Cuba - do's and don'ts? Top 5 wows?

Havana...but not on a tourist bus, but get a private contractor in his classic vintage vehicle. Amazing!

Cody I agree with this 100%. Talking with a local all day about life in Cuba was the highlight of our trip and by far the most educational. I also love that we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and bought fresh local tropical fruit. We bought some fruit that was new to us and ate the best mango of my life!

Cody I did this in the 90’s and we were stopped by the police and taken to a federal prison for a few hours
what an adventure that was

watch out for chiggers- they ruined my trip

Susan what is a chigger

Duane berry bugs

Ohhh. Yikes

Learning lots lol

Duane and they have a deadly itching bite that swell up alot

Susan doesn’t sound good. This is where

Duane varadara

Day trip (at least) up to the Venales area. Beautiful scenery and karst formations!

My husband is Cuban, from Havana. I have been everywhere.
Top don'ts- act like you have money. They will flock to scam you
Dont- fall in love with a resort worker , or restaurant worker
Don't think that resort life is Cuban life. Cubans would never eat the food you get there ( but cubans are literally starving to death right now)
Do - try the airbnbs. Your host will arrange everything for you. You will have the best trip of your entire life
Do eat at restaurants that other cubans are eating at. It won't be a tourist trap, and the food will be amazing. Highly recommend Ropa Vieja
Do bring your fishing rod. You will make life long friends.
Realize that places like varadero and cayo coco are not the real cuba, and built for tourists.

Paige excellent advice for Cuba and many other countries too.

Paige Totally agree, they're starving due to a food shortage while the resorts are getting all the food.

Paige my friend married a worker at one of the resort. 9 years and 3 kids later still going strong. Prob not usually what happens. Lol

Paige I took all kinds of things to gift them. Soooo appreciate. My kids were in awe of how excited they got from a toothbrush/paste and ball caps , crayons etc from $ store

Paige Would you rent a car to be adventurous?

Shelley I did rent a car because I'm a crazy driver, with zero fear. But also my husband is Cuban. I highly DONT recommend it. People will mess with your car , cops can shake you down, it's almost impossible to find gas, you will blow a tire on the roads atleast once, and you will have to pay the car company $1000. Get a car and driver.

Paige plus, if you have an accident they won't let you leave the country until the matter is settled in the courts which can imply an extended stay measured in months.

http://www.cubanconnectiontour.com/eng/index.html# we have used them many times over the years.
CUBANCONNECTIONTOUR.COM
Cuban Connection Tour

Don'ts: Buy Cigars off a beach or some guy that says his cousin works in the factory. Purchase at an actual factory or gift shop. Beach vendors sell either knock offs or banana leaves.
Do's: Bring nail polish, makeup for your cleaning staff. Kids items for the children of the staff. Fitness magazines for gym staff.

Jonathan Pencils and small school items for the children

Cheryll feminine hygiene products

Take clothes you no longer wear. Reading glasses. Toothpaste and deodorant are really expensive there. I usually fill a suitcase with things to leave. Pencils, pens, erasers, colouring pencils crayons.

We have been to the Holguin area 3 times and loved it. Asked Cubans what they needed. Aspirin, bandaids, fishing hooks,vitamins, clothes, anything for kids, shoes.

I think they have enough nail polish, barrettes etc to fill a freight train. What they really want/need is Tylenol, Asprin, shoes - especially for children. And cash tips

As far as a Wow, when I was there eons ago i went on a day cruise from the south side of the island where I stayed to a Heritage Site island famed for its coral and lava formations. I think it was Cayo Blanco?

DONT: Our first trip we reserved a day trip to Havana in a classic car. They told us it was in an accident at the last minute and substitute a 1980’s piece of junk with a non-English speaking driver and what appeared to be his girlfriend. The whole trip was a mess and I didn’t believe a word they said. They even made us wait in the car while boyfriend picked up car parts. Don’t trust the locals to have your best interest.

Kathleen it's customary for drivers to bring their wife with them. But never heard of them stopping at other places .

Sharon Sequillion
Kathleen We also reserved A-day trip to Havana that we had arranged through the concierge at our hotel it was an absolutely fabulous day with fabulous people

Sharon - mine was from the hotel too but honestly I think our own ignorance of the culture was the issue. That was several years ago now and we haven’t been back. Perhaps it is time to visit again now that we are more experienced travellers!

We loved the all day tour from Varadero…they give you a car and explore a cool hoodoo canyon, horseback & ox ride, snorkel, give you a boat to take for a spin….girls loved it

Do Snorkel in bay of pigs.
west jet has in the past accepted one free extra baggage filled for humanitarian giving

Betty Good diving there too

Edith
#westjet currently only allowing one bag per person. they wouldn't even deliver my bag they left in Toronto and i am here for three weeks

Lano oh my. That’s why I try to book direct. However having said that. I hear they are changing peoples flights.

Are you traveling throughout the island or primarily going to be based in one community/area?

Sara hoping to venture out

Where is your starting point and how far do you want to go/how much time do you have to wander? I’ve backpacked the bulk of the island.

Sara Veredaro...considering renting a car instead of booking full day excursions

Grow a beard... everywhere I went I was stopped by Cubans telling me "I love your beard. You look like Fidel" or "I love your beard. You look like Hemmingway" or "I love your beard. You look like Che"
If you're in Havana do your best to find Don Julio resturaunt. The food was amazing and the live band was fun and interactive

I'm here now.
bring C$. you can exchange it nearly anywhere for $50 peso per dollar. only $18 at the resorts. Ask the beach lifeguards at the resorts, or any bartender. In Varadero, everyone wants hard currency not peso. In Habana though, it was easy to figure out what you're paying using the peso. Bring a peppermill and/or hot sauce.
The food is delicious.
The hop on hop off tourist bus is c$5 in Varadero or is you pay by c/c us$5. in Havana, we could only pay by c/c.
Haggle with the taxi drivers. They have change for your $20.
Get off the resort and explore.
If someone starts walking with you, they will have a family member in "insert city here".
It's likely a scam for you to follow them somewhere, or come visit this bar...
just say no lol.
Havana felt very very safe...

Lano top 5 things you have done?

Shelley
Jeep tours
Deep sea fishing
Snorkeling in bay of pigs

Shelley the eco/nature reserve. c$3 per person. bring good shoes. jet ski. c$50 for 30 min. There is a natural waterslide in a river near Matanzas that one of the locals told us about, but our beach party group failed to show up in the morning and we thought it was too expensive for just the two of us. I personally feel renting a car for the week would be excessive. Going diving/snorkeling tomorrow.

Lano would renting a car to explore be a good idea?

We are staying in veradero for 7 nights

Lano hi there, did you need to get a pcr testing before departing from the airport? Unsure if that’s a requirement. I know you need a pcr testing 72 hours before coming back in order to board. I leave next week on my trip and just wanted clarification especially with the travel advisory in place now. Thanks.

Braden i believe they lifted the travel advisory? just needed the proof of double vaccination. they scanned the qrcode and verified the name against your passport.

This post
the official trade is 1 usd to 20 cup. Anywhere on the street it's 1 usd to 45 cup. And you can not trade in your c.u.p. when leaving the country.

Paige there's 2 currencies? CUC and CUP?

Shelley there is no more cuc.

Shelley Usd$ should be 60-65 $c is 50 peso

Morgan Gamborg check this thread out for your Cuba trip

If you dive. Do the bay of pigs. It's amazing

Stayed in Havana at an air bnb and we had a fabulous time. Food was amazing, people were friendly, poor and kids love getting supplies. We didn’t go to the beach, but we could have.

Lois just wondering won’t safety and security be an issue renting air bnb I heard lot of crime. I really wanna go there

Ravneet it wasn’t an issue at all. There’s crime everywhere, just as long as you don’t put yourself there. Ours was close to eating and shopping.

Just to give you an idea as well. A bag if suckers are going for $100usd in the streets of cuba. Bring kids candy if you go. They will lose their minds. But bring enough you will be flocked by lots of kids
and the average person makes about $60 a month.

Brittany Ditchfield

Following

Do: get in touch with Not Just Tourists
http://www.njt.net/
NJT.NET
Not Just Tourists

Tanya Did you volunteer? This seems like such a good way to channel supplies to where they're needed.

Sandy Bottcher
Once you are out of the airport don’t take up the offer to have your suitcase carried to your meetup point. They basically cross the street with your suitcase and ask for a tip.
Unless you are willing to tip, and you are in Havana, don’t take a picture of the dancing ladies in the park. Even if you are taking the photo from a distance.
Do take a guided trip in Havana. There’s a lot of history there.
Jeep adventure tour was fun too (included Jeep driving, boat riding, horse back riding and a roast chicken lunch).

If you are staying on a resort. Bring your favourite seasoning, hot sauce, bbq sauce. Whatever condiments you like.
If you like excursions, I would recommend you do a water based one. The water is absolutely beautiful in Cuba!
Big yeti/bubba style cups! It’s so so hot and having a big ass cold drink on the beach is

Don’t rent a vehicle, hire a driver. Hygiene products for maids. Toys or books etc for their kids.

Bring bicycle parts. Nylons. Jeans. Caps. Swim trunks. Basic first aid items. Shoes. Candy.

Can I tip with US dollars?

Toni yes and yes! They would love that

Toni Just no coins and bills must be in good condition

Toni you can use CDN cash my friend was there a couple weeks ago. They prefer CDN cash over usd even over their peso. Hope this helps

Bonnie helps a ton! Thanks everyone!

Toni the want cdn bills as they can get more money on exchange. If you exchange cdn into pesos the government take a huge cute. My friend exchanged 70 cdn got 1200 pesos. A cab ride was 1000 pesos or 20 cdn. Just doesn't add up to exchange $

Yikes! Bonnie I wonder if I can just exchange for CUP here.

Toni there's no more CUP

If you are a diver - a package of O rings will be appreciated by the dive shop and one of those multi tools are VERY appreciated

Dennis Gawley

We stayed at casa antigua. Horacio Marta were amazing hosts with tons of tips. Go to the graveyard and the bacardi museum. Also consider taking a bus to vinyales for a couple of days. If you go to vinyales, take a boat ride through the caves. Take soaps and shampoos with you

The things suggested to bring - do you just hand them to people? Or how do you give it to them?

Donna at the resorts the staff have their hands out in expectation

DON’T look at Cuba like it’s a Mexico vacation and you won’t be disappointed. I’ve been there once and that was enough for me.

Highly recommend cubaoutings.com. Excellent English, great tours. Went to Havana and the Bay of Pigs with them in two separate years. Totally awesome. Best way to see Cuba!
CUBAOUTINGS.COM
Cubaoutings

Cuba is my favourite place. Been 5 times and stayed all over. Everyone talks about the terrible food. You won’t starve. There’s always something there you can eat. Cuban rum is the best. Drink instead. Lol. And water and the beaches is some of the best in the world. Go enjoy!!

The food is horrible.

Shannon There is an old joke that says the three successes of Cuba are Education, Healthcare and cigars and the three failures are Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. That being said the food is better than it used to be and you get what you pay for.

Edith I've never heard that before. That's hilarious!!!

Beaches are amazing but there are lots of beach fleas so take some anti itch cream