CUBA

This isn’t a normal Cuba guidebook write-up. If you want to know where to sightsee, Google “things to do in Cuba”. My list is at the bottom, but first I’ll tell you some do’s and don'ts.

Traveling there:

It’s really easy to get to Cuba now! You don’t need a special tour or to worry about booking your trip through a company or group. As of November 21st, 2016 all you need to do is book your flight and choose one of the 12 sanctions - I chose journalism, but they never check and there’s no follow up or anything so it doesn’t really matter what you choose.. I booked my flight with JetBlue and they took care of everything. The ticket price included the mandatory travel insurance that Cuba requires, as well as most other fees for coming and going from the US. The only additional fee you have to pay is a $50 visa that they seamlessly take care of when you arrive at the airport for your flight.

Food:

Do not come to Cuba for the food. Everything you know about Cuban food in America is not the case there (except for all the ham). Not only is good Cuban food hard to find, but sometimes any food you want is hard to find. It is common for restaurants to be completely sold out of many items on the menu by about 4pm. Most meat dishes are made with pork, so if you want beef you need to ask for beef. Breakfasts options are limited - you will eat eggs, toast, and fruit every day. On the plus side, lobster is inexpensive! We really enjoyed our meal at Biky Restaurante in Havana – there’s long line to get in, but it’s worth the wait (or do what we did and have Yeilia get your name on the VIP list).

Shopping:

Don’t go to Cuba for shopping! There are souvenir shops around, but they’re mostly selling the same thing over and over - little wooden cars, magic boxes, magnets, and other small handmade items. There is a central market called San Jose, near the cruise ship piers. It’s big and they sell stuff, but again mostly all the same items at each shop.

Money:

Credit cards, especially American, don’t work. Cash is king and it’s all you will use. There are two currencies in Cuba, convertible (CUC – sometimes called ‘kook’) and National (CUP aka ‘koop’). It’s super hard to get National, but you may be able to get it as change. The exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1 CUC = 25 CUP, so don’t be alarmed if a local food place charges $25 for a hamburguesa – they list their prices in CUP.

Convert your American money to Euros before coming to Cuba because the exchange is much better. American currency is charged the normal 3% conversion tax, plus an additional 10% fee, so you’re paying 13% on every dollar you exchange. If you use Euros it’s only 3% and you can probably get them from your bank in the States for free. Figure about $100/day per person. Convert your money at the airport when you land – there may be a long line but they’re long at all the Casa de Cambia (Cadeca) and it’s easiest just to get this out of the way. Get small bills whenever you can! Many places can’t make change for even a 20.

Transportation:

You will see the notorious old American cars driving around, as well as new European cars and everything in between. Pretty much anyone is a taxi in Havana and the price is always negotiable! You’ll pay more for nicer cars. Paying around $10 to get anywhere is normal. It costs $25 or $30 to get from the airport to downtown Havana. I tried to ride around in the cool old cars as much as possible, but take any car that stops for you.

There are old American cars everywhere! Some look nicer than others but they are all over the place, and the outside doesn’t always match the inside. Take photos - they won’t mind! They’re proud of their cars and want to show them off. The especially nice ones do city tours - for $50 they will drive your group all around the city for an hour showing you sights along the way.

Safety:

Cuba is very safe! It’s literary the safest country I’ve ever been to. I never felt nervous to walk down empty streets at night, and neither did any of the girls I was with. Or get into a stranger’s car. Nobody is going to try to harm you. It’s so safe it’s almost weird.

Everyone is nice and helpful! Pretty much anyone will help you and be friendly. If you need anything, they will make it happen for you. It’s very refreshing how helpful and kind every single person is.

Internet:

There is no internet. You won’t find restaurants with free wifi or hotel lobbies or anything. Quickly get over the fact that you won’t have internet access. There are a few street corners where you’ll see like 30 people standing with phones and laptops paying by the hour to get online. If you absolutely must get online, the best place to go is the Hotel National. (It’s cool to see this place anyway) They charge 7 CUC for an hour and you type in a code and can go online while you sit in the AC. It’s nice but the wifi will drop every few minutes and it will get annoying. You should really only bother trying to get on wifi if you have no self-control and must get online!

Lodging:

You should get an AirBnB. There are plenty of “fancy” hotels that you can book but it’s way more fun to stay in an authentic Cuban home. The hosts are amazing and kind and will bend over backwards to make your stay great. You can find rooms for $20-$30 per night on either AirBnB or Hostelworld – make sure you have the address and your host knows when you’ll be arriving, since you won’t be able to get in touch with them when you land.

Sightseeing:

Havana is fun, but you don’t need to spend more then 2 or 3 days there. The sightseeing list looks extensive but you can see pretty much everything in that time. Go on day and overnight trips to other parts of Cuba also!

There’s a bunch of stuff to see on the lighthouse side of the water. Go under their famous tunnel (they love this tunnel and every cab driver will get excited about it, but if you’re from NYC, we have 4 of them and it’s nothing more special than the Holland or Lincoln tunnel). On that side of the water is the fort with the lighthouse, another cool fort where they do a ceremonial cannon shoot every night at 9pm (get there by 8:15 for a good spot), and more stuff if you get the taxi to drive you around. Tell him to bring you to the big Jesus statue and you can walk to the Che museum and Missile Crisis Museum in the same area.

Out of town:

Go to Viñales. It’s a 2 ½ hour drive from Havana. You can take taxi one way with 4 friends for $25 each. It’s a nice drive. Get a fun car for the trip and see if the driver will show you around when you arrive.

Stay here in Viñales:

Rafael is awesome and speaks perfect English. He has hookups everywhere. Even with the government. He can book you literally any kind of trip or excursion you want. He has one guest house, which his daughter Solange runs, with 3 beds.

Viñales is where the tobacco plantations are. You will see the fields and learn how they roll cigars. You can buy a bunch of cigars cheap out here. They sell them without labels here and there are no factory chemicals in them. You’ll pay the same price for one in Havana with a label that you’ll get 20 for in Viñales.

Go horseback riding in Viñales. It’s awesome! You will go on a 4 hour horseback ride through the Viñales countryside. You will stop along the way every hour at a different spot. You’ll see more tobacco plantations, a coffee plantation, some beautiful viewpoints and a lake to swim. The best part is it only costs $25 per person.

Beaches:

Don’t go to Cuba for the beaches. They aren’t anything special. There are better countries for beaches. It’s a fun day trip but not a reason to come. We took a ‘57 impala taxi for the one hour drive to Jibacoa. It’s nice, you can go to an all-inclusive resort and go scuba diving and stuff but there’s not much else there.

Playa del Este are the beaches near Havana, about 30 minutes away. They’re nice if you can’t make it all the way to Jibacoa or Varadero.

Tips:

Carry toilet paper! The bathrooms don’t have toilet seats and most don’t have TP either. You may also have to pay a few coins to use the restroom at some places (the importance of having small bills and change!).

Take a nap if you plan to go clubbing. Cuban nightlife starts at about 1:30am so after dinner take a nap and rest up because when it’s time to go out, you’ll wait in line to get in some clubs and the live music won’t start until well after midnight.

You’ll need to meet you friends the old-fashioned way, since you won’t have phones or internet. Pick a meeting place and a time and be there.

Most people run businesses out of their homes, so check out some local places to eat, it’s literally just a person cooking you dinner in their home kitchen – these are called paladars.

It’s fun to bring gifts for locals and kids. Anything from matchbox cars to bouncy balls are perfect little gifts. The kids went crazy for a ¢25 bouncy ball. It’s a nice thing to do and requires little cost/effort and makes a difference since decent toys are hard to come by.

Bring all of the toiletries you need and leave them behind when you go – there are basically NO stores and people have a hard time accessing even basic supplies.

SIGHTSEEING:

• Old Havana (Habana Vieja)

• Plaza Vieja (popular public square)

• The Malecón (seafont boulevard)

• Castio de los Tres Reyes del Morro (also known as El Morro Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana (sits atop La Cabana hill)

• Ceremonia del Cañonazo (actors in 19th-century costumes perform a cannon-firing ceremony at 9pm each evening

• El Capitolio (National Capitol Building)

• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts)

• Paseo del Prado (beautiful street in Havana)

• Gran Teatro de La Habana (one of the world’s largest opera houses)

• Plaza de la Revolucion (Jose Marti Memorial)

• Museo de la Revolucion (must see)

• Hotel Nacional de Cuba (World Heritage Site and a National Monument)

• Central Commercial (San Jose shopping market)

• Catedral de San Cristobal (Cuban Baroque style)

• Castio de la Real Fuerza (an impressive military fortress)

• Plaza de Armas (popular public square)

• Palacio de los Capitanes (home to the Museo de la Ciudad or City Museum)

• Camera obscura (35-meter tower)

• La Bodeguita del Medio (a former Hemingway hangout)

• Museo de Comandancia del Che (with the office of Che Guevara preserved)

• Fusterlandia (small artist village on the outskirts of Havana)

• Maqueta de La Havana (with a scale model of the city) (in Miramar)

• Playas del Este (a long stretch of palm-fringed beach that runs for miles)(20 mins east of Havana)

• Finca La Vigia, San Francisco de Paula, Cuba (residence of Ernest Hemingway)

• National Botanical Garden of Cuba

Viñales

• views (hills that are rounded in shape)

• traditional tobacco plantations

• caves

• tranquil little town

• horseback riding