Thinking of going to Cuba

Scam

Scam

Scam

Soldato
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I have searched and read a few older threads, but I was wondering if anyone had any up-to-date information and thoughts.

The girlfriend and I are thinking of going for our summer holiday. Currently looking at June although it seems we might need to mind the weather at particular times..

We're not beach people and have little interest in going all that way to sit in a sterile resort, although some relaxing time would be nice. So we'd be looking at going to Havana, Trinidad if possible and then maybe a few days at the end to chill. Firstly, obvious question. Is it safe? We're fairly well-travelled and can get rid of the odd street-hustler but at the end of the day we're there for a holiday and don't want to feel like we're ripe for a mugging because of our British accent!

Anyone been? What's the food like? Any suggestions greatly appreciated :)
 
This was mailed to me by my sister for a friend who went last year. Might be of use to you?

HAVANA
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All of it is amazing especially the old town but beware of scammers! Don't let anybody take you into a bar to 'buy you a drink' and don't give anybody 'milk money' for their 'babies'.
Have a drink on the roof terrace of Hotel Ambos Mundos on Obispo at sunset. Walk along the Malecon. Take a ride in an old Cadillac - bit touristy but very awesome!

If you like beaches the ones East of Havana are meant to be nice. If you like amazing beaches & resort hotels, go to Varadero. I didn't go though.

VINALES
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Lovely natural landscape west of Havana with 'mogotes' rising out of the valley

BARACOA
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All the way to the east of the island, the nicest most chilled out place in the whole of Cuba. People are friendly and the food is good. The food outside of Havana is mostly terrible - you have been warned!

My other favourite places were:

CIENFUEGOS - lovely town on south coast with good diving/snorkelling nearby
TRINIDAD - unesco world heritage listed spanish colonial town. Full of tourists but very pretty. Also good diving/snorkelling at the pretty beaches south of Trinidad.

All the beaches on the north coast are insanely pretty. I went to Guardalavaca where you can use the 5-star resort hotel beach for free (with amazing snorkelling!) but anywhere on the north coast is beautiful. I heard Cayo Coco/Romano are nice.

OTHER TIPS
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There are 2 currencies in cuba, one for tourists and one for the locals. Change some of your Convertible Pesos into Nacional Pesos & you can buy cheaper food etc.

The food is not very good outside of Havana, Baracoa & the resort hotels, unless you like fried/grilled chicken/pork, rice, beans & plantain. You will eat this every day :)

Travelling across Cuba is easy. Plenty of buses & I also flew with their local airline which was fine too. If you use taxis bargain for prices with them.
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unless you like fried/grilled chicken/pork, rice, beans & plantain.
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Isn't that standard central american/Caribbean fare? I know that's pretty much all I ate when going to that area.:p
 
Cuba is probably the safest country on the American continent, after Canada. Violence in that country is at a level that makes certain parts of New York look like Syria. You will NOT be mugged in Cuba.

Lots of areas have been frozen in time for ~50 years, from cars to architecture, which is great if you are into history. The food's decent, certainly better than English food and the pristine sceneries are amazing.

Tourists are respected, you won't meet vultures who attempt to rip you off.

Don't waste time thinking about it, just go, you won't regret it. Oh and if your trip is next month, you may run into Obama over there. ;)
 
Going soon, this being our 4th time.

It's very safe, the food is great mostly, can be a bit samey with the rice,fish,plantain but if you go to the best restaurants you will be amazed.

Havana has some excellent paladars (self owned and run restaurants) ,one of the best is San Cristobal, you need to book like most of the popular paladars.

Trinidad is great but I think 2 nights there is enough as it's quite small and not much going on.

Word of warning, make sure you have a bottle of water with you when you arrive at the airport, it can take an age getting through immigration control and it's superhot with no AC.


Shame it's changing, personally feels like it's getting busier everytime I go and more hotels being built, and with US relations improving and restrictions being lifted things will change I guess, for the best I would think, but still.
 
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I have been twice, both times I have stayed near guardalavaca which is near holguin.

The food has been quite samey whilst I've been there but this should improve with the embargo being lifted, try their cola, its awesome though! think its called tuka cola.

Where we stayed it was right near a dolphinarium where we paid less than £100 to spend the night at the dolphinarium which included two private sessions with the dolphin, private lodge accommodation and an open bar, dinner and breakfast, was a magical experience to hear the dolphins snoring whilst having your drinks!

the airport is horrible, the toilets there even more so, the airplane toilets are preferable!

Taxis are/were incredibly cheap, twice we hired taxis for a full day and it cost less than £70, very inexpensive private tour guides!

It is a fantastic country with a lot of culture, I just hope america doesn't ruin it, hope you enjoy your holiday!
 
kaelyn said:
I have been twice, both times I have stayed near guardalavaca which is near holguin.

Where we stayed it was right near a dolphinarium where we paid less than £100 to spend the night at the dolphinarium which included two private sessions with the dolphin, private lodge accommodation and an open bar, dinner and breakfast, was a magical experience to hear the dolphins snoring whilst having your drinks!
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Did you play fetch with the dolphins too :D ? I've stayed at the Dolphin place overnight as well, been there twice now. Funnily the guy who was the bar man first time I went in 2012 is now a dolphin trainer, he remembered both my wife and I when we went in Jan this year. We had our two kids with us this time, which he was really pleased to see as we were trying for our 2nd the first time we met him.
That place is just an amazing experience though, I love the way they just leave you at night to fend for yourself with a load of drink from the bar :D As we stayed overnight they let our 2 year old go in the water with the dolphins too since it's a private session.

Cuba overall though is a brilliant place to go from a beach type holiday to a cultural experience, the people are lovely too, you feel safe when you go out and about and don't get hassled by anyone and if you do they take no for an answer.

Definitely go before the Americans get in there, at the moment you just have to worry about Canadians who are very friendly.

If you're feeling brave Scam you could travel around by staying in various Casa's which are basically people's houses.
 
Go, for one fact alone. You can buy a bottle of Havanah Club 20yr for about £3.50
I hate the fact I can't just drink Cuba Libre's all day everyday.
The rest was ok I suppose. :D
 
Sold on the rum! :D

Well, one if the reasons we were thinking Cuba is actually I've been doing a bit if travelling with work and have a ton of Virgin air miles I could use. But it seems quite hard to make that work (that's for another thread). Did those who've been travel with a package/tour operator or do it all yourself? I don't think we're brave enough for the casas, how expensive are the hotels? :)
 
I did a package holiday but the the most expensive bit is definitely the flights, it cost us £3000 total, 2 weeks for 4 of us at a 4 star all inclusive in Guardalavaca with Thomas Cook (only airline that seems to fly direct to Holguin from the UK, there's many more options for the Havana side).
 
Have a watch of this from an American point of view, some good tips in it.


Usual fare - don't drink the water, don't accept invites to bars for drinks (you'll end up paying) and do sort out the correct currency before you arrive.

I have to say, not my kind of holiday but hope you have a great time :).
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
Did you play fetch with the dolphins too :D ? I've stayed at the Dolphin place overnight as well, been there twice now. Funnily the guy who was the bar man first time I went in 2012 is now a dolphin trainer, he remembered both my wife and I when we went in Jan this year. We had our two kids with us this time, which he was really pleased to see as we were trying for our 2nd the first time we met him.
That place is just an amazing experience though, I love the way they just leave you at night to fend for yourself with a load of drink from the bar :D As we stayed overnight they let our 2 year old go in the water with the dolphins too since it's a private session.


If you're feeling brave Scam you could travel around by staying in various Casa's which are basically people's houses.
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Yes I did in the morning! was the trainer you're talking about the lovely tanned skinny man? We have actually been to the dolphinarium twice but only stayed there the second time after hearing about the option online.

This is a picture I got of the cabin there:

2V29J8b.jpg.png


Cuba is incredibly friendly, we used one of the pony taxis to take us to guardalavaca one day then used him again to take us into the more "real" Cuba just up under the mountains which was amazing
, local farmers offering us fruit to try with no expectation of compensation (although of course we gave them some, 50p to us means a lot to them!) proper green coconuts taste amazing and the flesh is so different to ours! The pony driver said if we go again we will have to go to his house for dinner :P

We did go to Holguin but it wasn't that exciting, was a bit too busy on the day we went, the view from the top of the hill was amazing though!
 
My girlfriend can't swim, so the dolphins is out of the question to be honest :p

So, tell me about the cash. Is it worth taking dollars to exchange? Or just rock up with GBP and change that into CUC? :confused:
 
go before its ruined by big tourism and cruise ships

the fishing is out of this world..as a fly fisherman its was a dream to fish the flats for bonefish

I dread to think what will happen when all the Yanks turn up in numbers, it will certainly lose its charm in the future
 
Yep, exactly the reason why we should go this year. Thinking of June but apparently it's the start of the wet season. Some sites imply most people would avoid going at all during the wet season, whilst others say the 'wet season' just means it might rain 2 days out of a fortnight!? :confused:
 
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