Advantages: There comes a day when you can leave the hotel. Disadvantages: Too many to mention.
This hotel is expensive and the rooms are quite dirty. This seems to be the standard in many Colombian hotels, so I guess you can't hold it against them.
We were 3 people visting: My wife and I in a double and my mother-in-law in a single room. The hotel still uses keys for its doors, and the room key for our room had disappeared with the last guest, so we had to ask members of the cleaning staff to let us in every time we needed anything.
When we were about to check out, we were asked if we had taken anything from the mini-bar since the day before. We answered "No". This, apparently, was not enough for the staff, so we had to wait until a bell-boy had checked if our statements were true. We had a plane to catch at the airport, but we waited the 5 minutes until he came back. To our dismay he uttered that there was a candybar ...
Advantages: A unique and quaint hotel... Disadvantages: Lacking a few mod-cons...
We stayed in this hotel for a few days while on a little tour of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, including visits to Cancun (don't bother), Playa del Carmen & Cozumel (much better) and the amazing ancient Mayan ruins at Uxmal, Chitzen Itza and Tulum. (I'll try and get round to reviewing all these later...)
We arrived by taxi from Merida airport (a short journey), having flown in from Cancun, where we had arrived in Mexico the day before, and were delighed with what we found, a massive improvement of the brash touristy-ness of Cancun !
The Casa del Balam Hotel was formerly the family home of Fernando Barbachano Peon, pioneer of Mexican tourism. A blend of Mexican tiles, terracotta and wrought iron, it has a small pool in a walled courtyand, complete with a stone carved fountain and tropical plants, a restaurant and bar, along ...
Advantages: All round good pick for those wanting Caribbean on a budget. Great beach! Disadvantages: Probably not quite up to 5* standards like some other hotels, but we didn't mind!
I stayed at Hotel Palma Real, Varadero, Cuba in September 2005 with a friend. We both had a fantastic holiday. I would rate this as a 3/4 star hotel, as it is typically at the lower end of the pricing for holidays to Varadero. However, don't let this put you off this merely makes it even more value for money!
Location#
The hotel is situated approximately 150 metres from the beach. Literally cross the road and you are there. Facilities on the beach include sunloungers, parasols, snack bar serving food and drinks, watersports, dance classes. The beach itself is beautiful and is around 20 miles long so you can walk as far as you like. We didn't find a problem with the beach being across the road, if anything it made us explore a little more than if we had been staying at hotel that was on the beach itself.
Hotel Facilities ...
