This cozy resort is home to one of the most beautiful beaches in Cuba. Whether it is relaxation or excitement you're looking for.

Location: See map 26.6 km from Varadero Airport beach front

Facilities:  250 rooms

Dining:   2 à la carte 1 buffet

Meal plans:   all inclusive

Nightlife:  8 bars 1 nightclub

Available onsite:   2 pools

Children and teens: See details Children ages: 0 to 12

Accessibility: elevators

Check-in time: 4:00 pm

Check-out time: 12:00 pm

Your price includes: Round trip airport transfers All meals (buffet, breakfast, daytime and late night snacks)Dinner can be à la carte (reservations required, dress code in effect)Unlimited international and domestic drinks Daily activities Nightly entertainment All taxes

“Not bad value for the location”

Overall the hotel offers the value of a very short stay. Room needs to be renovated. Hot water in bathroom available all the time. Must be amongst the first at the buffet to find a quite selection of meals. No fish offered! Clean and warm beach, very pleasant. Trinidad tour is a must try. Good staff, however the hotel needs to offer a better quality for rooms and food

The strong points The front hotel and hall are very pleasant and quite modern. Very nice ocean view at front room, very relaxing The weak points Very poor snack service. Buffet is a closed area with no air conditioning

Kim Toronto, ON from 2015-08-09 to 2015-08-13 (4 days)

“Puntarena”

Arrived at hotel and room was ready which was nice. Front desk staff helpful but not all that friendly. Maid and a few bartenders and lifeguard the friendliest. killed a large bug in bathroom first morning, wind whistled through the room and water ran day and night through plumbing, walls paper thin and therefore, no sleep. Whole hotel not well cleaned in stairways or hallways, very old hotel, certainly not 3 1/2 stars. Playa Caleta is closed because stairwells are rotten!

The strong points Maid service, a la carte restaurants, beach, excursions The weak points Everything else

John Leggett Burks Falls, ON from 2015-02-14 to 2015-02-21 (7 days)

“Pas contente”

J'ai pas apprécié qu on est changé d hôtel sans nous prévenir d avance. Ma chambre avait de la moi si sur le lit n était pas confortable. On ne mangeaient pas bien c était toujours la même chose. Il n avait pas de bureau de change on a attendus le bus pour nous amené faire du change sans succès et un coup on c est rendue. Ça nous apris tout la journée parce. Il n avait pas ambiance sur la plage on entendait pas de musique cubaine. Pour ma part la ville est très belle ceux qui m insisterait à y retourner.mais pas dans cette hôtel.

The strong points Le repas a la carte on avait choisi avait été un succès la place était bien décoré le serveur était très polie et le repas satisfaisant The weak points Le repas étais pas diversifier. Il n avait pas assez le manque de bureau de changeet le bus qui ne pas pas c est vraiment contregnant.

chouette Laval, QC from 2015-02-07 to 2015-02-14 (7 days)

“Old and run down, No CALETA”

The hotel is older, which is fine, but it needs repairs. Rooms are dated. The walls and doors offer no sound proofing. You can hear everything in the adjacent rooms and hallways, which resulted in very poor sleep. Between the doors slamming, people talking in the hallways, vomiting next door all night, smoking next door that comes into the adjacent rooms, good luck getting any sleep. Elevators are very slow and one of the three never worked. They occasionally stopped working altogether for half an hour. I just used the stairs most of the time. The floors in them are all tattered too. Food in the buffet is mediocre and that is considering that Cuba isn't known for the food. I was able to find enough to fill up. All the other reviews you will read are true about this resort, although some are a little too harsh. The grounds and beaches are great, pools are great, lunch at beach bar is slightly better than buffet. The staff was always friendly and I met a lot of great guests there. Although I doubt I would ever go back, if you can get a package for under $600 it's still worth it. IF YOU BOOKED THE CALETA, IT IS CLOSED AND HAS BEEN FOR A FEW MONTHS EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS IT IS STILL OPEN ON WEBSITE. Caleta is supposed to be nicer too, but I didn't see the inside for myself. It's just what I was told by others who have stayed there previously. This resort is supposed to be two hotels and access to both amenities, but Caleta is closed. Still get to use their pool, which has the swim-up bar and small lunch buffet.

The strong points Friendly staff, 24 hour bar, nice beaches, nice grounds, two pools, coffee bar was nice touch The weak points Run down, occasional smell from an oil refinery somewhere nearby, but nothing too horrible. It was windy most of the time so that may have kept the smell away. Occasionally no TP in public washrooms and never any paper towels.

Paul H St. Catharines, ON from 2015-01-24 to 2015-01-31 (7 days)

“My friends hate me because I chose this resort”

The beach was nice, and that's a lot of the reason for going to Cuba. The hotel, however, should be closed down. I could hear everything going on outside of our room. I could hear conversations from the next room. Not just mumbling, I could actually hear everything they were saying. I was awakened by a crying baby several rooms away. My friends on other floors were wakened by people barfing throughout the night in nearby rooms. The doors slammed. You could not always close them quietly, as they would stick at the door frame, so you kind of had to pull it hard, making a loud noise. I was awakened throughout the night and early morning with slamming doors. By the third night, I was using medication to make me drowsy so that I could go right back to sleep after the various noises. No kidding. The bed and pillows were comfy enough, it was the ridiculously loud noises and paper thin walls that made it impossible for getting decent sleep. I could not step onto the elevator because it was so scarey looking. It broke down one time during our visit (that I know about) while I stood nearby talking with friends, but I rarely spent time near the elevators so it could have broken down more times than that. I knew before going, from the pictures of the hotel, that there were outdoor stairs. Our room was on the 3rd floor, but it was actually 5 floors up from the main lobby. The 1st floor up from the lobby has a coffee bar and restaurants, so as you go up the outdoor stairs, the next floor up has a set of doors that were always open. Inside those doors, it was like a floor under construction. Any young child could wander in there and get injured. The doors should have been closed and locked. The remaining floors were all hotel rooms. There are glass doors between each floor and the outdoor staircase. The 2 floors below us, each had one glass door that had no glass in it and only some of the landings were lit up at night, so it was a bit dark and hard to see where you were stepping in the evenings. There was no sign outside to say what floor number you were on, but I knew that the first floor I got to with 2 intact glass doors was my floor. The bathrooms. The bathrooms in the hotel rooms need a makeover. Whatever, they were clean and had what you needed (except on our last day there, when the water didn't work at all in our bathroom). In our group, we had 5 rooms in total, on various floors. All were the same. The bathrooms outside of the restaurants, bars and pool areas were a different story. Quite often lacking toilet paper (every stall), you got used to checking for toilet paper first. Most of the time there was no soap, and always, no paper towel. Luckily my friends brought hand sanitizer. I thought the food was alright. There was always something I enjoyed. I have 1 son that ate everything in sight and 1 son that ate only pasta for an entire week. Everyone's different and Cuba is not known for great food. I will say that as far as dessert goes, there is only sponge cake and ice cream, nothing else. I am a dessert lover, and ice cream got boring fast, however, I was always quite full from dinner so I really didn't need dessert. They have delicious hot chocolate that I enjoyed after dinner anyway. The staff. Well, they weren't grouchy. There was only 1 bartender that was outwardly jolly and having fun at his job. The lady at the omelet station at breakfast said have a nice day after giving you your omelet. Other than that, I found that I was the first one to say 'hola' to anyone. There was one bartender that had to finish a text before acknowledging that I was there, and one bartender that finished serving a man as I walked up to the bar, then turned his back to me while he looked out over the pool. He had to have seen me because I walked up right beside the man as he handed him his drink. I don't get it. My son left his running shoes at the pool area, and when he went back to get them, they were gone. My husband checked at the pool bar and the 'lost and found' and we never did see them again. I take comfort in knowing that someone in Cuba is enjoying a good pair of running shoes (although maybe a little cheesy smelling). My son, however, was not too impressed wearing his flip flops in the snow on the trip home from the airport. One of the maids approached my friend and asked her for some of her son's t-shirts. It's a poor country. The most upsetting thing about this whole experience, is that I chose this resort based on the 4 a la carte restaurants. I don't want to eat buffet meals for a week, and this resort offered 4 nights worth of alternatives. I really liked that feature. Two days before we left for Cuba, I got an e-mail that said the Playa Caleta side had been shut down, and along with it, the 2 restaurants there. Then, when we got to our resort and tried to book the remaining restaurants, they were full for the next 5 days. We managed to get reservations for the last 2 nights of our stay, but my sister and her husband only got 1 restaurant reservation. I am really annoyed that the website continues to advertise 4 a la carte restaurants, even though the Playa Caleta side has been shut down for months. Yes, months. And they notified me of this 2 days before I left, not when I booked it. Maybe they'll be open again soon? Not likely. There wasn't any hint of repairs going on at that hotel. I'm just so annoyed at being lied to, when that was the deciding factor for me for staying at that resort. I would not go back to that resort and do not recommend that anyone stay there. If you're already booked, try complaining about the restaurants that are shut down that you didn't know about when you booked. Ask for a refund based on that and maybe they'll allow it. Actually, demand a refund based on that. The beach is lovely, the sunshine is great, but other resorts in Cuba have that too. **So I can't submit this review until I tick who I would recommend this resort for, and since it doesn't give the option of 'nobody', I have to say 'for clubs and partying'.

The strong points Nice beach and sunshine. Palm trees. The weak points Interrupted sleep every night. Scarey elevators. C-c-cold pool. No water on our last day. Tepid showers.

Cari St. Catharines, ON from 2015-01-24 to 2015-01-31 (7 days)

“Not bad.....but....”

I am a non-smoker and there were alot of smokers who could smoke anywhere they liked. You cannot use a credit card anywhere; not even in restaurants. So, be sure to take enough spending (don't forget about the 1.30 exchange rate) There is a 1 1/2 hour wait at the bank to exchange your money to CUC so, you might as well do it at your resort. I would not return to this resort.

The strong points Clean, enjoyable pool area Great coffee bar Great beach The weak points Smoking everywhere Old, dilapidated bathrooms Balcony sliding door almost impossible to open Elevators unreliable Food very, very basic. Long waits for plates in the buffet

Jennifer Waugh Parsons Dundas, ON from 2015-01-24 to 2015-01-31 (7 days)

“Resort is below expectations”

If You have enemy You can recommended this resort .Food,internet, bathroom, is tragedy .

The strong points location The weak points Food and Internet

Ryszard Tworek Calgary, ON from 2015-01-12 to 2015-01-19 (7 days)

“Puntarena”

Nice hotel, good facilities, very clean. I thought food was horrible but i am a chef and i dont expect good food in Cuba, i heard others say they liked it

The strong points pools, not crowded The weak points food music in disco until 2 am

P Barton Collingwood, ON from 2015-01-05 to 2015-01-12 (7 days)

“Puntarena”

Bottom line is for $704.00 all in plus 70 cuc to upgrade to a newly completed ocean view room though x mas time it was a hell of a deal. I have been to this hotel before so to be honest a new what to expect and if your into drinking, smoking, laying in the sun on the beach or at the huge pool here with swim up bar this is the place. Food was fine typical 3* food the pool side bbq was great. I would not bring small children here its more of an adult scene.

The strong points Easy to get to everything, good coffee had gin, whiskey and diet ku kola by the can at the bar. New renovated rooms The weak points Only weak point for me there was no bacon in the morning but my heart thank me for that

D Niagara On The Lake, ON from 2014-12-20 to 2014-12-27 (7 days)

“Nice time at puntarenas”

I have a good time make friend and enjoy my time at puntarenas

The strong points I have a good time overall,nice place,beaches,love the pizza the italian restaurant the best one The weak points elevator broken twice in 1 week

Rafael Joaquin Joaquin Olea Toronto, ON from 2014-12-06 to 2014-12-13 (7 days)