Margarita Coche Cubagua
December 2023
Three islands very close to each other, all in Venezuela 🇻🇪, in Nueva Esparta State (Spanish: Estado Nueva Esparta).
We bought a flight and hotel package, as nowadays it’s cheaper than booking a flight only. Of course, this means travelling on a chartered, budget, and rather uncomfortable airplane. Plus Ultra Airlines would be fine for a short flight of a few hours, but for 12–13 hours, it’s hardcore. The main issue is the seats – they don’t recline, and the backrest moves only a few centimetres. As for the food, on a scale from 1 to 5, I’d rate it a 2. There was one meal option (a choice between vegetarian and meat), which happened to include vegan pasta with Thai sauce (vegetables and coconut milk), a salad, a roll, and a non-vegan cookie with butter. I can’t comment on the snack, which was a ciabatta with cheese.
We departed at 9 am from Poland and arrived at Margarita airport around 5 pm the same day. The airport experience was pleasant, as there was plenty of staff to handle our 300-passenger flight. Travelling from Poland, we only needed a landing card/tourist visa, which we handed over on arrival. Within a few minutes of leaving the airport, we were on a bus, and 15 minutes later, we arrived at our hotel, Paradise Surf.
I’m not sure why the hotel has such average reviews on Google. My only guess is that people expect more or perhaps book the cheaper rooms in the back building. For a short stay of one or two nights, the smaller back-building rooms would suffice, but for a longer visit, we had reserved a room with a sea view. Since it wasn’t available, we were upgraded to a suite with a sea view and an additional living room with a kitchen.
The most important thing is that the hotel isn’t just close to the beach – it’s directly on it! While it’s an economy stay, it’s clean, quite pleasant, and perfectly located.







