PAX doesn’t simply let you know about resorts. We present you resorts.

Which brings us to historic Havana, the place Canadian journey advisors not too long ago toured a set of resorts and resorts with Transat as a part of a one-week FAM in Cuba.

The journey, which PAX lined completely in December, was held to focus on Transat’s “Duo Package deal,” which mixes an city EP-plan getaway in Havana – the heartbeat of Cuba – with an all-inclusive trip, roughly two hours’ away, in Varadero, a sun-kissed seashore city.  

This package deal, which incorporates transfers, give travellers “one of the best of each worlds,” Sherri Bourne, Transat’s enterprise growth consultant in Atlantic Canada, instructed PAX, noting departures from Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal and Quebec Metropolis.

However central to our go to – past discovering Cuba’s new and improved providers, like stronger Wi-Fi – was unearthing the newest in resorts, lots of which have been upgraded throughout the pandemic shutdown.

From Havana to Varadero, brokers accomplished a marathon of web site inspections, touring 24 (sure, 24!) properties in complete.

READ MORE:
Free Wi-Fi & resort upgrades – brokers discover “the brand new Cuba” with Transat

Seven of these visits passed off in Havana, Cuba’s vibrant capital metropolis, the place historical past and influences date again greater than 500 years.

With a bustling Malecón (a waterfront esplanade/seawall) stretching roughly eight kilometres across the metropolis’s coast and traditional structure mixing Moorish, Baroque and Artwork Deco kinds, Havana presents one of the crucial poetic cityscapes one will discover within the Caribbean.

The traditional American automobiles from the Nineteen Fifties that line the town’s streets are a vibrant sight, distinctive to the area, and the town is a main place to smoke a Cuban cigar or sip a minty mojito. 

Havana’s resorts, nonetheless, pack a singular punch, as brokers witnessed throughout their go to.

7 punchy properties

Internet hosting us was the brand new Grand Aston La Habana, a classy, 600-room resort that Indonesia-based Archipelago Worldwide opened in March final yr.

With up to date design, the resort’s inside is a fusion between Havana’s model of the Nineteen Thirties and the Asian refinement of Grand Aston.

READ MORE: Cuba calling – Canadian advisors tour 24 resorts in Havana & Varadero with Transat

The property additionally has a 24-hour health centre, a spa with genuine Balinese therapies and a 56-metre lengthy swimming pool overlooking Havana Bay and the Malecón.

The 397-room sea-facing Melia Habana, in the meantime, is situated within the metropolis’s residential Miramar district, which is roughly a ten-minute drive from the town centre.

This resort presents a free shuttle service to Previous Havana (or visitors pays $10 USD for a full-day hop-on, hop-off transportation service).

Melia Habana, filled with pure mild, hanging vegetation and spacious rooms, felt like a calming resort…inside the metropolis.

Then it was over to the 426-room Lodge Nacional, as soon as a membership home for the Mafia within the Nineteen Thirties and former playground for Golden Age stars like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Ava Garner, Mickey Mantle, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway (and plenty of others).

This luxury-appointed, old-school, seaside resort is a mishmash of artwork deco and neo-colonial kinds.

READ MORE: Air Transat resumes flights to Havana, Cuba

It even has its personal museum that options neat artifacts (like a trunk that was forgotten in a baggage room in 1930) and images of well-known previous visitors. That, alone, is price a look-see.

Iberostar’s 321-suite Grand Packard was up subsequent. This contemporary and shiny resort opened on Havana’s emblematic Paseo del Prado, close to the town’s Velasco palace and Nationwide Capitol buildings, in 2018.

The resort’s infinity pool on the sixth-floor terrace presents unimaginable views of Morro Fortress, a fortress that guards the doorway to Havana harbour.

The pool can be lined with half-submerged loungers and shaded by the ground above, which might come in useful on scorching-hot days.

With three bars, 5 eating places and a spa, the Iberostar Grand Packard, too, has the texture of an city resort – an opulent one at that.

Lodging on the 427-room Iberostar Parque Central Lodge, within the coronary heart of Previous Colonial Havana, vary from traditional to trendy – the resort, in 2009, opened a brand new part in a connecting constructing that has up to date rooms.

With 4 eating places and bars, the resort’s two rooftop swimming pools are stand-out facilities as they provide hovering views of the previous metropolis, which is on the resort’s doorstep.

Previous Havana is the place we additionally toured two boutique resorts by Hoteles Habaguanex which can be new to Transat’s portfolio – the recently-opened Marques de Cardenas Monte Hermoso (21 rooms) and Lodge Palacio De Los Corredores (56 rooms), which each overlook San Francisco de Asis Sq..

The affordable nightly charges – particularly for stays in Presidential Suites – at each properties impressed the group.

“It’s a brand new market,” Bourne mentioned of boutique stays. “We’re seeing extra shoppers who don’t need the identical cookie-cutter trip.”

What do these Havana resorts appear to be in actual life? 

PAX had its cameras rolling throughout the excursions and has produced the last word web site inspection megamix: scenes from all seven resorts, in simply two-and-a-half minutes!

Watch our unique video right here! 

Keep tuned as PAX brings you extra unique content material from Cuba with Transat. Up subsequent, we take you inside 17 resorts in Varadero! 

Do not miss a single journey story: subscribe to PAX as we speak!  Click on right here to comply with PAX on Fb.