Islazul Mar del Sur Aparthotel

Our Members Say

 Just got back from a week at this hotel.

Do not go here. Please. I know it is cheap and represents a good deal - but believe me when it will be better if you saved for a little bit longer and sprung for something with a better reputation / star rating.

The resort looks like it was built pre-revolution and hasn't been updated since. The rooms are extremely sketchy - broken fixtures, doors, windows and it looks like something out of a Gulag.

The resort itself is well away from the beach in the shady underside of Varadero city proper. You'll need to walk a few blocks to even see the ocean.

Worst points:

- the Staff are absolutely and totally apathetic. They don't give a rat's @ss about the guests - especially the front desk staff. They actively dont want to talk to you and when they do, they expect to be tipped every time. Very, very poor attitude.

- The food is mediocre at best. The dining hall is more like a cafeteria and is always short of plates, cutlery and glasses. Be prepared to have to drink your coffee (if you can get it, which is rare) out of a soup bowl, if at all.

WORST POINT
- The resort is very popular with Russians, due to its low cost. I hadn't met any Russians prior to this trip and was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Don't - they are the embodiments of the stereotype. Rude, loud, crude and violent and hammered 24/7. We were actually threatened several times with violence, and the staff does nothing. Do you want to spend your holiday surrounded by that? They monopolized every area of the resort and bullied anyone they could. It made the trip a nightmare.

The bar is supplied only with cheap, dirty booze that you will very quickly get sick of.

We had things go missing from our room.

Oh and you will be woken up every day by the sound of roosters crowing at 5am. I'm not kidding. Thats if the shouting fights of the locals who live in/around the building or the roar of vehicles going past at all hours. dont wake you first Dont expect to get any full nights' sleep staying here.

This place was a hole. Maybe once, 40 years ago, it was nice, now its run down, poorly staffed, in the middle of a crummy town. Its attractive largely to barbaric Russians and older people who stay for long periods of time (ie. months) because of its cheap price.

Please. Save a few hundred more dollars and go somewhere else. Ideally find yourself a resort that is not in Varadero city proper - there are plenty on the outskirts away from many of the problems listed here. 

4 members live in Varadero