Spent 2 nights at this hotel all inclusive whilst on tour.Basically it is a beach resort as it is miles from anywhere. The accomodation is villa style and it depends on where you are allocated how good they are. Ours was rather dark as the french windows faced North out onto thick undergrowth. The room was clean and a decent size but we found the bathroom strange. It had a full length clear plate glass window alongside the bath/shower. Add in a blind which would not stay down it made you glad of the thick undergrowth outside. The restaurant is a huge barn sized affair a bit like a holiday camp and does get busy, We had to queue at breakfast, but once seated the staff are very attentive. Plenty of choice foodwise and of decent quality. There are other eating places around the site but we didn't try them unlike the bars! No complaints whatsoever with this hotel which is ideal for those seeking a beach holiday but if you are sightseeing try somewhere less remote

This resort has a fabulous beach, beautiful pools and lovely gardens (including a biologically-complete concrete bull!). The food was generally good, including the buffet restaurant. The a la carte Cuban restaurant was the exception which was quite disappointing. The a la carte Italian has a couple of strange dishes (cold roast beef in a tuna sauce!) but on the whole was good and the wine was much better (and still all-inc). The lunchtime beach bar was good and the staff fantastic, however, the best lunch by far (and probably our best meal in Cuba) was the pizza joint - we were staggered this is not also open in the evening. Most of the staff were great and the lobby and piano bars were lovely. Our room was comfortable but very tired and really needed some maintenance e.g. the patio door that took two people to open it, the safe that wasn't bolted down and the bath that had been hand painted by Stevie Wonder. Overall, it was good but with just a bit more maintenance, it could have been so much better.

This was my third trip to Cuba. I visited the Sol Cayo Santa Maria in May 2011 for one week.

Distance from Airport
This was a lengthy drive, but very scenic. About 1.5hrs (maybe longer) from the airport. I did not mind the drive. If it was an evening trip to the hotel, I imagine it would have been very boring!

Hotel
Check in was great - smooth, speedy, although we were the only ones being dropped off haha! We booked the Oceanview Rooms. Really clean, and spacious. Private too. We were in villa #17.

Maid service came everyday, we tipped everyday too. I suppose my only real complaint would be the maid service in this hotel. I did have to ask for new towels, and our floors were never swept well. I always enjoy towel art, and have been spoiled in the past - our maid never did any towel art lol...so that had me a bit bummed. My folks in the adjoining room had a problem with their AC - but it was fixed promptly by hotel staff :-) They really responded well to any problems we had.

Food
Everyone knows you don't go to Cuba for the food. I would say that this was one of the better experiences I have had with food in Cuba. Not too bad, at all! Eddie, from the buffet restaurant was such a nice guy - he would always reserve a table for us in the part of the restaurant that had a nice breeze blowing through. The lady at the meat grill was such a sweetheart too! (A little extra tipping goes a long way!)

Entertainment
One of THE best entertainment "SHOWTIME" that I have ever seen. I think I went almost every night to showtime lol! The best by far was the beach party - fire eaters, people walking on glass, music, dancers (wow were they good). My daughter (11 at the time) really enjoyed herself!!

Bars
The piano bar was awesome. I wish I had discovered it sooner - I didn't start frequenting this bar until two days prior to departure! This was the only "inside" bar (other than the covered pool bar). It did not open until 6pm, so if it was raining, we were hard pressed to find shelter.

Beach
WOW. Beautiful. I can't say enough about how wonderful and amazing it was. You could walk for miles it seemed! I did a bit of snorkelling on my second last day off the beach - for any beginner snorkelers, this was great! There is a small rock cropping a little ways up right at shore, that is home to lots of little colourful fish!!! Really neat! The waves were awesome!
If you wanted a chair or a palapa, you had to get there early.

A La Cartes
We went to two a la cartes - the italian and the Cuban. The Cuban was really good - it was outside, and had an outdoor grill. Delicious! The italian was OK - but service, as usual was fantastic.

My favourite thing to eat was the pizza!!!! I wish it was closer to the beach, as it closed at 3pm. The beach grill was great too. Like I said, the food was pretty good here, for Cuba.

All in all, this was a great trip. I would definitely go back to Sol Cayo Santa Maria. The resort is huge, and if you enjoy taking nice walks, this is the resort for you.

My wife and I have just returned from an amazing stay at the Sol Cayo Santa Maria for one week. We can't say enough about the beautiful hotel and BEACH!!!!!. The service from the maids, to the servers and gardeners was first class. Before we left home, we were quite anxious about the quality of the food, after reading some of the complaints from a few of the authors on this site. We couldn't have been happier with what we found, both in variety and quality. My wife has to be very careful with her diet, but she had no trouble at the Sol. We were treated like royalty by the buffet and bar staff. Our waterfront room, was beyond our expectations ... clean and well appointed, with an amazing view of the water. we have already made plans to head back to the Sol in January 2013. Here are a couple of hints:

* bring face cloths (nowhere to be found in Cuba)
* bring your own mugs for bar drinks (unless you enjoy drinking from thin plastic cups!)
* bring peanut butter ( we actually saw someone tip their table waiter with peanut butter!!!)
* plastic zip lock bags for your favourite snacks ( we brought small bags of dry roasted nuts)
* lots of suntan lotion ( more if you're using the nude beach!!)
* small packages of kleenex for trips out of the hotel ( no toilet paper in many toilets off site)
* advil, anti-histamines, cold meds etc.(crucial..would have helped us out!!)

Amazing staff: Manager Pachi - thank you for your attention to detail
: Else and her friendly staff at Los Flamencos bar
: Liili and Alain in the dining room - excellent personalized service
: Leidh - the "juice lady" who had my juice on the table before I sat down
: Eduardo - the friendly gardener
We hope you enjoy your stay at Sol Cayo Santa Maria as much as we did. Oh, one more thing... went to Havana for 3 days. 2 days too long!!! Very beautiful, but depressing. Gorgeous 17 and 18th century buildings in disrepair!!