Just came from there (May 18th - May 25th) via WestJet. Stayed at the Barcelo Cayo Largo.
Pros-Night entertainment shows are varied and very interesting:
from one night to another, the theme is never the same (they had cabaret on one night,
cuban fiesta on another, sketches, romantic night and so on...).
-The staff: in general, you can see that they were very well trainned (very profesional/courteous/helpful).
-The general layout is well thought and beautifully set: everything is close to each other (from the club house,
to baby house, to snack bar..etc)
-Beautiful and well located swimming pool (lots of coconut trees around the swimming pool area).
Cons-The rooms: very ordinary rooms that contrast with the hotel's general cute layout.
No Iron, nothing in the fridge (they got stolen too often from what I've heard...so like in anything
in life. we pay for others..). The rooms need some retouch (see my pics).
-The beach was very bad during that week (very agitated water). We had to rent scooters and
enjoy Playa Paraiso and Serenas nice beaches (about 10 mins away by car from the Barcelo). No palapas on Barcelo's beach.
The hotel's rooms were small, just ok.
At their main buffet (large room, with high ceilings), the main buffet was just ok.
Food was neither great neither bad.
At their ranchon (beach restaurant):
food (mostly grilled meats) and ambience fared way better.
The Chef at the ranchon, Raul, is a fun hard working gentleman :
Their rancon is well situated, with a very short access to the beach (just go down couple of stairs, and it's the beach).
They also have a little snack bar with decent offerings like hot dogs, fries. Ok
The sea in front of the hotel was generally wavy on the week we were spending there:
The beach in front of the hotels area appears to lose ground due to coastal erosion:
Not a big hotel, but everything was centrally located. For ie, the swimming pool (not to big, not too small):
was central to all other facilities (lobby, kindergarten, el ranchon, etc).
There were palapas by the pool side .......
....but none at the beach!
Oddly, common facilities like the hotel's public toilets:
or at the lobby:
had a bit more luxury than in the rooms.
The night shows were decent:
Bottom line, it was a simple small hotel delivering the usual things in a satisfying way. But the star of the holidays were found on the Island itself:
Parts of Playa Paraiso, approx at 10 mins drive from the hotel, were of postal card material. Only challenged by its neighbor, Playa Sirena:
Not too sure which one is more beautiful (I think that Sirena's far right little blue lagoon is not to be missed if you want to spend a bit of romance with your sweet half in a quiet remote location), but they are the two most beautiful beaches I personally have seen in Cuba. They are close to each other, so try them both.
Truly like this place on that visit there.
