Decameron Barú - All Inclusive

“Absolute Paradise”

We stayed at the Decameron Barú Beach Resort for two weeks, departing from Milan, Italy We flew with Neos Airlines, which proved to be absolutely outstanding: punctual flights, fairly new and comfortable aircraft, extremely kind and attentive flight attendants and stewards, and even breakfast and … more

We stayed at the Decameron Barú Beach Resort for two weeks, departing from Milan, Italy We flew with Neos Airlines, which proved to be absolutely outstanding: punctual flights, fairly new and comfortable aircraft, extremely kind and attentive flight attendants and stewards, and even breakfast and dinner served with steel cutlery. Upon our arrival at the Decameron Resort, we discovered — or perhaps rediscovered — an earthly paradise. The resort has 366 rooms set within a botanical garden, featuring both local vegetation and plants imported from other tropical countries. The gardens are beautifully maintained and are occasionally visited by stunning birds. As a biologist, I could easily make a list of the bird species, trees, flowers, and most of what I observed — not everything, of course — as well as friendly raccoons and large iguanas, all completely harmless. As for the dining experience, the resort offers three restaurants: one buffet restaurant and two à la carte restaurants. We only visited the buffet restaurant, and we have absolutely nothing negative to say about it. There was an immense variety of food and drinks available under the all-inclusive formula — truly “all you can eat and drink.” The food was fresh, and the cuisine international, with themed evenings featuring Mexican, Italian, Colombian, Thai dishes, and more. In short, it was simply exceptional. The resort also has three large swimming pools, as well as a pool equipped with games and facilities for children. As for the sea, the beach has white sand and, although it is not extremely long, it is more than sufficient for a pleasant stroll. It is well equipped with beach umbrellas and sun loungers. The sea is crystal-clear, calm like a lake, pleasantly warm, and monitored by two very attentive lifeguards, ensuring the highest level of safety. On the beach, you will also see courteous armed security guards who ensure your protection and maintain public order, furthermore there is a lovely beach bar where you can enjoy all kinds of soft drinks, snacks, sandwiches, fried fish and sixteen different types of cocktails. We had booked a room for two people and were given a room with two double beds and an additional single bed — spacious enough to accommodate five guests comfortably. The room also featured an enormous shower, large enough for several people, a small but perfectly functional toilet, and every comfort one could wish for: a ceiling fan, quiet air conditioning, a safe inside the wardrobe, and a large balcony overlooking the garden, which was simply superb. The resort also has a small medical centre, staffed by a doctor and two nurses, as well as a theatre that can accommodate around four hundred people, if not more. It is an ideal venue for the evening dance and theatre performances. As for the entertainment, we greatly appreciated the Italian Bravo entertainment team. They were truly professional, kind, charming, cheerful, and extremely helpful, especially thanks to their valuable tips and advice. In conclusion: go there, and you will enjoy a truly heavenly holiday.

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“Save your chairs on the beach early, before 7h0am.Swim on the right side of the beach close to pier, beautiful fish”

My overall review is 10/10. Loved Decameron Baru! We traveled via Air Transat Toronto -Cartegena. We arrived late evening, airport customs went well. The West Jet representative got us a private Taxi. It took about 1h30 to the hotel. The taxi driver did not speak English, so it was quiet. Our repre… more

My overall review is 10/10. Loved Decameron Baru! We traveled via Air Transat Toronto -Cartegena. We arrived late evening, airport customs went well. The West Jet representative got us a private Taxi. It took about 1h30 to the hotel. The taxi driver did not speak English, so it was quiet. Our representative Jesuito was very good at the hotel -he was friendly and booked tours for us. Once at the hotel, we quickly checked in, although there was a language barrier, we were able to understand each other. Beach -Beautiful!! if you swim on the right side, where the pier is, in the morning or when not as wavy, you can see beautiful fishes swimming around you, there was numerous crabs on the rocks as well. Water was clear and warm. There was some 'rocky/shells' area on the beach, you can navigate around, same thing when you go in the water, worse when more wavy. We were up early, claimed our chairs around 6h30-7h00am. if you wait too long you risk on having a hard plastic chair instead-it happened once and was very uncomfortable. I definitely got bitten by mosquito's right before sunset... I would strongly advise to bring bug repellant for late afternoon/evening. Room-We had an ocean front room, got the preferred package. Worth it. We had water bottles, beer and soda refilled everyday. We even asked for extra water bottles at front desk and it got delivered every time. The room was nice and clean. Beautiful views. AC worked well, quiet -it had started leaking on the last day we were there. Bed was a bit on hard side. Food-It was delicious. We experienced the local Columbian food at the buffet, fresh fruit, diverse food daily, there was even an ice cream bar. Because of preferred package we could eat at the Italian restaurant for breakfast and lunch. I found the buffet was better for breakfast but the lunches were delicious at the Italian restaurant. The servers were great. Even if they had limited English, we were able to communicate easily enough. Friendly and by the end of the week they brought us our drinks without even asking. All of our interactions with staff in that restaurant was awesome! Thank you. There was staff that stood out at the Buffet, Roseta Del Rosa, she welcomed us on our first day, we learned a few more words in Spanish, she was awesome, warm and friendly -thank you! Drinks -Very good overall. We had preferred drink at the pool but there was not the premium alcohol we liked. Beer was good, their drinks were good and wine was good. This is a first for me at a resort. Best part is that I was not sick (I normally am with tourista gastro issues). Tours-we did the bioluminescent plankton -very cool, highly suggest, it was right behind the resort, maybe a 5 min boat ride. They spoke with us in English separately so we understood the instructions. Thank you! We bought the pictures. -We did the Rosario Island -Very nice, went to a aquarium on one of the island, 1/2 a day tour. The guide was very nice, she spoke to us on the side and provided great information. The tour ended on playa blanca, the beach itself is very nice, beautiful sand and clear warm water. It was a busy place, glad we visited but I wouldn't stay there very long, the merchants are on you to buy 'free' chairs and etc. It wasn't the cleanest in spots. -We visited Cartegena with private Taxi. The city is nice, many shops and little trendy/cute roads. It was a very warm and sweaty day. The Taxi driver was friendly enough, we spoke via google translate to understand each other, he did not speak English at all. He brought us I'm pretty to his friend who sold things that I explicitly stated we weren't interested... I requested several times that we wanted to eat at a local Columbian restaurant... he ended up bringing us to a developed part of town with high rises and a lot of American chains and dropped us of to an American restaurant, they did have 2 authentic Columbian meals. They were both good. Spa -We had a nice couple message. My massage was 'okay'. Pool -We went mostly to our preferred pool in late afternoon. the pool water was quite warm. The bar tender was nice. Wifi -we had wifi in our room and in the main area of the hotel. There lots of birds, iguana's, gecko's, the vegetation is beautiful, grounds are generally well maintained. I would definitely go back!

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“Beautiful Location! Some Considerations.”

Highlight: Outstanding location! The beach and grounds are beautiful. The bioluminiscent tour and the Rosario Island tours from the front desk were amazing! Pros: - Oceanfront room was lovely. Great views. - Generally good food, some really great meals. Especially lunch at the "Italian" restau… more

Highlight: Outstanding location! The beach and grounds are beautiful. The bioluminiscent tour and the Rosario Island tours from the front desk were amazing! Pros: - Oceanfront room was lovely. Great views. - Generally good food, some really great meals. Especially lunch at the "Italian" restaurant. (If you don't speak Spanish, you will not understand the menu - but the food will still be really good!) Cons: - A basic knowledge of Spanish would be very helpful at this location. Staff just does not know English. - It is a lengthy distance from the airport which adds time to airport transfers and excursions. - If you upgrade, you can have breakfast at the "Italian" restaurant, but they don't have a breakfast menu and you will be asked to "just order anything." This might be ideal, except the servers don't speak English. We found breakfast at the buffet to be quite varied, generally very tasty, and much easier to select. Considerations: - Upgrading was ideal for the room, but was not really worth it for the "premium alcohol." The only "premium" bar was at the "preferred" pool. If you do upgrade, consider having lunch at the "Italian" restaurant. It was wonderful. Also, they will provide you with additional bottled water if you request it at the front desk and persevere with your request. - When folks advise that you need to be up early (6:00 - 7:00 am) for beach chairs, it is entirely true. - The Spa was meh. Not sure I would choose that again. - The resort can be very loud. It seems to depend on the night. The entertainment seems to happen both at the main stage and in the lobby. If it is not in the lobby, the chairs on the deck are wonderful to looking at the stars in the dark night sky.

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“Relax experience”

We came here for my brother’s wedding. The service was great. Marcos and Kali were great with us. They always tried to accommodate our group of over 20.