The Miramar Occidental does not have enough advantages to warrant staying a 20 minute cab ride to the best part of the city, Old Havana. Better choices are the Nacional and the Parque.

The Miramar fails by trying to mirror a big, modern US styled hotel. It is in the Embassy district.

Although it advertizes Wifi in the rooms, it is only sporadically available in the business center.

I was booked into a top floor executive floor with its own reception. However, when I arrived the only person who works reception was gone on her hour-long lunch. The reception area downstairs looked like a zoo. Overall, reception is clearly the weakest link here.

Rooms are OK, but my floor was completely covered with a layer of other people's hairs. There were two floods in my room during a 5 day stay,.

The pool area is beautiful, and is the best part of the hotel. It is spacious, with many places to sit. It is a wonderful atmosphere.

The food was pretty good.

Rooms are about $100 Cdn,

To write this review I'll break it down into categories because I think it makes it easier to write and for you to read!

HOTEL/POOL AREA - The hotel is quite big and more modern looking than what you will find in the more central part of Havana. The lobby is quite nice and big with a large fountain and lots of comfy chairs to sit, relax and people watch....this is where we usually sat at the end of the day with a drink to unwind and chat about the days sightseeing!
The pool area is fantastic! The pool itself is huge! There is also a more shallow section for kids to play which is nice. Lots of loungers and small side tables around with lots of shady spots and a pool bar right in the middle.

ROOMS - The rooms were very basic but they were clean which for me is the most important thing. The mattresses are really hard, it didn't matter to me so much but that may be for someone else. The bathrooms are really nice and spacious....lots of counter space and a deep soaker tub. There are also safes in the rooms that are free of charge to use.

FOOD - There are a few places to get something to eat within the hotel. There is a snack bar that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and things of that nature. It is really inexpensive as I think that I paid $4CUC for a sandwich with fries. There is also the main buffet restaurant that serves a buffet breakfast and dinner. The buffet breakfasts are included in your hotel stay but it was $18CUC per person for the buffet dinner. As I said in the review that I wrote for the resort we stayed at in Varadero, if you know the absolute basics about Cuban resorts, you definitely do not go to one for the food, lol! The breakfasts were good, they had eggs and omelets made to order and a lot of the other usual breakfast fare. The fresh bread and butter and cheese is very good! The buffet dinner on the other hand wasn't so great. Maybe if we had only paid $10CUC per person instead of $18CUC, it wouldn't have felt like such a waste of money. My advice is to spend the same amount or even less money and go to a restaurant in town where the food is a thousand times better. There is a really awesome restaurant in Havana across from the Capitolio called Los Nardos. I ordered a dish that came with two huge chicken breasts stuffed with ham and cheese and it came with rice and beans and fried banana chips and it was only $5CUC's! I know that there are many other great restaurants in Havana too so the best thing to do is to ask the locals (we asked our taxi driver) and you will no doubt have a great meal!

PEOPLE - I don't think that I have ever met such warm, friendly people. Make sure that you project a positive attitude and you will definitely get it back in return! Yes, we had people that asked us for money or an item in particular, but what I found with the majority of them is that they either wanted to do something for you or give you back something in return. I live close to Vancouver, BC and when you go there and you have panhandlers asking for money, they just want you to give them money, they aren't prepared to do anything for it whereas in Cuba, most of them (and you will get a few that don't) will return the favour in any little way that they can. And make sure that you know at least the basics in Spanish, they will really appreciate the effort! We tipped more than we planned to but it's hard not to when you meet all these people that really try to give you the best holiday that they can.

On a side note, the Occidental Miramar is about a 10-15 minute cab ride outside of Old Havana. The one thing that is nice about the location of this hotel though, is that it is in a district where it is more residential and there are lots of old mansions that are now home to various consulates.

Although this was a nice hotel to stay in, the location of it just didn't work for us and the next time we visit Havana we will choose a hotel that is more central to everything.

I hope this review has helped you and if you have any more questions please feel free to ask:-)

I stayed two nights during a business trip to Havana in march 2007. It is a new and well maintained hotel, however it does not have any local character, thus I believe that this hotel is a typical hotel that you can stay at anywhere in the world. I believe that you can find a better alternative to it.

This is a lovely 5 star hotel. It is in the posh side of town so it is nice and quiet although a taxi into Old Havana is only 10 minutes ride and a good price.

The bedrooms are of a high standard and very clean. The buffet food was ok although nothing special. The pool area was good and relaxing.

I would reccommend this hotel to my friends and family and I would stay there again.