Beautiful Varadero (Iberostar Varadero, Cuba)

Member Name: flodombey

Product:	Iberostar Varadero, Cuba
Date:	02/10/09 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great resort, wonderful service, beautiful beach, good food

Disadvantages: Minor niggles, not quite a 5 star

We stayed at this hotel in September 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The beach here is absolutely perfect, soft white sands, beautiful warm turquoise sea. The staff are very hardworking and friendly and tipping at the bars/waitress service definitely makes a difference.

Officially this hotel is rated a 5 star, I would say it is a good 4 star personally, not quite polished enough to be a five star in my opinion.

Rooms
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Our room was very nice and felt brand new with a gorgeous big bathroom. Everything was clean and our room had controllable air con. There were two very comfortable queen size beds, a large balcony with table and chairs on it, marble looking floors and a mini bar. The room also had a large television which received many international channels including BBC World and CNN.

We were in block 10 on the second floor and the only slight disappointment was that our room faced the back of the hotel grounds so our view was of trees and bushes and not of the lovely coast although from the looks of it only a few of the blocks would have had a clear view anyway.

Food
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We stayed on an all inclusive basis which gave us unlimited access to the standard restaurants and an opportunity to try the speciality restaurants once each although this did have to be booked on the morning you wanted to eat in them so took some foresight and luck at getting in. All drinks were free, including beers, wines and local spirits, the cocktails were excellent and we drank many many mojitos at the poolside bar.

We tried all three speciality restaurants and our favourite by far was the Japanese, the food in there was very nice and it made a really nice change to have such a different cuisine as the buffet and the med/cuban were quite samey we thought. The way it was cooked for you on the tepanyaki was entertaining and it made for an enjoyable evening.

The cuban restaurant is a bit of a mozzie fest as its essentially outdoors but the food was ok, nothing special. The mediterranean restaurant was a slight problem for me as I dont eat seafood/fish which was 90% of the menu, I couldn't have any of the 'starters' for this reason although the chicken main I had was fairly nice.

The buffet was generally good and very good for breakfast, we never managed to find it open at lunch despite the info saying it was, at nights it was nice but there never seemed to be much variation, lots of pastas and carvery meat, no problems with heat of the food though and waitress service in here was great.

Grounds
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The hotel grounds are like something out of a film, lush, tropical vegetation and plants, bird of paradise flowers dotted around like dandelions, flora and fauna which will make your eyes pop out (we got very blase about the amount of iguanas wandering around).

Beautifully maintained, the grounds are meticulously kept and are a real pleasure to walk through.

Entertainment
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We found the animacion evening entertainment to be mostly quite basic and a bit like you would get at Butlins. Some nights I cringed to be English as we seem to excel at making an arse of ourselves in every 'show' going, the Mr Iberostar in particular was embarrassing. The one show that stood out for quality and choreography was Chicago so see that if you get the chance. You cannot fault the hard working animacion staff though, they never tire of trying to involve you in things!

Pool
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The pool area was very nice although I can see why some people (on other review sites) have complained about the noise, it could be a rude awakening some afternoons when you were dozing and they started the 'games' but generally it was fairly entertaining to watch and you do have the option of heading down to the beach if you really want some peace and quiet.

There is a swim up bar which was very nice in the heat of the day and the waiter service round the sunbeds was always on the ball and fantasically efficient.

Facilities
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There are a couple of shops situated within the hotel complex itself, selling tourist items, postcards and the like, we actually found much cheaper shops just down the road so didnt use it but for last minute souvenirs it would be very handy.

There is a spa and gym room although again we did not use these so I cannot comment on them. The gym generally did seem quite popular when I went past it (is it only me that finds the thought of a treadmill rather sadistic while on holiday!?). There is a hairdresser and beauty salon also, which seemed to be permanently braiding young girls hair into plaits with beads on the end.

Trips from the Hotel
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We went on the Canimar River trip for 51 cuc and would highly recommend it! This was a full day spent snorkelling, cruising down the river, horseriding, rowing and eating on a cuban farm. The snorkelling in particular was amazing, we were lucky to be in a group of only 4 with our guide and it was my first time so I was quite nervous but after 10 minutes watching the fish I had forgotten to be frightened, the horseriding was good fun too. Well worth it.

I only really have very minor niggles about this place - sometimes there were no glasses available in the snack bars so you couldnt help yourself to the drinks, sometimes waitress/bar service could be slow, things never seemed to open when it said they did but hey, on holiday who really cares!

All in all I would recommend this place, its beautiful, the beach is like something out of a film and the staff are incredibly good, the food is better than we expected it to be and the rooms are great.

Summary: A great hotel and a lovely, tropical resort