Hotel Zaza, an eco-tour facility due to its position overlooking Embalse Zaza

By: cubaism Expert, Cuba Posted: 2010-04-10

This Islazul hotel serving both Cubans and tourists lies in the countryside a few miles southeast of Sancti Spíritus. The post-revolutionary four-story hotel is of Soviet-era Bauhaus design familiar throughout Cuba. It bills itself as an eco-tour facility due to its position overlooking Embalse Zaza – a vast man-made lake surrounded by wetlands and drowned forest that are a habitat for thousands of migratory waterfowl. The waters teem with trout and bass. Thus this hotel is popular with hunters and anglers.

It has a huge swimming pool and large sundeck with thatched umbrellas and lounge chairs. There's a small games room, and a desultory disco. The small lobby bar lounge tries to recreate a tropical mood with its bamboo furnishings and surfeit of potted plants. You guessed it – mosquitoes abound here!

Alas, not all the 124 air-conditioned rooms have water views, not least due to the inexplicable use of frosted glass in the windows. But all rooms do have balconies, plus satellite TV, phones, mini-refigerators and recently remodeled bathrooms with modern fixtures.