CUBA Havana 2017 Fun Trip With Good Friends
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- Опубликовано: 26 янв 2017
- At least in my eyes, Cuba has been a desirable destination for a long time. Surely everyone knows one thing or another about Cuba, the political situation in this country, that the best cigars in the world are made there, the cities are bursting with music and the rum flows in streams. Time has stood still in Cuba. And that to this day. I was a little afraid that this authenticity had diminished due to the weakening of U.S.-Cuban relations in recent years and that tourists had ruined the city. But no, the authenticity is still there. For those who remember the situation in Estonia before the 90s, Cuba is a good place for nostalgia.
And so, half a year ago, we were discussing with friends what could be such an exciting destination. And somehow we came up with Cuba, until finally a very concrete plan and the best travel company I have ever traveled with was born. The travel experience was just great, everything was just incredibly cool. Our first destination was Havana, the capital of Cuba. Without a doubt, a very exciting place. The adventures of Havana are summarized in the following video. Have fun watching it!
We planned on touring Cuba for 2 weeks on a short tour. This is such a pretty typical choice of destinations if you have 2 weeks. You might start in the capital, then your bigger nature lovers and cigar aficionados head to Vinales. Trinidad is also a must see. And then you have the choice between the beautiful Cayo Santa Maria or the most popular and touristy place Varadero. In any case, we chose Cayo Santa Maria. All other destinations will be discussed in more detail in the following posts.
I have not been trying to write here for a long time. I would rather convey emotions with my posts than rewrite the book. From this map you can see our overall plan.
Time is still in Cuba.
I had assumed that there would be significantly fewer old American cars and junkyards in the cityscape. However, the reality is that these cars are still the main mode of transportation. It is very rare to drive a newer Japanese car.
Havana's architecture is extremely rich, colorful, gaudy and diverse, well dilapidated and even dingy. This gives an idea of how rich Cuba once was when relations with the United States were good. It is strange to go to Havana. The feeling of walking through an old city ravaged by rain, wind and sun and just left to nature, often sees houses with no windows, just facades and trees inside. But of course there are small restorations here and there.
What can you do in Havana?
We spent our 4 nights in an extremely cool penthouse right on the ocean, or malecón. The large and spacious three bedroom apartment was on the 15th floor. Great room with access to the pool on the roof. I could not have asked for more. There was joy and laughter for each day.
The Lonely Planet book, which has a lot of useful information, was definitely a big help. It is your own decision whether to travel on your own or listen to the book's suggestions.
Havana and Cuba in general are in rather poor shape in terms of shopping and eating. There are no supermarkets in the true sense. If there are stores at all, the selection is very limited. ATM withdrawals are also very limited. You can withdraw a maximum of 150 CUC (the local tourist currency, equivalent to 1 euro), twice a day. In other words, you can only withdraw 300 CUC with one card. Quite annoying.
Afterwards, you can go out to eat in the restaurants. And here I definitely recommend you to flip through the book and listen to the suggestions. It is quite typical for Cuba that the price-quality ratio is not right. One of our tour company's favorite places to eat was Casa Miglis of Swedish origin. Good food, reasonable price. At many places we experienced an expensive price, but extremely frequent and dry food. Cubans are not good with salt and pepper.
Myths about Cuban facts.
There are definitely all kinds of preconceptions and different travel experiences about Cuba. I could write 40 pages here, but that's not the point of this post. You can find all the information about Cuba in a good book that I have already recommended: the Lonely Planet book. It is quite sufficient. In addition, it is good to read more about some portals, which of course are not very old. In Cuba, shopping is really difficult, and changing money and withdrawing it from the ATM is also cumbersome. But all this is not impossible, as some claim. It is all a myth that only a VISA card is valid and has nothing to do with MasterCard. That nothing at all can be taken from the vending machine. Of course, these myths still exist. However, it is true that there are no culinary experiences in Cuba. There are also no places like Statoil or R-Kiosk where you can buy some snacks to satisfy your hunger.
See our Cuba adventures in Vinales: • Vinales destination in...
really nice edit! felt like i was there
That makes two of us Cat Spirit !!
muy bien hecho el viedo ,auque bueno se nota que no estaban muy justos de dinero ,vamos que ,,,,,,jajajaj
Awesome, I was there when you uploaded. :)
That's great! : )
As cool as the shots between 1:26-1:45 were. I.could help but think "AAaaahhhh that's salt water on a classic car!!!!!!"
Well done! You are very talented! What is the name of the hotel with the rooftop pool? I must stay there no matter what!
It was an AirBNB apartment. You can see the address in the video, just in the beginning, the yellow wall sign. 15th floor. Really cool place.
I tried to find the airbnb after looking at the adress on the video but could not find it. Is there a way you could share the link with me?
I'm going next month. Can you let us know the hosts?
How was your trip?
How is the weather inCuba in january?
Hi there. It depends on the region I guess. For us it was mostly well. Although, couple of days in Havana it got really windy and stormy, so the Malecon was totally flooded and the traffic was closed. Waves just bursted over 4 lines of traffic. Otherwise, we enjoyed sun every day.