I stoped here with my Wife for 4 days on a trip to Cuba, The hotel comes accross as a business hotel, rather than a tourist one, and as such has slick and efficient service.

For me this was a good base for a trip to Havana, although it is a little out of the centre (5 mins by taxi) The hotel has a good Bar and restaurant for Breakfast, Dinner, Snacks or a Night cap.

The rooms are clean and well serviced, as are all the public areas including the well equiped Gym and Pool area.

I would recomend the Melia to anyone whom fancies a trip to havana, but dosent mind stopping out of centre

Just got back from a week at the Melia Cohiba in Havana. We had decided to immerse ouselves in the capital city, rather than trying an all inclusive (have not yet experienced one of those).

Flying with Sunwing meant landing in Varadero and bussing it into Havana, which added travel time. No Sunwing rep in Havana, so we felt a bit isolated, but it was okay.

The Melia is a beautiful hotel. Lobby and pool are spectacular. The room was large and very nice, but the bathroom shows its age. Had read that the hotel was 4 years old - actually it is 13, which makes more sense.

The hotel is in Vedado. Across the street is the Hotel Riviera, 10 minutes walk to El Presidente, and 30 minutes to Hotel Nacional. The neighbourhood is quite run down, but it feels safe. There is a small 'mall' across the street (where we NEVER got the right change. The clerks always skimmed 0.15 or 0.40 off our change - and at the airport, my converted cash was 5 CUC short). You can get water, beer, etc at this mall (although the Melia says you cannot consume anything in the hotel that was not sold by them, and we had one employee give us the 'evil eye'). Water was 0.65 for a large bottle, beer about 0.90 for a can, local wine for about 3 CUC, although you can certainly buy more expensive ones.

FOOD

We were not lucky enough to have an all-inclusive or even breakfast included. We were not adventurous enough to eat in most places we saw on the street. Hotel restuarants were quite expensive at the Melia. We ate several times in La Piazza (at the Melia) where we shared a large pizza for 15 CUC. The buffet was 15 CUC for breakfast, 23 CUC for lunch, 25 CUC for dinner. We had both lunch and dinner and the buffet was excellent and varied. We also ate at the Riviera across the street, not bad but not great. We ate several times at El Presidente, which we really liked (turn right and go up Paseo to 7th, then turn left and you will see the red brick hotel in the distance with a large P on top. Takes about 10 minutes to walk there. It was a very charming hotel and we found the service friendly.) You can get pasta for about 5 CUC, chicken etc for 8 CUC. (We had a look at the breakfast buffet and decided to pass, though.)

We also ate several times at Hotel Florida (on Obispo in Habana VIejo). Very good, excellent prices. Just down the street is a panadaria (bakery) with fantastic donuts (rositas) and cinnamon pastries (palmeiras) for 0.25! On that same street you will also find a good open air souvenir market (the vase we bought cost 4 times more at the airport).

TRAVEL INTO OLD HAVANA

Not that much around the hotel, but travel into town is easy, so not really an issue. The shuttle bus was generally reliable and on time. Reserve your place early though or you may not get the 10 a.m and have to wait for the 11 a.m. We took it several days. We once came back in a little 3 wheeled Coco Taxi (6 CUC). We love to walk, so we walked in one day by going up Paseo to Salvatore Allende and cutting through Central Havana - it took about 1.75 hours but was very interesting. I dare say we were the only tourists, but again we felt safe. Another day we walked back along the Malecon and that took 1.5 hours.

LOCATION

The Melia is in Vedado, a suburb. We originally wanted to stay in Old Havana at the Telegrafo or NH Parque Centrale based on Trip Advisor ratings. However, once we got there, we found these to be in such a noisy, busy spot that we were glad to be in Vedado. There are some hotels on quieter streets in Old Havana, like the Hotel Florida and Ambos Mundos (where Hemingway stayed). In Vedado, we also visited the Hotel Nacional (not the full tour, just looked around). It is really very nice and closer if you want to walk in to Old Havana (probably 1 hour walk). Pool not as spectacular as the one at the Melia. Did not see the rooms. All in all, we were happy with our choice.

INTERNET

The business center is closed on Sundays (4 CUC for 20 minutes) so we ended up getting an Internet card at the Presidente Hotel where computers are accessible at all times in the lobby (6 CUC for one hour - but you don't have to use it all in one sitting). Sometimes had to wait for a few minutes to get one of the 3 computers, but overall this worked very well.

SERVICE

We found that the service was sometimes somewhat indifferent, for example at the pool restaurant and in La Piazza - however others were very friendly, especially in the buffet restaurant, the maid. Many of the hotel staff did not appear comfortable in English and our Spanish is not great, but we always managed to communicate.

Overall, we did enjoy our stay a the Melia Cohiba. A split 3 days Havana, 3 days Varadero would probably be ideal.

was completely supprised by this hotel, amazing, down to every last detail, was told you could not get 5* quality in cuba but this proves there wrong
the only draw back is that its not central

World-Class Hotel in Havana

I was warned before coming to Havana that ‘high Western standards’ do not apply in Cuba. Luckily for me, the Melia Cohiba is one of the more modern, convenient and well-serviced hotels in Havana. I would highly recommend the Melia Cohiba, Vedado to anyone visiting Cuba.

Positives: Great service generally, especially the concierge. Pool and surrounding area (including gym) are huge and beautiful. Room service is prompt and reasonably priced. Maids are excellent and trustworthy. Hotel is very well-located for restaurants, jazz clubs and the boardwalk (called the ‘Malecon’). There is both a supermarket (not well-stocked) and an excellent jazz club called the ‘Jazz Café’ directly across the street from the Melia Cohiba. Although the hotel is relatively far from Old Havana, we made good use of the free, reliable hotel shuttle service almost everyday during our six-day stay.

Negatives: My one complaint about the hotel is the business centre, which is not well-staffed and is overpriced. It is also important to keep in mind that the hotel has not been renovated or upgraded in several years, so the room décor feels outdated.

General Havana tips: It is a good idea to stock up on water at the supermarket as bottled water is better-priced at the market than at the hotel. Do not expect to buy any American-made goods, produce or fresh bread at the supermarket – like most stores in Havana, it is very low on goods. You can play tennis for Cdn$5 at the Hotel Nacional . We brought our own tennis racquets and balls so did not have to pay rental fees.

Beach tips: There are no beaches in Havana proper. We found a reasonably priced (Cdn$25 return) taxi driver to bring us to two beaches in the east: Playa Megano and Santa Maria del Mar. Megano was less crowded and had an excellent live band. Santa Maria was livelier, more popular among Cubans, but much windier.

Restaurant tips: Great restaurants where we generally ordered fish: Paladeria “Las Tres B” (Calle 21 No. 164 Altos, between K and L, Vedado), La Floridana (Hotel Florida, Calle Obispo 252), El Mercurio Café (Plaza de San Francisco – great for breakfast), La Taberna de la Muralla (Plaza Vieja), El Conejito (Calle M, between 17 and 19).

Great jazz and other clubs: La Zorra y el Cuervo Jazz Club (Calle 23 and O, Vedado), Jazz Café (across the street from the Melia Cohiba), El Meson de la Flota (Mercaderes 257).

Tips for a future trip: There is a Cdn$10 fee to use the minibar in the hotel room, regardless of whether you consume any minibar items. If you decide to pay for minibar access, you might as well consume Cdn$10 worth of items to make it worth your while (we did not). Two restaurants we did not have a chance to try: La Rocca (Vedado) and Los Nardos (near the Capitolio).