Arenas Doradas is a lovely resort that is situated right by an equally impressive beach with beautiful, clear waters. I am not picky about hotels-I don't need a Sandals resort or what not, so to me Arenas Doradas was perfect. I came to Cuba to relax on the beach, not to spend my time in the room- which was clean, and pleasant looking with a tv and balcony. I stayed in the 400 apartment rooms. I have travelled to different countries, and from my experience, the service at this resort was fantastic. The staff were always smiling and willing to help, and made everyone's day. So don't mind tipping the staff as they really try hard to make the traveller happy. Of course there is going to be one unhappy worker, but that was rare during my visit. The one thing that needs to be mentioned is the food. Once again I am not picky about food and do not expect luxurious meals for the price I paid, but the buffet was dreadful. The only thing I really ate was the bread and the pasta. What is good though is the snack bar at the pool, as well as the grill on the beach. The night life at the resort is rather non-existent as well as the nightly shows. To meet people, the best place to go is the lobby bar, but if you're not into that then you will need to leave the resort. A great spot ten minutes away is the Palma Real resort with its fantastic Havana nightclub. Taking a taxi isn't dangerous at all, and you can get a fixed rate from 10-15 pesos. Would I return to Arenas Doradas again? Because of the food- no. The food at the buffet needs to really improve. But the staff is fantastic and so is the pool area and beach. It's always clean, the gardeners are amazing, and it increases the aesthetic appeal of the place. What I also found very impressive about the resort was that it was designed especially for those with any accessability issues. On a whole, a very nice and peaceful resort with amazing staff and a beautiful beach. I was able to enjoy my time and get the needed relaxation. This resort is perfect for couples, families, and those of a home-body nature. Wild-party folk will not find the resort as fulfilling to their needs. Wonderful resort though for a four star rating!

We had a great time in cuba and the resort for the price was perfect! Above the below weak points listed the daily entertainment and activities being held were none existent at the beach and minimal at the pool. You get what u pay for and we were very happy here!

Don't go if you are expecting fast service. The best part was the beautiful beaches. I recommened trying to explore off the resport as much as possible ... there's not a lot going on at the resort if you are looking to be entertained. If you are looking to do nothing and 'relax' then this place will be good for you.

you get what you pay for so we went with low expectations and were not disappointed. The food is Cuba,(I'm not picky) the resort was kept very clean, do go on the jeep safari it is worth the money and a good way to get alot in, all in 1 day. I would go back for $600 or less for 1 week.

GENS TRÈS GENTILS ET TRÈS BON ACCUEUIL CEPENDANT J'AVAIS RÉSERVÉ CHAMBRE AU NIVEAU TERRASSE: ON M'A DONNÉ UNE CHAMBRE AU 2E ÉTAGE DANS LE BLOC DES # 500 QUE J'AI REFUSÉE. ON M'A TRANSFÉRÉ DANS UNE CHAMBRE BLOC #900 MAIS DANS CE BLOC LES COFFRES FORT NE SONT PAS FONCTIONNELS. LE LENDEMAIN ON M'A TRANSFÉRÉ DANS UNE CHAMBRE DU BLOC #800. dANS CHAMBRE DE BAIN COTÉ TOILETTE LES LUMIÈRES NE FONCTIONNENT PAS. NOUS AVONS EU L'ÉCLAIRAGE APRÈS 2 DEMANDES LE LUNDI APRÈS MIDI SEULEMENT. L'INTÉRIEUR DES CHAMBRES EST TRÈS VEILLI MAL PEINTURÉ, MIROIR ABIMÉ DANS SALLE DE BAIN BAIN TOUT ABIMÉ.....HEUREUSEMENT QU'ON EST LÀ JUSTE POUR SE LAVER ET DORMIR. LES LITS ÉTAIENT BIEN FAIT À CHAQUE JOUR MAIS SI ON NE MOULLAIT PAS NOS SERVIETTES QUE L'ON DÉPOSAIT PAR TERRE POUR LES FAIRES CHANGER....ILS LES REPLIAIENT SOUILLÉES ET NOUS LES LAISSAIENT COMME SI ELLES ÉTAIENT NOUVELLES.... OUACH MAIS LES GENS TRÈS SERVIABLES, SOURIANT.

Great location. With that said, the staff, with the exception of the Reception area, were great. Very friendly. The resort is very rundown. There has been no money put back into its upkeep. The beds in the rooms are sub par, worn out! Linnens and towels are thread barren. Airconditioning in rooms generally do not work. There is no water pressure in the showers, so bathing is a joke. Bring your own Beach Towels, we could not get one for two days. The Al-a-cart Resturants were very good compared to the one buffet resturant, which was horriffic. We were not expecting alot from the food in Cuba, but this was sad. I would not go back to this resort, and it should not be listed as a Top Resort! Stick with a known Resort Chain!

Arenas Doradas is a beautiful resort! The rooms are nice and clean, the service was wonderful, the cubans are (as always) so friendly and helpful, the pool area was FANTASTIC and the beach was equally as wonderful. As someone who has been to Cuba twice and starved for the week, I NEVER went hungry here. With a delicious 24/7 snack bar that serves fries, hamburgers and hotdogs (and more), and a grill at the beach that has yummy chicken, rice, shrimp and potatoes, and then the selection from the buffet, I ate VERY WELL. The location is perfect, as it is close to Veradero and the market and the local clubs. We rented some scooters a few times and rode around which was the highligh of the trip. The jeef safari excursion was INCREDIBLE. Generally, I would recommend this to anyone, and would certainly go back. Don't listen to any negative reviews, because obviously these people have never stayed in cuba and have VERY high standards. This place is just wonderful!!!! Enjoy :) Oh and get up early to reserve seats at the beach and pool!!!!

This Hotel overall is good. The only thing they need to improve is the communication area. The internet and phone calls were very bad. The staff, room, beaches, location are great.

un peu loin de la ville, mais service de navette, le paysage est super, propre, plage propre, manque de chaises confortables sur la plage,chambre propre, allons prendre repas à la ville pour souper car le buffet est pas mangeable sauf si vous aimez les pâtes. Payer trop cher pour la qualité,

En lisant tous les commentaires négatifs de cet hôtel, j'appréhendais mon séjour et regrettais à l'avance mon voyage. Erreur!! Nous y avons passé une très belle semaine. Il est certain qu'à Cuba, la nourriture est généralement ordinaire sauf si vous mangez du poisson. Alors là, vous tombez dans leur zone de confort et vous êtes certains de vous régaler. Mais pour le reste de la nourriture, tout était acceptable et le buffet suffisamment rempli pour vous faire une très bonne assiète. D'ailleurs, des amis résidant à l'hôtel juste à côté du notre (le Playa del Oro) ont mangé pratiquement toute la semaine avec nous, à notre hôtel, puisque le buffet y était nettement meilleur et mieux garni. Le bémole: l'absence de musique de fond aux restaurants à la carte ainsi qu'au buffet. Ce détail est important pour créer de l'ambiance. De plus, beaucoup de chaises longues brisées; il faut se lever tôt pour réserver de bonnes chaises à la plage. Le personnel était absolument fantastique, courtois et honnête. Ne nous donnait jamais l'impression d'être cheep si on ne laissait pas un pourboire. Beaucoup de plaisir avec les annimateurs qui organisaient les parties de volleyball de plage, volleyball de piscine et même soccer!! Parfait pour mon conjoint et mon adolescente de 15 ans qui ont constamment la bougeotte!!

We have stayed at this resort previously. We really enjoyed it so we have been return guests many times.
This resort is not a large one so all the services are easy to reach. The staff are very friendly.

Tres belle semaine tout inclus. Plage écoeurante! Staff gentil! Seul down est que la bouffe a la carte est ordinaire et le spectacle le soir est toujours pareil: la dance. Mais en plus les danseurs ne sont pas syncronizés! Conseils: mangez au grill a la plage pour lunch et prenez l'excursion en catamaran! J'y retournerais c sûr!

hotel tres bien pour un 3.5 ,nourriture de cuba(standard), ambiance chaude et relaxe,

After reading some of the reviews I was a little sceptical but this was my 3rd trip to Varadero. My first trip was a 3* second trip a 5* so this was in the middle and I must say I would not pay for a 5* again but would most definitely return to Arenas Doradas!

Check-In
Quick and painless and service with a smile. It was my birthday while we were there and at check-in we were told to go to customer service the next day to reserve dinner. They gave me a choice of cake or champagne, I forgot to mention which I wanted so at dinner got the cake but received a bottle of champagne in my room anyway. I had to return a couple of times to the front desk for small issues which I will get to further in this review, and was always served with a smile!

Room 511
The room was large and clean and very close to the beach. I had requested in advance to have building 5 as I had read that it was a good building to be in. The maid Dianexis was fabulous, she always left some kind of art thing on our bed made from the top cover. She made sure our room was spotless every day. She left us a little note welcoming us to the hotel on the first day and the last day wishing us a safe trip home. Bring little gifts and tip well they only make $40/month.

Food
Buffet - breakfast/lunch/dinner
We went to the buffet every morning for breakfast they're open from 7:30 - 10am. If you arrive at 10am there isn't much left, the egg counter is closed as well as the pancake counter (we learned the hard way first morning). We basically stuck to the egg counter where the gentleman makes omelettes and eggs over easy. I took my bacon from the middle buffet and brought it to him and he crisped it up nicely without hesitation. I brought him a little gift the 2nd time around. We found the coffee better at the buffet in the morning but there is a little "café" outside the buffet resto if you want espresso or cappucino.
We didn't have lunch at the buffet will get to lunch after buffet review.
Dinner at the buffet has theme nights every night ranging from asian to cuban and anywhere in between there's a sign outside the resto telling you the theme of the night. Dinner buffet opens at 6:30pm. Dinner was good always a great variety. There's a pasta counter if you're not into the actual buffet. I brought hot sauce with me and never had to use it. The food wasn't bland like a lot of people say but can tend to be over salted. It was definitely better than expected after having read other reviews.

Lunch - Beach Grill next to Beach bar open 12-2ish
Go there! This is where we ate lunch every day. There is freshly grilled fish, chicken or porkserved with rice and potatoes. They have grilled shrimp but not every day same as grilled sausages. The shrimp was wonderful!

Snack Bar next to pool - 10am-6pm

We went there a few times for a snack between lunch and dinner. We pretty much stuck to the bacon burger ;) it was yummy. They serve tuna melts, burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, etc.

A la carte - dinner reservations only
International - La Natura
I don't really remember the food because it was my birthday and I had been celebrating during the day so we'll go with my boyfriend's review hahaha He had the beef medallion and found the meat tough the veggies were cold and so was the rice. Apparently my fish was over cooked and bland. They gave me a cake for my birthday but no fanfare to go along with it...lol The service was fine but without a smile.

Italian - Dolce Vita
Anti-pasto bar was nothing special except for the fresh parmesan. I took the Penne with Tomato sauce and it seemed like it was tomato soup...not impressed. My boyfriend had the lasagna it was a small portion tasted ok but very mushy/over cooked. The minestrone soup was average. The service was very good and with a smile.

All in all the A la cartes were disappointing.

Pool was always clean but we didn't hang out there except to get strawberry dacquiries at the pool bar as that was the only place you could get them.

Bars
There's a bar in the lobby which is open late but we never went as we were exhausted from the day at the beach.

Beach Bar:
Awesome service always ready for us...tip and you'll get the best service. The bartender always knew what we wanted when we showed up.

The beach was always clean. There were always chairs available but if you want a palapa you've got to arrive very early in the morning. The beach bathrooms must have been under renovation because what was there was awful. No toilet seats no toilet paper. I always brought along a roll of toilet paper and some Charmin' seat covers to go, but because our room was so close to the beach we chose to just go back to our room if we really needed to go.

Excursions:
We booked our excursion on the catamaran with the dolphins with the excursion desk in the hotel not with TMR and we apparently had a better time than the TMR group did from comparing notes with people we met at our hotel.

We took the double decker bus (5 CUC each) into downtown Varadero. When you pay the 5 CUCs you can get on and off the bus as many times as you want during the day. The hotel has a shuttle but you're limited to the times you can go. Downtown Varadero has a great little restaurant called El Bodegon Del Gordo on a side street from one of the downtown hotels near Calle 44 I believe. If you want great grilled lobster tail go there! For 15CUCs each we got a 5inch lobster tail with rice and fresh veggies. It was awesome.

All in all our vacation to Arenas Doradas was the best and we will be returning there next year :)

As a frequent traveller to Cuba, I knew what to expect in terms of food, beaches and culture. However, having been to Arenas Doradas about four years ago, I was very disappointed to see how much the hotel, service and food have deteriorated. The hotel itself is in need of a facelift and I was glad to see some areas were been renovated. The public bathrooms for the most part did not have hand soap or toilet paper. I was also disappointed that on 5 out of the 7 nights we were there, we only had 1 bath towel and 3 hand towels for the 4 occupants in our room (2 adults, 2 children). Customer Service were advised every single time of this and only once were towels brought to our room. As a matter of fact, there was no telephone in our room at all and no efforts were made by Customer Service to rectify the problem. In terms of food, you will find something to eat and will mostly rely on the omelette station, pasta and grill stations. The buffet is not very appetizing and the food seems to be recycled and served over and over again. Definitely try out the beach grill for lunch. Good food and very nice servers. We were also given the option of going to 3 a la carte restaurants and chose the Italian, Seafood and International. The best out of the 3 was the seafood. We were not impressed by the fact that a lot of the options listed on the menu were not available to order because they 'just ran out'. Most of the staff at the resort are great and will greet you with a smile on their face. The rooms are outdated, which isn't a big deal since you don't spend much time in it. We had a cockroach in our room one night and killed it, but it was not removed from our room by the cleaning staff until the second last day. The beach is beautiful and you can always find a chair to lounge on. Although I was expecting more from this hotel, we had a great vacation, will return to Cuba but not to this hotel.

This must have been a nice hotel. It's in a very beautiful location. The rooms need to be updated. The bathtub had a big rusted hole in it. Killed a 2" roach and it was not removed for 3 days. Told reception that there was no phone in the room and that the fridge didn't work. Nothing was done.Towels were very rough and not changed. Didn't receive bottled water daily. Waited 45 minutes to get into the Italian restaurant as the people ahead of us were let in without a reservation.The food was okay if you stick to omelettes, fruit, bread, cheese and ice cream. The barbeque at the beach was good. Very good show

Bonjour,
Je reviens d'une semaine de vacances avec ma mère au Arenas Doradas et je peux vous dire que c'était fantastique! Le Club est à taille humaine donc pas besoin de marcher des heures pour aller de la plage au buffet, à la piscine. Bien que l'hotel était tout le temps à pleine capacité, on ne sentait jamais qu'il y avait beaucoup de monde autour de nous. Tout était très calme! Un vrai lieu de détente. La plage est super avec ces 100 peites huttes, peu importe l'heure, il y a en a toujours une pour vous et des chaises longues en masse! Le pesonnel est sympatique et le porc est excellent! Le site est très beau avec toutes la végétation et super propre. Les chambres sont aussi super propres et grandes avec un balcon chacune.
Je recommande cet hotel qui a un excellent rapport qualité-prix.

It was good, the staff was really friendly but sometimes short staffed. They have a great coffee bar.

Everything was to expectations.

I stayed at this hotel lastyear with my neice,and really did not like it,but I thought I would give it another chance,cause I was travelling solo.I would not go back.They have bed bugs.suggestions..put matresses covers on the beds,rake the sand everyday,cause of sand fleas,and pls change the food.I do have to say,the food was alittle better than lastyear,but would not be interested in going back.The staff was great if you tip everytime......

I understand that this hotel is soon shutting down for a 6/7 month renovation/updating.

buffet tres maivais et manque de bouffe, restaurant à la carte très ordinaire ex. chips comme entré.de plus du foie de boeuf comme repas principale à 2 reprise.toilette public très sale

2nd visit - enjoyed the hotel and staff. Unfortunately, their beachside lunch restaurant was under renovation - we missed the opportunity to eat our lunch there.

I had never been to Cuba before and I loved it. The week we were there was between spring break and March break, so it was busy, but not too loud or crazy. We had a fairly quiet, very relaxing week.
This resort was overbooked, so we decided to take the offer to stay at the one across the street and have access to both resorts. Both resorts had friendly staff, nice and clean accommodations and similar food. The beach was beautiful! Drinks were strong and tasty. Pools were very nice and we easily found chairs to lounge in as long as we were there before noon or after 5 or 6 p.m. The buffet food wasn't anything exciting: book a la cartes for a nice change in food.
We didn't have a big problem with bugs - I got a few bites. If you're concerned about bug bites, bring bug repellant.
FYI: four star in Cuba does not equal luxury as we think of it in North America. Things aren't always 'polished' and new, but everything is clean and comfortable.

Overall, a good deal for the price. My only issue was the service at both the restaurants and the bars, it was very inconsistent. Some of the waiters were friendly, some had a very bad attitude, they seemed to tend to the people that had given them tips and not care about new customers. In addition, although the beach is beautiful, it is all full of litter, this issue would be resolved if they had a person in charge of clearing all glasses that had been used as well as cigarette buts. All over the hotel smoking is allowed and the ashtrays are overflowing with cigarette butts creating a stale smell.Other than that a great experience.

We had a good trip, The Staff where very friendly and tried to help when asked.
The Italian a la cart"Pretoria Dolce Vita" was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the resort.
The beach is beautiful. And the beach restaurant is the place for lunch.
The main restaurant buffet was disappointing but there was usually something there if you are not too fussy.
Our room was Ok but when we arrived the fan in the air condition was hitting something and making a terrible noise. it took 3 days and 4 complaints before they found someone competent enough to fix it, although they did offer another room after the 4th complaint and gave me a complementary bottle of rum to numb the noise, it was eventually fixed.

Le site est très bien, tranquille, le seul hic à mon avis: La bouffe servie au buffet!

The grounds are very nice. The food is terrible, stick to the pasta bar and the international restaurant and the bbq lunch at the beach. Coffee is amazing in cuba. You can get much better food at a reasonable price in Varadero. The staff was courteous and freindly. The beds are old and lumpy, but the rooms are clean. The beach was dirty though and would benefit from at least putting garbage cans out so people can put their cups into instead of leaving them on the ground. Lots of younger people doing lots of drinking at the pool, but the villas are located away from the pool so its not a big issue for quiet while sleeping. Stick to the beach if you want to be away from the partying. I prefer the beach anyway, after all you can get a pool anywhere but not the white sands and blue waters in Varadero.

Plage et piscine bien , nourriture médiocre et propreté des chambres très douteuse, tout au plus un 2 étoiles

Semaine de rêve pour ne pas engraisser...La bouffe est dégueulasse,je dirais même que le buffet est douteux...Par contre restaurant à la carte pas si mal,L'international et l'italien sont correct sans plus les autres sont ''boff'' mais la propreté au resto est correct.Le service est parfait le personnel est tres gentils et beaucoup parle francais ,il y a beaucoup de Québécois.L'Hotel ne mérite pas un 4 étoiles je lui accorde un 3.L'endroit à besoin d'un remontant,la peinture serait un must,les chambres sont ordinaires mais propres,nous avons eu une température incroyable soleil mur à mur.Un manque ,le papier de toilette faut toujours en garder sur nous il en manque souvent,Apportez quelques collations du Québec vous allez apprécier.Débarbouillette inexistante!!La ville n'est pas très loin et il est facile de s'y rendre par navette autobus et taxi à votre choix.À l'hotel et sur la plage il n'y a pas beaucoup d'animation.Le meilleur choix pour la chambre 730 meilleur vue,mais le dans le 700 et le 600 vous êtes près de tout..