Cuba at Christmas

[2018AnotherYearAnotherUsername]

I have a Big Birthday this winter but don’t want to take DCs out of school so looking for some winter sun at Christmas. Needs to be somewhere non malarial. DDs are learning Spanish at school so would be nice to go somewhere Spanish speaking.

I didn’t really celebrate my 40th as I had a baby and a 2 year old. Didn’t really celebrate my 30th either as I’d just been dumped and was skint. So I would really like to do something special for my 50th!

Weather in Canaries is a bit risky. I’ve done some research and Cuba looks amazing. Has anyone been?

We would like a few days in Havana and then a chill out before flying home, but Varadero - which seems to be the most common package destination - is making me nervous as I’m not into “queuing for sun beds” types of holidays. We’ve never done a package or AI inclusive type of holiday, in Europe we always book it ourselves and try and go where the locals go.

I’ve found the Audley travel website and they do (bloody expensive) full itineraries for serious travellers, I’m just worried this would be too much for DDs.

Any tips gratefully received. Thank you.

I love Cuba and first started going about 15 years ago. It's definitely changed. Havana is a must. I'm not too keen on Varadero. Guardalavaca area has great beaches. I've never had to queue for sun beds but use the beaches more. You can hire a car or hire a driver for a few days. Perfectly safe to explore or just buy organised trips when you are there.

Where I stayed in Varadero there was absolutely no queuing for sun beds and because we were in more expensive rooms we had our own reserved area on the beach.

As above, it's unlikely you'll be doing any queuing for sunbeds - the resorts in Varadero are in the main relatively upmarket. Varadero didn't really do it for me - essentially it's just resort after resort after resort catering for the fly & flop trade but would be ok at the end of a busier & varied holiday for a couple of days of lying around & all you can eat buffets. Havana was great from all perspectives other than food!