Islazul Hotel San Juan, Santiago de Cuba

Advantages: Fun, sun and sea
Disadvantages: You eventually have to leave

...of Cuba however Puerto Ricans tend to drop the s’s off the ends of words. So “Buenas Dias” ends up sounding like “Buen Dia”. This also plays havoc when you are trying to follow verb conjugation since the ‘s’ on the end of a verb signifies the difference between the formal form and the familiar form. Once this little hurtle is cleared you will find that they are very friendly and very forgiving if you speak Spanish. They will help you through some of the difficult Spanish-Indian words and often politely correct poor grammar. If you only speak English they will likely want to show off their English and if they don’t speak it they will work with you to muddle through the conversation. Where to Stay I would not suggest staying in any other city but San Juan. All the other cities are no more than a two-hour drive away and the roads... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Ron
Disadvantages: A bit of a dump.

...Santiago de Cuba is in truth a wonderfully positioned city and full of charm, even though I have called a bit of a dump at times. I don't know about the surrounding area really, but have been told its charming. Getting to Santiago from the rest of Cuba is almost impossible if you are Cuban or aren't travelling by Viazul. My girlfriend got by as a Cuban and dragged me along too on the trucks Cuban use for transportation. We felt we had acheived a lot to get there and stayed for 9 days in a very cheap Casa Particular even though the festival was in full swing. The city features some wonderful squares (dedicated to Jose Marti) and the oldest house in Cuba (now a museum). The festival was colourful and vibrant but not as interesting as Rio or Notting hill. Every thing is very cheap. Beer only 6pesos. Don't go to the zoo if you care... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Location, stylish
Disadvantages: very thin walls between rooms

...The Clift is a beautiful and stylish hotel. It houses the stunning Redwood Bar which has gorgoues cocktails and you're surrounded by grand wood panelling and very cool plasma screens. The hotel also has the Asia de cuba restaurant which is great and the portions are big enough to share, although I don't think its quite as good as London's Asia de Cuba. The staff are also friendly as we had backpacks from our round the world trip and were treating ourselves for our last 2 nights. They didn't bat an eyelid when we walked in with them which some 5 star hotels would do. On the downside, although the rooms very beautifully done with a lilac and cream colour scheme, the walls are VERY thin between the rooms which is shame - so you can hear your next door neighbour's TV and anything else they might be doing!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful