Cuba travel guide: Everything you need to know before you go

Many picture the faded pastel streets of vintage-feel Havana, but beyond the capital there’s a wild side to Cuba, plus more elegant old cities and dreamy beaches

A vintage car in the streets of Havana (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dazzling sugar-soft beaches, twinkling turquoise seas, palm-tree studded mountain trails, muscular castles, and pretty cities brimming with handsome villas, live bands, salsa dancing, and art. Oh, and those vintage, colourful American cars… Cuba is an enigma, clinging to socialism while finding its feet in a post-pandemic world. Come for vibrant Havana and its nightlife but take off into the wilds of this crocodile-shaped isle for adventure, wild beaches, cultural quirks, cigars, diving, festivals and foodie spots, and the best thing of all – the warm and witty Cubans.

Current travel restrictions and entry requirements

There are no Covid restrictions on entry or on the ground. Travellers must obtain a visa-like tourist card and fill out the online Viajeros form before travelling.

Best time to go

Cuba is a great destination year round, but is insufferably hot in July and August (though the city of Santiago de Cuba hosts two riotous, musical festivals in July that are worth catching). November to April is high season, when the weather is glorious, and prices are higher. Dozens of festivals and events are held in this period: music, dance, ballet, jazz, film, and art. Hurricane season runs from June until November.

Top regions and cities

Havana

The Spanish conquerors of Cuba grew rich on the back of the sugar and tobacco trade and poured their wealth into one of the finest cities in the Americas. As a result, Havana is gorgeous: richly worked with colonial villas, decorated churches, flower-filled patios, Art Deco towers, and 50s mansions. Find its heart in the streets of the Old City, now vibrant with indie shops, bars, and cafés. Stroll the ocean promenade, the Malecón, and hail a chrome-festooned vintage motor to tour the castles on the bay and the leafy streets of villas and galleries of the Vedado neighbourhood. By night, seek out rooftop bars, art gallery openings, and boho nightlife spots across the city.

• Read our Havana city guide

Viñales Valley

It’s impossible not to be seduced by this lush valley of mini mountains, royal palms, tobacco farms, horse-riding farmers, and cutesy B&Bs in rural Cuba. At dawn a mist encircles the columns and porches of homes in Viñales town. Breakfast on eggs and mango as the sun burns through, then venture out on a horse, or by foot, to explore this Jurassic region of Cuba where towering limestone humps, known as mogotes, dot the valley floor, a result of millions of years of erosion. At sundown sit on the porch of your B&B sipping a freshly made mojito. You’ll find delicious farm-to-fork food in Viñales, too.

Trinidad

On the southern coast of Cuba, the tiny, cobbled streets of Trinidad spill down the foothills of the Escambray Mountains towards the beautiful blue Caribbean Sea. Trinidad is a photographer’s and salsa dancer’s dream. Huge mansions, all cinnamon, avocado and ochre-hued and fitted with European marble and chandeliers, were built by sugar barons who reaped enormous wealth from the slaves who worked their record-busting sugar plantations. Today these ornate buildings are galleries, museums, restaurants, and private homes. Find some of the most ridiculously pretty B&Bs in the country here. Dance the night away to live music and recover on the nearby Caribbean beach the following day.

Santa Clara

Che Guevara, the Argentine doctor turned Cuban guerrilla, is buried in an elaborate mausoleum sculpture complex on Santa Clara’s Revolution Plaza. Alongside his mortal remains are those that died with him in a failed guerrilla campaign in Bolivia in 1967. Visit the neighbouring Che museum, too, before heading off to the Café-Museo Revolución where, alongside a strong cup of Cuban coffee you can soak up the café owner’s incredible Che memorabilia collection. Nightlife pivots around the theatre and bars of the main square but don’t miss the wonderful El Mejunje alfresco club famous for live music, cabaret, and LGBT nights.

Santiago de Cuba

With winding historic streets that climb from the enormous harbour up to the city centre, you’ll get a sense of the setting of the island’s second city. It’s surrounded by monumental mountains, one of them named after a famous cocktail. And it was in this fabled place, that Señor Bacardí discovered the secrets of ageing rum 160 years ago and launched the world’s most famous rum. Explore the homes, museums, and music spots of this lively city – more Caribbean in feel than distant Havana and soak up the live African and Spanish rooted music in town centre venues, daiquiris and mojitos in hand! Fidel Castro’s tomb is found at the city’s impressive marble cemetery.

Best under-the-radar destinations

Baracoa

Baracoa is Cuba’s best-kept secret. Six hundred miles from Havana, it’s a trek to get there, but oh so worth it. You’ll climb mountains, bathe in crystal-clear rivers, swing in hammocks, visit cacao farms, search for aboriginal hideouts, and taste some of the best food in Cuba – fish bathed in coconut, and a mashed coconut, honey, and nut dessert wrapped in a palm cone. Dance it all off in the little bars and Casa de la Trova (a local meeting house or dance hall) fringing the tiny main square.

Caletón

Down on the south coast of Cuba – with one road in and one road out – is the Bay of Pigs, infamous for the US attempted invasion of the island in 1961. But it’s not just a site for history buffs: the water is the most beautiful in Cuba, aquamarine flecked with inky indigo blue, home to colourful fish, and the odd war wreck. Snorkel, dive, and bike to secret beaches along the jagged limestone coast here, backed by swamp peppered with Cuban crocs and colourful endemic birdlife.

Gibara

Remote Gibara is a fishing port of white houses and jumbled rooves crammed around a small harbour in northeast Cuba. It bursts into life for the annual international cinema festival in August which attracts Cuban and international stars. Come for the caves that can be explored with guides, the tasty regional fare rooted in fish and shellfish, and a highlight – the chance to dive in a series of beautiful sinkholes scattered in pristine jungle settings around town.

Best things to do

Stay in a Cuban B&B

Few places in the world offer fancy digs for very fair prices. In Cuba you can bed down in villas, mansions, fincas (farmhouse stays) and Art Nouveau apartments for unthinkable prices. But, more than that, the Cuban families who host international guests will be the stars of your stay. The photos of fabulous interiors will get a zillion likes on the ‘gram, but the memories of your warm, loquacious hosts with 101 gripping stories to tell will linger longer.

Hire a car

Lonely mountain roads with epic scenery, isolated Spanish colonial towns and rural villages, virgin white sand beaches with not another soul in sight, and quirky attractions found away from tourist hotspots. All this is possible in a hire car, and more. You’ll need to reserve, and fuel costs are rising, but there’s no better way to explore off the beaten track especially as the public coach network is limited. Bring your own snorkel, and lunch!

Take a guided art tour

One of the extraordinary hallmarks of Cuba’s 1959 revolution was a huge investment in the arts. You’ll find world-class art in Cuba, Havana especially, and a guided tour to the homes and studios of some of the best artists at work on the island is a fascinating introduction to the fertile arts’ scene, and life in Cuba in general. Works from Cuba’s living artists are found in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMa, and London’s Tate. Choose your medium, or let the guide choose for you.

Getting around

Hiring a car isn’t cheap. Use the public coach company Víazul (bookable online inside and outside the country) which runs regular buses from Viñales in the west to Baracoa in the east, with routes out to popular beach resorts and cities. New air-conditioned train carriages launched in 2019 but the network is antiquated. Train tickets can be bought at any Viajeros agency office on the island (cash purchase). Licensed and unlicensed taxis can be used to get to remote spots.

How to get there

TUI is the only airline flying direct from the UK to Cuba (Varadero beach resort) from Manchester. From London you can fly with Air France, Iberia, and Air Europa via other European cities, or with a couple of budget airlines including Spain’s World2Fly and Iberojet.

Money saving tip

Wifi is available at public wifi hotspots and accessible by scratch cards bought from telephone (Etecsa) offices or by resellers on the street. Buy a Cuban SIM card (which can be bought online before you fly) and pick it up at Havana’s international airport. A 30-day Turista SIM card costs US$25 and includes 6GB of data, 100 texts and 100 minutes of calls. Top-ups can be bought online.

FAQs

What’s the weather like?

The weather is comfortably hot and breezy from November through to April. Daily tropical rains begin in May and run to October, but even these downpours evaporate in seconds. As mentioned above, July-August can get too stiflingly hot for many.

What time zone is it in?

Cuba is five hours behind GMT.

What currency do I need?

Cuba united its dual currencies in January 2021; the Cuban Peso (CUP) is now the sole official currency, but the monetary situation in Cuba is currently complicated - with locals using MLC (a currency which Cuban must upload to their bank cards by buying foreign currencies) for some purchases. This is an excellent overview.

For a holiday, bring plenty of Euros in cash (more than you think you’ll need) to pay for accommodation on the go, restaurant meals, and private transport and services. Bring a debit or credit card (with no connections to the United States; call your bank to check) to buy essentials such as bottled water, medicines, hygiene products and some food at “MLC” (Moneda Libremente Convertible) stores, where cash is not accepted. Bank cards are used to pay for car hire; the island’s only coach service, Víazul; activities such as diving, sailing trips and canopy walking; and accommodation and meals at government-owned hotels and restaurants, as well as to withdraw cash in Cuban Pesos (CUP). The CUP is used to buy street food, restaurant meals, museum entrances, local transport, and train transport. Change a small amount of Euros into CUP on arrival. Black market rates for your Euros will make your holiday much cheaper.

What language is spoken?

Spanish is the official language.

Anything else I should know?

Cuba is a communist, one-party state. Do read up on the politics and economics before you visit. Bring all medications you may need with you.