CUBA TIPS

QUEUING

Everyone hates to queue, even Cubans, but it is part of their daily lives, and they do it well.  It may seem like chaos and that there is no obvious queue, it may look like everyone is all over the place, but you will be amazed to know that everyone knows their place in the queue.  So whether you are queuing for ice-cream, the bus or at the ETECSA office, always ask who is ‘el ultimo’, ‘last person’ and also listen out for the next person to arrive and ask ‘el ultimo’ and you should reply ‘yo’, ‘me’, so they know that they follow after you.

If you do not follow this simple rule, you could be waiting forever, no one will think you are in the queue and the next person will take your place.  Usually people in the queue will look out for you, they love to chat so why don’t you start up a conversation, even if it is to discuss the lack of soap in the shops.

TRANSPORT

VIAZUL BUSES

Viazul is the government run national bus company.  They run a reliable service using comfortable air-conditioned buses serving 3 main routes, with stops at major towns along the way:

Havana – Viñales

Havana – Trinidad

Havana – Santiago de Cuba

There are also some smaller routes branching off from the main routes:

Trinidad – Santiago de Cuba

Trinidad – Varadero

Santiago de Cuba – Baracoa

Whilst their service is reliable there are few scheduled departures that leave daily which sometimes makes planning a little trickier. 

The main Viazul terminal in Havana is about a 20 minute taxi ride from Havana Vieja, a 6-10 CUC fare. 

The only way to purchase a ticket is to visit the terminal and book a ticket in person.  They do not accept reservations over the telephone or via a Tour Agency.  As there are few scheduled departures per day to each destination, the bus can sometimes get booked up, so it may be advisable to purchase a ticket in advance, depending on where you are going and whether it is high or low season.  Otherwise, it is possible to chance it and turn up at least 1 hour before the bus is due to depart and purchase a ticket on the day.

TRANSTUR

Another way to travel around Cuba is with Transtur.  They offer transfer services, usually picking up from and dropping off at either a main hotel or the main park in town.  They are also comfortable air-conditioned mini buses and usually the same price as Viazul.

Transtur services can usually be booked and paid for at any Cubatur  / Havanatur Tour Agency or hotel with a Tour Agency desk i.e. Hotel Inglaterra in Havana.  At present Transtur offer services to and from the following destinations (they do not offer services across the whole of Cuba):

Havana – Viñales – Havana

Havana – Trinidad

Trinidad – Viñales

Baracoa – Santiago de Cuba

For any other routes, it is best to check with a local Cubatur / Havanatur Tour Agency.

TRAINS

Trains are a no go.  There is supposed to be a service but I have never heard of it actually running and when it does run it is so slow, I hear it is quicker to walk!  A train from Havana to Santiago is about 24 hours, well the Viazul bus is approx 16 hours.  I also hear that the government want to invest and improve the train service, well ‘vamos a ver’, ‘let’s wait and see’.

AIR TRAVEL

Cubana offer national and international flights to a number of destinations from Havana.  It’s a faster way to travel from Havana to Santiago.  The service is quite reliable, however it is impossible to book a flight online, their website just doesn’t function very well.  And as for their planes, be prepared to fly with an old Russian plane.

HIRE CAR

Hiring a car in Cuba is not for the faint hearted.  Whilst there is very little traffic on the road, driving in Cuba is not easy.  There are very few road signs, so even if you have a map it is hard to know which turning you need to take when exiting the highway.  You may find yourself getting lost and never quite reaching where you want to get to.

If you find yourself driving at night, there are usually no road lights so watch out for unexpected traffic; pedestrians, bicycles, horses, cows etc.

Hiring a car is also very expensive, depending on low or high season and the number of days you want to hire the car it can be upto 70 CUC per day.

TOUR AGENCIES

The main touragencies in Cuba are Cubatur and Havanatur.  They are both government run agencies and run similar if not the same tours, usually at the same prices.  Each agency will only offer locally based tours, staff at local agencies usually can offer little information of other tours offered around Cuba. 

Tours in Cuba are reasonably priced in comparison to other Latin American countries, they are well run and guides usually speak good English.

JINETEROS

Jineteros are basically touts.  They are mostly harmless but some can be a bit pushy.  They are usually ‘recommending’ a casa, paladares, selling black market cigars, anything that ‘takes your fancy’.  You can choose to keep walking and ignore them (it’s no big deal) or you can stop for a chat and see what they have to offer.  If you do, don’t allow them to push you into anything you don’t want, they can be quite convincing / charming, and make sure you don’t put yourself in any uncompromising situations.