Sol Cayo Santa Maria is a great place to visit and explore but is well off the beaten Cuban track and takes a really long drive (about 90 minutes) to get there from the nearest airport. We made this drive very late at night and it took me a while to figure out why our bus was often stopping or slowing down in the middle of no where. After I moved up front on the bus and watched out the front window I realized that a lot of cattle were wandering along in the middle of the road. Welcome to rural Cuba!

Sol Cayo Santa Maria isn't the prettiest Cuban hotel we've stayed at over the years but it rates as one of the most interesting after one has a chance to do some exploring in the area. The food is pretty standard for Cuban hotel food with some both good and not so good surprises. The staff here is very good and we met some really delightful and really helpful people. We enjoyed some awesome Spanish coffee and some great pina coladas - it pays to talk to bar tenders on a slow day sometimes.

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.