By Los Gigantes in february 2006

In the second half of february 2006 my wife and I stayed for a week at the Barcelo Varadero Hotel, Playa Las Arena.

Arrived late in the evening, friendly and helpful personnel in the reception. We found the room tidy and clean. There was no shops open, so we walked about 100 meters downhill to one of the nearest restaurants. I ordered kingprawns. For 7 euros I was served five small shrimps together with some garlic.

The next day we saw that the apartment was a bit worn, especially the balcony. Had a good view over to the island of La Gomera. A bit pity about the parkinghouse taking about 25% of the view. But anyways, we mean that the apartment was in a general good condition. Except for the toilet, did not function a couple of times. But the service personnel came up and fixed it quite rapidly.

We heard the noise from the entertainment in the evening, but it did not bother us. The food in the Hotel restaurant was probably good, but half warm when we arrived. There are good restaurants down by the black beach.

The only thing we will complain about at this Hotel is the pool. Normaly we freshen up with a morningbath in the pool. But this was like jumping into a chemical storage tank.

But again, there is a good atmosphere in this hotel, so we will recommend a stay here.

Very nice hotel

We stayed in Barcelo Varadero for one week, at block A, second floor. We had a nice view to the sea and the main road.

There is three swimmingpools: the topmost pool was full of children (because the water was warmer, I believe). Middlemost pool was beside the bar and entertainment and the lowest was quite peaceful. The water was cool, but swimmable. Really refreshing, but only for one minute swims...

The food at the snackbar was ok (and also quite cheap). Pizza was terrible, but the hamburger and salad tasted good.

Planning to return...

My wife and I have just returned from a package holiday (arranged by First Choice), staying at the Barceló Varadero.

Before confirming the booking, I read the reviews on this website, and became somewhat confused and concerned about the contrasting views being expressed. I have now read the negative comments again and wonder whether the writers of them were staying at the same hotel.

I do not suggest that the hotel is five star, but I was not charged five star prices. Our room was in Block F, which showed some signs of needing redecorating/refurbishing in places - for example, the mattresses and pillows needed replacing (often the case at hotels, in my experience). However, the rooms were clean, well-furnished and included kitchen equipment that all worked. Fire safety precautions were well in evidence - fire escape stairs, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, etc, all in abundance.

Cleanliness was apparent throughout the complex - staff seemed to be constantly cleaning, inside and out. All the hotel staff were polite and helpful. The restaurant offered a wide range of food - catering for varied nationalities - good quality and plentiful.

More often than not when I return from holiday, my first task is to draft a letter of complaint about some unsatisfactory aspect. On this occasion, it is a pleasure to be writing this favourable review instead. If my wife and I return to Tenerife, we will have no hesitation in booking, probably independently, at the Barceló Varadero again.

Great time

I stayed with my parents and teenage son during Christmas.

We all had an really good holiday - the food was fine and very good value we felt, and the atmosphere was very relaxed and not too English. We even joined in with some of the organised activities - the entertainments guys were so encouraging and friendly

Excellent!!

We are 2 adults and two children. We were in Varadero for two weeks in october and the experience was great.

It's not a luxury aparthotel but the facilities as well as the food & service are excellent.

Price/quality incredible!!.

Awful from start to finish

First of all, we waited 2 hours for our room to be ready - just had to sit round reception, despite having a check in time of 2pm - it was not ready. Our apt was at the furthest point from reception, and there was no one to help me and my 50 something mother with our luggage, so we had to cart it ourselves through the rows of sunbeds.

The apt was tatty, the wardrobe STANK of mould, the pillows and blankets that were in there did too. The beds were awful, rock hard, there was only CNN in English on the TV, and there was also no kettle ?

The food was SHOCKING, breakfast not so bad, but do not attempt dinner, it was revolting. We went all-inclusive and ate out every night after the first - at good quality restuarants.

Didn't sample the entertainment, couldn't stomach it after the rest of the experience. This accomodation is no better than 2 Star allocation on arrival package holiday places. Have stayedin other barcello hotels and this one does not compare.

Best yet

Easter 2004 (2 weeks). family with 2 young children (5&9).

Big hotel but spread out over a large area in a strip with a river of 4 pools running its length. Many beatifully maintained mature palm trees. Mainly german / french / spanish clientelle which made a pleasant change from 100% english hotels with football rooms, drunks and queuing for sunbeds. Never felt crowded, even over the spanish bank holiday, always felt like there ws plenty of room. Best food we have ever had in the canaries (even had bucks fizz one breakfast!). Entertainment for kids every day and evening run by very hardworking animateurs followed by grown up entertainment. Yes it was fairly loud music (because it's outside...) but it finished promptly at 11pm and then the hotel was very quiet. Not much to do down the hill at the resort but when windy the surf is great fun and you can go crab hunting on the rocks in the evenings. We would definitely go there again.

Never again

We stayed at Barcelo Varadero from the 5th of April 2004 up till the 12th of April 2004. We will never go again to this hotel because of the loud entertainment. From 10 till 22:30 there is entertainment for children and adults. No problem so far, but this entertainment needs loud music. We where moved to a more quiet room, but still there was music. The beds where teribble. The promissed Dutch tv channel by the travel agency wasn't there. The room was dirty and we even had a visit of a cockroch.

Highly recommended

February 13th to February 20th 2004. We got moved to Barcelo Varadera after Tamaimo Tropical at Los Gigantes had managed to give our apartment to someone else! Barcelo Varadera is very nice indeed with very well appointed apartments, three swimming pools, evening entertainment (which seemed to be good but which we didn't see), and a very good mini-market. The hotel just feels 'posh' with a marble foyer and very pleasant front desk staff. We were in Block C - C must stand for Cockerel (a local bird which woke us all up at 5 o'clock every morning!). As far as eating out, go to Ristorante Varadero 100 yards down the hill. Harry from Vienna and his lovely Columbian wife run this super restaurant with great friendliness. If you like fish, the huge mixture for two people at around 20 Euro is stunning. 400 yards away from the apartments is a black sand beach with great waves for jumping around in. All in all a very nice place to stay.

I had a realy nice time

Hi,

I had a great time in barcelo Varadero, nice staff, good entertainment and a lot of nice pools. Everyday they had a show for children and they loved it after that a show for adults. It's a realy nice place to stay for families. Playa de Arena itself is very small and not much to see, we had a good entertainment at night so I didn't care at all.