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Sol Cayo Guillermo: Cuba's average Joe!
Arriving in Cuba from the not-so-sunny Glasgow in Scotland was an experience for me, the heat hits you like a furnace! Only to be expected in the Carribean though really.
We flew Thomas Cook from Manchester to Cayo Coco in Cuba, then transferred quickly to our quaint Cuban hotel, the Sol Cayo Guillermo.
The hotel is a 4* but after already reading the reviews etc for the hotel, i had prepared myself for less! However, the room we could not say anything bad about, high ceiling, bungalow-type apartment with a table and chair out the back through the patio doors.
The pool area was clean enough, only thing was half way through our 2 week stay, the filter stopped working for a few days so the pool was a bit scummy!
The pool bar, adjacent to the pool kind of doubles as the entertainment area at nightime with the stage area being used for the nightly shows.
The toastie guy comes out about 10.30/11pm at night after the restaurant closes, its supposed to be 24hrs for food but this is far from the truth!!
The a la carte restaurant is the Don Guillermo, which is lovely! I had the steak which was the best meal i had the whole 2 weeks!
Only thing with this restaurant is you can only supposedly book once per week, and he only takes bookings for the next week after 4pm and before 6pm (i think it was 4, maybe check) which is a bit of a pain because if you dont book on the sunday or monday you have no chance of getting a reservation basically!
Also book for the other a la carte restaurant, the beachside one which is meant to be Cuban food but has lasagne and things but this is sooo difficult to get a table for, as they only have about 7 -10 tables set up for the whole night in there. You book this in the Don Guillermo, but remember to get in quick if you want a table for either tho, thurs fri and sat bookings are near impossible if you dont book on the sunday!
I would say the hightlight of the hotel is the Beach! Although getting a sun lounger is a nightmare unless you're a morning person and go out about 7am, otherwise, the towels stay on them all day even when people go back to their appartment for a sleep/cool air etc which is quite selfish if you ask me!! we didnt sit on the beach much (not an early riser haha) but it is lovely, and you can order drinks from waiting staff who bring them from the bar to your lounger (for tips obv!)
Banana boats take you out to the reef and over past the Melia Hotel and back. Didnt go on this, heard its about 10 pesos though and doesnt go too fast!
At night, the entertainment was quite good, some nights better than others! most people stay for a bit, and the staff work so hard through the whole day on their routines etc so its nice to sit and watch and have a chat to people! its very hot at the stage and bar at night though when we went (end of june/start of july)
The beach is lovely, you can go out on a small boat for about 20 pesos each and for about an hr and a half the guys take you snorkellilng in the reef, they throw out fish scraps so the barracuda come up and you get a good look at them and swim around with them! quite daunting but worth it if your not going out on the Catamaran for the day, just to see the fish etc its a great opportunity. They supply the equipment so thats a bonus!
For 5 Pesos you can go to another hotel in either Cayo Guillermo or Cayo Coco, we didnt go but apparently with the wrist band you have at this hotel, you can go to the Sol Cayo Coco and eat etc for free after your 5 pesos, as thats the sister hotel.