Cayo Coco is a small island linked to Cuba by a 17 km man made road over the sea. The hotel is an adult only all inclusive hotel, at the far end of a long beach, so is not as busy.

We travelled with Thomas Cook, and are very glad we paid extra for Premier Class Seats, and we landed at Jardines Del Ray, and it only took about ten minutes to get to the resort. We changed money at the airport, but it would have been better to have done this at the resort.

Champagne and a cool flannel greeted us at the resort, and check in was quick and efficient. We had a Lagoon Room on the ground floor, a large balcony, chairs, sunloungers facing east so we got a great view of the sunrise. Also being over the lagoon we could feed the fish.

We liked the beach, even if it was a bit narrow, plenty of sunbeds and palapas. The sea was very clean and crystal clear, warm, and full of friendly tame fish. There is a beach bar, a watersports and diving centre, and to be truthful we spent most of our time on the beach, partly because of the persistent breeze.

We did visit the pool area, but felt it too warm, although it was a good place to go in the mid afternoon, by which time sunbeds were not a problem.

There are three restaurants, serving good food, the Buffet, The Italian, and The International. Whilst the buffet got a bit repetitive, there were stalls cooking dishes to your liking. The a la carte options in the other restaurants were all good. We could not fault the catering at all, and during the day there is the snack bar next to the pool, and the beach grill were you could choose all the usual suspects, freshly cooked and brought to the table.

One word of caution, mosquitos – make sure you bring sprays etc, because they are a nuisance, so Deet is an essential.

Finally, what really made the holiday was the staff. They were happy, friendly, helpful, and the management believe in managing by wandering about – always a good thing.

This may not be on the best of the Cuba vacation beaches, but Cuba resort Cavo Coco comes from us as the top cuba vacation recommendation. We will definitely return.