Holiday in Cuba

[dave50]

Has anyone been on holiday to Cuba? I quite fancy the idea but I dont really want to go all inclusive as most people do, because you dont get to experience the real Cuba. Has anyone stayed in an apartment or a small hotel and is it safe to walk around at night visiting the local bars, cafes and restaurants?

[LDC134]

I went last year - we did 3 nights in Havana, at a lovely hotel with only breakfast and Havana was perfectly safe to walk around, we ate and drank at several local bars and restaurants. We then went all inclusive to Varadero for 7 nights, I wasn't keen on this - it's not really my 'thing' the food was excellent for Cuba but poor compared to what you would get in Mexico or similar. Varadero was very safe to go out and eat and drink. The main problem I would forsee, is that food in restaurants is very hit and miss, not so much in quantity but in actual ingredients due to food shortages. So, you might order fish, with potatoes and veg and you may get different fish, maybe with different veg than you were expecting.
From a cost effective point of view, it may be better to do a package like we did and just go out to eat and drink each night, or every other night.

[calda]

We went and stayed in Old Havana, which was lovely, and then onto Varadero. Varadero had lovely beaches but was characterless and apart from one night club there was nothing to do in the evenings. Also the local people were kept out of the resort.
Havana was much better but didn't have a decent beach, you needed to take a taxi. We did this and arranged for him to collect us in the late afternoon. If you see the way the police operate you will realise that as a tourist you are safe, people go out of their way to help. It is safe but the food is not brilliant. The best meal we had was when we went into someones home were they cater for visitors. We also asked the local taxi driver where to go and the drivers of the vehichles that look like yellow eggs( go in one it's great ).
We travelled independently as I was coming from England and my partner from Jamica. We booked our own hotel and arranged airport transfers. The one thing to remember is you need a visa for Cube and this takes a couple of weeks. I found a lot of useful information in either an, Insight Guide to Cuba, or Dorling Kingsley(DK) guide to Jamaica.
Hope this is helpful,if you want to know anything else please ask.

[Traci66]

We stayed on Cayo Coco, from there we visited Moron, Havana and Trinidad City, it was all perfectly safe.

[calda]

Sorry The Insight Guide Should have been for Cuba, not Jamaica. that was the one I was looking at to get the name of the series.

[VHG]

Post above is an advert. Ignore.

[Jayne-123]

I stayed in an all inclusive, its true you don't get to see the real Cuba, I could have been in Torremelinous for all I knew, especially after a few mohito's on the beach.