Another huge beachfront all-inclusive hotel run by Cuba´s Gaviota chain, this aims at singles, couples and families. We like the contemporary aesthetic and the fact that this resort seems well-managed, especially by Cuban standards. The freeform pool here is like a vast lagoon and has palm-studded islands and a swim-up bar. Fortunately, most of the noisy activity such as volleyball takes place in a second pool.

Managed by Spain´s Occidental hotel chain, this all-inclusive opened in 2005 at Playa Yuraguanal, a beautiful swathe of white sand and turquoise reef-protected waters a few miles west of Guardalavaca. Sprawling over 27 acres, it is surrounded on three sides by scrub forest good for birding. Architecturally uninspired—it reminds us a Lego creation—it is also a bit gaudy, with an exterior painted in bright yellow and blues.

A Spanish-run all-inclusive with 464 rooms overlooking gorgeous sands of Playa Esmeralda, this classy resort comprises two adjoining hotels that originated as separate Sol Meliá entities. The physical setting is superb, with bathtub-warm, gin-clear, reef-protected shallows, and tremendous snorkeling nearby. Nearby facilities include a pitch-and-putt golf course and horseback riding, and the tour desk offers a wide range of excursions.

The Spanish Sol Meliá chain´s deluxe offering at Playa Esmeralda, west of Guardalavaca, is the best all-inclusive hotel in the eastern provinces. Edging up to talcum-fine sands that shelve into waters of Maxfield Parrish-like turquoise blues, it has a superb locale. The snorkeling is splendid. The resort is surrounded on three sides by woodland and a swampy lagoon, good for birding. Families should look elsewhere, as this hotel is for adults only.

Billed as a four-star all-inclusive resort, this is by far the nicest property at Guardalava proper. It originated a decade ago as a hotel managed by a Canadian company, and today is wholly run by Cubanacán. At the far east end of Guardalavaca, it has a preferential position with its own gorgeous white-sand beach—Playa Las Brisas—with a well-equipped watersports outlet (both open to the public), including scuba diving certification.

Adjoining the Hotel Islazul Pernik and having begun life in pre-revolutionary days as a country club, this much smaller and more intimate option is far superior to its large, ungainly sister. Islazul does a much better job here. The lobby sets the tone with its potted palms and intriguing and beautiful artwork. If the restaurant here doesn´t please, you can dine for a pittance at the nearby Taberna El Pancho, serving hearty local fare such as shrimp with rice, plus home-brewed draft beers.

Providing an insight into the erstwhile privileged lifestyle of Cuba´s government elite, this reclusive villa-hotel is on an island once reserved for their exclusive use as a hunting retreat. Yes, you´ll do a double take! Those really are antelope and zebra wandering the scrubby island and formerly intended for the crosshairs of rifle scopes. Today the isle is a nature reserve and the lodge now caters to tourists. Still, it plays mightily on the hunting theme.

This is a small intimate and romantic place with 36 cabanas situated on a spectacularly beautiful small white beach. This is ideal for those who want to be close enough to the mega resorts of Guadalavaca (30km) without actually staying there.

An unsung hotel about a 30-minute drive from downtown Holguín, this is one of our favorite regional hotels. It combines many of the qualities you could hope for: great atmosphere, modern comforts, and killer views--the latter courtesy of the hotel's clifftop position overlooking the Mayabe valley. It's part of a faux-finca (farmstead) made famous by Panchito, the beer-swigging burro (donkey).

There´s not much choice when it comes to eco-lodges in Cuba. One of the better options is Villa Pinares de Mayarí, deep in the forests of La Mensura National Park, in the Nipe-Cristal mountain region northeast of Holguín. Getting there is another matter however. Forget driving yourself—the “road” is a demon, suitable only for the ex-army trucks that will deliver you courtesy of organized tours ofered by Gaviota, which runs the facility.

This all-inclusive, a neighbor to the Blau Playa Pesquero, is wholly Cuban run (by Gaviota) and is Cuba´s largest hotel, with a mammoth 912 rooms. The architecture and decor here play on a colonial theme, and an antique steam train and rolling stock on display add a touch of drama to the entrance. We love the airy lobby with its large koi pond. And the grounds, once sparse, have grown out and are well-maintained.

This Spanish-managed hotel nestles up to Playa Pesquero, a stunning beach with gorgeous turquoise waters. Run in conjunction with Cuba´s Gaviota chain, this all-inclusive is supposedly a four-star, but barely edges up to three-star status in our view and stands in stark contrast to the nearby Paradisus Río de Oro. Let´s begin with its monstrous facade—an architectural blight painted in deep blues and peach.

Perched atop a limestone headland between two lovely beaches at Guardalavaca, this is the original hotel that kicked off tourism here some three decades ago. Given the classy competition that has since arisen, this all-inclusive property struggles deperately to keep up.

Yet another of the Soviet-era, Bauhaus style, three-story, pre-fab concrete structures doing duty throughout Cuba as hospitals, hotels, and apartment houses. This one abuts the city´s vast Plaza de la Revolución, on the northeast edge of the city. You have to laugh at Islazul´s description of the 202-room hotel as “cozy and elegant.” The best that can be said is that it´s a sober no-frills option fitted out to provide (barely) at least the minimal standards for tourists.

Cayo Naranjo, a tourist beach resort in the eastern Cuban province of Holguin, forms part of an expanding strategy in the leisure industry and provides visitors with an incredibly beautiful setting and the surprise of finding an aquarium in the sea.

Surrounded by a reassuring ambiance, Islazul Villa Don Lino offers the visitor all the appropriate conditions to enjoy a pleasant stay. It is located 57 kilometers from Holguin´s International Airport and 30 kilometers from Guardalavaca Beach. It possesses a beach 280 meters long and 50 meters wide.