I spent 10 days on the island in 2018 and visited Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Havana. I wanted to see the island as Cubans see it, so I stayed in their homes and traveled around the country on transportation for locals.
In the article I will tell you how to organize your own trip to Cuba, what sights to see and how not to get into trouble with buying cigars and rum.
Why go to Cuba
Cuba is an unusual country for travelers. Legally it is socialist, but in fact it is a one-party dictatorship. Political crises have left Cuba isolated from other nations. Back in the sixties of the last century, America imposed sanctions on Cuba, that is, prohibited economic and trade relations between the countries.
This has greatly influenced the lives of the local population and is immediately felt upon arrival in Havana. Cuba does not have the usual American brands like Colgate, glossy magazines and advertisements. In the capital there are huge industrial stores with half-empty shelves and modest assortment. Exchange offices are reluctant to accept dollars and Visa cards.
Climate. Cuba is hot all year round. Usually the temperature does not fall below +25…27 °C.
The rainy season in Cuba is from May to September. During this time it is a merciless +38 °C and high humidity. In October there are often hurricanes. Then the dry season begins, which lasts until April. Tourists are recommended to plan a trip for November – March. At this time it is +25…30 °C outside.
I went to Cuba at the beginning of September. The first day it rained, but it didn’t affect my plans. The rest of the days the weather was perfect.
Language. The official language in Cuba is Spanish. In hotels and tourist places they speak English. I know Spanish, so I communicated with the locals in their language all the time.
Safety. The safety rules in Cuba are the same as in other Caribbean countries. You should not carry valuables and should not walk alone at night. Girls better be careful at discos if they are offered drinks.
Money
Cuba officially has two national currencies: the Cuban peso and the Cuban convertible peso, aka the cuc.
The Cuban peso is denoted CUP. Officially it is the currency for locals, but tourists can also buy it. Prices in Cuban pesos are indicated in local stores, pharmacies, and post offices. They are also used to pay in local transportation.
The Cuban convertible peso, or cuc, is referred to by the abbreviation CUC. It is a currency for tourists, which is sometimes used by locals. One cuc is worth 24-25 pesos.
Kukami are used to pay in hotels, museums, tourist restaurants and tour bureaus. They are also used to pay for cabs, car rentals and bus fares for Viazul tourists. Pesos are not accepted in these cases.
If you plan to stay only in the tourist area, kuks are enough. To eat in a street café and take local transportation, you will have to exchange them for pesos.
Upon arrival, I changed 170€ for 193 cucas at the airport. The next day I bought 500 pesos in Havana for 20 cucas. I used the pesos to buy groceries and pay for local transportation with them.
The major tourist destinations accept European Mastercard cards and, less frequently, American Visa cards. This is due to the sanctions imposed by the United States on Cuba. Card transactions are taxed at 11.24%. In non-tourist places, you are often asked to pay in cash.
Euros and in rare cases dollars can be accepted for payment, but at an unfavorable rate. There are ATMs at banks in major cities. I withdrew money from Visa at an ATM of Banco Exterior de Cuba in front of the National Hotel in Havana. On English-speaking forums they say that you can withdraw money from Mastercard only in the bank, and you should have your passport with you. I have not found any confirmation of this.
You can buy cookies at the airport, but the exchange rate there is not favorable. In the city, you can exchange cookies and pesos in large hotels and special exchange offices called cadecs. When exchanging dollars will take a commission of 10%, euros are exchanged without commission. You need to have your passport with you. There are always big queues in the exchange offices: you have to wait for 15-20 minutes.
Flight
I flew to Cuba from Mexico. A round-trip flight from Cancun with Interjet Airlines cost $100. I bought the tickets a month before the trip.
How to get from the airport to the center. From the airport to Havana you can take a cab. The fare is 25 CUC.
A more budget-friendly option is to walk from the terminal 2 kilometers along the Avenida Rancho Boyeros road towards Havana. There you can take the P12 or P16 bus. P12 goes to the center of Havana and Old Havana, P16 – to Revolution Square near the bus station. The buses run once an hour. The fare is 1 CUP.
After flying to Cuba, I took a cab to the city. On the way back, I had to transfer from the center on crowded local buses. If I had traveled with a suitcase or a large backpack, I would not have been comfortable. It took about two and a half hours to get to the airport and wait for the buses.
What to see in Cuba
I made a route through the most interesting cities of northern and central Cuba: Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Havana. I didn’t go south: I only had 10 days, and I swam in the sea in Mexico.
Before the trip, I made a rough itinerary of the cities and booked accommodation for the first few days. I found out about bus schedules and accommodation options from the locals on the spot.
Havana is the capital of Cuba. It is a very atmospheric place: here you can walk for hours along the streets and sidewalks and marvel at the gloss of old buildings. The main tourist attractions of the capital are located in Old Havana, or La Habana Vieja. Traditionally, the city tour starts from the National Hotel on the Malecon Promenade, which runs along the sea.
The promenade ends at El Morro Fortress, one of the most beautiful on the Caribbean coast. It once protected the island from pirates, but now tourists come here for the amazing views of the bay and the city.
From the fortress stretches the central street of the city – Prado Boulevard, on which is located the Capitol, built in 1929 on the likeness of Washington. Now the building is under restoration. It is due to open to the public in November 2019.
In Havana, tourists go to the famous Havana Club museum. There they talk about rum and let you taste the drinks. The excursion and entrance to the museum cost 10 CUC. At the Partagas factory they reveal the secrets of production of the world’s most famous cigars. The tour also costs 10 CUC.
Cienfuegos reminded me of colonial houses, numerous cafes and a large seaport. Here one makes money from the cigar, coffee and sugar trade.
In Cienfuegos, you can stroll along the waterfront, walk around the fortress at the entrance to the bay, and visit the park in the central square. There you can taste the most delicious seafood dishes and buy a postcard with views of Cuba. In general, the city is small. In a few hours my friend and I walked around the whole central part, the waterfront, drank strong Cuban coffee and went to mass in the local Catholic church.
Che Guevara is buried in Santa Clara. The revolutionary led the battle for the city, so admirers of the Cuban revolution come to Santa Clara.
The city is compact and resembles one big monument to the memory of Che Guevara. Near the center there is a museum dedicated to the revolutionary. On the square there is a monument to Che, a mausoleum and a museum complex. The museum is open from 8:00 to 21:00. The exhibition is atmospheric and interesting – I liked it.
Trinidad was a center of the slave trade and sugar cane production. Since that time, the city has preserved cobblestone sidewalks and tiled houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. My friend and I wandered the streets, taking photos of the locals and nature. Everything was interesting here: the house we settled in and the people gathering in the houses of music in the evenings.
Where to live
Before my trip, I booked accommodation for a couple of days. Then I looked for apartments and hostels when I arrived in the city. That’s the way to go: there are always free options.
Casa Particular is the name of a private house in Cuba where tourists rent rooms. It is easy to find the casa: there is a sign with an anchor on it.
The room usually has one or two beds, air conditioning, private bathroom with shower and toilet. Breakfast is available for an extra charge for 5 CUC per person. Lunch will cost 5-10 CUC. I advise you to settle for breakfast or dinner: prices are lower than in restaurants, everything is delicious. If you want to cook yourself, each casa has a kitchen.
Cuba has American-style outlets. You’ll probably need an adapter
Prices for a room in Havana start from 20 CUC, in other cities from 15 CUC. In Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and Trinidad, I paid 7.5 CUC per person per day for a room.
In smaller towns, casa particulares owners wait for tourists at the exit from the bus station. I advise you not to hurry: it is better to walk down the street and choose a house you like. If there are no places, you will not be left without housing: each owner has relatives, friends or neighbors, renting accommodation. I always found a free room.
The hosts will ask to see your passport and immigration form. They register tourists officially, otherwise they can lose their license. A landlady in Santa Clara said that she pays 250 CUC per month for a license, regardless of whether there are tourists or not. In comparison, the average monthly salary of teachers or laborers is only 25 CUC.
Hostels in Cuba are not much different from casas: both are in the private homes of locals. A night in a hostel costs 5-12 CUC for a bed in a room for six.
In Havana, I stayed in two hostels: Habana Hostel and Camel Hostel. They are not on websites like hostels.com. If you want to book a room in advance, email hamelhostel@yahoo.com. A night in Havana cost an average of 5 CUC.
If you’re traveling as a couple or with friends, it’s better to choose casa particularis rather than hostels. There are more rooms with a few single beds for friends or one double bed.
There are hotels in Cuba, too. They are good, but expensive. A night at the Hotel Nacional, where Fidel Castro received guests, costs 127-175 CUC. This is the average cost of a room for two in Havana in a four- or five-star hotel. A night in a three-star hotel costs 35-75 CUC.
Transportation
I traveled around Cuba by public transportation: buses, collectivos, camiones and cabs.
Collectivo – local shuttle buses. They accommodate 5-6 people. Kollektivos travel distances of up to 100-120 km, connecting the nearest settlements. The cars depart from small squares and markets when the passengers have taken all the seats. Sometimes it can take up to an hour. We waited for about 45 minutes.
There is no collective schedule, no exact route and stops either. The driver may drop off the passenger in the nearest village, or he may leave him on the highway.
You can find out the route of the collective by the end point written on the plate placed under the glass. Routes vary from city to city – it is better to check the information with the locals. Things change very quickly in the Caribbean.
The Kamien is a covered truck with two or four benches. It runs between towns like a shuttle bus. The camiones in the cities depart from bus stations called Estacion de guaguas y camiones. The camiones, like the collectivos, do not have a fixed schedule. They leave when there are more passengers.
The cost of a camien fare is many times lower than a tourist bus. For example, I got from Cienfuegos to Trinidad for 25 CUP. I paid for saving money with time: 71 kilometers traveled for 7 hours.
There are not enough seats for everyone in the kamien, so you have to ride squeezed among the passengers for several hours. It felt like there were about forty people in the Kamien. I was lucky: I sat on a bench the whole way, while others rode standing up. I remembered the ride for a long time. It was stuffy and dusty outside, and the car was stopped several times by the police to check documents. And then the driver simply turned off the road into the nearest village to have a snack at a friend’s house.
Buses are a popular way to travel around the country. Foreigners can only travel on Viazul buses. These are large comfortable air-conditioned buses.
I took the Viazul bus from Trinidad to Havana. The trip took about 7 hours, and on the way we stopped for 20 minutes. The fare cost $25. It costs $10 to get a bus from Havana to Varadero airport, $20 to Cienfuegos, and $51 to Santiago de Cuba.
Cuba also has intercity buses for locals. To buy a ticket, you must show a Cuban residence permit or passport of a citizen of the country at the ticket office. The fare on these buses is half the price of a Viazula and about the same as a Camillus fare. My friend and I tried to take a bus for locals in Cienfuegos, but they wouldn’t let us on – they asked us to go to the Viazula stop.
Cab. For those traveling in a large group, it is advantageous to take a cab. If you divide the cost of travel from one city to another by 3-4 people, it is cheaper than by bus. The cost largely depends on the ability to bargain: there is no official fare, only for airport trips there are fixed rates.
When the camien dropped me and my friend off 15 km from Santa Clara, we caught a cab. The driver offered to take us for 20 CUC, but we bargained for 7 CUC.
Cuba also has tourist cabs that take tourists around the central part of major cities. Prices vary from a few CUC for a ride in a bicycle rickshaw in the central part to 20-40 CUC for a ride in a state cab.
Rent a car
You can rent a car in Cuba for 60 CUC per day. To do this, you must present an international driver’s license, passport and pay the rental price and deposit fee. On average it ranges from 150 to 300 CUC.
Gasoline costs about 1 CUC per liter. The quality of the main road A1 (Autopista Nacional) is very good. On secondary roads you should be very careful: there are often no markings or signs.
All license plates in Cuba are multicolored. Blue license plates are for government cars, yellow for private cars, and cars with red license plates are driven by tourists. As a rule, the police do not pick up on minor violations by foreign drivers.
Food
Cuban cuisine is simple and hearty. Locals eat legumes, rice, chicken, pork, vegetables and white bread. After Mexican cuisine, I was not very impressed with Cuban cuisine. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we mostly ate street food.
Street food in Cuba is hamburgers and pizza for 0.25 CUC. Everything is very budget and hearty. On average, it took 5 CUC a day to eat. In the morning I smeared delicious and ripe avocados on toast like butter. For two large avocados I gave 0.5 CUS. During the day I snacked on pizza and sandwiches, and for dinner I ate delicious freshly baked buns from the bakeries.
Stores. Cuba has stores for locals and foreigners.
The stores for locals have half empty shelves, lots of people and prices in pesos. Mostly they sell rice, flour, eggs, milk, meat and cookies. The selection is limited, but you can buy everything you need.
The stores are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Sunday
The stores for foreigners have imported food and expensive brands of alcohol, cigars, juices, canned goods. There are considerably fewer people there and the prices are in cukes.
The cost of groceries varies from city to city. Here are approximate prices in local stores and markets:
- cheese, 0.5 kg – 1.5 CUC;
- sausages, 0.5 kg – 1-1.4 CUC;
- avocado, 1 kg – 0.7-1 CUC;
- cucumbers, 1 kg – 0.6-0.7 CUC;
- tomatoes, 1 kg – 0.5-0.7 CUC;
- pineapple, 1 pc. – 0.5 CUC;
- mango, 1 kg – 0.5 CUC;
- loaf – 0.4 CUC;
- ice cream – 0.35 CUC;
- pasta, 1 pack – 0.3 CUC;
- corn flour, 1 kg – 0.2-0.45 CUC.
Cafes and restaurants. The average check for a light dinner without alcohol in a cafe or restaurant is 5-7 CUS, with alcohol – 10-15 CUS. A dinner with lobster and beer will cost 15 CUC.
In Cuba, dishes are prepared from cornmeal, beans, rice and platanos – vegetable bananas that taste like potatoes. These dishes can be ordered in any cafe. They are inexpensive: 0.6-1.5 CUC per serving.
Locals recommend trying the lobsters. They are boiled, grilled or topped with sauce. On the beach they are sold for 1.5-3 CUC per piece, in the restaurant – from 3-5 CUC. Creole ajiaco, a pork stew with vegetables and lots of spices, is also praised. In a cafe a portion costs about 7-8 CUC. Lobster dishes are sold for 10-15 CUS. There is also exotic – crocodile meat served with vegetables. The cost of a portion is about 15 CUC. You can try it in hotel restaurants or tourist cafes.
The ice cream in Old Havana is very tasty and costs 0.25-0.3 CUC.
Alcohol. From cocktails we tried libre, daiquiri and mojito. The price is about 2 CUC per glass. In my experience all bars serve great cocktails.
Travelers recommend two places in Havana: El Floridita and La Bodeguita. “El Floridita is one of the most famous bars in the world, where Ernest Hemingway came. The daiquiri cocktail was invented there, which now sells for 6 CUC per glass. La Bodeguita serves the best mojito in Havana for 5 CUC. Both bars are open from 11:00 to 00:00.
Internet
One of the problems in Cuba is the internet. It is very slow and expensive. If you find a connection, it is not a fact that you will be able to load a page. It took me 4 minutes to open my mailbox. My friend tried to connect to the internet in Cienfuegos, but in half an hour he was unable to access any web page.
You can access the internet with the local provider ETECSA. To do this, you need to buy a Nauta internet card at an ETECSA office or hotel. In 2019, an hour of internet use costs 1 CUC and 5 hours costs 10 CUC.
Some hotels and casa particularia offer Nauta cards with free internet for 30 minutes. Other hotels offer to buy cards, others will not have internet.
An hour of computer use at the hotel’s internet cafe costs about 4 CUC. The cost of using the internet in the cafe depends on the owner. Usually they ask for a couple of CUC for 15-30 minutes. If the owner likes you, he will let you use the internet for free.
In Cuba, I needed the internet once, when I had to check in for a flight from Havana to Cancun. To save time, I went to the internet center of the National Hotel: according to reviews, it has the most reliable internet connection. I was charged 2 CUC for 10 minutes and a ticket printout.
Souvenirs
Tourists bring rum and cigars from Cuba. Rum can be bought in duty-free or local stores. The cost is approximately the same – 8-25 CUC per bottle, depending on the brand and ageing. You can take out only 2 liters of rum per person.
It is better to buy cigars at the factory or in tobacco stores. There they are stored in special cabinets where the right humidity and temperature are maintained. In stores cigars are more expensive than on the street, but the quality is higher. A cigar on the street costs 1-4 CUC, and in the store – from 8 to 15 CUC. Outside of Cuba one cigar will cost 50-80$.
The most popular brands are Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta. A Montecristo No. 2 cigar costs 10 CUC. The average price of a box of 25 cigars is 150-200 CUC. If you buy more than 23 cigars, the seller must package them and put a special hologram. As a rule, all official sellers at factories and specialized stores have it.
Memorize
- The official language in Cuba is Spanish. English is spoken in hotels, casas and tourist areas.
- Cuba officially has two national currencies: the Cuban peso and the Cuban convertible peso (cuc). Cucas are paid in tourist places: hotels, museums and buses for foreigners. Prices in Cuban pesos are shown in local stores, pharmacies and post offices. They are also used to pay in local transportation.
- You can book accommodation on the spot. If there is no room in the house you like, you will not be left without an apartment: every owner has relatives, friends or neighbors who rent out accommodation.
- The cheapest way to travel is by collectivo and kamien – covered trucks that travel like shuttle buses.
- It is better to buy cigars in specialized stores or factories, rum – in local stores or duty-free.
