Help! Cuba alternative

[bjonesreborn]

Evening wise mumsnetters.
my husband and I were due to fly to Cuba for 16 nights at end of March but uk gov advising all but essential travel cancelled now so guess we’re not going.
it is supposed to be a special holiday for my 50th.
Can any of you suggest where else to go?
we want hot weather and a mix of culture , things to do and chilling. Open to suggestions, we did Sri Lanka last year.
thank you!

What about Mexico instead? Are you looking to independently travel or do a package deal? We independently travelled around Cuba a few years ago and it was pretty awful to be honest… (mostly) terrible food and really difficult to travel around, power cuts, etc. so I think you’ve probably had quite a lucky escape. I got food poisoning on the second night and was quite unwell for the whole two weeks we were there. I’m not a faint-hearted traveller but I was happy to leave. It’s an amazing place with so much history and culture, the people were lovely, but outside of the resorts and tourist traps the country is struggling badly.

Zanzibar?

Mexico is a good shout or Thailand? It's not completely clear to me if you are wanting a beach based holiday with day trips, or are wanting to do some more intensive sightseeing and happy to tour in your destination as long as you factor in some down tine. Thailand ticks all the boxes anyway, can do both those things. For more beach based destinations then obviously other islands in the Carribbean (generally more accessible from London than Northern UK) or Mauritius. A slightly out there suggestion would be Costa Rica, the Pacific side has some good beaches, but probably need to make it a holiday with multiple bases to fit in some sightseeing too. Not been to Costa Rica but know people that have and loved it. It is on my list!

Thanks for your responses so far
@TeamGeriatric sorry to make it clear we are happy/want to travel around wherever we go and then have a beach stay at the end of the 2 weeks. In Cuba we were travelling for 11 nights and then a 5 night beach hotel at the end.

Jamaica - look at these places in Negril:
https://www.thecaveshotel.com/
https://www.charelainn.com/

and Treasure Beach: https://jakeshotel.com/

great music, food, beaches and waterfalls :)

Brazil! Rio, Iguazu and beach at Buzios before flying home.

How about Argentina incl Iguazu then Rio?

You will need to check weather conditions at time of year but how about a weeks cruise in the Caribbean followed by a week in resort? We’ve done it with Marella which is reasonable prices but not posh (good food though) but most cruise lines do it - actually look at Imagine Cruising as they have amazing packages at different price points, I don’t know what you are looking to spend.

for my birthday last year, we did 10 nights on St Lucia and then hopped on a ferry to Martinique for 4 nights. This was around the middle of March and the weather was lovely.

St Lucia was good for hiking and being “outdoorsy”; there were also some lovely beaches. Martinique was very European and we enjoyed hiring a car and just driving around the island.

Same boat here. I am concerned about flight disruptions in and around the Carribean as there's been a few blips since the Venezuela situation kicked off. We are thinking of going to the Balkan countries and travelling around but I do fancy something more relaxing now.

Have you managed to get your money back? we were due to fly in 5 weeks and our agent keeps saying the situation will improve 🙄 and travel insurance says it's too soon to call it cancelled.

went to mexico last year and stayed in Mexico City which was fabulous, really green which surprised me. Easy to get round. Met lots of people travelling independently, off to Oaxaca and places. I’d really recommend it.

@TaraPup oh no, you as well. Rubbish isn’t it?!
haven’t got money back yet as agent saying same thing. So it’s a waiting game really. As can’t book another one till we get our money back. Hopefully we’ll know soon.

thanks everyone for recommendations

We had the opposite experience in 2016, one of the best holidays we've had and we travelled extensively in the East and middle of the island. Just realised 10 years ago exactly we were there as my birthday!
How about going the other way to Thailand or somewhere SEA? Plenty to do and see.

Exact same, need my money back to get something else organised. My agent says he's liaising with the FCDO and expects it to be temporary. Funny enough my very good mate works at the FCDO and says they have far better things to do than update travel agents all day 😂 are you travelling with Love Cuba by any chance?

We are going with simply Cuba - no so simple after all. So frustrating

I did this but the other way around, it was fabulous. We popped to Paraguay for the morning as you do!

How about Vietnam?

Colombia is on my list, though I haven't checked travel advice recently.

I went in 2012 as well and had an amazing time, totally different experience to 2022. All the Cubans we spoke to put it down to a combination of the pandemic and Trump administration tightening the embargoes, really sad.

How about Costa Rica?

Was hoping to go to Cuba last spring but was concerned as my DH has to travel to the US for business. We went to Bali instead & it was fab! Stopped in HK for a couple of days & caught up with friends.

My daughter (much more of a traveller than me) recommends Mexico City or Singapore.

Did you get any alternative sorted @bjonesreborn. We were considering Mexico but parts of that look iffy now but apparently Cancun/Quintana Roo is okay.

@TaraPup we’ve given up on far flung adventures. We looked at India but the travel agent wanted to charge us crazy prices as so close 😩 so I’ve cancelled one of the weeks’ holiday at work and we’re going to the Canary Islands for 8 days.
Will plan for a bigger holiday later in the year. Now just to wait for the money back from the travel company for Cuba.

That makes sense! We've booked a flight into Sofia and out of Budapest that we found super cheap for the same time period. We leave next week! Finally got our money back yesterday.