Cuba in Jan/Feb

travellingkitty

We are two female friends who are spending two weeks (sadly no longer) in Cuba at the end of Jan and beginning of Feb 2011. We are looking for good advice on where to go, what to see and places to stay. We are most definitely not interested in the all-inclusive resorts. Allthough we have nothing per se against beaches we don't want to lie on one for two weeks. We've heard wonderful things about Havana from everyone we know who has been and plan to spend a bit of time there at the end of our stay. Other than that the Pinar del Rio area sounds interesting (Vinales probably) and maybe we should head east towards Trinidad or Sancti Spiritus also.

Has anyone any recent experience in casas particuliers in any of these areas? Any advice on things not to miss while we are there? All advice gratefully received.
Kitty

Clarehobo

We were there in May '08.

Havana is lovely.
We stayed in hotel Caribbean for a few nights. It's a budget place so if you want something a bit nicer go for the Nacional around the corner. This is all up by the Old town where most of the tourist stuff is.

We got the Viazul bus around the country which is pretty good. Website Didn't have any issues with them - they get you where you want to go.
You can also get trains around the place. If you are going this way make sure you book a few in advance. This site has some good tips.

We didn't make it to Pinar del Rio due to time limits but everything I heard about it sounded amazing. If you are stuck for time, a tour might be easier to do.

After Havana, we stopped in Camaguey, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, La Boca(Just outside Trinidad) and Varadero.

Camaguey was a lovely old town but you only need a day there.
Holguin was a bit grotty and not really worth stopping in unless you have spare time.
Santiago was fantastic. Everything you expect of Cuba. Lots of music everywhere, lots of rum: a really good party town.
Trinidad was beautiful. Very old world. Also lots of tour buses stop there so it can get quite busy. Stop in the Iberostar hotel for a really fantastic Pina Colada - expensive but worth it!
A short taxi ride out is La Boca. It's a fishing village with a really nice beach. Good for a day of chilling.
Varadero - resort area. My least favourite place in the island really. Lots of tourists on sun holidays.

Entertainment-wise, most towns have a casa de la musica which is generally really good. There are two in Havana: one near the old town & one ages away. Go to the one in the old town if you are going to any one.

We did home stays all over the island. Some were hit, some were miss. If you are on a budget they are definitely the way to go and it is great to meet the local people in their homes. All were friendly and welcoming. When we did the initial stay, that person recommended the one in the next town and booked it for us and we continued that way for the trip: Havana and Varadero were the only places we stayed in hotels.

Food wise: again we tended to eat in people's home restaurants or the houses we stayed in would allow us to share their meal for a bit extra. We didn't have a bad meal. Plus it's good to get home cooked food sometimes;-)
We ate in the Iberostar in Trinidad and the food was what we would be used to over here. Some places are good. Some are bad. It's always a bit hit and miss with restaurants anyway...

Don't touch the Rough Guide. The Lonely planet book has more up to date listings tbh incl home stays. We had the RG and we ended up dumping it.

Money wise - keep away from the peso nacional. Get about a tenners worth at the airport for tipping (i.e. paying for public toilets), or buying ice cream from street vendors and things - they won't sell you anymore anyway because they know it's useless.
Just exchange euros for cuc at the airport or bank and withdraw money as you go along at ATMs.

WARNING: Anyone that tells you you need the peso nacional are trying to scam you.

e.g. We were there in '08. 24 Peso nacional = 1 cuc (the main currency) which was approx worth just under €1. The lady we stayed with in Varadero told us about some previous Spanish guests who had gotten scammed in Havana. They met some guy who told them the banks were closing for a national holiday and that if they wanted to exchange the money they'd have to do it that very day. He went on to tell them that he would not be charged for the exchange whereas they as tourist would be charged 25% commission so he would go to the exchange kiosk for them. They gave him €3000. He gave them back 3000 peso nacional(approx €125). They never realised the difference until they tried to spend the nacional and no one would take it.
The reason we knew she wasn't lying is that someone tried the same scam on us but we were a bit more wise to the world. The guy pretended that he worked at a major hotel in town, pumped us for info while walking with us, evidently passed on the info to a friend, friend appeared out of side street and said "Hey girls, I know you. You stay in the Carribean hotel. I work there & saw you checking in this morning.", then chatted away, started going on about this national holiday and how we should change our money, walked us to the bank/kiosk, then suggested he change it, we insisted we'd change it, lots of arguing, kiosk would only give us a tenners worth so we got wise, guy disappeared, then original guy turned up out of nowhere and was all smiles and was going to give it another go scamming us but we walked off.

eivawahu

I was in Cuba in december and jan last year on a SUPER SUPER limited budget (really not kidding about that part...). You can well get by on next to nothing but it's more difficult to find (and if you don't speak spanish it could present some issues..

First of all with money- don't change LOADS of money into peso naciones, but do change some (like 30 euro maybe) which you can do at one of the official kiosks that are well placed around Havana. You can buy all your food in this, go to the cinema, eat ice cream (you really should go to Coppelia in Havana!), buy books, get entry into local nightclubs... basically anything ordinary Cubans do. CUCs on the other hand are completely neccesary for accomodation and travel (and entry into museams). Even on Astro buses (which are the buses Cubans take for long distances) there are only 1 or 2 seats left over for foreigners and these charge you in CUC anyway.

We stayed a good bit in casas, which are generally in the homes of lovely people. Around this time of year expect to pay 25 or 30 CUC a night for a room for 2 people in a legal casa and about 15 for an illegal one. The illegal ones are not registered with the government so don't have to pay them a commission and esentially thats the only difference. It can be hard to find them but if everywhere else is full people (casa and hotel owners) will point you in the right direction.

The bus tour of Havana (yep they have those big red double deckers!) is well worth it as it takes you all around the city while the local buses are dirt cheap and far more organised than dublin bus. In particular you can get to Havana from the aiport for a much better price than a taxi (which would be about 20 CUC). Viazul coaches were very good, on time, clean etc etc and not too steep, though the train is much cheaper. Cuban trains have a 50% chance of running on any given day which can be a pain. We never actually got to take it but i've heard good things from other people. The station in Havana (La Cubre) can be packed and confusing as well as full of scam artists offering you taxi rides to everywhere. Enquire about tickets well in advance and get there early in the morning if you want to take it. Other stations are much calmer. Probably the most useful way to get around is in illegal taxis. These don't sound safe, but they really are. They'll take you anywhere for under 30 CUC but you should be fairly discreet when getting out since if the police happen to see, they'll get a fine. These drivers will be hanging around actively looking for customers at bus and train stations. Asking the family in your casa is a great way to find one, but they'll probably charge you more so i'd investigate the other options more.

We spent a week in havana and some time in trinidad, santa clara and cienfuegos. Havana is spectucular- spend most of your time there! And i would say that trinidad is a mustsee- since if you're wondering is it worth it, it is. It's gorgeaus and if you want beaches they're a few minutes down the road (but i would strongly warn you against sleeping on Playa Ancon... ) Also it has very good markets. Santa Clara is a good example of a small cuban town. It has a very vibrant community and the 2nd best university is there- so a lot of students and a lot of open air nightlife.

Another thing i really cant stress enough is to try and blend in. Girls will get a lot of attention anyway (and all of it is harmless) but the more you look local, you'll get to do so much more, meet many more people, and see many more things. Cubans are quite like the irish in the sense that everyone is open to talking to you. Theres quite a bit of craic in them as well. Spanish, though, is the only thing. Look at how cubans dress and if you try to emulate that, no one will be able to tell.

Enjoy it, cuba is the trip of a lifetime
and if you want more questions answered, ask them!

Adiboo

Definitely go to Trinidad. Beautiful town. Spent a week there.

Try to book a horseback trip through the sugar cane valleys. Amazing spot, and it leads you to a refreshing waterfall.

I personally wasn't too fond of Havana. But it does have it's nice spots too.

belleray

Hey,
I was in Cuba in August.

Started in Havana - highly recommend going out to the fort for the evening to watch the cannon being fired - great atmosphere, real show. The camera obscura was good to get a complete overview of the city. other than that just wander and enjoy - oh and the reloutionary museum is a great insight into Cuba past and present, really enjoyed that.

As the previous posted mention the Viazul bises are great, really comfortable way to travel around. We get first to Vinales which I would advise everyone to go to. It was probably the best part of the trip. Lovely small town, sights include the indian caves, the "ancient" mural (an eyesore but while there you may as well see it), horse riding, trips to Cayo Blanco - amazing island for a day trip, really easy to organise, great place to snorkel and enjoy a day on the beach. We also did a walking tour for 4 hours around the local area through farms, around a mountain and through one which had a cave system - all led by a local guide - again an amazing tour to do. Theres one main big bar and square in the centre where everyone goes, there are shows in the bar, dance music out on the square and just a great laid back atmosphere (many hours spent here and many cuba libres )

We then went to Varedaro, and again a previous poster mentioned, worst part of the trip - its just a big insulated resort, its not really cuba, I wouldn't spend the money, you could go to somewhere closer cheaper if all you want to do is laze around.

Then we went to Trinidad, well worth getting in if you can, small town, great atmosphere, great trips to the mountains.

Then we went back to Havana just before we headed home.

All in two weeks so you should be fine.
We stayed in Casa's the whole time (bar Varadero) and they were great. The ones we arranged staying with in Havana set us up with friends in Vinales who met us at the bus. Then again they arranged somewhere for us for a one night stop over back in Havana. In Trinidad we decided to go last minute so we just turned up, pick one of the many women showing pictures of their houses outside the bus station and just went home with her - turned out to be amazing, we had the whole top floor of the house, indoor dining room with fridge for us and a seperate outdoor terrace for eating.

I will say all of the best food we got was from the women of the Casa's. AMAZING food, huge quantities so tasty, really catered for my friend the vegetarian.

If you want any names or contacts for Casa's please PM me. I'd send anyone to the places we stayed. Wish I could go back

Enjoy

pawrick

I agree with everyone here especially on avoiding Varedero.

I didn't get to see much due to the weather apart from to Havana twice. Just walk around Havana to get a feel for the city. We went through lots of the typical neighborhoods, went in to a house for dinner with the family etc and we had a great time just be careful as we had some people follow us around a good bit in Havana and they didn't look like they wanted to be our friends.