Varadero, Cuba

Varadero is a large tourist resort on the Atlantic coast of Cuba and is a peninsular of

I spent two weeks in Varadero with my partner at the beginning of June 2008. What a stunning location. Varadero beach is the most beautiful beach I have been on in my life, with its stunning white sand stretching up the coastline and mild temperature Atlantic Ocean to bathe in. I love this beach!

The beach is, of course, the main ...
...water sports going on there too! There is more to do than just the beaches however.

With all the hotels offering All Inclusive packages (and it seems almost every tourist is indeed on one of those) the tendency seems to be for many never to venture beyond the gates of their complex, which is a real shame. First and foremost this is one of the safest places in the world and I felt completely at ease walking around in Varadero both during ... more

Varadero is a large tourist resort on the Atlantic coast of Cuba and is a peninsular of

I spent two weeks in Varadero with my partner at the beginning of June 2008. What a stunning location. Varadero beach is the most beautiful beach I have been on in my life, with its stunning white sand stretching up the coastline and mild temperature Atlantic Ocean to bathe in. I love this beach!

The beach is, of course, the main reason so many tourists visit Varadero! There's always loads of water sports going on there too! There is more to do than just the beaches however.

With all the hotels offering All Inclusive packages (and it seems almost every tourist is indeed on one of those) the tendency seems to be for many never to venture beyond the gates of their complex, which is a real shame. First and foremost this is one of the safest places in the world and I felt completely at ease walking around in Varadero both during the day and night.

In terms of things to do here, I will start with the essential information about getting around! There's a number of ways you can get around. There's plenty of Coco Cabs (the little yellow open taxis/moped style cabs driven by women). There's also a number of horse drawn carriages constantly going up and down the peninsular and they will almost certainly stop and offer you a ride (for a fee of course) all the time. There's also standard taxis often lining up waiting for tourists outside hotels. To get right the length of the peninsular never cost me, in a taxi, more than 8 convertible pesos (around £5). More typically, for the shorter journeys, around 4 pesos. However, my preferred method was the open top bus. There is one every half hour from each bus stop along the peninsular and for just 5 pesos you had unlimited traveling for a day. This is how I got around!

Shopping
At one end of the peninsular is a shopping plaza featuring a pharmacy, clothing stores, gift stores and a supermarket. However, beware that the prices here seem to be higher than at other stores and markets along Varadero peninsular. I know, I know, you wouldn't expect that with it being a communist country! But the difference in prices can be quite significant and you also have to watch out for some stores adding a couple of pesos to the price (that they will then pocket). I preferred to buy from places that had the prices marked on items.

There are a number of markets spread out along the main stretch and I found these much better shopping locations than the precinct. The items tend to be fairly repetitive from one market to the next, between wooden chess sets, Che Guevara memorabilia and handbags. But the quality is good, the prices very reasonable and they make wonderful gifts for those back home.

Eating Out
Most tourists I spoke to never ate out simply because their meals were included in the price of their hotel package and were a good quality. I did venture out on occasion though to sample some of the local cuisine. I honestly do not remember the exact names of the restaurants, but suffice to say there is a steak house, a French restaurant, a couple of Italian restaurants and a number of traditional Cuban restaurants in downtown Varadero. Having eaten at a few I found the quality of all to be decent and the service wonderful. Without drinks, I never paid more than around 9 convertible pesos (£5.50) for three courses.

Nightlife
There are a few decent clubs around Varadero. Most hotels offer their own entertainment but again, it is worth venturing out! La Rumba nightclub offered a good crowd every night and decent music ranging from the chart stuff you would hear in the UK to Latin music. This is a big club and on certain days you can pay ten convertible pesos to go in and drink cost free. There is a Club Tropicana in Varadero based on the famous on in Havana. I didn't visit this as I went to the one in Havana instead, though people I spoke to said it was superb! There are other nightclubs around too. In terms of bars, right down the main street in downtown Varadero there are plenty, including one open 24 hours. The drinks prices everywhere are cheap for local produce. Any rum based cocktail will be cheaper than water! The people are generally all tourists. If you go into a smaller bar you may come across a couple of locals, but the fact is that Cubans are discouraged from socialising with the tourists and those who do live in Varadero only live in Varadero because they work there in the tourist industry.

Miscellaneous
There is a museum in Varadero charting the history of the place, as well as famous sporting legends (boxers and baseball players mostly) who have come from the region.This is fascinating but if you are not with a Spanish speaker you will struggle! Nothing is translated.

There's also a park, just opposite the museum in downtown Varadero. It's beautiful here and the little cafes inside are wonderful to stop for a cold drink on a hot day! There's a beautiful pond there too. It's very much worth a walk around there but it gets hot in the middle of the day!

There is a Dolphinarium where you can go swimming with the dolphins. Again, I didn't do this, but I am told it was around 80 pesos and you got an hour in the water with the dolphins. The complaints I heard were that it was a little confined and seemed too small to house that number of dolphins.

The marina houses the catamarans that do the tourist boat trips and a number of watersports. Good value as well. Awesome jet-skiing down here!

Overall
Varadero is a safe place to walk around. You get very little hassle. The occasional beggar will ask for a Peso but this happens far less frequently than in Havana. Begging is actually illegal in Cuba so it isn't too common in the well policed resort of Varadero. As the locals are discouraged from mixing with the tourists and everything has been set up to cater to tourists, you really have to Venture out of Varadero to taste the real Cuba. But as a base for your holiday, this is most definitely the place. 

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