterwards. Bring some pillow cases and extra blanket if you’re massively high strung about stuff like that . It definitely beats staying in a room with bugs crawling on you all night ( Cozumel ) . Shower never had hot water , this is definitely a downfall , but we managed to just wash our hair from inside by trying not to let the cold water hit our bodies ( especially with a sunburn ) . Food was absolutely amazing , no bugs very clean and a massive variety. My stomach usually has issues , but not this trip , I survived on pasta , hamburgers , hot dogs , chicken , omelettes ,( you get my point there is a ton of food and it’s delicious and good ) bring some ketchup and mustard packets , or hot sauce etc . If you’re visiting Cuba you know there are shortages . The price for us from Toronto ( north of Toronto) was amazing and well worth the cost . Definitely not a shortage of beach and ocean and amazing Cubans . It never felt overcrowded . You can walk for days on the beach right into town if you feel the need . We will be getting a family suite next year . Just remember it’s a vacation to get away from the grind . Enjoy it ! See the sites meet the people or just relax by the pool or ocean .

I stayed at this resort April 2-9th and celebrated our wedding on the beach on the 5th. I can not say enough about our wedding coordinator Dayagne Vila. She is absolutely amazing, I communicated with her daily from Canada and she was amazing right from day 1 until we ended our vacation. She made our day beautiful and memorable. She went over and above to make sure we had everything perfect!!

Our stay was fantastic. I’ve been to Cuba 4 times and this my favourite resort. The food was great, entertainment was amazing and our rooms were so close to the beach! Sol at the daycare was amazing taking care of my little girl, the bartenders were so friendly. 5 stars