Hotel Barcelo Varadero

The distance to the beach was 700 meters according to the catalog, it took us about 10 minutes to walk there with a child of 3 years in a stroller (it was hilly). Beach and ocean were very clean but there was always a slight current because of the tidal differences. A bus stop was directly opposite the hotel, a supermarket and some restaurants were reachable in 5-10 minutes on foot.

The staff was nearly always friendly and helpful (everyone has at times a bad day). The receptionists spoke usually German and if not, then English. The rooms were cleaned 5x/weekly and were also always clean.

There was one restaurant and 2 poolbars, one of them was closed while we were there. The main meals were served in the restaurant in form of a buffet. The
selection was totally enough with soup, salad bar, fish, meat, different side dishes and desserts (ice cream, cake etc.). But the Spanish and the Canarian dishes tasted better, but there wasn't anything you could't eat. You could get snacks at the pool bar (fries, hot dogs, etc.). You could get all the drinks you can expect to get in a hotel.

They offered lots of sport and entertainment possibilities, e.g. table tennis, billiard, archery, miniclub, kids playground, gym, sauna, internet access (partly against extra charge). I cannot comment on the quality, as we hardly ever used it. Pool chairs and umbrellas were available for free and they were spread around 3 pools with a water depth of 0,60m- 2.60m. The area looked very large. The entertainment team tried very hard but they were not pushy. In the evenings there was a stage show.

We had a flat in the block D on the top floor with view on the ocean, La Gomera and Los Gigantes (great). The flat corresponded to the catalog description. Paint and plaster crumbled in some places and some floor tiles were loose however no mold in the bathroom, on the shower curtain and everything in the room worked also. Only drawback, somewhere in the audio range of our bedroom there were chickens and the rooster crowed every morning at sunrise .

We were at the beginning of June on Teneriffa, thus not in the high season. The quality could be surely just as good, that was however unfortunately not always like that ( only a comment).