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You'll find massive, modern beach resorts here whose guests virtually all arrive on resort packages. (The region is home to Cuba's largest hotel, with 1,100-plus rooms.) Also on the spectrum are historic city-center hotels, with doubles in a budget-pleasing CUC$50 range. The downside is that sheer numbers of city hotels are small. Towns such as Trinidad, Camagüey, and Cienfuegos have only a few quality places to stay. Lodging in casas particulares runs CUC$15 to CUC$25, depending on the season. The facilities vary accordingly, but even the casas particulares have private baths, air-conditioning, hot water, and in-room phones.
Credit cards are accepted in all government restaurants and hotels, but you pay cash in private accommodations.
Wooden buildings scattered along a coral bluff house this intimate resort's spacious rooms. Tiles, drapes, and cushions throughout are done in earth tones that evoke the surrounding landscape; abundant windows and balconies allow sun and sea breezes inside. All guest rooms have original art, wicker furniture, and satellite TV; most have ocean views. The thatch-roof restaurant ($–$$) has a panorama of beach and sea; the menu is short and dominated by seafood.
On a 5-hectare (12-acre) farm—the name means "little farm"—near Santa Clara's airport, this tranquil resort has plenty of fresh air and birdsong. Rooms are in two-story octagonal duplexes, with bright tile floors, hardwood furniture, and lots of windows overlooking shady lawns. You can follow trails through patches of forest, orchards, and pastures on foot or on horseback. A kidney-shape pool lies next to the reception area, and a large restaurant nearby offers buffets as well as a menu of Cuban dishes.
Here dozens of two-story, cement bungalows spread around verdant grounds have spacious rooms with white-tile floors, queen-size beds, and lots of windows. The main building houses the reception, a tiny bar, and the restaurant ($), which serves such Cuban classics as pierna asada (roast pork) and ternero guisado (stewed veal), as well as a few Continental dishes. On weekends, light sleepers should request a room at the back of the property, since the discotheque next to the reception area stays open late.
