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Cuba: The Island of Freedom for Your Peso. Part I.

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Travel Articles >> Locations >> Islands

Season, Off-season
The most favourable time for visiting Cuba lasts from the end of November till the beginning of April when the weather is mild and warm and humidity is rather bearable. The period from May till October is the season of rains and summer heat, and in October and November you may even witness hurricanes. Tropical showers almost always start pouring unexpectedly, they last 10 minutes and in 5 more minutes the sun is shining brightly. You should not be afraid of rains but it is worth getting ready for them. And in the mid season (especially in December and January) your shall probably have to make your way through crowds of multilingual tourists, who are saving themselves from cold weather in the South, and overpay for meals, accommodation and entertainments (the prices are rising considerably).

Entrance in Cuba
In order to get from the airport to the capital of Cuba you are to hire a taxi. The highest price proposed just on leaving the terminal makes up 25 convertible peso. However, rather quickly the price falls to 20 peso. But we insisted on 15. In the end the taxi "mafia" gave up and after a 3-minute expectation the tourists longing to get to Havana took a taxi together with an economical Swede who apparently refused to pay more than 10 peso. It doesn’t take a long time to get to the city centre (no longer than half an hour, as it seemed to me). By the way, in order to clear up the issue of prices on taxi rate from/to airport I can say that Pantaxi usually asks 15 convertible peso from the city, although according to the taximeter the price is 10 peso precisely. This is proved on my own experience. Thus, if you manage to hypnotize a poor Cuban to make such a long journey according to the taximeter, you may save five peso.

Money
Two monetary units are in circulation in Cuba: usual peso (frequently called “Peso Cubano” by the locals) used by mere mortals and convertible peso (“CUC”, “convertible” or sometimes “peso fuerte”), designed especially for foreign tourists. On price labels both usual and convertible pesos are marked by a dollar symbol “$”. Convertible pesos (bills marked “pesos convertibles”) may be exchanged (October, 2007) in the airport and banks at the rate of 1.25 – 1.26 peso per 1 Euro. You should better exchange peso in a bank or in the airport, since hotels offer an extortionate rate.
You may also withdraw money from a credit card (unless it is issued with an American bank) against a rather big commission. So let cash rule and set your credit card apart in case of an unforeseen financial emergency. By the way Internet is rather expensive – 6 “convertibles” per hour – and almost inaccessible in Cuba.

Accommodation
You may book hotel rooms through Internet (of course if you do not buy a tourist package including flight and accommodation with a tourist company). You may sometimes come across rather interesting rates. As for cheap Havana variants I recommend you “Hotel Hotetur Deauville” in Malekon embankment (intersection with Av. Italia). There is a nice variant in Varadero which meets its three stars – “Hotel Aquazul”.
«Casa particular», i.e. private lodgings give you a real opportunity to communicate with the locals (even if you do not speak Spanish you shall insistently be spoken to), to see the insight of their life, to get a lot of useful information and assistance in planning journeys around the country. “Casas” may significantly differ by their location, furnishing and hosts’ hospitality (we realized this after visiting several of them), however the prices are almost similar. 25-35 “cucos” for a room per night (the room may host two people) in Havana and 20-25 “cucos” in the country.
If you want to be in the thick of things and close to sights and nightlife of the capital, choose rooms in the district of the Old Havana or Havana Centre (close to Malekon embankment. Vedado district is a more calm green area with villas suitable for a family vacation. However it is rather far from the Old Havana and you should be ready to pay at lest 10 “cucos” for taxi per day unless you are a Marathon runner or a race walker.

Language
And the last few words about the language. The Cubans are very communicative, although very few of them speak English. You shall manage with a small Spanish phrase-book (however, some words in the original Spanish differ from the Cuban Spanish). On the whole, we faced no problems with understanding. The most important thing is to learn the numerals and you are ready!

Summary: the information above shall help you to decide on the time for your journey and get to the planned place of accommodation. Later on you shall find out why it is worth visiting Cuba.

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Article Submitted On: October 16, 2007