Barcelo Varadero Hotel

2 readers found this review helpful

I find that when reading British reviews as opposed to Germans, Dutch or Scandinavian ones, the former love to dwell on the negative, even if the matters are really of little importance to the rest of us.
My assessment of Vardero Barcelo is pretty much what non-Brits have said. The property is a 4 star place masquerading as a 3 star establishment.
Beautiful, well kept subtropical gardening, 3 striking pools.
The first of impression of our rooms was that, Wow! Tasteful, well-kept, spacious and clean.
The hotel food is o.k., plentiful, lots and lots of it, a real trough for the pig-out lot. But, of course where plenty is the first word...the last word is, well, it's not what you'd expect from a restaurant.
The breakfast is huge, fruits, cereals, eggs and bacon. Yes, beans (you Brits!), but sorry no 'mushy peas'. A lot for little, but not really restaurant class food, more like...a lot for a little.
The property is large. We had a rental car the whole time and it was about 300 meters from our room to our car...only one entrance...the exigencies of Spanish anti-thievery security, so heaven help us if we forgot something important in the room. Having said that, the walk through the gardens and pools always reminded us that we were on holiday.
The walk to the beach is up and down, not bad, about 700 meters, just under 1/2 a mile.
The beach is one of the nicest on the island, if you like smallish, not over-crowded beaches.
The location in general is at the end of the road. Ideal if you have a car, but it will be a long walk to most shops and restaurants, and Los Gigantes (both cliffs and resort) are visible, but a trek.
Small things for our British cousins to dwell on. No kettle. (Well, you'll just have to learn to boil your billy in pot like the rest of the world) The range of dishes, pots, etc was adequate, but not matching or complete.
There was a real oven for once though! One of the burners on the cooker was slow as mountains, the other was dead. We didn't need it though, but we did hear from other guests that the hotel folk were really nice and fix what they could ASAP, providing you speak slowly, carefully and in a friendly manner. Act like a demanding sod and generally the Spanish will respond in kind. Make nice and they are ready to serve.
Internet services, a must for Scandinavians, were two, albeit fast coin operated computers in the lobby. One Euro for about 8 minutes. For us exorbitant. Even the meanest of our hotels have net hook-ups in the rooms for free.
Cleaning and change of linen...okay, but don't leave you towels on the floor gang, you'll have to use them for a few days.
Please grow-up and get over this 'reserving' your sun-beds by the pool. If you are not there, you ARE NOT THERE.
There are rules 'forbidding' this practice. If there are empty places, just neatly move and stack the reserver's goods and put them someplace considerate. Shazam! You have your sun-bed.
The week preceding Xmas was warm and lovely! Try to choose your sunning spots judiciously, observing the sun's path. The lowest pool gets sun late into the afternoon, where are the higher pools get shady around 5-ish.
We used the room water for cooking and coffee and bottled water for drinking only. Some folk believe that one will invariably succumb to the Black Death if you cook with the tap water. WE survived without any ill effects.
For shopping, get down to Los Americas and the Safari Centre. More like Los Vegas than Europe. Posh, posh, posh. Don't look for bargains as much a really nice goods, fairly priced for the most part.
Of course the capital has real Spanish high street shopping. A great outing, but remember the fiesta times, shops close and they roll up the pavement.
If you are looking for electronics ask the young people at reception. They can help steer you away from the Sub-continent mafia shops, you know what I mean. Always overpriced, never the best buy.
Try to peruse the German language reviews of Tenerife, those lovely Krauts go EVERYWHERE and know where all the best of everything is.

We stayed here in September. The apartments are clean and large enough for a family of four.
You have plenty of pools to choose from, as my two children found out and loved.
The restaurant was clean with plenty of choice and polite staff.
The entertainment was limited but OK for my children who are 2 & 8 years old.
The only down side to this hotel is the resort, it is so hilly. So making it no good for a pram or people who find it hard to get about. The resort is pretty and has no timeshare reps like other resorts in Tenerife.

We had a fantastic All Inclusive holiday here.
There are plenty of pools and the food was great. My two children loved the hotel kids club and the hotel entertainment. They are 8 and 2.
The hotel room was clean and tidy.
The resort is very pretty but the only draw back was that it is very, very hilly so it makes it difficult for prams and people who cannot get about very well.
I would say that this resort is a little quiet if you are looking for bars and clubs, but it is great for families and people looking for a slower holiday.
Even better we did not see one timeshare salesperson.

We stayed at this hotel and we found it a fantastic Caribbean experience! My family and I had a great time at the hotel and every thing we needed was there for us. It was located right on the beach which was fantastic.
The rooms were simple but acceptable. There were a reasonable lot of options in the buffet but the steak house wasn’t all good. The two pools were fine and great for a swim. The staff where fantastic they were always trying there best to give you the full Caribbean holiday. The entertainment was a delight for the kids they loved it. The beach was beautiful and had great entertainment through out the day.
The beach bar was amazing. Not the best for snorkeling but you could walk up the beach and find a place for snorkeling to see some fish. One the first week we went on a catamaran trip which took us to sousoa a place which is famous in Dominican Republic for snorkeling it was worth paying for and it was a good entertainment on the boat. The staff onboard where extremely friendly and always making sure you where ok. If you left the hotel there was a big shopping centre to you right 3 or 4 mins walk and you could easily access shops and restaurants.
The best part was if you weren’t all good for the hotel food the shopping centre had a pizza hut which the kids loved. I would recommend this hotel for families with children all ages as it was great for teenage kids and toddlers. I would highly recommend this hotel and it was a delight to stay there! hope you enjoy it as much as we did!