I didn’t find Cuba to be the easiest place to travel.
Although things are changing fast, you can’t just walk into a grocery store and buy anything you want. Restaurants can also suffer from a scarcity of ingredients and there is often a severe lack of customer service.
Communications are difficult, the internet is not yet readily available, and travel info is at a premium.
The attitude towards tourists ranges from “Oh yay wow you’re here and we’re so excited to see you!” to “Ugh, it’s your fault prices are rising so I’m going to take advantage of your wealth as much as I possibly can.”
So after spending 37 days in Cuba I feel like I have some advice to offer that will make your trip easier and more enjoyable! Read my Cuba travel tips and learn from my experiences for a great trip!
Before you go:
1. Check your visa requirements. Right now, British, EU citizens, Americans, and Australians can stay 30 days. Canadians can stay for 90 days, and all of these can be extended for the same amount of time again. But double check before you go because things are changing. Don’t just rely on some chick on a blog to tell you what’s required!
2. Brush up on your Spanish! In Havana it’s not so necessary but elsewhere it helps immensely, and anyway it never hurts to speak a bit of the local language, even if you don’t actually have to!
3. Pack light, in a backpack rather than a suitcase if you can. The roads and sidewalks are often not smooth enough to roll a suitcase along, and having minimal stuff to lug around will open up more cheap transportation options to you.
4. Consider what’s available in Cuba (or not available, usually). Some things you should think about taking are:
- Water purification – bottled water is not always easy to find, and when you do it’s expensive! I took tablets and was so glad I had them, but they sort of disintegrated in the heat so I had to scrape them out of the blister packs and was never sure I was getting it all. Maybe think about drops or a Lifestraw or Steripen instead.
- Snacks – you can buy snacks in Cuba, but they’re not always easy to find and often expensive.
- Drink crystals – if you like to add some flavour to your water.
- Vitamins, if you’re going to be there a while. I didn’t always feel like I was getting adequate nutrition.
- Mosquito repellent (and always carry with you!) – in a pinch you might find some at a fancy hotel .
- Sunscreen – also possibly available at a fancy hotel, but I wouldn’t count on it.
- Contact lens solution
- Tampons or sanitary pads
- Tissues & wet wipes
- Hand sanitizer
- Dental floss
- Any medication or over-the-counter drugs you might need.
- Earplugs
- Good walking/hiking shoes
- Notebook and pen
- Guidebook – I met people who really wished they had one, because they couldn’t just rely on the internet for information and maps!
- Things to give away: pens/pencils, notebooks, soap/lotion/shampoo, clothing. The Cubans will take anything at all that you want to give them. If you’re visiting a particular person or organization, try to find out what they need before you go.
5. Pre-load your credit cards so you can avoid super-high cash advance interest rates when you withdraw from them. Plan your access to money carefully and make sure you have cash as backup, preferably in Canadian dollars, British pounds, or Euros.
6. Download a web browser other than Chrome onto your phone or device. I was never able to get Chrome to work in Cuba. Plan on minimal internet use while in the country.
7. Print any Viazul bus or plane tickets you’ve pre-booked. You probably won’t find anywhere to do this in Cuba.
8. If you know what cities or towns you’re going to, look up good restaurants on Tripadvisor or blogs and make note of them. Trust me.
9. Grow a thick skin, especially if you’re a solo female. The hustlers will love you and so will the men! Ignoring them works best.
In the country:
10. Change money at the airport, but you’ll have to wait in line for it! I’ve heard there’s an ATM just inside the terminal that might work.
11. Cuba has two currencies, but you’ll mostly just use one, the CUC. Change a little bit of your CUC into CUP, but don’t overdo it. You probably won’t use it as much as you think. Depending on how you travel, I recommend a maximum of 5 CUC/week/person.
12. Don’t pay more than 25 CUC for a taxi to/from the airport.
13. Take a couple of salsa classes. It’ll set you up well for your nights out!
14. Always get a card from your casa particular so you can find it again. Take a picture of the card on your phone.
15. If you like the casa particular you’re in, ask the owner to call ahead and book a good one for you in your next destination. They’ll also do it if you have a recommendation for one, and can arrange a pickup from the bus station (for a fee!).
16. Anyone who finds you on the street and takes you to a casa particular or a restaurant is getting a commission. Politely decline anyone who offers you such services, unless you want to pay that commission.
17. Look for posh hotels to sit in and use internet. Sometimes they have their own network, sometimes it’s a public one from the street nearby, but either way it works from the same card. And it’s better than sitting on the street and sometimes it’s even air conditioned!
18. In a restaurant it’s a good idea to make a second and even a third menu choice. Availability of ingredients fluctuates so often restaurants are out of some items, and service is not always good. You could end up waiting 20 minutes before the waiter comes back to take your order only to find that they don’t have your second choice either.
19. If you have a chance to buy cookies or snacks, do it. You don’t know when the chance might come again. It’s always unpredictable as to what a store might have on its shelves, when the store might be open, and even if you can find a store at all! Fresh fruit is usually easy to find.
20. Get to the bus station early. I recommend being there an hour before the scheduled departure.
21. Don’t take too long at bus stops, and make sure someone on the bus will check that you’re back when it leaves.
22. Always take your passport when doing anything to do with money, buses, internet cards, and official sights. Sometimes you need it, sometimes you don’t.
23. Be patient. Allow yourself plenty of time for meals or anything official or money related. Things happen on Cuba time and there often isn’t much sense of customer service.
24. Be flexible. Things don’t necessarily work all the time in Cuba. You might not be able to get where you want to go, or you might have to find another way. Breathe deep and deal with it.
25. Stick to your guns. If someone tells you that you can’t take that public bus or that they don’t have internet cards, be persistent. The bus is going and you can be on it, and those people aren’t lining up outside the ETECSA office for nothing. It’ll happen.
26. Don’t get sucked in. Friendly locals will take you out for drinks and you’ll be the one paying, sometimes a lot. Use your common sense and ask how much things cost before agreeing to anything.
27. Don’t be too cheap. Some Cubans who are in business for themselves are doing very well, but the average Cuban who works for the government makes about 20 CUC a month, so consider what they have vs. what you do. Tip accordingly.
28. Go with the flow and enjoy yourself!
Have you been to Cuba? Do you have any Cuba travel tips of your own to add? If you have questions feel free to ask – either in the comments or email me!
Very helpful, honest advice! I saved it because I’m planning on going this year or next! Great article!
Excellent! Glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Nice checklist for a visit to Cuba! Thanks for putting it together and sharing. Will certainly bookmark it for later use.
Thanks Christine! There was so much I hadn’t thought of before I went, I felt like this was needed!
Some handy tips for Cuba for sure! Also useful for countries in Central America where insects, heat and lack of amenities can make travel pretty tough. Good point on being “the host” during evenings out. That can really be an unexpected expense.
Yes, it’s true that a lot of this applies to other places too, but some are pretty unique to Cuba (like not being able to buy drinking water easily!). And I met multiple people who were ‘taken out’ for drinks and then had to pay ridiculous amounts for what they’d actually had!
This is a great list of tips! Saving for later.
Thanks Lara! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Great tips. Cuba is on our radar now that it’s “open” to US travelers. I have no idea what to expect but this helps to prepare us for the trip ahead.
Thanks Hung! Yup, Cuba is quite unique compared with most other places I’ve been. Just be prepared for anything! 🙂
Have not been to Cuba yet, but it is high on my list. What a great list of tips. Thank you. So surprised to hear about the lack of ingredients…really to know in advance. Would you go back and visit?
Funny that you ask, Rosemary. When I left I was so done, and thought I would never return. Now, a few months later, I’d consider going back. I probably wouldn’t stay five weeks again though! That was just too long to put up with all the harassment and a lack of good food!
Such an incredible post.
I feel like often people aren’t honest about their Cuba experience. I, myself, wrote a very critical and analytical review of this amazing destination because I think it’s so important to bare all to your readers. Great read with lots of very important information.
Thanks for being true to your experience.
Hi Bryony! I’m not sure if it’s that people aren’t honest or if they just have a different experience. It seems like there are A LOT of posts about how wonderful it is, I agree, but when I look at those they all seem to be written by people who went as part of a couple or even a group, and thus didn’t receive nearly the same amount of harassment that I did. When I’ve dug into the experiences of solo females the story is usually more like mine.
And yet there’s a part of me that looks back at it with fondness, and even with a desire to go again, because I did have good times and I feel like even in five weeks I didn’t get anywhere even remotely close to understanding all that I wanted to. It’s such a complex country that I think one could spend years there and still not really understand.
I’m glad you enjoyed my post!
You mention on your list “Things to give away” – Can you tell me an appropriate time/place to do this?
I don’t want to be handing out pencils or tampons to people who might be offended. I’m just not sure how to go about this part!
THanks so much, your insight will be so helpful!
Hi Bri! Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about being offensive. I found that anything I wanted to give away, I could just offer to someone and they’d take it. Whether they used it themselves, gave it to someone else, or sold it on, I never knew, but I never had anyone turn down anything I offered. Having said that, I wasn’t offering a lot because I didn’t go prepared with much! But just walk down the street or stop on a park bench and people will ask you for things, even the shirt off your back. It was very common for women to ask me for the things I mentioned: skin lotion, soap, clothing, or stationery for their kids’ school (the tampons I mentioned were for yourself, although I don’t think a Cuban woman would turn them down). This happened A LOT in Trinidad where they’re used to seeing a lot of tourists, and occasionally in other places too. What you can give away will probably only be limited by how much you want to carry on a day-to-day basis.
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, just ask, and enjoy your trip!
Although I love Cuba, everything you said is exactly what it is.
It is more clear and concise that any book out there.
Thank you for the effort you did put to help people understand what it takes to be a solo tourist in Cuba.
Regards!
Thanks for your comment Monica! I’m glad to help people who are going, because it’s not a particularly easy country to travel in. Anything I can do to help people prepare makes me happy!