My friends and I (all in late 20's) decided to book this resort because we wanted to getaway from our busy lives. We all needed a break and we got it! I loved every minute of it!

Location: I personally loved the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere. I loved the well groomed graden, the coconut trees, the beautiful and very colorful flowers that surround the resort and most of all, the birds! You go to sleep listening to the birds, you also wake up listening to the birds.

Rooms: I have no complains with the rooms. We got a triple one and it was spacious enough for us as well as the bathroom. You might find a few ants and a couple of cockroaches but they won't harm you. LOL Mosquitoes was a problem. The patio is great! The tiled floor was so clean. I loved the villa style.

Food: I'll keep this short and simple, not great but good enough.
I suggest bringing your own snacks which we luckily did. You'll always find something to eat but there may be days when you might have a hard time swallowing it esp. if you're picky like me.

The Beach: Not as beautiful as the beach in Varadero. Some days I thought it needed some serious cleaning but I heard it's great for snorkeling. Unfortunately I don't snorkel.

Pool: Nothing fancy. There are two pools side by side. One is for the kids and the other for adults. They try to have some activities on a daily basis such as games, water aerobics, and dancing by the pool depending on how many people are around.

Activities: I highly recommend hiking. It was a good learning experience. Yosmani was our guide and he knows quite a lot and can explain things very well. He does his job very well. You'll love the view once you get to the top, the people you'll meet along the way esp. the children (we brought candies for them). You'll get to taste sugar canes, coconut and my most favorite the bananas!

Entertainment: I love love love the resident band Sonora Jibacoa. They play both at the theatre and the restaurant 3 or 4 times a week. We got to see the comedy show, hmmm I have nothing good to say about it so I'll just leave it as is. They all work hard to entertain the guests. It's a tough job! I truly enjoyed dancing the "club dance"! Especially the "You want to touch me? Si!" It was fun!

Staffs: AMAZING PEOPLE. Each one we passed by would greet us with hola. I love the smile on their faces. Some tried to talk to us in spanish. We could understand some words but unfortunately most of the time, all we could say was "No Comprende". Mr. Emilio, the gardener brough us flowers twice while we were there. He seems so nice and we could tell that he truly enjoyed talking to us. The only thing that I didn't like was the security staff who was so friendly and all with us then, we found her knocking at our door asking for money. Bartenders were great. Jose is one funny guy. Elmer seemed so sweet.

Excursions: Havana Special is a must! Our tour guide was great! Don't take the Varadero one. Although it only costs 25 CUC, I thought it was a real waste of time. Take the taxi instead. You'll get to enjoy your own time rather than spending 10 mins. here and there and an hour driving around the stupid resorts. I didn't like the tour guide at all.

Other: We became friends with Ania, one of the staffs at the buffet restaurant. She's so nice. We asked her if she and her husband can take us around the Matanzas City. Instead of paying the taxi, we told her that we'll pay her instead. We got to see her house which was great! She had a tamarind tree, mango tree, guava tree and a few animals like pigs and a cow. Her house is immaculate. Small but looks very new even her furnitures look new. this is one of the best things we did in Cuba. Her husband, although didn't speak english at all, gladly drove us around the city in his old car. He was very accomodating. They also brought their daughter who is just adorable! I wish I can see them again.

This resort is for people who has an open mind, don't expect anything fancy, appreciative of little things, people who want peace and quiet and who is in more of a learning experience rather than drinking and partying! Definitely not for those who like to party. I prefer this resort than the ones in Varadero.

My wife, in-laws and our two boys (5 and 2) spent a week here and loved it. The accommodations are clean and the staff are friendly. The units are small detached villas with tiled patios to sit out on. The beach is great (can be rough when the wind kicks up) with easy access to good snorkeling and diving. Great pool area for kids. Dinners are late for young children so bring snacks and eat big ate lunches to get them thru. We preferred this to a high rise type building on the Varadero strip - mostly families and older couples so very quiet. The surrounding area is rural and lends itself to nice walks/hikes etc. Only an hour ride from Old Havana which is worth a few hours of exploring. Food - well, now I know what everyone meant when they said "You don't go to Cuba for the food"! Overall we would stay there again based on our experience but won't likely because we'd like to see other parts of the country.

For those of you interested in staying at Cameleon Villas Jibacoa, I strongly urge you to go, I promise you wont be disapointed. Theres a lot of reviews that have in-depth detail but I'll try to cover some things that I learned that will be useful to future travelers.

-The rooms are all free standing, brightly coloured and very clean. Air conditioning lets you escape from the heat (ours broke but was fixed within hours) Theres no seal on the bottom of the door, so dont be surprised if you see a few bugs. There ants are tiny and if you bring flowers in your room you'll be sure to find them covered in ants. Bring Raid if your sketched out by them.

-I highly reccomend bringing a few gifts to give away to your new friends. They really like items for children (marbles, hair ties, toy cars, checkers, frisbees, skipping ropes, dolls, hackey sac, baseball) toiletries, as well as clothes. Someone will probably ask you for your hat (i was asked 3x a day) They loves baseball caps.

-We found Cuba to be a very safe place. I left my stuff unattended on the beach all the time with money, ipod ect in my bag and never once was anything missing. I learned my lesson though, dont leave anything on your front step at night. We had our snorkel gear and flip flops taken under the mask of night.

-The best way to pay for things is cash. Canadian/Euro currency is best as American money is charged an exchange levy. You will need to exchange your money into Convertable pesos and can do that at either the airport or hotel. I was told that the exchange rate was dollar for dollar, but that is incorrect. It's something like 80 cents to your dollar, so you loose out a bit but everything is so cheap it's not a total ripoff. Any credit cards used cannot be affiliated with an American company ei: Capitol One, American Express ect as they wont accept it. Canadian/European cards are fine but they charge you %10.

-Be aware that they will NOT accept any ripped bills. I tried to convert my last 20 dollar Canadian bill at the front desk and they told me the Cuban Bank will not take ripped bills and therefore wouldn't let me exchange it.

-Tips are only useful to staff in cuban pesos/gifts. LOONIES AND TOONIES ARE WORTHLESS TO THEM. Please dont tip them with Candian coins. Cuban banks only accept BILLS in other currencies. We had the bartenders asking if we could switch the TOONIES for pesos because they had no use for them.

-Unlike other resorts, the staff are allowed to mingle and make friends with the guests. The bartenders will have a drink with you, the entertainers after the show will sit down with you and talk about Cuban life, the groundsmen will stop you on your walk to give you flowers. These people are so friendly. Bring gifts for them and they will be grately appreciated. Even something simple as bringing water and a sandwhich to the security gaurds on the beach, "buying" rounds of beer for the dancers, leaving clothes and toiletries for the hosekeeping.

-Have an open mind when you are there. The food is not amazing, but it fills your belly and they work so hard for you.The beach is not the flawless white beaches of Veradero but is beautiful and #1 for snorkeling.

-I highly reccomend going on the hiking tour. Its a free, morning walk up the nearby mountain with Torres or Yosmany. The hike itself is only about 10 minutes from bottom to top, bring water, running shoes arent totally nessisary as I did it both times in flip flops no problem. The view is worth it! (photo #2) You then walk to the famers house where they greet you with sugar cane and coconut. It's a great cultural experiance. We brought them gifts and were greatly appreciated

-Bring a banana or two when you go snorkeling and you'll be sure for an amazing show. The fish arent shy. Bring an underwater camera!!

-Bring your own cup (plastic, travel mug, ect) as the ones at the bar areTINY and will reduce trash greatly.

-The worst part is saying goodbye. It was truely the most amazing week of my life and cried as the bus pulled away. I hope you have a great time as well.

My GF and I stayed here in late April 2008, again I won't repeat what others have said, they are all true. This is a great place to relax if that is what your looking for. It has the feel of a small intimate resort where you get to know everyone. It is not 5 star quality but they are renovating slowly with what little they have and the new renovations look awesome (they do renovations every fall).

Tips:

Take the taxi to Havana, its $90CUC for up to 4 people and it a way better value than the package tour ($51CUC per person)

Bring gifts for EVERYONE, the security guards (6 watching the resort) get forgotten alot and get paid very little.

Book the ALA Carte, they really try hard and you have 2 servers and a personal chef for around 5-6 tables max. We really enjoyed it. Its a 4 course meal.

Book a massage, $10CUC for 30 min, $25CUC for Full Hour. He is a registered massage therapist, this is almost a steal. He is amazing according to my GF.

Treat everyone with respect and you will get it back ten-fold.
The bartenders and animation staff work 17 hour days, one day on one day off, but they usually end up working 4-5 days straight. I have never seen harder working people at any resort that still care at Midnight the same as they cared at 10am. They have to show up early to make sure the pool area is clean and clean it up after the bar closes.

All in all, if you dont go in with an attitude you will have a great relaxing vacation.