Holidays in Cuba, hotel Arenas Blancas 4 *
My husband and I were vacationing in Cuba in November 2009, although it took a long time to persuade him to take this trip, it was frightening that with a transfer Novosibirsk - Moscow - Havana - Moscow - Novosibirsk, and the fact that the flight was long (13 hours there, 11 hours back). , 5), but it was worth it!
Arrived in Havana in the evening, settled in the Inglaterra Hotel, one of the oldest and most classic hotels in the city, located in the very Center of Old Havana next to the Grand Theater and the Capitol. And also next to the hotel is the famous cafe Floriditta, where they serve the best daiquiri cocktail in Cuba, but I still did not understand whether this was true or not. because the cocktail itself didn’t impress me, after that we went for a walk around the local neighborhood, to find something to eat, of course, this is a problem at a later time, on the way we met two local guys who later tried to “dissolve” us : ). Walking down the street very often they offer cigars, rum, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we were warned that they mostly offer a fake from our hands, in general, we didn’t take risks. The next day, we took a sightseeing tour of Havana and, to be honest, were disappointed, they took us to the National Hotel, after they drove through old Havana, they brought us to the fortress, and then, they immediately took us to a shop where they sell cigars and rum, and after that we were taken to the market, where there is nothing to do, and let go in peace, in general, the conclusion is: take a guidebook and walk around Havana on your own! . Which we did early the next morning before leaving for Varadero, although for this we had to get up very early, but at least we saw something.
Finally, a bus came for us with a delay of about 2 hours (this is in the spirit of the Cubans) and we went to Varadero, and after 3-4 hours, and here we are! The Arenas Blancas hotel is quite worthy, it is cheerful from the outside painted in orange, good location, first coastline, car rental, bars, restaurants, shops, in general, everything is nearby, the animation is excellent, beautiful well-groomed green area, the rooms are cleaned every day, the staff is friendly, and more friendlier when you tip 1-2 Cook enough, the food will go (although we got a little fed up with it in a week), there is enough space on the beach, you don’t need to take sunbeds in the morning. I especially liked the ocean, the water is clean, the sand is fine and white, in general, really Paradise! I got up and had breakfast on the beach, and there was a Mojito, in the heat, by the way, it's good when it's All Inclusive! Since the hotel is focused mainly on Canadians, there are VERY few Russian tourists there, during our stay there we met a Russian family who has been living in Canada for a long time, a girl who flew with us on the same flight, and a week later a guy from Moscow, what a joy it was his face when he heard us that we speak Russian, later a couple more flew in from Moscow and that’s all, the rest are only Canadians, but it didn’t bother us, rather the opposite : )
According to the excursions that the tour offered. operator Natalie - Tour we took a trip to the island of Cayo - Largo and trips in jeeps, I want to note right away that the guides from Natalie tours score on tourists, she appeared only 2 times during our entire holiday, and then the second time only because she arrived a new tourist, although according to the schedule she was supposed to appear there 5 times a week. In general, I liked the excursions, the island of Cayo - Largo impressed me, the whole large white sand beach, many palm trees and the Caribbean Sea, on the way to it we were brought to the island of iguanas, one of the iguanas left a mark on my leg in the form of a deep scratch for memory, it’s worth fly there, although some prefer sea travel! The jeep tour is more intense, I also liked it!
You can rent a car and visit some of the cities of this wonderful country on your own, it’s worth a trip to Cuba, we will definitely return there again! Many thanks to Lyudmila Olegovna and Olga Ivanovna (Olympia Raizen - Siberia) for organizing not the first round, we all really liked it!! !
