[Closed] Cuba as a holiday destination?

We went with Shoestring and toured the island - very good. I would caution against this approach though if you expect decent hotels and food, as Cuba basically has bugger all in the way of consumer stuff. You can, of course, take the option of going to one of the all inclusive resorts and this is all fine and dandy, but you should try to spend a day or two in Havana as it's an amazing place, (particularly Old Havana). In summary - if you want to travel round and have an "experience" do something like we did, if you want a Caribbean beach holiday there are probably better options.

We want to go back.

Stayed in cayo coco for a couple of weeks in 2006. Amazing beaches!

we went for our honeymoon in oct this year.
it was fantastic... the food was good but basic. we went all inc for 2 weeks. as u can imagine drinks and food were there as and when u wanted it. the rum is brill.
plenty of excursions do to. even if u just want to go for a drive there driving is mental tho.
spend a couple of nights in havana totally worth it. and the tropicana show really worth seeing. one thing that will shock u is the poverty. it can be extreme at times.

Did an organised cycling tour in March this year and experienced some of the real Cuba - had an amazing time. We spent time in Havana, the North West around Vinales and Soroa, and the south central area around Trinidad.

It's a huge island so don't try to see it all - the area around Vinales is stunning and is the main tobacco growing area.

We stayed in a number of hotels - mainly ones with lots of chalets in pleasant grounds and with a pool. Food generally is fairly unexciting and expensive - the best food we had was at about 4 farmhouses we stopped at. Booze is also quite expensive.

You could do a similar bike trip on your own if you planned it carefully - we bumped into 3 British guys who had taken their bikes over and a Dutch couple we kept bumping into who were doing likewise. The roads are very quiet so its a great place to cycle around - we even cycled on one of the motorways (still have fond memories of one of the 'service stations' which seemed to specialise in Pina Coladas - can't imagine Leicester Forest East selling those).

Don't know anything about car hire, though I would imagine it would be quite expensive.

Now would be a great time to go before Obama and Raul Castro end the embargo and the island becomes all Americanised.

we went a few years back, had a great time (lots of rum), felt safe enough to wander around off the beaten path, but the food was RUBBISH

I have to agree the food was worse than any other place I've ever been to...

My brother spent 3 weeks there a couple of years ago, just chaos touristing, he had a great time (and loved the food! Keeps trying to copy it back home). Mind you he's that sort of person, no concern at all about where he is or where he's going to stay or if he's about to get knifed, he always manages to make it work out.

Excellent - think we'll be booking that pretty soon then!

Thanks very much all for your comments

Og

brilliant place
seemed pretty safe to us for 4 weeks back in 2005
Havana has its fair share of scamsters but away from the resorts people are happy to see tourists
My wife went off for a full day with a local horseriding, she never felt threatened, unfortunately I didnt join them as I had literally came out of plaster with a broken ankle 5 days earlier (flew out there first day out of plaster)

I can completely recommend captivatingcuba.com ( http://www.travelzest.com/en/tour-operators/view/brand/Captivating%20Cuba) as a travel agent we booked a tour through them, tailored completely to out own wants and it was significantly cheaper than elsewhere and we ended up with private taxi transfers all over the island
they have set packages but will also sort out and tailor any trip for you
We went Havanna - Vinales - Las Terrazas - Varadero
Enabled us to see a fair bit of the island and culture as well as having both city and beach elements
like others said many hotels quite basic so check them out first

This was the view from our room in Vinales (Hotel Ls Jasmines)
[img] [/img]

In havana we stayed at Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane
Again was excellent and steeped in history (our room was the same room where Grahame Greene wrote Our man in Havana and Al Capone had previously commendeered the whole floor). It also is right smack bang in the centre and has an outdoor rooftop pool
In Varadero we stayed Paradisus Princesa del Mar Resort & Spa
Again superb, alot of hotels in Varadero look a bit dodgy but this was definately 4*

GO GO GO!!

Best holiday ever. MrCM and I had 3 weeks there over Christmas and New year a few years ago.

Local transport is the way to go, or cycling of course. Taxis are really cheap too! We stayed in Casa Paticulares (B and Bs) as the cheaper, and I think more interesting, option. Basically home owners are allowed to rent out a room or two as the only real way of making any money in Cuba. there are of course varying standards! They are allowed to offer evening meals too. eating out is a funny thing, and the best food is usually to be had in peoples homes where they have a table of two set up for guests! You'll get people on the street asking if you want to go and eat. You can then go and have a look at their menu, or they will tell you the options, and you can say yes or no, no obligation. It seems strange, but really is the best way!!!

There is lots of info on the web about how to go about things but turning up in a town by bus and using the rough Guide / Lonely Planet will see you right.

Our (fairly standard tourist) route was........Havana / Vinales (gorgeous for walking and climbing)/ Maria La Gorda (fab diving and snorkling) / Cienfuegos (interesting stop off) / Trinidad (lush town loads of trad music etc and also mountains nearby) / Santa Clara (Che's remains are there, but apart from that I wouldn't go back)/ Havana (well worth a second visit!!!)

As you can tell, I liked it 😀