Wayfaring Travel Guide. Interesting vacation places, spa and resorts » Cuba

Melia Las Americas – 5 Star

iv — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:54:00 +0000

The hotel is located right alongside Varadero beach and within the new Varadero golf course. Just 35 km from the airport and only 8 from downtown Varadero, Hotel Melia Las Americas. Here you will find a list of more than 160 locations.

340 rooms: 220 Doubles, 12 Duplex, 14 Suites, 2 Gran Suites and 2 Presidential’s Suites with hydro-massages and 90 Bungalows. The Junior Suites are located outside the main building and surrounded by the lush tropical vegetation. Guests may also make use of Internet access, a laundry service, room service and a car park.

Good taste, functionality and modernity are the elements that compose the design and decoration of these rooms. American breakfast in the room (on request).Â

The hotel’s three restaurants offer the very best, most varied and exquisite of international cuisine.Barbecue Restaurant on the beach, specialized in Spanish paellas.Â Lobby bar and Piano bar.

Melia Las Americas boasts a swimming pool with a waterfall set in lush tropical gardens, a children’s pool, jacuzzi, fitness center, watersports center, activities program and boutiques. Convention Hall with natural light for up to 200 guests.

Melia Las Americas, a great resort for avid golfers.
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Melia Cayo Coco – 5 star hotel

iv — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:27:57 +0000

Melia Cayo Coco HotelÂ located in Las Coloradas beach to the North of Cayo Coco. The resort is set between a soft white sand beach and a lagoon. With its quiet atmosphere and candlelit restaurants with unique views, the Melia Cayo Coco is the perfect spot for a romantic honeymoon.

250 rooms distributed in 53 two-storied bungalows: 168 standard rooms, 62 superior double rooms on the lagoon, 8 Junior Suites and 12 Suites with separate lounge.

Room Amenities: telephone, private bathroom, air conditioning, balcony and terrace.

Activities: Volleyball, archery and basketball, games room with billiards and table tennis, swimming pool, gym, sauna and jacuzzi. This Resort has a center for nautical activities located at the beach of the hotel where visitors can enjoy the aquatic sports.

Sol Palmeras 4*, Cuba

iv — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:09:47 +0000

Located on the best beach in Varadero, Cuba, the All-Inclusive 4- star Sol Palmeras hotel.Â 35.5 km distance from Varadero airport and 140 km from Havana airport. Guests can make use of fantastic watersports, swim under palms in the cool blue pools or sample a mouthwatering selection of cosine.

376 Double rooms, 28 Junior Suites and 4 Suites and 200 Bungalows with one or two bedrooms. Most rooms have either a balcony or terrace. There are special rooms for the handicapped.

Dining choices are wide â€“ with Chinese, grill, Italian and buffet from which to choose. Beach bar with snacks, 24-hour lobby.

Lots of poolside and beach activities. Mini golf and great day and night entertainment programs. Windsurfing, Sailing, Diving, Fishing, Horseback riding, Live Music.

Honeymooners receive upgrade to Sea View Room , a bottle of sparkling wine, flowers, and an invitation to an Ã la carte restaurant.

5- stars resort – Paradisus Varadero

iv — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:09:30 +0000

Â Â The 5- star Paradisus Varadero hotel is located the most beautiful Varadero beach. The hotel is at 13 km from the town of Varadero, from city center, 30 km from the airport of Varadero and 144 km from the capital – Havana, Cuba.

This resort offers 421 Rooms and 1 Garden Villa. The rooms are with either ocean or tropical garden view. All rooms are equipped with full bathroom with hairdryer, satellite tv, direct dial telephone, safety box, coffeemaker and coffee service, minibar, iron and ironing-board, sauna, jacuzzi.

Resort’s extras – hairdresser, launderette, ironing service, shopping mall, currency exchange, tour desk, spa, souvenir shop, car rental, dive center, medical services.
Also hasÂ elegant restaurants- Gourmet Restaurant Turey,Â Mexican Restaurant, Grill Cairi, Aqua-Bar Toa, Beach bar.

Attractions – Ambrosio cave, aerobics, mini-bowling, giant chess game,Â shuffleboard, darts, beach volleyball, ping-pong, volleyball court, billiards, 3 tennis courts. The Water sport: windsurfing, sailing, catamaran, kayaking or canoeing,Â water ski, banana boat or water polo.

The sun and the beaches will charm you and you will never forget this place!

Asya — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:48:04 +0000

Varadero is a resort town in the province of Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero is also called Playa Azul, meaning “blue beach” in Spanish. Varadero beachâ€”some call it the world’s greatest beachâ€”has long been the pride of Cuba, and a magnet for the rich and famous. Today, a broad range of hotels and resorts on this wide, sandy beach offer affordable vacations to please any pocketbook.

With hotels, shops and nightclubs spread out across the peninsula, there are areas where activity is more concentrated, but nowhere is there the buzz you might expect from the major holiday resort on the largest Caribbean island. None of this detracts from what most people come here for, namely the beach: a seemingly endless runway of blinding white sand. This is also the best place in Cuba for watersports, scuba diving, fishing and boat trips, with three marinas and two diving clubs offering a wide range of activities.

Its location on a narrow peninsula ensures that it is constantly cooled by tropical breezes.
But this white beach set against a backdrop of astonishing turquoise water and azure sky is not the only attraction in Matanzas province. The nearby cities of Cardenas and Matanzas (the provincial capital) are known for their art, history and culture. Southwest of Varadero, on the province’s Caribbean coast, is the Zapata Peninsula, famous for its ecotourism and history.

Many famous and infamous people have stayed in Varadero, like Mafia boss Al Capone. Unique events like the Internation Carnival, an initiative of Cubans and Foreigners started in the 1980s, were also liquidated. You have to eat the Cuban Food! The nightlife in Varadero is unique. You can visit Mambo club, Havana Cafe, La Rumba, La Bamba, Tropicana cabaret.

The magnificence of the Last

Asya — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:03:45 +0000

Old Havana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the name also refers to one of the municipalities of the city of Havana, Cuba, with the latter’s boundaries extending to the south and west beyond the original city. Although it is today a sprawling metropolis of 2 million inhabitants, its old centre retains an interesting mix of Baroque and neoclassical monuments and a ensemble of private houses with arcades, balconies and internal courtyards. Everywhere you look there is an unique image waiting to be recorded. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1982, La Habana Vieja is one of the oldest settlements in the America’s – full of charming, weather worn buildings and narrow, intriguing roadways. Lots of ancient building are under repair, but unfortunately, money is not enough, so that in many cases these are just superficial external repairs. They won’t last, and every summer storm is causing severe damages to the buildings.

Havana was founded in 1519 by the Spanish. By the 17th century, it had become one of the Caribbean’s main centres for ship-building. According to the historical tradition, Havana was the last of the first seven villages founded by order of Diego Velazquez. One of his deputies, Panfilo de Narvaez, founded it on July 25th of 1514, baptizing it with the name of San Cristobal de La Havana, for the saint of the day and the indigenous district of Havana, where was established the village. On the XVII century, Old Havana received two Royal Graces and in 1665, the right to use its own shield, where were represented, with tree turrets, the castle (Castle of La Real Fuerza, Morro and La Punta) that then defended the city. After the urbanization of Plaza de Armas, this square stopped being the most important public space and it received the name of Plaza Vieja. It is a porticated square with a lot of historical building from four different centuries. The most important of them is which dates back from XVIIIth century.One of Havana’s prettiest courtyard fountains provides a backdrop to this romantic restaurant, that’s an Old Havana landmark. At the left corner on Empedrado street you will find “La Bodeguita Del Medio” home of ” mojito” drink cost CUC 4, this world famous and much copied restaurant immortalized by Hemingway, has served up classic Cuban dishes for 50 years.

Castillo de la Punta seen across the Havana channel. The city’s first settlement was constructed on the western edge of Havana Bay. The channel into Havana Bay is flanked by four imposing colonial forts constructed of coral-limestone. Two of these sit at the entrance to the channel – on the north the Castillo del Morro, which now houses a maritime museum, and on the south the Castillo de la Punta, which contains the Museum of Fortifications and Armaments and is also the site of the nightly canon-firing ceremony.
Old Havana still houses vestiges of its origins, such as the Alameda de Paula, next to the port, the Plaza de Armas and Cathedral Square, the Castillo de la Real Fuerza and the Morro and La Cabana castles, the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the Palacio del Segundo Cabo, as well as the ruins of the walls that once surrounded it and the brick streets that have defied time in order to reveal all the greatness of the past.

Feel the lively vigour Of Tropicana Cabaret

Asya — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 06:51:26 +0000

Cuba shakes with music and, for anyone with an interest in folklore and myth the sound of Cuba is a sound source of information. Vital and exhilarating the beat of the country sweeps you up, stops time and with it, your worries. Tropicana Cabaret is well-known around the World as “A Paradise under the stars”. It was built in 1939, at the ancient grounds of “Villa Mina”, a neighborhood belonging to Marianalo area. From that time it was identified by its great glass arch.

Its main salon has capacity for one thousand people around the stage or movil track rounded by palms and air ramps which artists use in their show. Tropicana is everything it’s cracked up to be in terms of glitz, glamour and sheer exuberance. From the first moment the show opens with dozens of dancers in shocking pink sequins dotted among the trees, you know you’re in for a treat. The show offers singers, acrobats and strong men but the dancers are the thing. The shimmying, shaking, swaying, leg darting moves and overall sheer energy was contagious. The Afropoppers, ranging in age from 16 to sixty-something, hit the dance floor.

This cabaret was founded in 1939, and soon this Paradise under the stars became the favourite of those visiting the Havana. This is one of the largest night clubs in the country and among its many options are restaurants, the lounge under the stars and the incomparable show awing almost a thousand spectators. On Tropicana’s stage many famous celebrities have performed, such as Nat King Cole, Josephine Baker, los Chavales from Spain, Carmen Miranda, Pedro Vargas, Libertad Lamarque, Tania Libertad, Alejandra Guzman, Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot, Elena Burke, Rita Montaner, Bola de Nieve and many others. Since 2002 it is considered a National Monument.
The more than 200 performers are still hand-picked from the creme-de-la creme of Cuba’s dancers and singers, and famous international entertainers still occasionally perform. The show starts at ten o’clock pm.

A symbol of the cultural life of Havana

Asya — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 16:53:00 +0000

The Havana’s Grand Theatre is the oldest theatre institution on active service in all Latin America. One of Old Havana’s finest buildings, the Grand Theater was built in 1837. It was considered to be one of the finest theaters in the world. During this time the construction of the Capitol, in which the national assembly met and the construction of the Grand Theater was begun, but it became only completed in 1929.

Some important artist that played in this place: dancers Fanny Elsler and Anna Pavlova, actress Sarah Bernhart and Eleonora Dusse, singers Adelina Patti, Victoria de los Angeles, Enrico Carusso, Tita Ruffo, musicians as Arthur Rubinstein, Ernesto Lecuona and Serguei Rachmaninov, Prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso and many others.

Dancers of Cuba’s National Ballet perform “After the Deluge” during the 20th International Ballet Festival at the Grand Theater of Havana in Havana November 4, 2006 The first Havana Ballet Festival was in 1960 and it has taken place every two years since 1974, making it one of the most well-established events of its kind in the world. The festival features performances at various theatres in Havana including the Grand Theater of Havana, Havana National Theatre and the Mella Theatre. This is a fantastic theatre in a fantastic small town. The Wheaton Grand is one theatre that sits in a cool suburban downtown. Theatres like this can be used to help slowly emerging revitalized downtown areas.

Brief introduction of Cuba

baksanir — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:06:44 +0000

The Caribbean harbors a jewel in the Island of Cuba. The tropical Island extends 750 miles (roughly the size of Pennsylvania) and is a beautiful mix of mountain ranges and plains. There are over 200 bays and 289 sun drenched beaches to explore. The main ports are located in the provinces of Cienfuegos, Havana, Manzanillo, Mariel, Matanzas, Nuevitas and Santiago de Cuba.
Cuba has no plants or animals that are lethal to humans (Yes, this includes poisonous snakes!) The mountain ranges include the Sierra Maestra to the East, the Cordillera de los Organos to the West, and the Sierra del Escambray in the central region.

The elongated island of Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and is bounded to the north by the Straits of Florida and the greater North Atlantic Ocean, to the northwest by the Gulf of Mexico, to the west by the Yucatan Channel, to the south by the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Windward Passage. The Republic comprises the entire island, including many outlying islands such as the Isle of Youth, previously known as the Isle of Pine, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay, a naval base that has been leased by the United States since 1903. The mainland is the world’s 16th largest island.The economy of Cuba is based on state ownership with some small scale private enterprise existing at the fringes. Tourism has become one of the largest sources of income for Cuba, and in 1993 the U.S. dollar was made legal tender (the country operated under a dual-currency system); this arrangement was, however, revoked on 25 October 2004.The Cuban economy was hit hard in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Comecon economic bloc, with which it had traded predominantly. More recent problems include high oil prices, recessions in key export markets such as sugar and nickel, damage from hurricanes (most recently an estimated 1 billion dollars economic damage from hurricane Charley), depressed tourism, and faltering world economic conditions. In late 2003, and early 2004, both tourism levels and nickel prices increased. One other factor in the recovery of the Cuban economy is the remittances of Cuban-Americans (which constitute almost 3% of the Cuban Economy, by some estimates). Cuba currently trades with almost every nation in the world (including the U.S.). However, Cuba owes billions in Paris Club debt to nations such as France, Japan and Germany.