How to Travel to Cuba
Cuba beach
About Cuba
Downtown Old Havana, Cuba
There are two words that perfectly describe Cuba and those are friendly and safe. Not only that, but Cuba is incredibly beautiful and definitely very unique to the rest of the world. A place seemingly stuck suspended in time, but with a culturally liberal feel. It is a multicultural, but a tension-less place with people who seem to blend together as well as the glorious cafe con leche(Cuban coffee), that you will be sure to fall in love with on your journeys in Cuba. You also can’t miss the chance to try the world-famous Cuban cigars. Trinidad vigia, Bolivar, and Punch cigars are some of the smoothest ones. If you like the taste of pepper, leather, and wood, you should try Punch cigars which are the perfect blend.
It is a country that has suffered greatly throughout history and an embargo with the United States has been a major hindrance to Cuba’s ability to trade goods with the rest of the world. It is a happy and colorful country and if you ask the locals, some believe it has a bright and positive future.
Floating in the water at Varadero Beach, Cuba
As I’m sure most of you know Cuba is a Spanish-speaking country, but it wasn’t always that way. When the Spanish arrived in Cuba in 1492, the native Taino people had a thriving population estimated at 150,000. For the next century, the Spanish conquered the natives with warfare and enslavement, as well as bringing smallpox to the islands, which in turn wiped out 90% of the native population. By the end of the conquest, the Taino were considered an extinct people, and the few that remained intermarried with African slaves and Spaniards, leading to the disappearance of entire languages and cultures.
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Map of Cuba
Helpful Tips for Travelling Cuba
Courtyard Old Havana, Cuba
I’m sure most of you have heard the term “cash is king”, well in Cuba it would probably be “la ropa es el rey”, which basically means “clothing is king”. What I mean by that is, that the people in Cuba don’t really have much access to certain brands of clothing, other than what tourists bring in from other countries. For instance, there were several times on our trip when we would be bartering with some locals, but instead of money, they wanted the clothing off of our backs. There was one Cuban man on the beach who wanted to trade me some cigars for clothing, but he didn’t want to exchange out in the open and he gave me the cigars in trust that I would come back and through sign language, broken Spanish, broken English and many confused facial expressions we managed to arrange a meet up the next morning where we gave him a few articles of clothing. So with that, a useful piece of advice on your trip to Cuba would be to bring clothing with you that you are willing to part with. It will make you feel good to give to people who actually need it and can give you some buying power out there on the beach.
Varadero Beach, Cuba
In Cuba, everybody seems to have a side hustle and what I mean by that is, that most people in Cuba are trying to make more money on top of their employment wages. Who can blame them when they have such low incomes? In our resort Be Live Turquesa, almost all of the employees we met offered us either cigars or a tour to Havana, and when they made the offer they would always try to be very low-key. The reason for the secretive behavior that I learned speaking with locals, is that one of the main principles of Communism is, that everybody is supposed to be equal and no one person should hold great amounts of wealth. It sounds like it could be a good concept, but as all governments do it has its fair share of problems. That brings me to my next point, I suggest using the resort worker’s offers to your advantage and barter with them a bit. Doing this will help you get the best deal possible and you will also be helping them out, as I’m sure they get a cut of every deal they make. We were looking to go to Havana and through the resort, we had the option of going on a tour bus full of people, which would be fine, but we would’ve had to wait for everybody and it seemed maybe a little too hectic for us. One of our waiters had offered us a private trip to Havana in an old classic car with our own tour guide, for much cheaper than the resort wanted to charge. So we opted to take the tour and it turned out to be a great idea. Our tour guide was fantastic and very well educated in the history of Havana and spoke very good English as well.
Backstreets of Old Havana, Cuba
When it comes to the currency in Cuba it gets a little confusing, but I will try to explain it the best I can. They currently have two currencies, one for tourists and one for the local Cubans, but oddly enough the Cubans use both. We were told by a tour guide that next year in 2019 the Cuban government will change it to just one currency for tourists and locals.
Tipping in Cuba is greatly appreciated and the locals will be happy with just one tourist dollar as a tip. Cubans live on very low wages, so every dollar helps and I would suggest getting lots of $1 coins or bills when you exchange your money, in order to make tipping easy and ensure you get great service on your trip.
Another important tip is to remember that Cuba has limited supplies coming in from other countries, so try to bring small bottles of things like sunscreen, bug spray, lotions, etc, as they are very expensive in Cuba. I had a sunburn and needed to get some sunscreen badly, but I had no choice but to pay $13, which is around $20 Canadian.
Americans who want to see Cuba will still face some difficulties when it comes to landing in Cuba. I’m not too well versed in Cuban-American politics, but our guide tried to explain it to us, and basically what she said was “Americans can come if they purchase a special Visa, but they must arrive from a country other than the USA.” Apparently, they can also arrive by cruise ship but will be limited by time constraints.
Varadero Beach, Cuba
Varadero
Varadero is a small beach town with white sand beaches and turquoise-blue waters. It is located on a flat peninsula that stretches for 20km and is only 1.2km at its widest point. Varadero is one of the Caribbean’s largest resort areas and receives more than 1 million tourists per year, though only possesses a local population of around 20,000. It provides visitors with hotels and resorts for almost any budget and is a great jump-off point for tours to Havana and other excursions available in the area.
Shopping in Varadero is quite pricey, but there are several marketplaces where you can barter with local vendors. There is also a small shopping center called Plaza Americana, but it is expensive and there is not much there.
For transportation, we would usually hop on one of the Varadero Beach Tour buses, which drive up and down the peninsula all day. They are cool open-top double-decker buses and an all-day pay can be purchased for $5.
The countryside in Cuba
All in all, I think Varadero is a great place to vacation, for adults and families alike. We thought one week was plenty, but that’s only because we love hiking and the area is completely flat. It is a lovely place to just sit and relax sipping cocktails and enjoying the blue ocean waters. If you are not worried about your budget, you can always take trips out of town where there are plenty of adventures to be had. There are also some neat snorkeling and boat tours, where you can enjoy a swim with all the Caribbean sea life.
Havana
Streets of Old Havana, Cuba
Old classic cars in Havana, Cuba
With a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the 4th largest in the Caribbean. Settled by Europeans in 1515, it served as the main stopping point for Spanish galleons on their way to the newfound world of the Americas. Havana also became a hot spot for commerce and trade, bringing ships from all over the world who wished to exchange goods at the same time it became a hot spot for pirate attacks forcing the Spanish to constantly upgrade the defense of the city. As with most cities in Cuba, the Spanish kept the original native Taino title of “Habana,” which is said to be the name of a local chief. Anyways, I won’t get too in-depth about the history of this great city, I will have to leave that to your tour guide. What you should know from someone who has seen it, Havana has incredible architecture, with streets that are rich in history and a unique African Latin vibe that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Also, I like to give a shot out to Camila Cabello for that damn catchy jingle that played in my head the whole time I wrote this and also most of my vacation. Funny enough, our tour guide told us that since that song came out, tourism in Havana had been booming.
Conclusion
Venus tanning on Varadero Beach, Cuba
Cuba is a great place to spend a vacation and being that it is one of the safest countries in the Americas, I would assume it’s likely a great place for backpackers as well. Our time in Cuba was limited, but I would love to go back someday and explore more of the island. Overall we enjoyed our vacation, but as my wife Venus would probably like to mention, I spent a good portion of it complaining due to the very humid weather. If humidity is something you enjoy like my genetically tropical better half Venus, then disregard this. As for this little Canadian white boy, I would need some more time to adapt and on my next visit, I would probably choose to go in December or January as opposed to the beginning of November. Another issue we had on our trip was these horrible little flies that plagued the beach, especially at night and in the morning. I’m not sure exactly what these little microscopic demons are called and I should probably do some research, but I’m afraid I may get flashbacks and phantom bumps. So with that, I would highly recommend bringing some small bottles of insect repellent with you, because things like that are expensive in Cuba. I was smart and brought a small bottle of OFF, but also really stupid because I forgot I had it till the last day, “Sorry Venus!” But don’t let our insect horror story scare you “OFF”, pun intended, as I have talked with several others who have been to Cuba and have never had a problem. Maybe it was just the time of year we visited or maybe every insect has its day in the sun, again pun intended.
Don’t let the cons of our trip scare you, the bad parts of our trip will be left in the past and only the good parts will remain in the future. Overall we enjoyed our stay in Cuba and would recommend anyone to visit this beautiful and friendly Caribbean paradise.
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