Tell be about Cuba

[beachbodyunready]

Thinking of booking Cuba for our family holiday next year. So would appreciate any good or bad points you want to share. We would be AI at a 4/5* resort (not sure where) and travelling with Ds(15) and DD(7). We would want to visit Havana and ideally would like to be able to explore the local area without having to go on organised trips.
Tia.

Tip with gifts if you tip with money they have to share with all staff in hotel.
You can hire cars bikes over there. Public transport is a nightmare if you can find any.
Take books magazines they don’t get many there went to hair dressers and read 10 year old vogue

Agree, food is pretty bad (because all they grow on the island is sugar cane and tobacco) and there's no shopping or usual consumer-based pursuits. There's not much to 'do'.

That said, I loved it.

Fabulous music, scenery, dancing, cocktails. Havana is fascinating and there are concerts and museums and art galleries. The people are kind and welcoming, the cars are cool.

There is a dual currency system, so tourists pay for everything in one currency and locals in another. As a tourist, it's quite hard to find opportunities to use local currency but there is the odd street food stand and peso bar, and we did find a wonderful bookshop which charged in local currency.

There is poverty, yes and many of the buildings are crumbling and decaying, but there is also a high quality healthcare service. Outside of all inclusives (which aren't my cup of tea, but I see why you're going for one) stay at casa particulares which are basically people's houses, but they are regularly inspected and controlled by the state and are usually nicer than the hotels.

We went to Havana, Trinidad and La Boca and Vinales for spectacular scenery.

It helps to have a bit of basic Spanish in some places, but you won't need it in the resorts. Even just knowing how to ask for a beer and where the toilet is.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

It's the best place ever. We went for three weeks last year and are going for another three weeks this year.

We flew into varadero and stayed in an AI. It was pleasant, the food wasn't incredible but the beach more than made up for it. We then left the AI and stayed in Casa Particulars in Playa Bahia, Playa Giron, Cienfuegos and Vinales. Finally we stayed at a little boutique hotel in Havana Vieja.

There was a long drive between most destinations but the Casa owners sorted it out for us. You can hire private taxis which are fairly cheap or get a "collectiv" taxi which is like a minibus. These have loads of people in and will stop. Another option for travel is the Viazul which is like a Cuban National Express. They have a website where tickets can be booked. Note that while the old cars look amazing, they don't have air con so pick a modern car for a long journey.

Casas can be booked on Air BnB for very little.

I stayed in Varadero - beautiful beaches but I got a bit bored and it's not easy to travel round or hire a car etc. We did a day trip to Havana but if I was to do it again I'd spend longer in Havana and maybe another large town or two.

Be prepared for very bland food and all served lukewarm too!
Overall I did enjoy it, my only major downside was probably the food.

Friends told me to take any spare clothes, toys, unwanted cosmetics for hotel cleaning staff as it's so hard for them to get so many things we consider every day items.

Also, don't break anything. E.g it is normal to be charged 10 times the value of a room item (like a tv) if it is damaged as they are difficult to procure. And no you can't source your own to replace it.

Ive read a few people saying take things for hotel staff/Cuban people. While there aren't shops filled with plastic tat for £1 like we have here, they do have enough. My housekeeper told me she has boxes full of deodorant that people have "kindly" given her. Things have changed in Cuba and goods are much more accessible to everyone.

We foolishly listened to this advice and lugged a whole extra suitcase filled with stationary, tissues, toiletries and toys. I struggled to give them away. Basically no one wanted them. The Cuban children have tablets, computer games etc and weren't interested in the baseball bats and footballs that I took.

If you want to make a difference to Cuban people, tip generously in CUC, so they can buy what they need. They are proud people and really don't want your old clothes or half used bars of soap.

Ah loved Cuba, although we went about 20 years ago so different times! We were independent travellers - stayed in Havana for a coupe of nights on arrival. Then got the train down to Santa Clara (was intending to go to Santiago but that would have taken about 24hrs!) Then travelled south to the beautiful Trinidad, then headed back west to Pinar del Rio before returning to Havana for the flight home. We stayed in mixture of hotels with varying experiences (including staying with a bunch of Pan American youth athletes in effectively a large sports hostel!) we were young and childfree and I speak Spanish so we were happy to wing it - not sure I'd be quiet as relaxed now! I loved it though

How things change.
7 years ago hordes of women flocked to tourist busses asking for soap and clothes, while tourists who didn't speak Spanish thought they were asking for money (they weren't).

And the Internet was mostly inaccessible even from large hotels (too slow). Now I understand they have "WiFi parks", ie free WiFi in public parks, where people flock to to videochat with relatives abroad.

I wonder if the jineteros thing is any different now.