JayBearII Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 Any insights from those of you who have traveled there lately? I am planning an invasion;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaChula Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 Jay, if you do go to Cuba, let me know in advance if I may send some things with you to friends in Habana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Saltos Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 Insights, such as? We were there in March/April. Loved it. Be specific and maybe I can help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBearII Posted December 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I understand one has to stay within certain areas and that you cannot travel around the island freely. Is that true? If so, did it bother you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCdoug Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I understand one has to stay within certain areas and that you cannot travel around the island freely. Is that true? If so, did it bother you? Actually, just the opposite. I haven't been there recently, but I stayed at Villa Cuba in Vera Dero and decided to see some more of Cuba besides the drunk tourists. U can take tour packages to Havana but the best deal we had was to rent a car and for an additional $2/day we had a driver who spoke excellent English and who showed us his own personal tour of Cuba. The original driver's English was limited to we asked for another driver who turned out to be fabulous. He showed us much of Cuba in the 1 week we spent with him and had no restrictions on where we went. We made 1 mistake, U are encouraged to lock up your passport in your hotel room, but we wanted to travel and stay in Pensions (local homes where they cook meals for U) and U must carry Ur passport with U to do this. I highly recommend doing this (Budget or some other Car Rental service, available at the hotel, did this for us) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exyyz Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 You can also stay in a casa particular which is a house (or apartment) owned by a private citizen, thereby avoiding the whole package holiday crowd who rarely leave their all inclusive resorts. This is a great way to see the country through the eyes of a local. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBearII Posted December 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 The rent-a-car tour sounds great; just what I want. Were you able to book the rental car and driver thru the hotel concierge or how did you do it? Do you have any hotel recommendations in Havana? I would like to land and rest up for a couple of days before touring the island, and also, I need to make contact with some people in Havana (yes, I remember what you told me, La Chula!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Saltos Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Casa Particulares are wonderful, they're BnBs. We stayed in several when we visited Habana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCdoug Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 The rent-a-car tour sounds great; just what I want. Were you able to book the rental car and driver thru the hotel concierge or how did you do it? Do you have any hotel recommendations in Havana? I would like to land and rest up for a couple of days before touring the island, and also, I need to make contact with some people in Havana (yes, I remember what you told me, La Chula!). I don't recall much about Havana, except it is a must see. The all-inclusive hotel (Villa Cuba in Veradero, but I guess any hotel would have this) had a desk for Budget and National in the lobby. They arranged everything including the English speaking driver for $2/day (that was about 8 years ago but prices don't change much in Cuba) We had 4 people plus driver in a small Japanese rental, the driver took care of everything, we had to pay for driver's meals and accomadation if we were far from his home. Casa Particulares, highly recommend. Trinidad (interior Cuba) highly recommend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaChula Posted December 25, 2014 Report Share Posted December 25, 2014 I found Veradero to be a pretty beach, but it could have been a beach anywhere in the world. I would skip it and go somewhere less touristy. Of course, I was there 15 years ago, so maybe it has changed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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