NetNude - Cayo Largo, Cuba, Report

Cayo Largo,
Cuba, Report

This report is brought to you by Brenda. Please email the preceding address if you have any questions or comments.

The opinions expressed are those of the person(s) who submitted the report and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NetNude.

Cayo Largo, Cuba.

January 3/2000 - January 17/2000

Cayo Largo del sur is a small Island off Cuba’s south eastern coast. It is a beautiful island with fine creamy white sand and blue waters. The Island measures 37.5 square kilometres and is the home of pelicans (you will see many on a daily basis), iguanas, small lizards, birds and the zun zun humming bird.

Clothing Optional beach in front of Villa Capricho
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There are 7 Hotels on the Island , and since your vacation on the island is all inclusive, you are welcome to use the facilities and restaurants at every hotel, regardless of which hotel you are staying at.

HOTELS
The 7 hotels listed from East to West in order are : 1) Hotel Pelicano 2) Villa Lindamar 3) Villa Soledad 4) Villa Coral 5) Hotel Isla Del Sur 6) Villa Iguana 7) Villa Capricho. Most of the hotels are several walking minutes apart. To get from the Pelicano (#1) to Villla Capricho (#7), it is approximately a half hour walk. You can also take the shuttle bus between any the hotels. The posted schedule for the shuttle bus is every half hour, however the bus drivers like to disregard the schedule and use Cuban standard time instead.

Rooms at Villa Iguana
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THE BEACH
You are permitted to go nude on all the beaches on the island, however full nudity is usually confined to the Beach in front of #7 Villa Capricho (which is the western most hotel on the island). Approximately 70% of the occupants on the Villa Capricho beach are nude. The capricho beach is very beautiful, however the last Hurricane has eaten a lot of that beach, so you are confined to sitting on the rocks because there is not very much beach left in that area. You can take a very long nude walk several hours east of Capricho on the beach, but don’t forget to bring a good pair of hiking shoes because you have to climb over four sets of rocks. During low tide season, more beach is exposed and you may not have to climb all the rocks. If you love to walk, then this place is for you.

Villa Capricho
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I recommend that you get to the beach before breakfast and reserve a lounge under an umbrella for yourself, after breakfast a good spot is hard to find. Many of the Umbrellas and lounge chairs were destroyed in the last hurricane and there is not enough beach left to replace any umbrellas. The entire two weeks of our trip, the waves were quite large. If you are not a strong swimmer, I would not recommend going swimming at the Capricho beach, as you can easily get caught in the undercurrent. If you would like to go swimming in calm waters, you can take the hotel tractor to Playa Serena beach located on the North West part of the island. My favourite beach is at Playa Serena.

ACCOMMODATIONS
If you want to be near the nude beach then the most convenient place is villa Capricho, since it is right on the nude beach. The rooms are situated cabana style, each cabana is a separate room. Each Cabana is equipped with two single beds, T.V. , Window air conditioner, shower, toilet and sink. In front of each cabana is a small sitting area with chairs and a hammock. The cabanas are small in size and the older cabanas are not so nice. If you do decide to stay at the Capricho, try to request a room at the far end (East side) of the complex, as the cabanas at the far end are new additions and are much nicer than the Cabanas that are in the middle of the complex. You can see the ocean from some of the cabanas. If you stay at Capricho, it is a gamble on the type of cabana that you get, because "Not all cabanas are created equal".

My Husband and I stayed at the hotel next to Capricho. We stayed at Villa Iguana (#6). There are eight rooms to a villa.

Our room at Villa Iguana
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Most of the views are ocean views, which makes for a very nice vacation. There are four lower rooms and four upper rooms. The lower rooms have the entrance at the front and a sliding door at the back that exits to a small sitting area. The upper rooms have a stairway at the front and a balcony with an ocean view.

The view from our room
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View from the balcony of our room
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If you stay at the Iguana, you should request a villa closer to the east side (Closer to villa Capricho and the nude beach). You should also request an upstairs room because there is a better view of the ocean. It is also better to have an upstairs room if you like to sleep with the sliding doors open. At Villa Iguana, Most if not all of the rooms are ocean view. I found the accommodations at Iguana to be adequate (but you do get a small room). Something that you have to keep in mind when staying at Cayo Largo is that the hotels are not first rate here. The towels are quite rough and smell like burnt rubber (I don’t think that fabric softener is readily available in Cuba) The linens are not soft either, the pillows are flat and uncomfortable. There is a 3 to 5 minute walk to the nude beach if you are staying at the Iguana.

Hotel Isla Del Sur #5 - This hotel complex has larger rooms than the Iguana but you are not likely to get an ocean view. I used a courtesy room to shower on the last day at the Del Sur and was not impressed. Plus, you are looking at a longer walk to the nude beach.

Villa Coral #4 and Villa Soledad #3 - These villas are quite charming and have the Spanish style villa charm to them, although they are not ocean view, I did like the way they were built. If you stay at Coral or Soledad there is a 12-15 minute walk to the nude beach.

Playa Lindamar #2 - These are cabanas similar in style to Capricho, but are much bigger and built more recently. I think that every Cabana at Lindemar has an ocean view. I feel that the Cabanas at Lindemar are the best accommodations on the island. The walk to the nude beach is about 25 minutes away.

Hotel Pelicano #1 - This is the largest hotel with the most amount of services. The Rooms are decent, however; you can forget about an ocean view. This hotel is always busy with lots of people. Since it is the largest hotel, it also has the largest pool. If staying at this hotel, the walk to the nude beach is approximately 30 minutes.

Amenities
Every complex except for Villa Soledad#3 has a pool. The Pool at Capricho #7 is the nicest pool. You can see the ocean from the pool, it is a quiet pool that is not busy. There are many European tourists, so toplessness is perfectly acceptable at all of the hotel pools. There is no full nudity at any of the pools (only at the beach). I did manage to go swimming nude at the capricho pool with several others, and nobody made a big deal about it. I was also surprised to learn that all of the pools are salt water pools, and are quite cold (21-26 Degrees Celsius). There are tennis courts and non motorised water sports (limit of 1 hour per day). Also, one hour of horse back riding is included, but you must get there at 8:00 am and make a reservation for the day.

Restaurants
The food at all of the restaurants is mostly edible. I do not want to disillusion anyone by saying that the food is passable, because it is not. The food was a big disappointment because you expect excellent food when you spend so much money on an all inclusive vacation. Stale bread, over salted fish, sour fruit, undercooked rice were constant staples of the buffet. Meat, pork and chicken is usually available. Chicken breast was never served, only the drumstick and thigh. Nothing was wasted. The left over food made many reappearances, such as breakfast bacon in the morning was added to the green beans at dinner.

Since Cuba exports most of their fruit that it grown, the expected spread of sweet tropical fruit is absent. In it’s place, you see a lot of canned fruit. Some fresh fruit such as pineapple appeared occasionally, but it was quite sour. I was surprised to see that the chicken and bacon was always served luke warm. This is quite dangerous as chicken should always be served piping hot to avoid salmonella poisoning. During our stay, there were quite a few people that were sick with flu-like symptoms. Salmonella symptoms are very similar to flu symptoms.

Foods items were not always replaced at the buffet, so it is a good idea to get to the buffet right at the start of each meal. All the food is shipped onto the island, nothing is grown there. At an island, you would expect plentiful seafood. The all inclusive restaurants do not serve seafood.. Shrimp, crab, lobster, mussels and scallops are not available. If you want seafood other than fish, you will have to go to the restaurant at the marina (which is not included). A lobster tail dinner with rice will cost you 20 US dollars. A lobster tail and shrimp dinner will cost you $30 US dollars.

Service
We found the service to be poor. Most of the staff did not speak English, which made it difficult to communicate. With your vacation, you get a free excursion. It was very difficult to book the free excursion, apparently the only person that books the trip is never at the front desk. I would recommend that you book the free trip, the day that you get there. Don’t let them tell you, sorry all full. Simply request the trip the next available day. It took us a week and a half to finally book the trip because they kept on telling me to come back tomorrow. When I came back tomorrow, I was told all full, come back tomorrow.

The worst part of the trip was on the last day because you had to be checked out by noon. Our flight was at 9:00pm. There are 2 courtesy rooms available for the 100 people that are leaving that day, which makes getting a courtesy room very difficult. I went swimming in the ocean after check out and desperately wanted to shower and change before my flight, and there were no courtesy rooms available. I waited patiently for a half and hour and then told the front desk that I was going out to the pool area and shower there naked. I was about to do that when suddenly, a courtesy room became available. (I can’t imagine how that was possible since nobody came to return any keys) So, my only conclusion was that there was a room available all along, but front desk did not want to give out the key.

Tipping
Tipping is both expected and encouraged at Cayo Largo. The ever present tip baskets are everywhere. The staff are ready to explain to you that a dollar is nothing to you, but everything to them. The workers expect you to give them a tip just for doing their job. All the staff are money hungry for US dollars. (Don’t bring any other currency, as is worthless to them) If you are not careful, you could end up spending more than intended on tipping. Bar tenders expect it after they make you a drink, waiters expect it just for taking your plate away, the shuttle bus driver expects it for delivering you to a destination, the maid expects for cleaning your room. Don’t feel obligated to give anyone a tip, unless you get exceptional service. Although, the staff will do their best to make you feel obligated into tipping them. Just remember, your vacation is your get away time, and you should not be made to feel any financial obligations towards a complete stranger who “claims” that they don’t get paid enough wages.

Overall, you will find the beaches too beautiful. Cayo largo has the most glorious beaches that I have ever seen. The value for your money is exceptional. We paid around $1400 (CAN$) + $66 departure taxes for a 2 week vacation. When leaving Cuba, there is a $20 US per person departure tax, you must have this available in cash. Those travelling to Cayo Largo may also take advantage of the hotel lottery system that puts you in any available hotel on the Island for a reduced price.

Iguana Island
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