Great vacation!

Written: 18 april 2011
Travel time: 25 march — 4 april 2011
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday; For families with children
Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 8.0
Service: 8.0
Cleanliness: 8.0
Food: 10.0
Amenities: 7.0
We stayed at this hotel from March 25 to April 4.2011. Before that, we lived in Havana for 3 days. Tuxpan is quite a decent hotel. After reading reviews in general about Cuban hotels before the trip, I thought it would be worse! In fact, everything turned out great!
Check-in to the room takes place at 16.00. And we arrived at about 13.00. We still didn’t understand why they took us so early (9.00) from Havana (there is still a room paid for before 12.00) ...If we had left Havana at least at 11.00, then while we were gathering people at the hotels, while driving to Varadero (about 3 h), while they were transporting people to hotels, everyone would have just got to their hotels by the time of check-in. And so I had to put things in the storage room and go for a 3-hour walk around the hotel and the beach.
Much has been written about the territory, I will not repeat it. I will say one thing that we liked. Everything is very good. Cool lizards run around ...Quite big and cute. No flies or insects were seen. If they were, then very few. There were no mosquitoes in the room.

The fumigator was useless.
About the number. Settled immediately in a normal room overlooking the pool and ocean. Safe for free. But some strange system...It opens with a room key card...Theoretically, it turns out that any maid can open it...At first we were afraid that something would be lost. But everything was fine, and the laptop, and the camera with all the lenses, and the money with the documents remained safe and sound. Only the safe is very small, all of the above fit! It's good that we have a mini version of the laptop. But all the same, everything had to be freed from bags and packages. They clean well, towels and sheets are clean and do not smell damp (as it was, for example, in a hotel in Havana). Well, sometimes there are stains, but these are small things! If you bother with this, then you have to travel everywhere with your sheets : ) The only minus of the room is its size. A little tight. But we did not come to sit in the room!
So it's not very critical! The rest was all right. Plumbing worked, hot water was constant, air conditioning, TV (1 Russian channel NTV-America) and refrigerator (1.5 liters of water were supplied every day for free) worked properly. An adapter is not required for an outlet. Everything plugged in and charged fine. Towels were changed strangely...Sometimes every other day, sometimes every day...We never understood the system...Only shampoo, soap and a shower cap were used for bath accessories. There were no shower gels. There were 2 maids, changed every other day. Tipping was left almost every day for 0.5 or 1 CUC.
About food. The food is wonderful: quite varied, meat, excellent chicken. Huge shrimps in white wine were fried in front of you. They gave them 4 times. And there were no queues for this. Bacon for breakfast, however, in my opinion, was a bit overdone. But still delicious!

Ice cream was always available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pretty tasty. I didn't really like the pastry. In Egypt-Turkey it is much tastier. Well, this is in my opinion : ) A separate song is fruit!!! ! Pineapples are just a delight of the soul! So delicious, juicy and sweet!! ! We can say that I lived there almost on some pineapples!! ! There were always oranges, grapefruits of two varieties (yellow and red), guava (much larger and riper than in Egypt) insanely delicious, bananas. A couple of times there were green (by color, and not because they are unripe) melons, and watermelons ...I'm not a fan of these types, so I can't say anything about the quality. A separate word about papaya. They call it frutobomba, because the word papaya they call the female genital organs (papaina) ...So we were told by the guide on the tour. Therefore, you can only speak aloud fruit bomb : ). She was constantly and very ripe.
But for my taste, this is such a rare muck that there is no way to eat it ...Perhaps this is because of its unpleasant smell ...some kind of sour vomit ...At first I thought that it might have turned sour because of the heat ...It can’t be, that what millions of people praise turned out to be disgusting ...But then she took a peeled and chopped ripe fruit for a test in front of me ...The smell is the same ...It tastes incomprehensible ...In general, it didn’t work out with papaya : ) But maybe I just I don't understand : ) There we always went to the main restaurant. There are 2 more restaurants by appointment El Rancho (on the second floor) and Calibri (actually it is a bar near the pool : ), just for dinner only those who have pre-registered and have dinner sit there, and for all other guests it closes. But at 21.00 it is again a simple bar, available to everyone). Upon check-in, two tickets are issued for entry to these restaurants.
But we never went, because everything suited us in the main restaurant. The dishes sometimes came across dirty, but we didn’t bother, we just took another plate. Sometimes I had to wait until the appliances were put in and napkins were given. But the drinks were brought very quickly, and then they went to add more. Juices left much to be desired… Something like Yupi-Zuko… But there was a vitamin bar near the pool, where fresh juices were made from 11 to 13 and from 15 to 17. And also in the Piano Bar they poured orange juice into cocktails. Well, they poured it separately for those who wished : ) All fresh juices, as well as imported alcoholic drinks, are free. Rum is poured into cocktails mercilessly : ), not like in Russia! The only cocktail I didn't try at the hotel was the Saoco. This is a coconut with an open top and a tube inserted into it. It was not included, but sometimes they made it in a bar for a tip. To be honest, I don't know how much it cost. But on the tour, I tried.
For 2 cookies it's just coconut milk, and for 3 cookies you sip a little and they add rum to you. I didn't like it...Neither with nor without rum...But it's a matter of taste! Lobsters were not eaten at the hotel either. On an excursion to the island of Cayo Largo on a yacht, they cost 10 Cookies (in a hotel 12). There we tried them. It looks like a very big shrimp, and it tastes the same : ) But, in general, it's not bad at all!

About the beach. Simply magical! It makes no sense to describe! You just have to be there! The ocean is clean, gentle, warm! The sand is white and fine! (On the Caribbean coast, the sand, however, is more gentle! Like semolina! Quite small and white! ) There were always enough sun loungers. It was not necessary, as in Egypt, at 7 in the morning to take a place by the sea. You calmly have breakfast, come to the beach by 9-9.30 and calmly lie down wherever you want. The sun is very active! Therefore, be sure to take sunscreen at least 30 units! And for burnt skin! You can burn even without leaving under the umbrella!
Although some did! And then we get angry that there are stains on the towels!! ! So ...this house is open from 9.30 to 12.00, and then from 13.30 to 17.00. In the evening we left the beach at 19.00, so we changed the towels for clean ones the very next day. During the day they change without any questions. Just say "change". And that's it. At the end of the holiday, you change towels for a receipt, and at the reception you will be returned the money on it.
The biggest negative that bothered me on the beach was the lack of mattresses on the sunbeds! There are just sun loungers...And very sagging...Lying is not very comfortable! We explained the absence of mattresses to ourselves by a very humid climate and the difficulty of drying ...But how is it really there ...Who knows ?!
About excursions. When we were in Havana, they refused the services of a guide. We had a guide to Cuba, a GPS navigator with a map of Havana, minimal knowledge of Spanish and a very strong desire to get new experiences.
Everything that was in the programs of several excursions with a guide, we went through ourselves in one day. And without haste and crowds of people! Highly recommend! And we were very lucky, we got to all the tourist places before the influx of groups of tourists. Everywhere they took pictures, walked, rested without a bunch of people! In Hemingway's favorite cafe, we not only drank a cocktail, but sat quietly with a hearty lunch (contrary to expectations, it turned out to be quite inexpensive there). I recommend the magnificent Creole steak to everyone!! ! Only 13 cookies for two huge pieces of the most tender beef the size of a good man's palm each! I have never eaten better! I don’t even know where they got such delicious meat, because they have a hard time with beef there, especially in the dry season. And then, when we left the cafe, two huge buses with tourists drove up there. And the fuss began! They didn't even have a place to sit!

At the tobacco factory "Partagas" tours in Russian are not given if you came there on your own ...We went with an English group. But in general terms, everything was clear what was said. You cannot take pictures inside. The camera was handed over to the storage room along with the bags. It was a little scary to hand over such an expensive thing. But everything worked out : ) And, in general, they have some kind of mania there, you can’t bring bags into any museum. Even ladies!! ! Everything must be handed over to the camera. And at the tobacco factory, and in the mausoleum of Che Guevara, and in the Museum of the Revolution ...In general, everywhere! Taxis were taken several times. Never paid more than 10 cookies. We drove from the hotel in Miramar (a district of new Havana) to the old fortress for 10, from the fortress to the Capitol for 8 (it's close, but the place is touristy, so the prices were aching : )), and from Revolution Square to Miromar (it's very far) for 8 The coolest place to walk in Havana is Prada Street!
Wide, shady, with a large central pedestrian part...Very beautiful...And it's better to walk alone, and not with the crowd! And you won't be able to enjoy it! It seems that there is nothing special there ...And the houses are shabby, and the poor people ...But the atmosphere itself ...And the people are cheerful ...They dance ...As if they have no problems !! ! Benevolent! You must feel it and be sure to visit it in order to understand it, but a story cannot convey the fullness of impressions! The famous Malecon, on the contrary, did not leave much impression! Prada is 1000 times better! It took a long time to get to Revolution Square, through ordinary quarters ...Tourists are obviously not often seen there! But we really wanted to see the famous portrait of Che on the facade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs! And we got there! Take pictures of government buildings. institutions is prohibited. But we snapped a dozen shots until the guards started to whistle and shout at us.
After that, we prudently jumped into a taxi and ran away from sin : ) In Varadero, we then asked the guide if it was realistic to walk from Partagas to Revolution Square ? ! He made scary eyes and said it was impossible! After we said that we did it, he began to respect us! : )
From Varadero we took an excursion to the island of Cayo Largo from the guide. Flight by domestic airlines to the island, then sailing on a yacht in the Caribbean, with stops for swimming. The sea is very salty, a lot of algae. But still cool. I especially liked swimming and photo session with starfish. Very beautiful. We went to the island of royal iguanas. Very big and calm lizards : ) I wrote about lobsters a little higher. Then a couple of hours on the beach. The sea was a little stormy, so it was not very clean. But the sand is impressive. As I already wrote, white and small ...So much so that even in the heat of the day it was not hot. Just warm.

Then we rode on a wheeled Tuk-Tuk train around the island. He transported tourists who lived on the island for free, and we went for 5 cookies per person. In general, the trip is not worth it, we just drove around the hotels, but we looked at them ...And we concluded that we did not lose anything when we bought tickets to the Varadero hotel, and not to the Caribbean coast. There is nothing to do in Cayo Largo. And there were also small midges that bite very hard and painfully ...And mosquitoes. Another minus of the Caribbean coast ...Although, maybe we were just unlucky.
We went to Trinidad for 2 days, visited several cities, the Che mausoleum, a national nature reserve. We spent the night in a hotel in the mountains, traveled by truck, swam in a mountain lake. The natural part of the tour is quite, but the cities are not very interesting ...somehow everything is fragmented, crumpled. Another plus for independent travel.
We went to the crocodile farm on our own.
I strongly suspect that it was not a crocodile, but a banal cow. Because with such an influx of tourists who want to taste crocodile meat, all reptiles would have been eaten a long time ago. After the farm, we visited the legendary place of the battle of Playa Giron, the crab death road ...Well, this is just a place on the highway where clouds of crabs cross it ...And they die under the wheels of a car. After we drove back, we got caught in a tropical downpour, when the water flooded the streets in the cities so that the wheels of the car were hidden. The spectacle is impressive! And in Varadero at that time it was dry! Entry-exit to Varadero is paid, 2 cookies from a passenger car, but we somehow managed to leave and enter past the post. So they didn't pay anything. Driving on the roads is not scary at all. There are practically no cars. And if you have a navigator map, you can drive all over Cuba. The police never slowed down, and we generally did not break the rules. So I recommend taking your license with you.
Our friends rented a moped. 12 cookies for 2 hours and 3 cookies for petrol. Just enough to drive around Varadero and see what's where.

About souvenirs. The exchange of money is a state fiefdom. So the rate is the same everywhere, in the exchange office in the center of Havana, in the hotel on Varadero. During our stay for 1 euro they gave 1.35 cookies. The exchange rate fluctuates daily, but only slightly. Maracas (1 cookie), various beads made of natural bones (1-2 cookies per piece) Textile hats with the Havana Club emblem (5 cookies per piece) Wide wooden bracelets (5 cookies per piece, bought on crocodile farm, I have not seen it anywhere else, but it looks stylish), magnets with Che (the most decent performance, soft option, does not scratch the refrigerator, also on the farm 1 cookie per piece), Serano coffee, they say that the best there. The price is the same everywhere. Mikey with Che. Price from 8 to 25 cookies. depending on the quality. Optimally 12-25 cookies. Rum Havana Club, 7 years old 15.9 per 1 liter.
Advice for those who want to bring a lot of alcohol: buy in Dutik and pay with Cookies. It will be cheaper and you do not need to check in your luggage. Our luggage bag was full of rum, although our bottles were intact in it (we packed them well). And some people are not so lucky. Everything got beat up. We also suffered a couple of white T-shirts that were not in packages. The rest is all dry, but rum is not washed off very well from white things. So rum is better in a dutik, and you can easily buy all other souvenirs in Varadero, there are many markets, it’s not expensive and you can bargain.
Summary. Rest turned out wonderful, a lot of impressions! We will definitely be back at least once more! It is possible that in this hotel.
That, it seems, is all. There will be questions, write - I will answer.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original