Santa Maria Cuba Casino

Best 5 Star Hotels in Cayo Santa Maria on Tripadvisor: Find traveller reviews, candid photos, and prices for 16 five star hotels in Cayo Santa Maria, Villa Clara Province, Caribbean. The Royalton Cayo Santa Maria is one of the most luxurious and intimate hotels in Cuba. The hotel is focused on providing a relaxing environment whereby guests can enjoy and appreciate the soft white sands and clear warm waters in a wonderful natural setting. Angsana Cayo Santa Maria is an exclusive and ecologically-sensitive destination resort in Villa Clara, Cuba. Explore the myriad beauties of Villa Clara Cays and its marine life. Immerse yourself in Cuban culture in the nearby cities of Caibarien, Remedios and Santa Clara.

Hotels

The beach destination “Cayos de Villa Clara”, which includes the islands of Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos, is currently one of the most active area in Cuba for tourism development. There should be a total of about 13,000 hotel rooms. In a short period of time Cayo Santa Maria became the second largest beach resort in Cuba (in total number of rooms), after Varadero

Hotels and services currently under construction - 2019

Under construction in Cayo Santa Maria : None
Under construction in Cayo Ensenachos : None
Under construction in Cayo Las Brujas : Hotel La Salina Sureste (temporary name), 621 rooms

Tourism development started first on Cayo Las Brujas in 1999 with the opening of the first hotel in this region, the Villa Las Brujas. The next hotel to be built was the Sol Cayo Santa Maria (2001), the latter became the first all-inclusive resort in the province of Villa Clara. Find here the detailed chronology of tourism development in the Cayos of Villa Clara.

Every hotel on Cayo Santa Maria is resort-style and All-Inclusive (meals, snacks, drinks, daily activities, evening entertainment, non-motorized water sports). Every property (buildings and services) belong to the government-owned 'Grupo Gaviota', however joint ventures and administration contracts are awarded to several international hotel chains (such as Melia, Sirenis, Blue Diamond, Valentin, H10, Iberostar and more) to manage and promote many of these hotels.

areal view showing the location of hotels and services on Cayo Santa Maria
areal view showing the location of hotels and services on Cayo Ensenachos
areal view showing the location of hotels and services on Cayo Las Brujas

Santa Maria Cuba Casino Map

In Cayo Santa Maria, every hotel is located along its northern coast, while the southern areas are mainly covered by marshes and mangroves. The hotels are all oceanfront but have been built a little back behind the dunes; the beaches are accessible via several raised footbridge for a minimum impact on the dunes' flora and fauna. The dunes also serve as a natural protection against hurricanes, thus minimizing damages to hotels.

There's another all-inclusive resort, the Iberostar Ensenachos (formerly Occidental Royal Hideaway), on the neighbor island of Cayo Ensenachos. It's a one-island/one-resort concept, this hotel used to be adult-only during the Occidental administration, it's now for everyone. On the other island of the area, Cayo Las Brujas, there was for many years only one small eco-hotel called Villa Las Brujas, located on the gorgeous Playa Salina beach. But Cayo Las Brujas is currently undergoing an extensive tourism development with five new all-inclusive resorts, a commercial center and a boutique hotel totaling more than 2,700 rooms.

Click thumbnail to view a chart showing the distance between hotels

Click thumbnail to view a chart showing the distance between each hotel and tourist attractions and services

Click the following links to view aerial images showing...
The Cayos of Villa Clara (Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos)
The location of hotels, tourist attractions and services in Cayo Santa Maria
The location of hotels, tourist attractions and services in Cayo Las Brujas
The location of hotels, tourist attractions and services in Cayo Ensenachos

During our first trip to Cayo Santa Maria in January 2002, when the Sol Cayo Santa Maria was the sole hotel on a desert island, we were told about the project to build more than 10,000 hotel-rooms in the area in the next 10 years or so. It was very hard to believe back then, but they achieved this goal, and will even surpass it!

It is expected that the sprawling development of the total 'Jardines del Rey' (King's Gardens) archipelago, which includes the following islands: Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos, Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Paredon Grande, Cayo Cruz, Cayo Sabinal, etc., should eventually include more than 32,000 hotel-rooms. Visit also the King's Garden Islands section of our website to learn more about the other destinations (cayos) of this vast archipelago.

Lily & Normand
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ATTENTION: An important update of our website will be made in the coming weeks concerning the Cuban currency. On December 10, 2020 the Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel officially announced the elimination of their dual currency system (CUC and CUP ) as of January 1, 2021. In other words, the definitive removal of the CUC (Cuban convertible peso) in favor of the CUP (Cuban peso) which will have a single exchange rate of 24 CUP for 1 US dollar.

¡Bienvenidos!

CAYO SANTA MARIA is a small key, 16 km (10 mi) long by 2 km (1.2 miles) wide, located in the Bahia de Buena Vista, off the northern coast of the main island of Cuba, in the province of Villa Clara. With its two neighbors, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos, they together form a quiet resort destination with stunning beaches, called 'Los Cayos de Villa Clara'. These cayos (keys) are connected to the main island of Cuba by a 48-km (30-mi) causeway (called Pedraplen in Spanish), from the coastal town of Caibarien.

These Cayos are part of a larger archipelago called Jardines del Rey (King's Garden), which is currently the most active area in Cuba for tourism development. Once completed, the archipelago should reach a capacity of about 32,000 rooms distributed in the following islands (from west to east): Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos, Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Coco, Cayo Paredon Grande and Cayo Cruz. This Cuban archipelago may then become the largest beach resort destination in Cuba with almost twice as many rooms as currently found in Varadero.

The three 'Cayos de Villa Clara' (Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos) reach more than 10,000 rooms. Tourism development started on Cayo Las Brujas in 1999, followed by Cayo Santa Maria in 2001 and Cayo Ensenachos in 2005. The size of the hotels vary largely from approximately 24 up to 1,000 room, see here a Chart of the number of rooms per hotel.

Click the following link for a detailed chronology of tourism development in the Cayos of Villa Clara.

Click to see a Google Earth Satellite Video Tour of the Cayos de Villa Clara.

Cayo Santa Maria is part of the Villa Clara province but is located only about 30 km (18.6 mi) as-the-crow-flies west from Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco, two other popular beach destinations in the nearby province of Ciego de Avila. Learn more about the other islands of: Jardines del Rey.

We learned there’s also a project to build a water park (either near the dolphinarium or at the east end of Cayo Santa Maria), and a golf course in Dolores, a village located a few kilometers from the town of Caibarien (where starts the causeway to reach the cayos). In a short period of time Cayo Santa Maria became the second largest beach resort in Cuba, after Varadero, but despite this fast development, it remains a nice, safe and quiet little island.

Cayo Santa Maria's main attraction is without a doubt its 13 km (8 mi) of magnificent fine sand beaches, divided in three sections. The beaches and hotels are all located along the northern coast of the island, while the south coast is mainly dominated by forests, salt marshes and mangroves.

Click to see an areal view showing the position of the hotel and services on Cayo Ensenachos.

Click to see an areal view showing the position of each hotel and services on Cayo Las Brujas.

Santa Maria Cuba Snorkeling

Click to see an areal view showing the position of each hotel and services on Cayo Santa Maria.

There are two international airports serving the King's Gardens: the Cayo Coco Airport (Aeropuerto Jardines del Rey, code CCC) which serves the cayos of the eastern part of the archipelago (Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Paredon, Cayo Cruz), and the Santa Clara Airport (Aeropuerto Abel Santamaria, code SNU) which serves the western cayos (Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Brujas and Cayo Ensenachos) and the province of Villa Clara. On Cayo Las Brujas (next to Cayo Santa Maria), there’s also a local airport for domestic flights; unfortunately the runway is too short to accommodate large aircrafts.

With the nearest international airport being located in Santa Clara (the capital of the province of Villa Clara), it takes about 90 minutes by road to reach Cayo Santa maria from the Abel Santamaria Airport; the first 60 min. or so is through the Cuban countryside and the towns of Remedios, Camajuani and Caibarien, and the last 20 minutes on the causeway (Pedraplen) with the sea on both side. The Cuban government has built a road to bypass the village of Remedios. There would also be a project to build a motorway to reach the pedraplen in about 30 minutes, which would allow reaching the cays in about one hour. Note however that the current 90-minute ride is not monotonous, on the contrary; it gives you the opportunity to visit a bit the region and admire the scenery. Besides, a local guide accompanies each bus carrying tourists to the cayos, he/she describes what we see along the way and talks about the history of the region, the local industry, and about Cuba in general. You can usually buy some drinks on board the transfer bus (or just before boarding), such as a cold beer 'cerveza fria' at a cost of $5 for two beers, any currency accepted.

Santa Maria Cuba Casino Reviews

About the causeway (pedraplen): This colossal project was the work of the company 'Campaña de Las Villas'. The construction began in 1989 and was completed in 1999, paving the way for the development of mass tourism in this region. It’s on September 12th, 1989, while visiting the area, the former president Fidel Castro assigned the team to start the causeway project; on December 15th, 1989, the first stone was tossed into the sea. One of the top priorities was to preserve the environment with the construction of several openings (bridges), 46 in total for a total length of 2,298 meters (7539 ft.) of bridges, allowing an uninterrupted flow of ocean currents to minimize damage to the ecosystem of the archipelago. The work has received international recognition, including an award in 2001 for its high economic effect with the least impact on the environment.

It’s obvious that the 10 years of effort required to build the causeway to link the 'Cayos de Villa Clara' with the main island of Cuba was opening the way to make this region an important tourist pole. Plus, Cuba needs a lot more rooms in years to come, especially since the restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States in 2015, and talks about eventually lifting the embargo. More and more Americans may want and be able to visit Cuba in the near future.

Our cayosantamaria.info website has been online since 2002. In 2017, we were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the very first version of our website. It’s updated regularly, and we humbly believe it is the most complete and detailed source of information about this Cuban destination. Having no business relationship (or otherwise) with any hotel chain or the Cuban government, our websites are created simply and solely for the purpose of keeping you informed about this beautiful Caribbean island that we had the chance to visit dozens of times...

Santa Maria Casinos

Lily & Normand
© cayosantamaria.info
© destilino.com