The realistic verdict on buying
As a straightforward tourist transaction, buying a Cuban beach condo is not realistic. The domestic home market opened by Decreto-Ley 288 of 2011 is for Cuban citizens and permanent residents, and there is no parallel open market for non-resident foreigners to buy existing seaside apartments in their own name.
What is realistic, but slow, is reaching ownership through a genuine change of status: permanent residency, marriage to a Cuban, or inheritance. These are real routes, but they are life decisions with long timelines, not shortcuts to a holiday flat. If you measure 'realistic' by whether you could sign for a Varadero condo on your next trip, the answer is plainly no; if you measure it by whether any lawful path to a Cuban home exists at all, the answer is a heavily qualified yes.
What is realistic instead
Several things are entirely realistic. Renting a beach apartment lawfully is realistic and avoids the ownership barrier completely. Visiting and enjoying Cuba's beach zones is realistic. And for serious investors with proper advice, participating in state-approved projects under Ley 118 of 2014 is a real, if institutional, path, quite distinct from buying a condo.
Setting your expectations toward these options, rather than toward an open-market purchase that does not exist for you, is the difference between a plan that works and one that ends in loss. The people who are happiest with their relationship to the Cuban coast are almost always the ones who chose renting or genuine long-term ties over the fantasy of a quick beach purchase.
A special word for US persons
If you are a US person, the realistic goal narrows further. OFAC's Cuban Assets Control Regulations (31 CFR Part 515) restrict most property and financial dealings, and Helms-Burton Title III adds liability tied to confiscated property. For you, even routes that are lawful under Cuban rules can carry serious US legal risk, so specialist advice is not optional.
The realistic goal, then, is to enjoy Cuba's beaches lawfully and to keep any thought of ownership tethered to genuine residency or family ties pursued patiently and with professional guidance, rather than to a purchase that the law does not actually make available to you.