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When I bought my ticket (*only 423$ for an all-included week stay!), I wasn't expecting much. With all the negative reviews and this cheap price! In facts, this was one of my best trip ever.
You have to know that I'm not a fan of 5-stars hotels and I don't think these people would appreciate Villa La Mar. I'm more a backpacker easy-going traveler style and this hotel was perfect for me. The lady who was traveling with me (around 50's and used to nice hotels) was also very happy.
So... here are all comments I have:
ROOM:
I was in the bloc 28 (separate from the hotel, on the other side of the street) and that was just perfect. 3 blocks from the beach (5 min walk ), inside the real life of Varadero (locals have their house all around) and a little away from the noise of the hotel (music and show). The room is big enough for 2, pretty clean, good security and cleaning services, hot water 24hours (that was surprinsing!) with a lot of pression, TV cable with some Quebec channels... 2 solariums with chairs. I was really happy with that. The beds were confortable and we did sleep pretty well!
BEACH:
The beach is not in front of the hotel, you have to walk 3 blocks. I enjoyed this daily walk because I've seen so many things and people! Everybody's smiling so who really cares if the beach is not in front? The beach is amazing... 4 differents colors of blue, transparency, white sand... Some rocks in front of the "hotel bar" but if you dare to walk 10 meters, you'll enjoy a nice and clean beach. Some big waves on the windy days, but we were able to swing every day! The negative thing is that the chairs are not included. You can rent one at 1 peso per day, but I prefered to sit directly on the sand...
POOL:
Big pool, music and some animation. Didn't spent much time there but the chairs are really confo. The pool was clean and water was warm.
ANIMATION:
I hate hotels were the staff is bugging everybody to do this or that. At Villa La Mar, there is no real animation. Some games, some volleyball, that's it. They don't ask every minute and that was appreciates. The shows were no really good, were more for the Cuban's of the hotel, but that doesn't really matter for me since I went to some amazingly good shows outside the hotel.
FOOD AND BAR:
This is the only complaint that I have and still, this is not really a complaint but the food isn't that good and there's no variety. You have the same choices every day, lunch and dinner. In the morning, some eggs, omelets, fruits (pinapple and orange), bread and little pancakes. Lunch ans supper: pasta, meat (porc, chicken), sometimes hamburgers, some weirdo vegetales, blanck beans and soup... You can eat there without being sick but you'll probably loose some weight. I didn't really care because once again, I went to some good and cheap restaurant near the hotel.
STAFF:
The staff is always smiling, they are very polite and I made some friends there.
NIGHTLIFE:
If you're like me and you like to visit the city outside the resort, you'll really enjoy Varadero. I made some cuban friends really easily and they showed me the best places to dance salsa, to see some good rock shows... You can walk from Villa La Mar almost everywhere... ! 10 minutes walk you get to FM-17 where there are salsa-meregue-bachata shows (free) every night before 12am. You can walk 10 minutes to "Casa de la musica" (10 pesos to enter). At 10h30pm there's a show and after that some music to dance (disco, salsa, reggaeton, hiphop). You can also take a taxi to "Calle 62" and La fondue where there are music groups and a lot of cuban dancing in the street.
I think this is a good place to stay if, like me, the hotel is more a place to sleep and eat than the center of your vacations. If you enjoy the beach, meeting with cuban, dance salsa and enjoy cuban life style, you should be happy at Villa La Mar.
petitsoleil
MontrГ©al, QuГ©bec
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