Getting Started

   WHEN TO GO
   COSTS & MONEY
   TRAVELING RESPONSIBLY
   TRAVEL LITERATURE
   INTERNET RESOURCES


Cuba is a unique country with many distinct characteristics. Travel here not only requires a passport, money and a good sturdy rucksack; it also requires flexibility, creativity, good humor, patience and a healthy sense of adventure. Speaking Spanish, though not a prerequisite, is undoubtedly a huge advantage, and will allow you to travel further and dig deeper than the average tourist.

Linguistic dexterity aside, Cuba remains an easy country to travel in and there are few barriers stopping you from wandering around pretty much how and as you choose. A slight loosening of the screws since Raúl Castro took office in February 2008 has allowed Cubans access to cell phones and entry into tourist hotels, meaning interaction with the locals is now simpler and often surprisingly candid.

Legislation under the Bush administration tightened the rules governing travel of US citizens to Cuba, though early signs from the Obama camp suggest many (if not all) of these limitations could soon be lifted. The thaw began in April 2009 when President Obama signed a law permitting unlimited travel to the island for Cuban-American families visiting relatives; they had previously been restricted to one visit every three years. For more information on legal travel to the island check out the Center for Cuban Studies’ website at www.cubaupdate.org. For additional advice see the boxed text.

WHEN TO GO

The best time to go to Cuba is between December and April, after the lashing rains of the hurricane season and before the hot and sticky discomfort of the scorching summer months. The downside is that during this period – the high season or temporada alta as it is called in Cuba – accommodation prices are hiked up by about 20% (Click here). You’ll also find the country a little more crowded at this time, particularly in the resort areas, although, off the beaten track, it is unlikely that you will ever have trouble finding a room in a casa particular.

See Climate Charts for more information.

Weather aside, Cuba has few other hurdles for visitors. Culture vultures should keep a close eye on the annual arts calendar Click here for festivals and other events; baseball fans will certainly not want to miss the postseason, which runs from April to May; and political junkies may want to catch important days in the socialist calendar, particularly Labor Day (May 1) and Day of the National Rebellion (July 26).

Return to beginning of chapter

COSTS & MONEY

For seasoned budget travelers Cuba can be a bit of a financial shock. There’s no network of dirt-cheap backpacker hostels here and not a lot of bargaining potential. In fact, compared with, say, Guatemala or Peru, you could feel yourself staring at a veritable financial conundrum with little or no room to maneuver. Furthermore, there is a tendency in Cuba to herd all foreign visitors around in one state-controlled tourist sector. Follow this well-trodden path of organized excursions and prepackaged cultural ‘experiences’ at your peril. The costs will soon add up.

With a little guile and a certain amount of resilience, however, it needn’t all be overpriced hotel rooms and wallet-whacking credit-card bills. Underneath the surface (and contrary to what a lot of tour reps will tell you), Cuba has a whole guidebook’s worth of cheaper alternatives. On the accommodation front, the vibrant casa particular scene can cut costs by more than half, while do-it-yourself grocery purchasing and an ability to muck in with the resourceful locals on trucks, buses, trains and bicycles can give you access to a whole new world of interesting food and transport opportunities.

For those more interested in service and comfort, prices are equally variable, from CUC$50 per person at Varadero’s cheapest all-inclusive to CUC$200 per person at a swanky Playa Esmeralda resort. If you’re interested in getting away to the beach, prearranged air and hotel packages from Canada and Europe can be absurdly affordable (less than US$500 for a week in Varadero from Toronto) and seasoned Cuba travelers often take these deals because it works out cheaper than just the airfare alone. Most resorts and hotels offer big discounts for children under 12 years of age; it’s worth asking about. Children also travel half-price on Víazul buses, and many museums and attractions offer a 50% discount for kids. See the Transport chapter for further information on travel agencies Click here who can arrange travel and tours to Cuba.

As with most islands, Cuba struggles with food supply and prices reflect this – especially if you crave something imported such as canned corn or nuts. Paladares and casas particulares usually offer good value, with monstrous meal portions (no rationing here), including a pork chop, rice and beans, salad and french fries, costing around CUC$8. Add a couple of beers, dessert and a tip and you’re looking at CUC$12 (or more). Drinking is considerably more affordable than eating, with a strong mojito costing CUC$2 (in a non-Hemingway-esque bar) and a fresh juice or beer CUC$1.

For tourists to Cuba there are many transport options and as many prices to go with them. From Havana to Santiago de Cuba, for example (a trip of 861km), you will pay around CUC$114 to fly one-way with Cubana, from CUC$50 to CUC$62 to take the train and approximately CUC$52 to do the journey on a Víazul bus. Rental cars are expensive – bank on CUC$70 a day for a small Fiat to CUC$220 a day for a convertible Audi.

HOW MUCH?

Room in a casa particular CUC$15-35


Museum entrance CUC$1-5


Cross-island train ticket CUC$62


Bike rental per day CUC$3-5


Internet use per hour CUC$6


See also Lonely Planet index, inside front cover.

There is, of course, the double economy, whereby Convertibles and Cuban pesos circulate simultaneously. In theory, tourists are only supposed to use Convertibles, but in practice, there is nothing to stop you walking into a Cadeca (change booth) and swapping your Convertibles into moneda nacional (Cuban pesos). With an exchange rate of 24 pesos per Convertible, there are fantastic saving opportunities with pesos if you’re willing to sacrifice a little (or a lot!) in quality, service and/or comfort. For example, a pizza in a fast-food joint costs CUC$1, but street pizzas cost seven pesos (less than CUC$0.25). Pesos are also useful for urban transport and some cultural activities (such as movies), but almost everything else is sold to foreigners only in Convertibles: the symphony or theater, interprovincial transport and taxis are but a few examples where Cubans will pay in pesos, but you won’t.

Before you become indignant about the marked price differential, remember that the double economy cuts both ways: while Cubans may sometimes pay less for the same services as foreigners, they also have to stand in line, frequent ration shops and stay in the kind of fly-blown substandard hotels that most foreigners wouldn’t poke a stick at. Furthermore, Cubans (who earn between 200 and 400 pesos – or CUC$8 and CUC$15 – a month) have to survive in an entirely different economy from outsiders; a financial minefield where access to valuable Convertibles is a daily crapshoot between tips, personal guile and who you know.

Since April 2009 Cuban-Americans traveling legally to Cuba in order to visit relatives have faced no financial restrictions (they were limited to spending US$50 per day under the Bush administration).

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…

You’ll quickly find that basic commodities such as toothpaste, toilet paper and soap are widely available in Cuba. However, condoms, aspirin, dental floss, sunscreen, insect repellant, contact-lens solution, moisturizing lotion and reading material in any language besides Spanish definitely aren’t.

Clothing-wise come prepared. Aside from the ubiquitous Che Guevara T-shirts, fashionable beach wear is overpriced or low quality. You might also want to bring your own snorkel gear. A flashlight will be handy during occasional blackouts. An alarm clock for predawn bus departures, a universal plug for sinks and tubs and a little washing powder are all useful. People staying in campismos will need a sheet as linen isn’t always provided.

Aside from a scant supply of biscuits and soggy sandwiches, take-out fare is hard to find. Gatorade powder, granola and protein bars, nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter and trail mix provide energy and a break from the vicious pizza/ice-cream/fried-chicken cycle of appetizers. See the boxed text,, for more food advice.

Money-wise, your best bet is to bring cash, preferably in Canadian dollars, euros or pound sterling (avoid US dollars as the cost of changing them into Convertibles is a lot higher). A credit card will provide a good emergency backup and traveler’s checks from non-American banks are usually acceptable. Unfortunately, few (if any) foreign debit cards will work in Cuban ATMs. For more information see the Directory, Click here.

Return to beginning of chapter

TRAVELING RESPONSIBLY

Cubans are pretty forward-thinking when it comes to the environment. What in the West would be viewed as conscientious eco-practices, are often everyday necessities here (general recycling, public transport, locally grown produce), meaning finding excuses to ‘go green’ are easy. While hiring a car might make life simpler in some areas, getting a bus or train will lower your footprint and often be more fun. Many of Cuba’s newer Chinese-made buses have lower emissions and are far cleaner that the fume-belching monsters of yore.

Staying in casas particulares is a great way to taste the local food, and you can be sure that everything your casa owner cooks will have been produced or reared locally, probably within a few kilometers of your plate. The resort hotels are a different matter, and the exotic out-of-season fruit and vegetables that you enjoy at your fantastic dinnertime buffet will have undoubtedly been flown in from Europe or North America.

Real eco-resorts are in their infancy in Cuba, the two main exceptions being Hotel Moka in Las Terrazas and El Saltón Click here in Santiago de Cuba. Many of the newer places in Cayo Coco and Guardalavaca, however, have been built with respect for the local environment and incorporate some sustainable practices.

Undertaking visits to national parks and Unesco Biosphere Reserves is a great way to learn and understand about Cuba’s environmental practices and share the passion of its forward-thinking people. For more details Click here.

Return to beginning of chapter

TRAVEL LITERATURE

Zoë Bran’s Enduring Cuba (2002), an illuminating and beautifully written book, conveys the daily shortages, slowdowns and lucha (struggle) of the Cuban reality with a keen eye for detail. Isadora Tatlin’s Cuba Diaries (2002) takes an equally eye-opening look at a similarly thought-provoking and contradictory subject.

Even better on the travelogue scene is Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee Travels through Castro’s Cuba (1992), by Tom Miller, a rich feast of Cuban lore gleaned during eight months of perceptive travel in Cuba. It may be the best travel book about Cuba ever written. Christopher Baker provides a slightly different take on the período especial (Special Period; Cuba’s new economic reality post-1991) in Mi Moto Fidel (2001), a book inspired by a cross-island motorcycling odyssey undertaken during the mid-1990s.

TOP PICKS

CUBA ON THE CHEAP

While ostensibly expensive, Cuba’s dual economy ensures that cheaper treats are hiding just beneath the radar – and they’re usually more sustainable options too. If you’re armed with guile, patience and an open-minded sense of adventure, the following only-in-Cuba innovations are yours for the taking. Check out the Directory for more information.

FAMOUS NON-CUBAN ‘CUBANS’

Relocating to Cuba was an important career move for many of history’s famous expats. Make a note of the following names and look out for their colorful legacies as you troll your way around the country (and through this book). See also History and Culture chapters.

SEMINAL CUBAN MOVIES

They haven’t won any Oscars (yet), but cutting-edge cinematic creativity has kept Cuban movies at the forefront of Latin American culture for decades. For more details Click here.

Reminiscent of the uncompromising, in-your-face style of Irvine Welsh or Charles Bukowski, Pedro Juan Gutierrez Dirty Havana Trilogy (2000) is a fascinating, if sometimes disturbing insider look at life in Havana during the dark days of the Special Period. Carlos Eire’s Waiting for Snow in Havana (2003), meanwhile, is a nostalgic account of boyhood during the tumultuous days of the Cuban Revolution.

In the literary field, classics include Hemingway’s Nobel Prize–winning Old Man and the Sea (1952), and his less-heralded but equally compelling Islands in the Stream (1970). Graham Greene captures the prerevolutionary essence of Havana in Our Man in Havana (1958), while Elmore Leonard documents the events surrounding the explosion of the battleship USS Maine and the Cuban-Spanish-American War with thrill-a-minute panache in Cuba Libre (2000).

Biographies of Che Guevara abound, although there’s no contest when it comes to size, quality and enduring literary legacy. Jon Lee Anderson’s Che Guevara: a Revolutionary Life (1997) is one of the most groundbreaking biographies ever written, and during the research for the book Mr Anderson initiated the process by which Guevara’s remains were found and dug up in Bolivia before being returned to Cuba in 1997. Unauthorized biographies of Castro are equally authoritative: try Volker Skierka’s Fidel Castro: a Biography (2000) or Tad Szulc’s exhaustive Fidel: A Critical Portrait (1986). By far the best to date is My Life: Fidel Castro (2006), a spoken-word testimony catalogued by Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet who spent more than 100 hours interviewing the Cuban leader between 2003 and 2005. It provides a fascinating insight into Castro’s life in his own (many) words.

Return to beginning of chapter

INTERNET RESOURCES


Return to beginning of chapter