About this Trip
We took this 4 day vacation with another couple (no kids) shortly after the United States eased travel restrictions for individuals traveling between the countries in 2017. If you are planning a trip to Cuba, make sure that you check the current rules and requirements as they do change often. We also focused our trip on Havana, but you could easily add a few days to do Varadero or Trinidad.
Required Documentation and Flight Information
Make sure to have a U.S. passport that’s valid at least six months after your return date and a 2-part Cuban visa. When returning to the United States from Cuba, you will be required to present the remaining half of your visa. Buy the visa online at least three days prior to trip, and it will be ready at the counter for your flight: https://cubavisaservices.com/product/sw-visa-card/.
We flew from Dallas to Havana on Southwest Airlines (we had to change planes in FLL). The cost of the flight covered the health insurance we needed for Havana. We also had to write up an itinerary that stated the purpose of our visit. No one ever asked us for this, but I was told we should do it just in case. Our declared reason was Person to Person – Support for the Cuban People/Educational.
Plan to carry on your bag and don't check unless absolutley necessary to avoid delays at arrival, and make sure to arrive at the airport at least 2.5 hours before departure.
After arrival, there was a shuttle to take us to the airport. After that, we went to Immigration Control. After Immigration, you and your carry-on baggage are scanned in an x-ray machine. The money exchange location is immediately to the right after exiting. The line might be massive if a lot of planes just landed. Be sure to at take out at least enough for taxi. A taxi ride from the airport to downtown Havana takes approximately 20-30 minutes and costs 30-35 CUC. Always agree to the fare before you accept the ride. There is no Wi-Fi at the Havana airport.
Stay
Stay at an Airbnb if you can. It is more affordable than most hotels in Cuba, it will help meet the visa requirement as you will be more likely to interact with locals, and you can pay with credit card ahead of time. Book your lodging early.
Note: Your Airbnb host will take a picture of everyone’s passport. This is required by the government. All hosts must report who is staying with them or face a 1,000 CUC fine.
We loved this AirBnb: Central Havana Full Experience near Seawall. At the time, it was owned by an American (from Grapevine TX) and he had a local property manager named Alberto who showed us around, helped us get a nice car, spent time with us at bars, got us cigars cheaply, and generally made our trip comfortable and easy. The place also had a stocked fridge of beer and water, and Alberto provided us a phone that we could use to text him if we needed anything.
Things to keep in mind
Brush up on your Spanish before you go, and don't bring any unnecessary electronics. There is no cell service or internet. To access wifi, you must buy a wifi card. The speed is slow, but manageable. Most major hotels also have wifi spots.
Print maps in advance to anything you care about seeing (unless you are taking a car). Alberto gave us a phone with a map that was OK; but mostly we were just ambling about. You won’t be able to use your phone for directions. If you do want to use your phone just to check in on social media or something, I think you can buy a card that gives you a wi-fi code – then you have to find a place with “free wi-fi” to actually use it. We never did this. We did use the phone Alberto gave us to call home twice (our stay came with 20 free min of phone time).
Things in Cuba move pretty slow. They close things often. Example, we got an old car to take us out to Hemingway's house, and it was closed. We walked a long way to see an art gallery, and it was closed. This happened several times. You have to kind of have that "oh well" mindset (but looking up hours in advance to Hemingway house probably worth it since I think we picked the worst day to go).
The Cuban people are very friendly - and we never felt unsafe. Saavy townspeople are looking for tourist money though; if you stop and look uncertain about where you might like to go for even a minute, a local will stop you and offer to take you to the "best place in town--follow me follow me, come on come on." They are taking you to an expensive tourist trap and they will want a tip for taking you. Try to avoid this.
Make reservations in advance for dinner at nice places, and make sure your reservations are confirmed. If you stay at the Airbnb we did, ask your host to make reservations for you. Then print your own maps of where the dinner places are.
Food and Drink
Try to avoid tourist traps. In general, don’t pay more than 15 CUC for single plate. We highly recommend eating breakfast/lunch from paladars, or street vendors. These places are truly just holes in the wall with little or no seating area, but they are crazy cheap and taste great They will usually offer prices in CUP (24 CUP == 1 CUC == $1 USD)
We usually had dinner at nicer sit-down restaurants. Most plates were 10 CUC (simple plates) to 20 CUC for very fancy locations. Most popular/nice restaurants require a reservation; call ahead at least one day before.
El Del Frente makes the best drinks we had in Havana - we went here twice and did not need a reservation.
A lot of people also like to go to El Floridita for daiquiris, La Bodeguita Del Medio for mojitos. (Ernest Hemmingway frequented these locations so they get kind of packed.)
What to do in Havana
The est way to visit Havana is to simply walk around Old Havana. Trip advisor has a great list of must see sites: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g147271-Activities-Havana_Ciudad_de_la_Habana_Province_Cuba.html. The Museum of the Revolution is an interesting stop – they have a very different version of events than we were taught.
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