A trip to Cuba happened when a friend from a travel agency called and offered a promotional tour: "When else will you get to Cuba ?! " I thought she was right and started going! I chose from the proposed hotel options for a long time, read a lot of both negative and positive reviews, in general, chose the hotel Be Live Experience Varadero.
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A trip to Cuba happened when a friend from a travel agency called and offered a promotional tour: "When else will you get to Cuba ?! " I thought she was right and started going! I chose from the proposed hotel options for a long time, read a lot of both negative and positive reviews, in general, chose the hotel Be Live Experience Varadero. The flight was from Kiev to Paris, then from Paris to Havana. Between flights 7.5 hours of docking. We had enough time to visit Notre Dame de Paris for Sunday Mass! ! ! ! ! By RER train, which goes directly from Charles de Gaulle to Notre Dame de Paris, we got in 1 hour, ticket price 10.5 euros one way. We managed to visit Notre Dame de Paris for a quiet lunch in a Chinese cafe (0.5 liter soup with shrimp and 400 ml tea - 13 euros). Then there was a long flight to Havana (AirFrance). Transfer to the hotel took about 3 hours. Arrived late at night, we were immediately settled (no extra money).
NUMBER. We lived in room 1327.
3rd floor.
The room is spacious, good. The view from the window was on the building on the right and the road in the center, in the distance you could see the ocean. At first we really wanted to remember the room with a view of the ocean, but then we saw that the rooms with a view of the ocean also go to a disco, evening animation programs, bars, etc. It was. Work on the construction site began at 7:30-8:00 and ended at 17:00, but we did not mind. First, the noise of construction overshadowed the noise of air conditioning, and secondly, at this time we were almost always at sea. CLEANING in the rooms is "carried out" daily: wash the floor in the room and bathroom, change the bed without changing clothes, make all sorts of elephants from the bedspread. Towels are enough - one large and one small, change towels only on request, as well as bed linen. We were changed once in 11 nights and only when asked, having tasted the request with chocolate.
Towels are given clean, but with stains, they say they do not open.
The two had one shampoo, liquid soap, body cream, two regular soaps and wipes. When asked (with chocolate) to add - brought one and a hair conditioner. The air conditioning in the room is noisy, windy, drives more air than cools, but still good. The furniture and the room are, of course, old, but everything is working fine. In-room complimentary safe. We didn't lose anything from the money of her things (many people wrote about the thefts), on the contrary, they once left a handful of candies to the girl who cleaned the room, so she didn't take them. so far we haven't told her it's for her. In general, the staff is very friendly. Upon arrival, give a 1.5 liter bottle of drinking water, two 0.3 cans of local beer and the same amount of sweet carbonated water. Then you can collect water in any bar of the hotel.
FOOD was ordered by the system - 24 hours a day.
There is a main restaurant (breakfast, lunch, dinner), a restaurant by the pool (24 hours - french fries, hamburgers, hot dogs and drinks, including hot, alcoholic and non-alcoholic), a beach bar (drinks and lunch), a bar on the 9th floor (night drinks), coffee bar on the 4th floor, bar between the third and fourth floors (the best cocktails !!! ). We mostly ate at the main restaurant. There was enough food: fish, seafood (crabs, shrimp), meat (chicken, beef, pork), potatoes in different versions (puree, french fries, grilled), rice of various kinds, vegetables from fresh vegetables - cucumbers, many pickled vegetables, fruit - magnolia !! ! ! ! ! ! , papaya, pineapple, guava, watermelon, cereals and yogurts of various kinds, pasta, pancakes, fresh fruit for breakfast, a huge variety of cheeses (Parmesan, with mold, etc. ), coffee, tea (from machines), in the morning - ground or scrambled eggs, lunch and for dinner - wine (red and white) and beer.
TERRITORY - quite large, green, lizards run around the territory, many different interesting birds - have seen hummingbirds twice! ! ! ! ! The hotel consists of a main building and villas.
OCEAN AND BEACH - a luxurious ocean with blue water, a wide line of white sand! ! ! ! ! It must be seen and felt! The ocean is very small, suitable for children, clean, calm! It's worth going here for the ocean! ! ! ! ! ! ! The water is salty, velvety, the skin after it is just amazing! There are enough sunbeds and umbrellas on the beach, there are always free ones. Beach towels are available at the pool table in the main hotel building. there are no problems with poltentsy, change daily on demand. The sun is bright, you can easily burn, it is better to take creams with a high level of protection. The sun is hot from 10 am to 17:00.
EXCURSIONS - Varadero runs a double-decker bus, the ticket costs 5 cookies (almost 5 euros), you can go all day, go to the stops you like.
The last stop on the spit is the port, we recommend going out and walking here, very beautiful. Went to Havana (tour of Havana Premium - 95 cookies per person) for the whole day, interesting, but the organization is very lame! Endless anticipation of lunch, dinner, trips by retro cars ...Everything is very long, nobody knows anything ...In general, it is better to take an individual tour and see for yourself what you want when planning your time.
Cuba, Thank you for a wonderful holiday! ! ! ! !
NUMBER. We lived in room 1327.
3rd floor.
The room is spacious, good. The view from the window was on the building on the right and the road in the center, in the distance you could see the ocean. At first we really wanted to remember the room with a view of the ocean, but then we saw that the rooms with a view of the ocean also go to a disco, evening animation programs, bars, etc. It was. Work on the construction site began at 7:30-8:00 and ended at 17:00, but we did not mind. First, the noise of construction overshadowed the noise of air conditioning, and secondly, at this time we were almost always at sea. CLEANING in the rooms is "carried out" daily: wash the floor in the room and bathroom, change the bed without changing clothes, make all sorts of elephants from the bedspread. Towels are enough - one large and one small, change towels only on request, as well as bed linen. We were changed once in 11 nights and only when asked, having tasted the request with chocolate.
Towels are given clean, but with stains, they say they do not open.
The two had one shampoo, liquid soap, body cream, two regular soaps and wipes. When asked (with chocolate) to add - brought one and a hair conditioner. The air conditioning in the room is noisy, windy, drives more air than cools, but still good. The furniture and the room are, of course, old, but everything is working fine. In-room complimentary safe. We didn't lose anything from the money of her things (many people wrote about the thefts), on the contrary, they once left a handful of candies to the girl who cleaned the room, so she didn't take them. so far we haven't told her it's for her. In general, the staff is very friendly. Upon arrival, give a 1.5 liter bottle of drinking water, two 0.3 cans of local beer and the same amount of sweet carbonated water. Then you can collect water in any bar of the hotel.
FOOD was ordered by the system - 24 hours a day.
There is a main restaurant (breakfast, lunch, dinner), a restaurant by the pool (24 hours - french fries, hamburgers, hot dogs and drinks, including hot, alcoholic and non-alcoholic), a beach bar (drinks and lunch), a bar on the 9th floor (night drinks), coffee bar on the 4th floor, bar between the third and fourth floors (the best cocktails !!! ). We mostly ate at the main restaurant. There was enough food: fish, seafood (crabs, shrimp), meat (chicken, beef, pork), potatoes in different versions (puree, french fries, grilled), rice of various kinds, vegetables from fresh vegetables - cucumbers, many pickled vegetables, fruit - magnolia !! ! ! ! ! ! , papaya, pineapple, guava, watermelon, cereals and yogurts of various kinds, pasta, pancakes, fresh fruit for breakfast, a huge variety of cheeses (Parmesan, with mold, etc. ), coffee, tea (from machines), in the morning - ground or scrambled eggs, lunch and for dinner - wine (red and white) and beer.
TERRITORY - quite large, green, lizards run around the territory, many different interesting birds - have seen hummingbirds twice! ! ! ! ! The hotel consists of a main building and villas.
OCEAN AND BEACH - a luxurious ocean with blue water, a wide line of white sand! ! ! ! ! It must be seen and felt! The ocean is very small, suitable for children, clean, calm! It's worth going here for the ocean! ! ! ! ! ! ! The water is salty, velvety, the skin after it is just amazing! There are enough sunbeds and umbrellas on the beach, there are always free ones. Beach towels are available at the pool table in the main hotel building. there are no problems with poltentsy, change daily on demand. The sun is bright, you can easily burn, it is better to take creams with a high level of protection. The sun is hot from 10 am to 17:00.
EXCURSIONS - Varadero runs a double-decker bus, the ticket costs 5 cookies (almost 5 euros), you can go all day, go to the stops you like.
The last stop on the spit is the port, we recommend going out and walking here, very beautiful. Went to Havana (tour of Havana Premium - 95 cookies per person) for the whole day, interesting, but the organization is very lame! Endless anticipation of lunch, dinner, trips by retro cars ...Everything is very long, nobody knows anything ...In general, it is better to take an individual tour and see for yourself what you want when planning your time.
Cuba, Thank you for a wonderful holiday! ! ! ! !
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We rested at the Be Live Experience Varadero hotel from April 11 to April 20.2018, then April 20-23 in Havana. This review is long as it describes many points that were not clear to us before going to Cuba. I note that the local travel agency believes that the high season in Cuba is from December 16 to April 30 (at this time, prices for excursions are higher).
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We rested at the Be Live Experience Varadero hotel from April 11 to April 20.2018, then April 20-23 in Havana.
This review is long as it describes many points that were not clear to us before going to Cuba. I note that the local travel agency believes that the high season in Cuba is from December 16 to April 30 (at this time, prices for excursions are higher).
air travel
There is no direct flight from Kyiv, so Air France flew: Kyiv - Paris (a-p Charles de Gaulle) - Havana. The flight there went well, but it is necessary that the connection time is at least 2.5 ...3 hours, because Charles de Gaulle airport is very large (the same applies to the airports of Madrid and Munich).
The return flight from Havana should also be on April 23 to Paris, but on April 21. On 18 we received an e-mail that due to the strike, the departure of flight AF825 (departure time 19-40.23. 04 and 24.04 is canceled, and Air France will send us to Kyiv before 30.04. 18.
After 2 days of correspondence with Air France (the main contribution to it was made by the travel company i-tour, N. Ostapchuk) on 23.04 in the morning we were informed that we would still be sent on 23.
04, but with 2 transfers: Havana - Madrid (a-to Air Europe), Madrid - Munich (a-to Luftganza), Munich - Kyiv (a-to Luftganza). Although on 23.04 Air France had another flight Havana - Paris (at 22-40), we were sent on a less convenient route.
It seemed that flight AF82.23, departing on Monday. 04 sold few tickets and was canceled under the guise of a strike. Moreover, in the following days 24.04 and 25.04. On the 18th this flight arrived at airport Charles de Gaulle as scheduled.
Worse, in Munich, in the transit zone a-p at passport control, we were detained by the police for entering Germany without visas (we have ordinary, not biometric passports). For some reason, this did not bother anyone either in Paris or in Madrid. And in Munich, we spent more than half an hour writing an explanatory note that we were not going to visit Germany, but ended up in Munich because of Air France. As a result, we barely had time to check in for a flight to Kyiv.
Fly with Air France?
At Havana airport, prices are in CUC everywhere, they take any currency, but at a low rate. The price of 0.5 water is 1.5 CUC.
Guides Join up
The Varadero Israel guide from the host Terramar Caribe gave full information about Varadero and the hotel and provided everything we wanted, including transfer to the hotel in Havana.
But the guide in Havana, Mario, at first avoided meeting with us, did nothing to help in the situation of canceling the flight, and then completely stopped answering our calls.
The memo of the tour operator Join up in Cuba states that after registering for a flight to Havana airport, you must pay an airfield tax in the amount of 25 CUC / person. But that's not the case - you don't have to pay anything.
Transfer
Every day, several flights arrive in Havana from Paris and Amsterdam, which you can transfer to when departing from Kyiv. Our flight was the very first, so we did not order a group transfer with the risk of waiting at the airport for 3-5 hours. The taxi driver (or rather, their breeder) to Varadero requested 70 CUC - we bargained for 60 euros + 5 dollars.
We ordered a group transfer from Varadero to Havana from Join up for $25 per person.
The hotel's swimming pool features a hydromassage tub. The hotel has a very friendly attitude of the staff, they greet in Russian.
Wi-Fi - at the reception 0.5 CUC per 30 min. , or 1 CUC for 1 hour.
The exchange rate at the hotel is very unfavorable - 1 euro - 1.01 CUC (dollars should not be taken to Cuba at all). At the bank on 31st Street (the Central Park is also located there, but it is not very large) 1 euro = 1.19 CUC. For the exchange you need a passport.
In Cuba, check in is 16:00 and check out is 12:00. After the room is handed over, the bracelets are not cut off and you can dine and use the bars.
Beach
In Varadero, near our hotel, there is a wide sandy beach with a gradual approach. But already after 10 meters at high tide and after 20-25 meters at low tide you can swim. The sea is lifeless - mask and snorkel are not needed here. For 10 days, only 2 times the sea was calm, on the other days there were waves of different sizes, and one day there was a strong storm and it was impossible to swim. When the sea is calm, you can ride a kayak, pedalo or catamaran with an instructor for free.
One of the reviews complained that the beach bar is far from the beach - however, it is only 100 steps from the beach entrance.
Number
Quite spacious (we had #2625 on the 6th floor in the east wing of the hotel with partial sea views on both sides of the Varadero spit). Everything worked in the room (including hair dryer) hot water was constantly. Voltage - 220 V. Furniture "tired" but quite tolerable. The central air conditioner was constantly noisy, sometimes you could hear motorcycles under the windows of the room, once at night they turned on the generator located at the cistern under the hotel building.
The room had a free safe, which was opened by a card from the room.
After we left the money to the cleaner, "flowers" appeared on the beds, and a swan appeared in the bathroom. Every day in the room 1.5l bottle of water when cleaning. This is not enough, and we poured a bottle of water from the vending machine in Ch. restaurant (it has two types of water and 3-4 carbonated drinks).
Nutrition
Very good.
Large selection of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In the morning there were fresh juices of several types, eggs in 3-4 types (including poshot), yogurts, numerous salads, fried bacon, chicken. A wide variety of cheeses, including blue cheeses (not every day). Even sausage (3 types) was quite edible, and not "chemical", as in Egyptian-Turkish hotels. There were always pineapple, watermelon, papaya, bananas. But there were no tomatoes and cucumbers a couple of times, sometimes the tomatoes were unripe.
Champagne was freely available in the restaurant from 7-00 in the restaurant in the ice bucket (it was also available freely in the lobby bar until 18-00). For those who like to add liquor to drinks - near the coffee machine in Ch. restaurant 3-5 types of liquor.
For lunch and dinner there were always several types of meat (pork or beef), chicken, 2-3 types of fish. Often fish and meat were fried right in front of us. True, a couple of times the bacon was overcooked, and the pork was “rubber”, but there is always another meat and fish to choose from.
There were shrimp a couple of times.
There is a restaurant for an early breakfast, or a late dinner (from 23-00 to 6-30) at the beach bar, which we used after a late return from the tour.
We did not go to a la carte restaurants.
The drinks
The hotel operates on an extended All system, and in addition to Cuban drinks, tequila, whiskey gin, brandy, Amaretto liqueur, etc. are included.
The reviews wrote that the hotel did not have enough disposable cups, so we brought our own. In vain - there were enough glasses. Bartenders make for people with thermoses and thermo mugs right by the pool a cocktail with a volume of 0.5 ...0.7 liters, or pour a similar amount of cold beer. And then the owners of the thermos sip from it for a long time, without leaving the pool or being on the beach.
Animation
It is available both on the beach and in the evening by the pool. Evening shows were very good.
Tours
From the hotel in about 25-30 minutes.
The price of the tour is the same for both the tour operator and the local company "Gavanatur" - 93 CUC / person. including lunch. There were 6 French and 8 Russian speakers in our group. Therefore, 2/3 of the time the guide spoke in French, and only 1/3 in Russian. The tour is very long - we left the hotel at 7-00, and returned to it at 23-00. That is, they missed both breakfast and dinner. We drove 760 km. Therefore, if you are not a fan of Che Guevaro, it is better to go Trinidad - Cienfuegos without visiting Santa Clara. And less tiring, and you will see more in these two cities.
Tourists
Most Canadians. There are Czechs, Poles, Germans. Russian speakers are about 5-7%.
If you have any questions, write to sk_lora@ukr. net, we will answer.
Alexander and Larisa
Liked: the friendly attitude of the staff, food, swimming pool, do not cut the bracelets.
Disliked: high humidity and unstable weather, rough and lifeless sea, air conditioner noise.
This review is long as it describes many points that were not clear to us before going to Cuba. I note that the local travel agency believes that the high season in Cuba is from December 16 to April 30 (at this time, prices for excursions are higher).
air travel
There is no direct flight from Kyiv, so Air France flew: Kyiv - Paris (a-p Charles de Gaulle) - Havana. The flight there went well, but it is necessary that the connection time is at least 2.5 ...3 hours, because Charles de Gaulle airport is very large (the same applies to the airports of Madrid and Munich).
The return flight from Havana should also be on April 23 to Paris, but on April 21. On 18 we received an e-mail that due to the strike, the departure of flight AF825 (departure time 19-40.23. 04 and 24.04 is canceled, and Air France will send us to Kyiv before 30.04. 18.
After 2 days of correspondence with Air France (the main contribution to it was made by the travel company i-tour, N. Ostapchuk) on 23.04 in the morning we were informed that we would still be sent on 23.
04, but with 2 transfers: Havana - Madrid (a-to Air Europe), Madrid - Munich (a-to Luftganza), Munich - Kyiv (a-to Luftganza). Although on 23.04 Air France had another flight Havana - Paris (at 22-40), we were sent on a less convenient route.
It seemed that flight AF82.23, departing on Monday. 04 sold few tickets and was canceled under the guise of a strike. Moreover, in the following days 24.04 and 25.04. On the 18th this flight arrived at airport Charles de Gaulle as scheduled.
Worse, in Munich, in the transit zone a-p at passport control, we were detained by the police for entering Germany without visas (we have ordinary, not biometric passports). For some reason, this did not bother anyone either in Paris or in Madrid. And in Munich, we spent more than half an hour writing an explanatory note that we were not going to visit Germany, but ended up in Munich because of Air France. As a result, we barely had time to check in for a flight to Kyiv.
Fly with Air France?
At Havana airport, prices are in CUC everywhere, they take any currency, but at a low rate. The price of 0.5 water is 1.5 CUC.
Guides Join up
The Varadero Israel guide from the host Terramar Caribe gave full information about Varadero and the hotel and provided everything we wanted, including transfer to the hotel in Havana.
But the guide in Havana, Mario, at first avoided meeting with us, did nothing to help in the situation of canceling the flight, and then completely stopped answering our calls.
The memo of the tour operator Join up in Cuba states that after registering for a flight to Havana airport, you must pay an airfield tax in the amount of 25 CUC / person. But that's not the case - you don't have to pay anything.
Transfer
Every day, several flights arrive in Havana from Paris and Amsterdam, which you can transfer to when departing from Kyiv. Our flight was the very first, so we did not order a group transfer with the risk of waiting at the airport for 3-5 hours. The taxi driver (or rather, their breeder) to Varadero requested 70 CUC - we bargained for 60 euros + 5 dollars.
We ordered a group transfer from Varadero to Havana from Join up for $25 per person.
The hotel's swimming pool features a hydromassage tub. The hotel has a very friendly attitude of the staff, they greet in Russian.
Wi-Fi - at the reception 0.5 CUC per 30 min. , or 1 CUC for 1 hour.
The exchange rate at the hotel is very unfavorable - 1 euro - 1.01 CUC (dollars should not be taken to Cuba at all). At the bank on 31st Street (the Central Park is also located there, but it is not very large) 1 euro = 1.19 CUC. For the exchange you need a passport.
In Cuba, check in is 16:00 and check out is 12:00. After the room is handed over, the bracelets are not cut off and you can dine and use the bars.
Beach
In Varadero, near our hotel, there is a wide sandy beach with a gradual approach. But already after 10 meters at high tide and after 20-25 meters at low tide you can swim. The sea is lifeless - mask and snorkel are not needed here. For 10 days, only 2 times the sea was calm, on the other days there were waves of different sizes, and one day there was a strong storm and it was impossible to swim. When the sea is calm, you can ride a kayak, pedalo or catamaran with an instructor for free.
One of the reviews complained that the beach bar is far from the beach - however, it is only 100 steps from the beach entrance.
Number
Quite spacious (we had #2625 on the 6th floor in the east wing of the hotel with partial sea views on both sides of the Varadero spit). Everything worked in the room (including hair dryer) hot water was constantly. Voltage - 220 V. Furniture "tired" but quite tolerable. The central air conditioner was constantly noisy, sometimes you could hear motorcycles under the windows of the room, once at night they turned on the generator located at the cistern under the hotel building.
The room had a free safe, which was opened by a card from the room.
After we left the money to the cleaner, "flowers" appeared on the beds, and a swan appeared in the bathroom. Every day in the room 1.5l bottle of water when cleaning. This is not enough, and we poured a bottle of water from the vending machine in Ch. restaurant (it has two types of water and 3-4 carbonated drinks).
Nutrition
Very good.
Large selection of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In the morning there were fresh juices of several types, eggs in 3-4 types (including poshot), yogurts, numerous salads, fried bacon, chicken. A wide variety of cheeses, including blue cheeses (not every day). Even sausage (3 types) was quite edible, and not "chemical", as in Egyptian-Turkish hotels. There were always pineapple, watermelon, papaya, bananas. But there were no tomatoes and cucumbers a couple of times, sometimes the tomatoes were unripe.
Champagne was freely available in the restaurant from 7-00 in the restaurant in the ice bucket (it was also available freely in the lobby bar until 18-00). For those who like to add liquor to drinks - near the coffee machine in Ch. restaurant 3-5 types of liquor.
For lunch and dinner there were always several types of meat (pork or beef), chicken, 2-3 types of fish. Often fish and meat were fried right in front of us. True, a couple of times the bacon was overcooked, and the pork was “rubber”, but there is always another meat and fish to choose from.
There were shrimp a couple of times.
There is a restaurant for an early breakfast, or a late dinner (from 23-00 to 6-30) at the beach bar, which we used after a late return from the tour.
We did not go to a la carte restaurants.
The drinks
The hotel operates on an extended All system, and in addition to Cuban drinks, tequila, whiskey gin, brandy, Amaretto liqueur, etc. are included.
The reviews wrote that the hotel did not have enough disposable cups, so we brought our own. In vain - there were enough glasses. Bartenders make for people with thermoses and thermo mugs right by the pool a cocktail with a volume of 0.5 ...0.7 liters, or pour a similar amount of cold beer. And then the owners of the thermos sip from it for a long time, without leaving the pool or being on the beach.
Animation
It is available both on the beach and in the evening by the pool. Evening shows were very good.
Tours
From the hotel in about 25-30 minutes.
The price of the tour is the same for both the tour operator and the local company "Gavanatur" - 93 CUC / person. including lunch. There were 6 French and 8 Russian speakers in our group. Therefore, 2/3 of the time the guide spoke in French, and only 1/3 in Russian. The tour is very long - we left the hotel at 7-00, and returned to it at 23-00. That is, they missed both breakfast and dinner. We drove 760 km. Therefore, if you are not a fan of Che Guevaro, it is better to go Trinidad - Cienfuegos without visiting Santa Clara. And less tiring, and you will see more in these two cities.
Tourists
Most Canadians. There are Czechs, Poles, Germans. Russian speakers are about 5-7%.
If you have any questions, write to sk_lora@ukr. net, we will answer.
Alexander and Larisa
Liked: the friendly attitude of the staff, food, swimming pool, do not cut the bracelets.
Disliked: high humidity and unstable weather, rough and lifeless sea, air conditioner noise.
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9 months have passed since my husband and I returned from Cuba, and I already want to go there again. )) We went from March 6 to March 18.2011. I want to share my impressions and all the knowledge that I acquired on this trip, I hope my review will help it is better to prepare for the trip and spend time in Cuba, for those who are going there for the first time.
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9 months have passed since my husband and I returned from Cuba, and I already want to go there again. )) We went from March 6 to March 18.2011. I want to share my impressions and all the knowledge that I acquired on this trip, I hope my review will help it is better to prepare for the trip and spend time in Cuba, for those who are going there for the first time. I want to say right away that I thoroughly prepared for the trip and literally rummaged through the entire Internet in search of reviews about Cuba and our Villa Cuba 4 * hotel, I found 3 reviews about our hotel, 1 of them already in 2000, in the second there was little information, and the third showed up just before we left. Well, first things first.
MONEY. The country has its own local peso, and there is a convertible peso (CUC) for tourists, they are all welcome. Do not listen to anyone, take only the euro, the most profitable chickens 1 € = 1.3 (СUC) this course was at the time of our stay. Some of the guys we met there took Canadian dollars with them, and so they lost on them, in general, not profitable. I read a lot about advice to change money immediately at the airport and thought that we would do that, but my husband decided to get to the hotel first to recover after the flight, and only then deal with finances, and this was our mistake, now I will explain why. We have a hard time with languages, so when we arrived at the hotel and at the reception we were given some kind of booklet with the hotel data and a room key, so as not to ask too many questions, we decided to take a porter, he, of course, escorted us to the room, showed us how to use the keys (for those who go to our hotel, if there are two of you, one of the keys opens the safe) of course you need to tip usually 1 (CUC), we don’t have them, of course, and the smallest euro denomination was 5 € , in short, the porter got richer that evening. Our second mistake - the next day we decided to take a scooter and go to Varadero airport and see the course, they took a little money and changed it at the reception, in all hotels they charge a commission of 3%. We didn't take euros for reconnaissance, in pocket 3 (СUC) change from a scooter. We are leaving Varadero, we are approaching a place that looks like a checkpoint, we have to pay for vehicle 2 (СUC) for leaving and then for entering, we understand that we have money to leave, but not to enter. )) We turn around, go to the hotel, change money, go to the airport again. The moral of this fable is that as soon as you arrive, change money at the airport, the exchange rate is good and they don’t take a commission. Local banks charge a transaction fee.
HOTEL Villa Cuba 4*. The location of the hotel, in my opinion, is very good, you don’t have to cross any streets, the territory ends with access to the beach, and besides, it is located almost in the middle of all Varadero, so you can get to the souvenir market and the main street of Varadero, as well as to the Plaza shopping center compared to other hotels close. We went to the souvenir market on foot, to be honest, it’s a long walk for km. 5-6, but we wanted to see the city. The fact is that at the beginning of Varadero there are several hotels that are separated from the beach by the central street of Varadero and vacationers have to cross it. I really liked the hotel itself, a very interesting architectural design, who will rest there will understand later. The room was a little shocking, but then I got used to it and realized that all the rooms are the same, so I didn’t mess it up. Apparently, since the hotel was built, no repairs or any updates have been carried out in the rooms. Voltage in sockets 220V adapters are not needed. When we checked into the room, it turned out that we were not provided with a 1.5 liter bottle of water, we went to the reception, where the girl wrote down the application, that was it, only after a repeated reminder on the third day a bottle appeared in our room. The hotel has 3 restaurants. 1 main, where breakfasts, lunches and dinners are held, and 2 by appointment. There are three bars in the building: one purely coffee bar is located near the entrance to the hotel on the 4th floor (when you enter the hotel from the road, you find yourself on the 4th floor), the second lobby bar with alcoholic drinks is on the 3.5 floor, and the third bar is on the 9th floor there is an observation point, you can get there by elevator or stairs. There is also a round bar near the pool, on the back of this bar, hot dogs and hamburgers are served at lunchtime. There is another bar towards the beach and next to it, an open restaurant is open only at lunchtime (musicians often play there). As for the food, you won't go hungry, there is quite a variety even for vegetarians. Desserts are of course amazing and ice cream, and for breakfast fresh fruit juice or freshly squeezed orange juice in any quantity. Of the fruits were pineapple (very tasty), papaya, orange, grapefruit, guava, bananas. Once at lunch they asked for red wine, they were disappointed, apparently we were unlucky, maybe other wines were better, we didn’t even ask what kind of wine, we didn’t order more wine. There were never lobsters, but the king prawns were given 5 times during the entire period of our stay.
HAVANA. To be honest, I thought that we would call a Russian-speaking guide and go to Havana with him, but since my husband is an avid motorist, he wanted to rent a car and feel the beauty of travel, being at home, I was wary of this idea, think for yourself, a foreign country we practically do not speak the language is scary. But everything turned out to be much easier. I did not dissuade my husband, he rented a car for 135 (СUC) days, and if we had gone with a tour, it would have been more expensive for two. Well, we went, many write that there are no identification marks, you can get lost, I can say nothing like that, the only place where we had difficulties was before turning to Havana, the route diverges into two roads, one is straight, the other is to the right and there was no sign in which direction to Havana, but we were not at a loss, my husband stopped at the side of the road and asked the guy where to go, it turned out that we had to move to the right. I can say for sure that you will not experience such a buzz when you go with a general excursion by bus. We stopped where we wanted, after Mantanzas on the road to Havana there is a bridge laid through a huge, deep gorge, the VIEW is just awesome. We drove calmly in Havana because my husband is a very experienced driver and knows the traffic rules well. We ourselves found the Museum of the Revolution, the Capitol (it is not far from the Museum of the Revolution), drove along the Malecon embankment, accidentally drove to the Revolution Square, there is a museum (who I don’t remember) in a high tower, you pay 1 (СUC) you get to the site in front of this museum, there is a ticket office there, you pay some more for climbing up this tower, there is an observation deck, and you can also see the museum by paying separately, but since the Museum of the Revolution was enough for us, we decided not to go to the museum, but to go up to the observation deck . All Havana at a glance, just awesome!! ! So we also rode around Havana, stopped at some street where there were only embassies. In Havana, if you park, prepare money, the fact is that stops are prohibited everywhere, and there is always an uncle in the parking area who takes money for parking, we always said that only for an hour, they took 1 (СUC) from us. Not far from the Capitol, wandering through the small streets, looking into local shops, the feeling was like returning 20 years ago to the USSR. In general, there are more than enough impressions for a lifetime. In order not to get lost, God forbid, we returned before sunset, there are no lights on the highway at all !!!
ISLAND Cayo Largo. Really worth the trip, we did not regret it at all. We flew to the island, from the airport we were taken to the pier, where we were put on a huge catamaran, which sailed across the Caribbean Sea (amazing water) to the island of iguanas, feeding all the local inhabitants there, including fish))) (iguanas eat bread and meat products, and a fluffy animal will not refuse fruit) and after taking a picture we were taken to a small island, where we were given half an hour of time to swim and take a photo, where we found a huge starfish. While we were swimming, the catamaran cook was preparing lobsters 10 (CUC) on order, you will not regret ordering very tasty especially with beer and especially considering that in Varadero restaurants lobster costs 18 (CUC). All the way on the catamaran they poured rum, cola, sprite, water and beer in cans. After swimming on the way to the coral reef, we ate lobster, snorkeled on the coral reef, watched beautiful fish, swam for 45 minutes, after which we were taken to the island itself, where we were given 4 hours of free time on the snow-white beach of the Caribbean Sea. There is a show with dolphins on the pier, you can swim with them and take pictures, it seemed to us a little expensive 90 (СUC). In the evening we returned to the hotel in complete delight!
CIGARS and ROM. I want to warn those who do not know right away that it is impossible to officially export cigars bought from the country from the country, only those bought in stores, and they may require a receipt. At our own peril and risk, we tried to take out 4 boxes of cigars bought from our hands, and, alas, we were not lucky, they were taken away at customs. I venture to guess why this happened, I don't think we were the only ones carrying illegal cigars, there were probably people on our flight who were carrying hand-bought cigars, but the catch is that, we were carrying, as many as 4 boxes of this - 100 pieces. cigars and most quickly decided to check whether they were store-bought or not, of course they were contraband))) to our shame, we didn’t even think of sticking excise stamps, which were quietly lying inside the boxes. As they say, "The greed of the fraer ruined")))). We bought the first box of COHIBA in our hotel from a Cuban cleaner-bartender for 45 CUC, I tried to bargain, but he said that 40 to his friend who got the cigars, and 5 he takes for mediation. We bought the second box of COHIBA by accident, when we were returning from the souvenir market, we went to a shop with all sorts of trinkets, and there young guys, well, they offered us, we looked, decided to take it, began to count the money, it turned out we had only 35 CUC, the guys agreed on this amount . 2 more boxes of cigars were already bought in Havana for 70 €, one COHIBA the other Romeo y Julieta. As I already wrote, we lost all this at customs. (((Rum, we bought it at the Plaza shopping center, so the guide advised us, and we are very happy, in duty free prices are an order of magnitude higher, here you have state stores !! ! And for brands, she said it’s better to take Santiago de Cuba and Caney , we did just that.
TIPS. Everyone loves them there, but there is little sense from this. After reading the reviews, I bought chocolates for the bartenders and nail polish for the maid. It was possible not to do this. If you tip the bartender in the form of 1 CUC or a chocolate bar, the taste of your cocktail will not improve ((, they can pour more alcohol, but that’s all! The fact is that when making cocktails, they use some kind of automatic faucet, depending on the button pressed either cola or syrup flows from it and some other ingredients that are often used in cocktails, no shakers, etc. are used, you understand, if they made cocktails as expected, kilometer-long queues would grow near the bars. a plus from my chocolates is that when they saw me, they shone like the Cuban sun)) and were glad to see me. But the maid, for the entire time of our vacation, despite the fact that we left bottles of nail polish for her every day, did not weave any swans and other figures, ((the only time she depicted something like a heart that day, when she saw us, those who live in this room.
EPILOGUE. Cuba is a very interesting and colorful country, where you really feel like a free person!! ! I would love to go back there again, there are still a lot of places worth visiting. But for us Russians, Cuba is not cheap, unlike the Europeans and Canadians who rest there. Well, in general, what I wanted to write, I wrote everything, I wish those who are going there to have a good rest !! ! If you have questions, write, I will try to answer!
MONEY. The country has its own local peso, and there is a convertible peso (CUC) for tourists, they are all welcome. Do not listen to anyone, take only the euro, the most profitable chickens 1 € = 1.3 (СUC) this course was at the time of our stay. Some of the guys we met there took Canadian dollars with them, and so they lost on them, in general, not profitable. I read a lot about advice to change money immediately at the airport and thought that we would do that, but my husband decided to get to the hotel first to recover after the flight, and only then deal with finances, and this was our mistake, now I will explain why. We have a hard time with languages, so when we arrived at the hotel and at the reception we were given some kind of booklet with the hotel data and a room key, so as not to ask too many questions, we decided to take a porter, he, of course, escorted us to the room, showed us how to use the keys (for those who go to our hotel, if there are two of you, one of the keys opens the safe) of course you need to tip usually 1 (CUC), we don’t have them, of course, and the smallest euro denomination was 5 € , in short, the porter got richer that evening. Our second mistake - the next day we decided to take a scooter and go to Varadero airport and see the course, they took a little money and changed it at the reception, in all hotels they charge a commission of 3%. We didn't take euros for reconnaissance, in pocket 3 (СUC) change from a scooter. We are leaving Varadero, we are approaching a place that looks like a checkpoint, we have to pay for vehicle 2 (СUC) for leaving and then for entering, we understand that we have money to leave, but not to enter. )) We turn around, go to the hotel, change money, go to the airport again. The moral of this fable is that as soon as you arrive, change money at the airport, the exchange rate is good and they don’t take a commission. Local banks charge a transaction fee.
HOTEL Villa Cuba 4*. The location of the hotel, in my opinion, is very good, you don’t have to cross any streets, the territory ends with access to the beach, and besides, it is located almost in the middle of all Varadero, so you can get to the souvenir market and the main street of Varadero, as well as to the Plaza shopping center compared to other hotels close. We went to the souvenir market on foot, to be honest, it’s a long walk for km. 5-6, but we wanted to see the city. The fact is that at the beginning of Varadero there are several hotels that are separated from the beach by the central street of Varadero and vacationers have to cross it. I really liked the hotel itself, a very interesting architectural design, who will rest there will understand later. The room was a little shocking, but then I got used to it and realized that all the rooms are the same, so I didn’t mess it up. Apparently, since the hotel was built, no repairs or any updates have been carried out in the rooms. Voltage in sockets 220V adapters are not needed. When we checked into the room, it turned out that we were not provided with a 1.5 liter bottle of water, we went to the reception, where the girl wrote down the application, that was it, only after a repeated reminder on the third day a bottle appeared in our room. The hotel has 3 restaurants. 1 main, where breakfasts, lunches and dinners are held, and 2 by appointment. There are three bars in the building: one purely coffee bar is located near the entrance to the hotel on the 4th floor (when you enter the hotel from the road, you find yourself on the 4th floor), the second lobby bar with alcoholic drinks is on the 3.5 floor, and the third bar is on the 9th floor there is an observation point, you can get there by elevator or stairs. There is also a round bar near the pool, on the back of this bar, hot dogs and hamburgers are served at lunchtime. There is another bar towards the beach and next to it, an open restaurant is open only at lunchtime (musicians often play there). As for the food, you won't go hungry, there is quite a variety even for vegetarians. Desserts are of course amazing and ice cream, and for breakfast fresh fruit juice or freshly squeezed orange juice in any quantity. Of the fruits were pineapple (very tasty), papaya, orange, grapefruit, guava, bananas. Once at lunch they asked for red wine, they were disappointed, apparently we were unlucky, maybe other wines were better, we didn’t even ask what kind of wine, we didn’t order more wine. There were never lobsters, but the king prawns were given 5 times during the entire period of our stay.
HAVANA. To be honest, I thought that we would call a Russian-speaking guide and go to Havana with him, but since my husband is an avid motorist, he wanted to rent a car and feel the beauty of travel, being at home, I was wary of this idea, think for yourself, a foreign country we practically do not speak the language is scary. But everything turned out to be much easier. I did not dissuade my husband, he rented a car for 135 (СUC) days, and if we had gone with a tour, it would have been more expensive for two. Well, we went, many write that there are no identification marks, you can get lost, I can say nothing like that, the only place where we had difficulties was before turning to Havana, the route diverges into two roads, one is straight, the other is to the right and there was no sign in which direction to Havana, but we were not at a loss, my husband stopped at the side of the road and asked the guy where to go, it turned out that we had to move to the right. I can say for sure that you will not experience such a buzz when you go with a general excursion by bus. We stopped where we wanted, after Mantanzas on the road to Havana there is a bridge laid through a huge, deep gorge, the VIEW is just awesome. We drove calmly in Havana because my husband is a very experienced driver and knows the traffic rules well. We ourselves found the Museum of the Revolution, the Capitol (it is not far from the Museum of the Revolution), drove along the Malecon embankment, accidentally drove to the Revolution Square, there is a museum (who I don’t remember) in a high tower, you pay 1 (СUC) you get to the site in front of this museum, there is a ticket office there, you pay some more for climbing up this tower, there is an observation deck, and you can also see the museum by paying separately, but since the Museum of the Revolution was enough for us, we decided not to go to the museum, but to go up to the observation deck . All Havana at a glance, just awesome!! ! So we also rode around Havana, stopped at some street where there were only embassies. In Havana, if you park, prepare money, the fact is that stops are prohibited everywhere, and there is always an uncle in the parking area who takes money for parking, we always said that only for an hour, they took 1 (СUC) from us. Not far from the Capitol, wandering through the small streets, looking into local shops, the feeling was like returning 20 years ago to the USSR. In general, there are more than enough impressions for a lifetime. In order not to get lost, God forbid, we returned before sunset, there are no lights on the highway at all !!!
ISLAND Cayo Largo. Really worth the trip, we did not regret it at all. We flew to the island, from the airport we were taken to the pier, where we were put on a huge catamaran, which sailed across the Caribbean Sea (amazing water) to the island of iguanas, feeding all the local inhabitants there, including fish))) (iguanas eat bread and meat products, and a fluffy animal will not refuse fruit) and after taking a picture we were taken to a small island, where we were given half an hour of time to swim and take a photo, where we found a huge starfish. While we were swimming, the catamaran cook was preparing lobsters 10 (CUC) on order, you will not regret ordering very tasty especially with beer and especially considering that in Varadero restaurants lobster costs 18 (CUC). All the way on the catamaran they poured rum, cola, sprite, water and beer in cans. After swimming on the way to the coral reef, we ate lobster, snorkeled on the coral reef, watched beautiful fish, swam for 45 minutes, after which we were taken to the island itself, where we were given 4 hours of free time on the snow-white beach of the Caribbean Sea. There is a show with dolphins on the pier, you can swim with them and take pictures, it seemed to us a little expensive 90 (СUC). In the evening we returned to the hotel in complete delight!
CIGARS and ROM. I want to warn those who do not know right away that it is impossible to officially export cigars bought from the country from the country, only those bought in stores, and they may require a receipt. At our own peril and risk, we tried to take out 4 boxes of cigars bought from our hands, and, alas, we were not lucky, they were taken away at customs. I venture to guess why this happened, I don't think we were the only ones carrying illegal cigars, there were probably people on our flight who were carrying hand-bought cigars, but the catch is that, we were carrying, as many as 4 boxes of this - 100 pieces. cigars and most quickly decided to check whether they were store-bought or not, of course they were contraband))) to our shame, we didn’t even think of sticking excise stamps, which were quietly lying inside the boxes. As they say, "The greed of the fraer ruined")))). We bought the first box of COHIBA in our hotel from a Cuban cleaner-bartender for 45 CUC, I tried to bargain, but he said that 40 to his friend who got the cigars, and 5 he takes for mediation. We bought the second box of COHIBA by accident, when we were returning from the souvenir market, we went to a shop with all sorts of trinkets, and there young guys, well, they offered us, we looked, decided to take it, began to count the money, it turned out we had only 35 CUC, the guys agreed on this amount . 2 more boxes of cigars were already bought in Havana for 70 €, one COHIBA the other Romeo y Julieta. As I already wrote, we lost all this at customs. (((Rum, we bought it at the Plaza shopping center, so the guide advised us, and we are very happy, in duty free prices are an order of magnitude higher, here you have state stores !! ! And for brands, she said it’s better to take Santiago de Cuba and Caney , we did just that.
TIPS. Everyone loves them there, but there is little sense from this. After reading the reviews, I bought chocolates for the bartenders and nail polish for the maid. It was possible not to do this. If you tip the bartender in the form of 1 CUC or a chocolate bar, the taste of your cocktail will not improve ((, they can pour more alcohol, but that’s all! The fact is that when making cocktails, they use some kind of automatic faucet, depending on the button pressed either cola or syrup flows from it and some other ingredients that are often used in cocktails, no shakers, etc. are used, you understand, if they made cocktails as expected, kilometer-long queues would grow near the bars. a plus from my chocolates is that when they saw me, they shone like the Cuban sun)) and were glad to see me. But the maid, for the entire time of our vacation, despite the fact that we left bottles of nail polish for her every day, did not weave any swans and other figures, ((the only time she depicted something like a heart that day, when she saw us, those who live in this room.
EPILOGUE. Cuba is a very interesting and colorful country, where you really feel like a free person!! ! I would love to go back there again, there are still a lot of places worth visiting. But for us Russians, Cuba is not cheap, unlike the Europeans and Canadians who rest there. Well, in general, what I wanted to write, I wrote everything, I wish those who are going there to have a good rest !! ! If you have questions, write, I will try to answer!
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Good hotel. Good food. There is something to see in the ocean, however, if you look. I looked at other beaches, there is less interesting there.
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Good hotel. Good food. There is something to see in the ocean, however, if you look. I looked at other beaches, there is less interesting there.
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