Brisas Guardalavaca

Villa - A memorable experience

by jingkee about Brisas Guardalavaca

Back from Brisas for a week's vacation (June 19-26). The villa room was great. The staff responded to request very promptly. Food was okey at the buffet, enjoyed the italian restaurant but the most amazing place to hang was the grillhouse. They made the best hamburgers and fries, thank goodness because these are the only ones our children (age 3 & 5) loved to eat for the entire week. Can't praise the staff enough. Didn't matter whether people tip or not, they got the same excellent service. Roberto and others kept the grounds very well maintained. Jose, Johans, Vicente and others were such good bartenders, Mario (our sons' favorite waiter) was great with kids and went out of his way to make our visit very pleasant, gave us lots of helpful tips. Osvaldo and Roberto made great pizza and tuna sandwiches. Sandra made us taste really fresh and delicious mangoes (my favorite). The pools and beaches were great places to spend your day. Entertainment certainly was worth your while. They even have children's night of entertainment. We all had a great time!!! Having swim-up bars was absolutely incredible. The rooms are very well kept and the housekeeping staff were great. Always accomodating and friendly like every one else at this establishment.

Best resort in the town of Guardalavaca,

by TOFFY about Brisas Guardalavaca

1 week all inclusive package
This hotel has two parts - the older hotel building and the villas. It is a must to book into the villa part. You will still enjoy the advantages of both parts, but the rooms are much nicer in the villa portion.
This is a popular hotel, and so is very busy most of the time, but the food is good and the entertainment is very good.
The beach is not for snorkelers, but trips are available at extra cost. Even swimmers may find the beach too shallow, but a ten minute walk away is the Cuban beach where the swimming is better. This hotel leaves you in the tourist town of Guardalavaca (watch the cow), so you are in wallking distance of the unique Cuban beach with Cuban restaurants and bars in the sand, and live entertainment. Adjacent to the beach is the market, which runs almost every day. Best buys are wooden carvings and many many paintings. If you plan to buy paintings, pack a cardboard tube to protect them on the way home.
WARNING: If you buy an oil painting, be sure to obtain a receipt, which will is asked for at the airport by customs. If you have no receipt, the painting will be confiscated.

Most fun we have ever had

by A TripAdvisor Member

We just got back yesterday from Brisas Guardalavaca. It was great just thinking about going there but upon arrival reality set in and we discovered it was much better than we ever could have imagined !!!!!!!! Beautiful landscapping around the villas made this seem like paradise. We stayed at the villas and found the rooms to be huge and comfortable. The service is excellent, the buffets are good and you can get anything you might think of eating. The lush gardens at the villas makes walking around a pleasent experince. The beach is beautiful with some seaweed around but nothing too bad. The swim up bar at the villas is more intimate than at the hotel. Ask for Alex, he mixes some great drinks,but watch out for how much Rum he pours in or you will find yourself falling off your stool and into the pool. We recommend the day tour to Holguin (pronounced HO-KEEN) it is an eye opener. Best cigar prices at the factory in Hoguin too. A word of caution.......watch your beach towels if you loose one its $15.00 US to replace it. You must hand it pack to the towel lady and get a receipt. This is the one thing they are every fussy about. All in all a fantastic bit of paradise here on earth. We are already planning our next trip back in April 2004.

Beautiful Resort

by A TripAdvisor Member

I just returned from Holguin, Cuba yesterday and it was absolutely beautiful. I stayed at Las Brisas Guardalavaca with my boyfriend and 2 other couples and we were in awe at the first glance of the resort. We range between the ages of 22 and 25. The resort consited of many families and young couples. Since there are two sections to this resort, my boyfriend and I, and one couple stayed in the villa section, while the other couple stayed in the hotel section. First off, the villa section is breath taking. However, it is more of a family section. The villa room was a lot bigger than the hotel room. The hotel section is usually the more exciting place to be. When we first got to las brisas, the check in process went smooth, however the air conditioning was broken in our room. It was too hot to bear so we asked to switch rooms the next day. We were given a bit of a hard time at first and eventually changed the rooms. The second room was great. The air conditioning cooled of the room perfectly which got rid of the musky smell. We arrived at the resort around 2pm so we decided to change into our swimsuits and go to the beach. We walked along the beach to the hotel section to meet our friends and swam for the rest of the day. That night we went to the villa buffet restaurant. It was horrible, so we decided to check out the hotel buffet. I have to say that the hotel buffet was much better than the villa buffet. There is more of a variety and there is a different food theme each night of the week. The food in general was ok...I couldn't wait to get home to eat a nice hot plate of pasta. Despite the terrible factor of the food, it was somewhat edible. We also ate at the hotel grill quite often. They served hamburgers made with real ham, which weren't too bad. The morning breakfast at the buffet wasn't too bad either....thank goodness for the omletes though. I would recommend going to the seafood a la carte restaurant for breakfast. In the evening it becomes the seafood restaurant (horrible), but in the morning the food is great. We also went to the Italian restaurant on our last night....it was better than the seafood a la carte. I would stay away from the sauce though...it tastes like ketchup. On our third night we all decided to go to another seafood restaurant up the street from the hotel. It was amazing! We paid $20.00usd for a salad, lobster, shrimp, calamari, icecream, and tea or coffee. It was the best meal we had all week! If you are looking for night life, this isn't the place to go. The anamacion crew did not get anyone involved in activities. At a certain time in the afternoon they would organize water polo in the pool as well as dance lessons, but that was it. In the evening there was a different show each night, however, they were not entertaining at all and only lasted until 10pm.
Once the show was over there was nothing to do except hang out by the 24hour bar. The club inside the hotel opened at 11pm and no one went to it. Me and the girls got up on the dance floor and had our own fun.
Once people saw that we were dancing, more came on the dance floor...and later on during the week more came in the club. We pretty much had to make our own fun. The beach party up the street was ok also...sometimes a little show was put on by the cubans, other times it was just a regular dance party. I have to warn you of the crabs that come out at night. Our villa was on the first level and the crabs seemed to like greeting us at the room door for some reason. They are so gross...they look like huge spiders. There were lots of cats around the resort. I felt so bad for them because they were so malnurished.
There was one kitten named Rambo who lived in the motorized sports cabin on the far side of the hotel...he was the friendliest of them all. He was the only grey kitten there. My friend and I stole a fish from the buffet and fed Rambo one day. He ate a whole fish in a matter of 10minutes. The beach was beautiful....lots of palm trees and great views for picture taking. The only think that bothered me about the beach was the fact that there is sooooo much seaweed in the water.
There are patchs of it here and there, and it really irritated me when I walked in the water. There is a lot of baracudas in the water. One swam to shore one day and another day we went on the banana boat and saw a few more baracudas, not to mention the huge snapping turtles. It isn't safe to be so far off shore and to fall in the water. Overall it was an interesting experience for me. The cuban people were magnificant! They are pleasant and generous. We left a few gifts for the maid each day and she was extremely thankful when I saw her. Cuba is an experience I'll never forget, however I will only return if the price is right. I recommend at least one vist to Cuba. Las Brisas Guardalavaca was great resort for relaxation.

No longer a hotel

by TOFFY about El Cayuelo

If you are staying at any of the hotels, a nice change for dining is El Cayuelo Restaurant, just to the east of Las Brisas hotel. In a wooden cottage style building, this used to be a hotel, but now is just a restaurant, offering a relief from the hustle and bustle of your big hotel. It is situated right on the sand, and a little hidden from the road. Simply follow the road outside the Brisas hotel, easterly, and stick to the shoreline passing two houses. (The attached picture is slightly out of date as there has been a change to the shoreline by the last hurricane. A nice patio restaurant, over looking the sunset.

Best hotel in town of Guaradalavaca

by TOFFY about Las Brisas

1 week all inclusive package
This hotel has two parts - the older hotel building and the villas. It is a must to book into the villa part. You will still enjoy the advantages of both parts, but the rooms are much nicer in the villa portion.
This is a popular hotel, and so is very busy most of the time, but the food is good and the entertainment is very good.
The beach is not for snorkelers, but trips are available at extra cost. Even swimmers may find the beach too shallow, but a ten minute walk away is the Cuban beach where the swimming is better. Watch for the statue of John Lennon.
Try to get into the restaurant at the beach, where all the waiters dispaly their talents.....magician, trumpeter, clarinetist, opera star etc.

They say it's a 4 stars but realy it's a 3.5 stars

by sylvainlecavalier about Villas Las Brisas

Don't get me wrong, the place is very nice, staff is friendly and to tell you the truth, we weren’t happy with our room on the first night. It was on the ground level on the opposite side of the sea and we were facing a 12 feet wall. They also had a pluming problem in this room. We went to the reception in the morning and they upgraded us to a 4th floor sea view and they gave us a 7 years Rum.

The food was good. At night we would go the Italian restaurant or to the Seafood restaurant. The shows at night are the same where ever you go in Cuba, Mexico or The Dominican Republic. Except there was one night where they had this Aqua Ballet Show, it was excellent; these people really trained themselves to give a great performance.

Brisas Guardalavaca

by pirategirl

"Cuba Forever!"

My two friends and I spent a week at Brisas Guardalavaca, which is a resort directly on the Guardalavaca beach. You can read my hotel review and tips for more details. Please don't hesitate to message me with any comments or questions.
cheers!