re: My trip to Cuba (Final update, link to album of all pictures added)

Do you still have to have a reason to go to Cuba? I remember they were only allowing entrance if you were there for one of the 12 categories. I never went because I could never gather what the facts were regarding this.

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Journalism is also one of them, so just go and write a "report" on your trip.

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Write a report? shite I'm just going to copy and paste your review into a Word doc. Boom. Journalism.

Did you feel safe exploring around? I'm considering doing a solo trip there.

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Abita, Did you ever take this trip? Would love to hear your feedback

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Hey I sure did. Sorry I never posted about it. When I get time this evening I'll post a review (nothing nearly as extensive as yours though )

Edit: I got more photos to add and will do so tomorrow.

Currency Exchange: I actually converted our US dollars into Canadian dollars because the exchange rate was better. Then at the airport I have the Canadian dollars converted into CUCs. Be careful, there are CUCs and CUPs in Cuba, and you don’t want to use CUPs – whenever someone makes change for you, check that they give you CUCs back.

Flying In: I know a lot of people have apprehension about flying into Cuba (in our case, Havana), so let me first say that it honestly couldn’t have been easier. We flew from Boston to Charlotte – once in Charlotte, there was a kiosk right next to our connecting gate where you pay what amounts to a $100 fee to get your Visa. We flew under the auspices of “person-to-person” travel, and created an entire itinerary showing how we would accomplish that. Not once was is requested, although it’s probably good to have one just to CYA. We landed in Havana no problems, got our luggage, and had a car waiting for us there. The one thing I will say is that people will be hustling you to give you a cab ride – your best bet is to go outside and exchange your currency and grab a cab there.

Accommodations: We stayed at an AirBnB in the neighborhood of Vedado and loved it – it was fairly central in the city yet residential, so it was quiet at night. For about $30/night we stayed in an apartment, and every morning we would wake up to the owners of the apartment (who stayed in a separate unit in the same building) in the kitchen making us breakfast. We’d start our day sitting on the porch drinking coffee and being served breakfast – great way to start the day. I would recommend doing this over staying at a hotel (which is much more expensive and in my opinion a less authentic way to see the city), and the Hotel Nacional (more later) is accessible to guests and non-guests alike.

Our first day, we were pretty beat from the travel (our day started at 2:30am), but we walked down by the water and grabbed lunch anyway. The food is insanely cheap, and beers are no more than $1.50 and I never had a cocktail more than $3. I basically lived off mojitos. With it being our first hour in Havana, it was pretty surreal to see the large “Viva Fidel” painted on the building pictured below (might be hard to see).







Here are some cool shots I took walking around that afternoon. One is of a beautiful old abandoned church next door to our casa, and the other was of a dog just hanging out on the roof barking at people walking by, which was very common.




That night we went to dinner (which was by far the best meal of the trip) at this place:



We split the paella for two (pictured below), which realistically should be for six. It was insanely good with two lobster tails, shrimp, clams, mussels, chicken, sausage, and the fried chicken leg sticking out of the entire bowl. We literally had other people talking to us from other tables asking what we ordered so they could get it for themselves. After that and maybe 4-5 drinks each, our bill came to $39.



Picture of the food plated:



The day, we took a guided car tour around Havana and beyond. There are different types of tours that are offered, and we went with the Hemmingway tour. So not only did we see a lot of Havana and get to learn a lot of the history, we also went to Hemmingway’s home (see photos of his boat which he would sail from Key West to Havana, which helped inspire "The Old Man and the Sea") as well as the bar he frequented (his table is still roped off) and met his best friend at, who was also inspiration for “The Old Man and the Sea.”






We were also driven by an old fortress that is now used as a museum and had some great views of the city.




Finally we were dropped off near a large warehouse filled with paintings and other “trinkets” for lack of a better term. Before going in, we actually stopped by a brewery (below) and had lunch and all three of the beers they make: light, dark, and black.



We spent about an hour just walking around and looking at everything, and finally settled on this beautiful painting to bring home for only $55 (below). It’s massive and I’ve yet to frame it. Warning: get someone there to put it in a cardboard sleeve and tape it for you for $3, because if you don’t, they’re supposed to make you do it at the airport anyway for the same price.




That night, we met an old friend of mine from college who by sheer coincidence happened to be in Havana at the same time as us. We went to the FAC, which darnol has mentioned previously, so I’ll spare the details and just say that it’s absolutely worth going.

On our final day, we went over to the Hotel Nacional for cocktails and to explore the grounds. The building itself is beautiful, and they had the best mojito in the city that I had. It was Super Bowl Sunday, and it was actually the only place in town to catch the game.




We also walked through this alley that had street music, dancing, and a ton of paintings right on the building:





I know I’m leaving a ton of things out, and sorry there aren’t more photos. First, I’m really bad at remembering to take pictures, and second many of them have me and my SO in them and I trust you people 0%.
Hope this helps some people out.

Amazing

I'm just bumping to show my disappointment in darnol's lack of response after requesting I post all that stuff.

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I have a group of eight going next January. My wife is half Cuban and it's been a dream of hers to go to Cuba. Can't wait!

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It's an amazing culture. You'll really enjoy it. My grandmother is half Cuban and went a few years before the embargo. My mom and her sisters took her back about 5 months ago for her 90th birthday and she loved getting to see her heritage.

Enjoy whenever you get to go!

You can visit Cuba AS A TRUE TOURIST and pay very high prices, or use private homes, paladares and private taxis and have a wonderful time. for less.
I have some info (geared more to tourits) at LINK , though things are changing very fast and much is unknown after Trump's speech.

feel free to ask anything.
I am from Havana, live in Dallas, but my partners/friends go often.

I very much enjoyed my time in your hometown. My grandfather was also from Cuba so getting to visit was a really neat experience.