Cuba's top beach resort
Varadero offers golden sands, blue ocean, and every kind of holiday accommodation and activity you could wish for - all located on a narrow peninsula that curls into the Straits of Florida.
Got the feels for Cuba? Fly direct to Havana with Virgin Atlantic from 30th October 2022.
|
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
London Heathrow
From 30th October 2022
|
You can also fly from Aberdeen or Edinburgh on one of our partner airlines.
Hotels in Varadero
The beauty of a multi-centre holiday is that it lets you fit more of what you love into a single trip!
Book online to fly direct to Havana with Virgin Atlantic from 30th October 2022 from London Heathrow on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Essential information for Varadero
Not sure what to expect? We've got it all here for you, so you can enjoy your holiday in Cuba. Read through our top tips on what you need, and how to prepare for your adventure on this unique Caribbean island.
All UK passport holders flying directly from the UK require a Tourist Visa.
Vibrant Varadero Holiday Highlights
Like a long, lazy arm flung out to give you a holiday cuddle, Varadero is a peninsula of golden beach stretching out into the beautiful blue Caribbean Sea on Cuba’s north coast. Home to a nature reserve and several world-class resorts, this is the country’s number one beach destination, and for good reason – it’s simply a stunning place to be.
Since Al Capone and other more… reputable tourists ‘discovered’ this perfect stretch of beach and virgin forest in the 1920s, holidays to Varadero have been high on the wishlist for those seeking sun and sea in a sophisticated setting. That’s as true today as it was a hundred years ago. Varadero beach is superb, with powdered sands and calm, shallow waters that make it ideal for swimming and all kinds of water sports.
No holiday to Varadero is complete without a visit to Cuba’s capital Havana (only two hours away). Get a taste of this incredible, time-slip city with its iconic ‘50s cars and pastel-shaded colonial architecture. You’ll get to shop, see the sights, and experience live latin music all as part of an unforgettablte adventure. There are some amazing trips to take while you're there, too.
As you would expect from one of the world's premier beach destinations, there's luxury aplenty to be found. Wander around Marina Gaviota, purpose-built at the peninsula's eastern tip in the early 2010s, where the yachting elite come when they visit Cuba. Which they do, quite a lot. Eye-up luxury boats and apartments, plus the popular Sala de la Musica venue, featuring live Cuban music.
Varadero is beautifully lush and verdant. There’s even a nature park on the peninsula, the Varahicacos Ecological Reserve, where you can encounter hummingbirds, lizards and snakes, plus, if you’re feeling brave, the preserved skeleton of a 2,000-year-old man in one of the caves. The luxurious, all-inclusive Iberostar Varadero resort is right by the park, and is highly recommended for families.
As well as swimming in the surf, Varadero beach offers a host of other water sport opportunities. Diving is excellent, with clear water, a kaleidoscope of tropical marine life, and even a few intriguing wrecks to explore, too. As for water sports, there’s surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, sailing, and myriad boat trips. You can also take a catamaran trip out along the cays – offshore islands that are host to abundant wildlife and flora.
Varadero may not be crammed 24/7 with international superstar DJs, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of late night fun. There are plenty of cool places downtown to go and sip a Cuba Libre or a Mojito while listening to phenomenal local music. Have a novel experience and go clubbing in a cave at the Cueva Del Pirata, dance with locals at the Casa Del Musica, or unleash your jig at Calle 62 - the club so good, they shut the road every night.
Varadero has plenty of shops for you to find souvenirs and specialities from the area. The street market is easily found along the main road running through the whole peninsula, with cigar shops dotted around nearby (a great place to pick up a few gifts for the curious)/ The taller de Ceramica and Artecru both offer the chance to buy some unique art from the area as a souvenir of your Varadero holiday.
From golden beaches to a host of exciting activities, Varadero has everything you could wish for in a holiday. To plan your break, take a look at all our amazing Varadero resorts today.
Let’s get started. Please choose an option below.
We are continually reviewing our flying schedules, taking into account the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice against all non-essential travel. Depending on when you are due to travel, your holiday may be affected and we’ll email you to let you know as least 21 days before travel.
Your next holiday is only a click away - our website has thousands of options ready to book. But if you need more help, just give us a call on 0344 472 9646.
Looking for inspiration? Explore our destinations and holiday types and save your faves to your very own Wishlist. Or dive right in to our 2021 holiday offers.
Over the past few weeks, we have repatriated our customers from overseas who wanted to come home.
Please visit this page to keep up to date with the Government’s travel advice on returning to the UK, and to register for email alerts.
With many customers needing our help, we are prioritising those customers due to travel before 31 December 2020. Log in to Manage my booking where you can message us about your options or you can give us a call. Bear in mind you may have to wait longer than expected. We continue to review this and working to open up these options to more customers. In the meantime check out our FAQs to see if this can help answer any immediate questions.
Rest assured; we will notify you as soon as we know if your holiday has been affected by email.
We are continually reviewing our flying schedules, taking into account the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice against all non-essential travel. Depending on when you are due to travel, your holiday may be affected and we’ll email you to let you know as least 21 days before travel.
If you need to speak to us to change or cancel your booking you can call our team on 0344 472 9646 or chat to us on SMS/Whatspp via Manage my booking.
For the latest information on Covid-19 you can check our FAQs here.
Don’t worry if you’ve missed a payment or just need a little more time to pay; we have options available to help you. If your holiday is going ahead as planned, you can continue to pay for your holiday in Manage my booking, even if travelling in less than 12 weeks. If you’re unsure, you can delay any additional payments by choosing a new time to travel by requesting a call back in Manage My booking for one of our team to look at options. If your holiday is more than 6 months away, you may wish to set up a Direct Debit to spread the cost. This can be arranged whilst rebooking or afterwards in Manage my booking.
We understand that you may wish to change your holiday plans and we appreciate the need for flexibility.
We'll be in touch by email letting you know how to register to change your holiday plans. You can also log into Manage my booking to find the details there.
Please look out for emails from us or visit our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page for the latest updates.
If we haven’t notified you of any changes, your holiday will be going ahead as planned but if you prefer to move your holiday to a later time we can help. You can call our team on 0344 472 9499 who can look at options for you.
Payments are being prioritised based on when the request was made, working in order from March 2020 onwards. We will always try to process refunds at the earliest opportunity, for requests before August our maximum timeframe is 120 days. As we are steadily reducing the maximum processing time for each new request, for refund requests made in August, we expect the maximum processing time to be 80 days, from the date the refund is requested. For those requesting a refund in September, we expect it to be processed within a maximum of 60 days, and then reduce to 30 days for refunds requested in October, before returning to normal levels.
To finalise the amendment, one of our customer advisors will phone you. We need to work through amend requests in departure date order so we can prioritise those with the most imminent travel plans, so you may have a longer wait than usual until we’re able to ring you back. We will help everyone that wants to move their holiday.
You can contact our team by emailing feedback.backhome@virginholidays.com to discuss options on unused portions of your holiday. If you need to contact our team about amending an existing holiday or requesting a refund please log in to manage my booking.
The easiest way to contact us while you are away is via WhatsApp. To get the conversation started, click the link and type "hello” .
or you can get in touch with our in-resort team during local opening hours
Find contact details for your location
Outside of local resort office hours you can call us in the UK +44 (0) 344 472 9626 (option 2) or email us duty.office@virginholidays.com
If you are in the USA or Canada please email: USAreps@virginholidays.com.
Talk to an expert
