CAYO SANTA MARIA

Cayo Santa Maria is located off the northern coast of Cuba in the Jardines del Rey archipelago with immaculate sugar white beaches & crystal clear blue waters. The world-renowned area has be declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Cayo Santa Maria is 13 kilometers long, & only 2 kilometers wide with over 6kilometers of the most beautiful velvet like beaches!

The flight from Vancouver to Santa Clara via Calgary on the Sunwing Charter was 7 hours. The transfer from the airport to resort via Long causeway was 90 min.

In CSM, you will see transportation with the locals “1horse car”, oxcarts with horses everywhere. …..we passed through plantations from pineapple, bananas, mangoes, cassava, sugar cane, etc. This area is very laid back & most of all has never been hit by bad hurricane…

We stayed at the Memories Paraiso Azul Beach Resort and as it was low season only the Paraiso side was open. It is the more active & closest side to the business center/ market “Pueblo La Estrella”. Our room was spacious, king bed, balcony, with tub & shower overlooking the pool. It was less than 5mins walk to Pueblo la Estrella shopping market. I would recommend the Diamond Club section upgrade – worth it for busy season to get the special amenities inclusions.

? Beautiful long stretch of beach (*actually has the nicest one, this is right beside the Royalton Resort)…4kms of beach to walk!

There are great choices in Restaurants and bars, my favorite was the buffet by the lobby & grill by the pool lots of fresh seafood from Mahi Mahi, red snapper, Basa, sword fish, cat fish, prawns, mussels, clams, lobster, roasted pig, steaks, chicken, etc. Variety of fresh fruits every day from papaya, guava, coconut, melon, etc…

There is entertainment in the lobby every night which is great before dinner with everything from live music with Spanish singers, violinists playing and fashion show on beach wear. After dinner the theater entertainment was very good with musical entertainment & games for children.

There are day tours of the area and I recommend the 2 Colonial Cities Tour, Catamaran including Dolphinarium, fishing tours and Havana by plane. We rented a Scooter – at the resort which was fun but you can only take the scooter as far as the Dolphinarium on Causeway.

We had a day pass to visit Royalton Cayo Santa Maria-5star*Adults only, this is a beautiful boutique, 122 suite resort located at the opposite end of Business center & market Pueblo La Estrella. Walking distance from Memories, although the golf cart transportation is available between the 2 resorts & business center/market. This resort was fully booked so i did not have a chance to look at the rooms. Great resort for everything is close & accessible from the lobby, restaurants, beach & rooms. **Bonus feature Stay at 1, Play at 2…guests at Royalton have access at Memories resort next door.*no bracelets at this resort when you check in…

?the butler on the beach is what I like at this resort & all the a la carte restaurants. ..

In all I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing beach holiday!

Maria@roblintravel.tempurl.host