Melia Varadero, Varadero, Cuba - Reviews and Hotel Information

The hotel grew on us as the week went by. Our first impression was good, the lobby was really nice, the hallway leading to our room was very nice. But then our room, didn't impress us much. One of our lamps wasn't working, which made the room pretty dark. Our view was blocked by a gigantic palm tree that didn't allow us to see much, but we could see a tiny portion of the ocean. It was as though they planted the tree there purposely to take away any oceanview whatsoever. But the nice thing was we could hear the ocean from our room. But as days went by, our room grew on us, and became cozier and more comfortable, in the end I think we liked it.

The restaurants were ok, there's a great selection at lunch time. The best restaurant was the outdoor paella area. The paella was delicious, and the sangria was amazing! The outdoor Cuban restaurant has a very nice atmosphere with live music playing. It was really enjoyable too. Out on the beach if you're too lazy to walk all the way back to eat at the hotel or don't want to get out of the sun and continue working on your tan, there's a bar/restaurant on the beach where you can get drinks (of course) and burgers, hot dogs and fries. There are three a la carte restaurants for dinner that you can choose from and you have to make reservations and can only dine there once. There was Chinese, a steak house, and International. The atmosphere in the International restaurant was spectacular. Very upscale, they had live music on a grand piano, flute and violin. It was nice.

The nightlife at the resort is subpar. To really have a great time, you must venture outside to one of the local clubs just a couple kms away. The resort has shows every other night, but they're ok in my opinion, not really my thing. Most people end up hanging out at the piano bar, which is out in the lobby area of the hotel. The karaoke bar is not really happening either.

All in all, the stay at this resort was really enjoyable!!

The best part about this hotel was the 24 hr snack cafeteria. You can walk in at any time of the day or night and order off their menu which was pretty comprehensive. I didn't expect as much choice as it had on there. You can choose different sandwiches, spaghetti, lasagna, pizza and hamburgers. The bar is more or less 24hrs. I think the latest we grabbed a drink there was 4am.

It is also located next door to the Plaza Las Americas, which is a plaza containing souvenir shops, but the best part about it was the concert they have there every 2nd wednesday. We saw a world famous Cuban group perform there named Bueno Vista Social Club (excuse my spelling if it's incorrect). My friend knew all about them, but it was the first time I'd heard of them. But it was a treat to be able to see them live. The concert isn't advertised anywhere, we found out through word of mouth, and the turn out was pretty packed. They sent bus loads of tourists from different hotels to see the concert, but for us, we just walked around the corner. There were local Cubans and toursists at this concert.

Melia Varadero, Varadero

Melia Varadero

Varadero Hotels