Old, fancy cars; colored, colonial houses; salsa music on every corner; street life and moving hips; Dirty Dancing II come to life: Cuba has been my little girls´ dream ever since high school. However, knowing that the quality of Wi-Fi is basically non-existent, I never was able to combine fulfilling this dream with being a remote worker. Until now: two weeks of actual holidays. No remote working, total disconnection and emerging myself in this mysterious country, trying to understand it´s history (which locals are more than willing to talk about on a fact-based context) and it´s current situation (which locals are not willing and comfortable talking about), dancing the nights away on all kinds of rhythms, admiring all its colors: from the pink Cadillac’s in La Habana, to the colored colonial houses in Trinidad, from the blue Caribbean in Cayo Jutias to the green hills full of Palm trees and tobacco plants in Viñales. So, here some information on how to prepare for your Cuba travel.
It´s a country with a (rather weird) division between locals and tourists, making it a bit more of an expensive Latin American country to travel in, and with some things that are good to know beforehand:
So, here you go: my tips on how to prepare your Cuba travel.
Get your visa/tourist card minimum a week before you go
You need a tourist card to enter the country, and you need to get this in your country of residence (or wherever you might be at that point) beforehand. I got it in Spain from a travel agency. If I would have gone to the Cuban Embassy myself, this would have cost me the normal 22, – euro, however, I would have had to go up to Madrid. So, I applied digitally (Google search, tourist card Havana and you will get all kinds of agencies to help you with this). And 3 working days after fulfilling the application I received my tourist card in my post mail (this is literally a paper card with your details on it. You will have to show this when passing migration in Cuba). With the service of the agency, I paid 32, – euros for this.
When you have a US passport, the fee for the Tourist Card is around 100, – USD. Check your nationality and the visa requirements some weeks before you go.
Obligatory travel insurance
It is obligatory to have travel insurance when entering Cuba, though I would recommend traveling with insurance with worldwide coverage anyway (need ideas for some insurances? Check this blog).
I was never asked for proof of insurance though, but I definitely recommend it as part of how to prepare your Cuba travel.
It´s all about the money
When you start to prepare your Cuba travel, you will quickly come across information that Cuba works with two different currencies. The local currency is called Peso Cubano (CUP) and its rate is 25 CUP against one US Dollar. The tourist currency is called Peso Convertible (CUP) and is more or less 1 CUC against one US Dollar. All accommodation (either hotels, hostels or Casa Particular) can only be paid in CUC. Furthermore, taxi´s, shared taxi´s, most other transportation and the (for foreigners destined) Linea Azul buses can also only be paid in CUC. Most of the food as well.
Better said, we only used CUP when we were in Santa Clara (more about this city to come in a next blog), in Las Terrazas and in some very, very local spots in La Habana, and… to pay the 20 euro cents (3 CUP) entrance to the Bookfair which was taking place in La Habana the weekend I was there. Other than that, just count on paying with CUC for about 98% of your time, if not 100%.
American bank cards do nót work in Cuba. My Dutch Maestro debit card did work to take out cash from an ATM (they charge around 10, – for this though), but my Spanish Visa card did not work. There is no way of paying by card anywhere (other than maybe very fancy hotels and restaurants, but I have not seen anywhere I could pay with credit card). This means you will have to have cash on you (and then store this in your hostel room. Though Cuba is the safest Latin American country I have been to, there is not a single country in the world where I would walk around with hundreds of euro´s worth of cash in my pocket. The best way is to enter with either euros or dollars (Canadian or USD) and change this at the Cadeca agencias de cambio. These are found in most of the larger cities and at the airport in the arrivals hall. However, sometimes the lines can be quite long, and especially the airport one is bound to take you at least 40 minutes (in the best case scenario).
Internet detox
Once you start to prepare your Cuba travel, you will read everywhere that there is very little internet/Wi-Fi in Cuba, making it a great destination for a phone detox, not a great place if you try to do some remote working (just don´t. There are many other countries in the world where you can do this, Cuba is not one of those). You can buy internet cards, 1 hour for 1 CUC, with a code. This code you can then use to connect to the Wi-Fi at most of the main squares of the larger cities, or sometimes the hostels/casas/hotels have a router, which you can then connect to. It´s not fast, it´s not great and it´s not reliable. We did manage to book a flight while in Cuba and make some Hostelworld reservations for our accommodations, but it was scary J
Maps.me offline maps to the rescue
We downloaded Maps.me app on our phone before leaving and made sure we had downloaded the Cuba map specifically. This offline map app gave us all the info we needed on directions, recommendations on where to eat, and it allows you to save specific places and share them later on.
Transportation
As I mentioned before, Cuba has a bus system which is specifically for foreigners (as a foreigner you are not really allowed, or at least not supposed to take the local trucks (camion). You can always try of course, though they are highly uncomfortable and might mean you have to stand up most of your journey). The tourist bus system is called Vía Azul, and they are quite comfortable buses, though the Air conditioning is per default set on -25 degrees, so bring some sweaters and long pants. You will have to get your bus tickets always the day before (except for the ride from Las Terrazas to La Habana, where we could just show up and hop in).
Another option (the one we have used most) is the Taxi Collectivo (shared taxi). You will have to confirm this the day before (most of the times your Casa particular host can help you with this) and you will get picked up in the morning (usually between 8.30 and 9 am) from your accommodation, and you will get dropped off at the door of your next accommodation. If you do not have one yet, they will definitely be able to recommend one for you, however, whether this is indeed always an objective recommendation is unclear. We tended to get a hostel or Casa Particular through Hostelworld already the day before, so we had an address to go to and avoid this hassling. Of course, you can also get a private taxi, they are quite more expensive of course.
All in all, transportation is what most of our expenses went to, but also the hardest one to really save on (more on that below).
Where to stay
The main question once you start to prepare your Cuba travel, is how it works with hotels versus homestays.
Some years ago, the only places to stay were state-owned hotels. However, families can now also rent out rooms without their own houses. These types of accommodations are called Casas Particulares, and are by far the best way to travel in Cuba. Not only do you help the locals with your stay, but it is also a way to get an insight into Cuban life, ask all your questions and they will be able to help you with local recommendations. Usually, these Casas have 2 or 3 rooms and cost around 25 CUC per room. Sometimes they include breakfast, or at least you can ask for this (usually for 4 or 5 CUC extra). During our two weeks, we only stayed at Casas, of all kinds and shapes: some of them really looked like a hostel with dorm rooms, some of them felt I was sleeping in their former kids´ room. But all of our hosts were equally nice, and we called them ´house mums and dads´.
In the blogs to come, I will give some recommendations on the Casas where we stayed and/or that we heard of from other travelers.
Where to save on
As you prepare your Cuba travel, you will want to know what to save on:
Generally speaking, Cuba is a fairly expensive country to travel in, especially due to the different currencies, transportation systems and accommodation. For 2 weeks, I spent about 750 euro (excluding the Tourist Card and the flight of course).
However, there are some ways to save some CUC as you go (and also some things I recommend to nót save on).
- Eating out
Especially in La Habana, Trinidad and Viñales there are lots of touristy and nice-looking restaurants and bars. Here you should count on minimum 12-15 CUC for a meal with a drink, which, doing this twice a day, every day for two weeks, adds up to quite some expenses. However, we quickly found that there are other ways to save on this whenever we felt like it. For example, my absolute favorite spot in La Habana was Jolly. This little place in Habana Vieja serves the Plato del Día (daily menu) for 3 CUC in which you can choose between some meat options and even (yes yes) a vegetarian meal (plato vegetariano). With some super yummy bean soup, rice, and a big pile of salad, veggies, and cole, I was a very happy vegetarian person, and this for only 3 CUC?! (or with nice guava or mango juice for another extra 0.50 CUC). After this, we made it a tradition to always ask our ´house mum or dad´ for a recommendation on where to eat some local food for very few CUC. They always had some recommendations. Honestly, as a vegetarian there are limited options in Cuba anyway, so for me going to a touristy place or a local place is all the same.
We had an incredible lunch at a local place in Santa Clara as well, SaboreArte, only locals (we could also only pay in CUP) and for a few dollars, I had a fantastic vegetarian spaghetti, a beer, and a coffee. In Viñales there is a little street with all daily menus for 3.50 CUC as well.
Of course, we did also treat ourselves a few times to a nice looking little restaurant sometimes and ´splurged´ on an 8 or 10 CUC meal, but we also really enjoyed searching for the cheaper places.
We did get breakfast at our casas for most of the days, but this would be another way to save. Most cities have a little cafeteria where you can either pay in CUC or CUP and get a sandwich with cheese and/or a little coffee for 1 or 2 CUC. Most of these places do not have chairs though, so it will be a breakfast on the go.
- Drinks
As I said before, there are the famous and touristy places (also recognizable by live music (where, in between songs, the music players will go around with their hats and you are supposed to put in a little contribution coin). These are the places where you will pay a little (or a lot) more. Our best way: decide that getting a drink at 5 pm ´because we are on vacation´ is also a very valid thing to do, and scout the Happy Hours of La Habana, Trinidad and Viñales. You will have to try a Mojito or a Daiquiri anyways, and you can get one for 1 or 2 CUC.
Another way to justify spending on drinks, is to find a place that has free Wi-Fi and use your ´we are saving 1 CUC on our internet card´ as a justification for your overly priced Mojito.
- Tours
In La Habana and Trinidad, we joined a free walking tour. This was a great way to get to know the city, get local recommendations and fire away all of our questions. Of course, it´s a nice gesture to give a little ´propina´ (tip) at the end of around 3 CUC per person (but you do not have to do this if you don´t want to of course).
From Viñales, we wanted to go to one of the Cayo´s (beaches). Some of them you can only go to with a ´tour´ (which includes transportation and lunch) and some of them you can go to using just the transportation option (public transportation does not go to these kinds of places)
What nót to save on
As you prepare your Cuba travel, you also will want to know what not to save on:
- Bottled water
Even though I tend to drink tap water wherever I go (I praise myself with having a stomach made out of iron), here, it really, really is not recommended. Not only because of the doubtful quality of the water but even more so because the pipes are só old that it really is not healthy to drink from it. However, there seems to be nothing else then 1.5-liter plastic bottles (in some places there are the state-owned water shops, you can recognize them because they dó sell 5-liter bottles, we only found one in Trinidad though). With a general price of 1.50 or 2 CUC per bottle, this water issue is not only very painful for those trying to be good to the environment, it´s also heavy on the budget.
- Transportation
As said before, transportation was our main expense during our two weeks. A Taxi Collectivo from La Habana to Trinidad was 35 CUC per person, a taxi from the airport to Habana Vieja 25 CUC (per car though, so if you find people to share this with, it goes down). The only real way to save on this (other than opting for a cycle trip around Cuba of course, or taking the chance to be allowed on the local camion transportation and dealing with the increased waiting and travel time as well as the highly uncomfortable ride) is by taking the Linea Azul buses. For example, La Habana to Viñales is between 20 and 25 CUC per person in a Taxi Collectivo and 15 CUC in the Linea Azul bus. Especially if you decide to go for a long ride (Trinidad to Santiago de Cuba, for example, which would be a 14-hour ride) it would be recommendable to take the bus, as they are a lot more comfortable for the long rides, even though they also take a bit longer (again, just really make sure to take a jacket and long pants. Aircon is a real thing in there).
So, here some info on how to prepare your Cuba travel. I will follow up with some more specific info on La Habana, Trinidad, Santa Clara, Viñales and Las Terrazas in the weeks to come.
