Stayed at the Iberostar Varadero for a week at the end of January - my first trip to an all-inclusive resort. I had a great time. I had heard that this was the top-rated resort in Varadero and was not disappointed.

We were there at a relatively quiet time - tourism is down a bit - so we never had a problem getting seats around the pool. There were plenty of guests, but the resort was clearly not at capacity. Many of the seats by the beach were taken by mid morning but there was an employee available to find a spot to your liking and bring out more chairs.

The resort itself is not too big - just right. Every area is kept in top shape. The rooms were perfect: comfortable, roomy, perfectly clean, and well-kept at all times.

Check-in and out was a breeze. The front desk staff speak perfect English and are professional, efficient, and friendly. Changing currency was no problem, nor was changing bills for change (for tips).

All of the staff were equally friendly and helpful, from the waiters to the housekeepers to the groundskeepers - who will cut down a coconut for you as you are passing by.

I had heard that at these resorts, the food tends to be the weak spot; the buffet can become tiresome as the week wears on. Not at the Iberostar. The breakfast, lunch, and especially dinner buffet food was changed every day, and the variety was amazing. If you can't find something you like, you're either incredibly picky or not making an effort to try new things. There were things I wasn't crazy about, but simply because they didn't suit my particular tastes, not because they weren't of the best quality. The only time I was half-disappointed was one night that they didn't have roasted chicken (which I ate every night, along with other things). The french fries and roasted chicken were consistenly great. There was usually ice cream among the dessert choices, and the best was the dark orange guava flavour.

The only oddities were the pop and pineapple juice which I tried a couple of days from the fountain dispensers; they had an odd, somewhat medicinal taste. I switched to carbonated mineral water, but we found it had a funny, "earthy" taste. We started asking for bottled, carbonated mineral water, which the waiters were happy to serve us, but it meant having to catch the waiters. We started bringing the bottled water from our rooms.

The specialty restaurants sounded appealing as a change from the buffet, which we feared we would grow tired of by the end of the week. You are only allowed to visit each specialty restaurant (Cuban, Mediterranean, and Japanese teppan) once per week, and must make reservations (only at certain times, and sometimes the reservation desk is lined up). We tried the Cuban restaurant, which was mediocre. The Japanese restaurant was pretty bad (I'm of Japanese descent and so am *somewhat* familiar with Japanese cuisine), and if you've ever had teppan and know what to expect from the "show", it was a bit lame. You have to understand that the Cuban chefs can't exactly travel to Japan to be trained. They did a few tricks with utensils *after* they had finished cooking (our chef dropped a utensil). I told him the food was great and gave him a tip; for me, it's more about the effort and attitude than being impressed.

The "animation" was something I was not expecting. The activities staff ("animators") struck a perfect balance between encouraging us to participate but not pressuring anyone. At no time did we ever have to "refuse". I would really prefer to sit by the pool, drink, read, and swim with complete quiet. Instead, there was often music playing or a game or competition being organized right in front of my lounge chair. But it's all part of the resort experience. If you need more quiet, you can move to the end of the resort area on the beach.

I did not go to any of the evening shows. I was not there to "be entertained", preferring to take time eating dinner, enjoy conversation with friends, and continue to the lobby bar. All of the bars were very handy and the drinks very good.

The gym was a pleasant surprise. All the equipment appeared almost new and was in perfect working order. It was small, but pretty complete. There were five cardio machines (2 treadmills, one stair stepper, one upright bike and one recumbent bike), a 3 station weight machine, a flat bench and an adjustible bench, and sets of free weight dumbbells and barbells, plus exercise mats. The room was busy in the mornings but by noon was empty. The *vast* majority of the guests - from all over the world - were noticeably overweight and didn't come to a resort to get exercise.

Conclusion: I will be recommending this resort to anyone who will listen. I hope to be back.

Thank you Trip Advisor for your reviews on the Iberostar Varadero. We loved it. Your reviews were bang on. Everything was exceptional from the food, rooms, cleanliness, staff, beaches, pools, and everything else.
We were in Cuba 3 years ago and were not impressed. The food was terrible. No selection and no taste. This was not the case at the Iberostar.
If you are nervous to go back to Cuba, do try this resort. We usally go to the Mayan Riveria in Mexico. The Iberostar Varadero is equally as good if not better.
Give it a chance you will not be disappointed!
I would like to point out to travellors that it is not the food that gets you sick, it is from not washing your hands after handling the dirty tongs at the buffets that hundreds of people touch. Simply use hand wipes before you use your hands. I find many people mistake food poisoning with simply not washing there hands.

We travelled to Iberostar for my sisters birthday.We were three girls in total.We arrived home February 4th. We had a fantastic time. The staff was ALL so friendly, we got to know them quite well. They always included us in the games and activities which turned out to be a blast. For my sisters birhday they made a special effort from giving us champagne for breakfast,,lunch and dinner,,and not to mention a birthday cake at the Japenese restaurant which was really good. The resort itself is very clean,,the rooms are spacious enough even for three girls who overpacked. If your looking to relax and do nothing that is fine,,but if your looking for alot of laughs and days filled with activiites you'll find whatever you are looking for.
The disco at night can be a good time depending on what kind of crowd you have. There are snacks and food available to you 24hrs a day-great when you get the 4a.m munchies after dancing all night. The lobby bar is a great place to meet new people from all over and unwind after dinner.

The beachfront is phenomenal- the service a the beach was great we had someone situating our lounge chairs for us,,dusting them off,,also a waiter would come around with drinks.It was so wonderful to have that kind of service.This was our third time in Cuba and our first time having that type of service on the beach.

All in all our experience at this hotel was so great we can't wait to go back and do it all over again! Special hellos go out to the recreational staff-and the pool bar staff who had us laughing so hard it hurt.When it was time to leave it was very difficult saying good-bye as the staff made a great effort to be so kind to us. They are all such beautiful people inside and out!!! And it was nice meeting all the tourists from all over the world.I highly recommend this resort to anyone who wants to visit Cuba. Anyone with any questions can e-mail me at njonuzi@yahoo.com

We stayed at the Iberostar Varadero the first week of February. We chose it in part from the Tripadvisor reviews and our stay at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya last year. This year we left the kids at home with Grandma, so this is from the perspective of a married couple.

This was our first trip to Cuba and we were very pleased with the friendliness of the Cuban people, both in and out of the resort, and the quality of English spoken was a pleasant surprise. All the resort staff that we had contact with, up to and including the gardener working at our building, could carry on at least a rudimentary conversation in English, however, as always we try to use as much Spanish as we can in our conversations with the locals. We believe that the effort is appreciated.

Thoughout our stay, we had to remember that this is Cuba, and some things are just not going to be available. This is rated as a five star hotel, but realistically, in some other locations would be a four. The room was clean and pretty basic, a few oddities like no clock, but wakeup calls came through with no issues. Our maid was extremely friendly and did a great job, providing us with extra water and a few other requested items.

We spent some time with the Star Friends activity crew and they were great fun. We participated in many of the silly poolside games , dance lessons etc. They were not insistant though, if you said no thanks, they didn't press the issue. We got along well with Nono and always enjoyed his antics.

The beach was simply gorgeous. The sand had the consistancy of flour and was white and clean. There were plenty of loungers and the waiters were fairly prompt. If you are a snorkler, there isn't much out there to see, but you can take one of the resort catamarans east off the point (with a guide) and the snorkling is better there.

The pool area was nice with the usual swim up bar and was quite nicely arranged. The hotel itself is not too large when compared to most of the hotels in places like the Mayan Riviera and the Dominican. This is a positive feature for us as we prefer the smaller more intimate environment.

The food was an unexpected surprise. We had heard prior to going that food in Cuba was bland and fairly pedestrian. We tend not to eat things on a tropical vacation that can be easily obtained at home, so we consumed a great deal of seafood and tropical fruit. It was all extremely good. We went to all three ala carte restaurants, and liked them all, with the Japanese one the favourite and theCuban one the least.

The drinks were pretty standard for an all inclusive resort, but just by asking, your drinks can contain premium liquor, and a couple of three peso tips ensured I rarely had to specify after the first couple of days. The wait staff and bar staff were all pleasant and attentive. Special thanks to Emma at the lobby bar!

A couple of tips:
If your appliances are North American, bringing a converter is a good idea. The bathroom plug can be switched to 120V but is meant for only a shaver, it isn't too happy charging camera batteries etc. The front desk was more than happy to charge batteries for us though.
Bring a selection of toiletry and other items that you can give away to the staff. Some of these items are very hard to get, and a few dollars spent on toothpast soap feminine products, is most appreciated.
As stated in other reviews buy your liquor and cigarsat the airport, after checking in luggage. The prices are goverment controlled so it is no more expensive, and you can save weight in you bagage. We learned the hard way, and had to pay extra for overweight bags.

As long as one keeps in mind that Cuba is a comunist country with a trade emgaro with the US, and realize that Cuban time is even slower that Mexican time, a stay at the Iberostar Varadero is well worth the trip. We would definitely consider returning.