Preparing for an Adventure! Havana, Cuba.
Havana, Cuba has been one of the most incredible places I’ve had the privilege to visit. The planning process for Cuba was a bit difficult to manage in the beginning due to the fact that as a United States citizen, there are a bit more steps you must take prior to visiting Cuba that I along with many others, didn’t know about. It’s important to educate yourself as much as possible prior to leaving the country for laws, restrictions or possible visa process. I’ve received an abundance of direct messages on Instagram, texts, and emails about my trip to Cuba and how to plan one, so I’ve decided to skip over blog posts of previous trips and dive right into this one!
What is necessary prior to departure?
Prior to leaving for Cuba, I did a ton of research! I read magazines, blogs and slid into a few DMs for advice on visiting Havana. One blog that really helped me was titled “Where to next”.
United States citizens require a Visa prior to entering Cuba. This can be done through your airline, travel agent or prior to departure at the airport but keep in mind that it’s a lot more expensive at the airport. I flew American airlines and they work with Cuba Visa Services. The visa cost me $85 which was better than paying $100 or possibly more at the airport.
There are 12 legal reasons you are granted a visa and entry into Cuba. I selected “Support of the Cuban people” and kept with me a printed list/itinerary of the museums, restaurants, tourist sites I was going to visit in support of the Cuban people with me heading to and from Cuba incase customs asked (which they didn’t, at least for me). “Tourism” isn’t a legal reason to visit Cuba so click the link and choose wisely!
Cuban Peso vs CUC
Cuba doesn’t accept any major American debit or credit cards. Only select places do but it’s very rare as the embargo has not been lifted. Around 2015 the United States established a diplomatic relationship with Cuba again after 54 years and eased up a bit on the travel restrictions. Thank you, Obama!
With this being said, cash is mandatory to have your entire trip to Cuba. During my research on this, I learned that it’s a bad idea to change U.S. dollar to Cuban CUC. It’s better to have either British pounds, Euros or Canadian dollars. If you try to exchange USD for Cuban CUC, you will lose an unnecessary amount of money. I exchanged Canadian dollars which I also learned on my own, was a bad idea because the exchange rate was terrible, so I lost money exchanging to CUC.
Cuban CUC and U.S. dollar are equivalent. For example, 1 USD = 1 Cuban CUC. Do NOT get Cuban peso as that’s the currency for the locals, it has a much different exchange rate and isn’t always accepted in most tourist locations i.e., restaurants, bars in Old Havana. Check your bank to see if you can order your foreign currency (British pounds, Euros) at least two weeks prior to departure. I have Bank of America and they mailed me my money in two days with no fees except $7 for shipping.
Where to stay
I didn’t want to stay at a hotel during my time in Cuba as I felt it wouldn’t give me the real Cuban experience. I wanted to know what it was like to live like a local, so I rented an Airbnb apartment in the most perfect location for just $29 a night! My Airbnb was right in Habana Vieja (Old Havana). It was walking distance from Plaza Vieja, Capitol and many other sites I will discuss in my next blog post. My host had a really sweet woman named Tania who met me, in the beginning, to give me the key and showed me around the apartment. It was a bit challenging because my Spanish isn’t fluent but thank goodness for Google translate’s offline ability. Tania also cleaned the apartment every day and made me breakfast upon request every morning for only 5 CUC ($5).
Cuba is inexpensive as long as you plan accordingly. A lot of blogs also recommended staying at a casa particular which is similar to Airbnb as well. I came across a lot of casa particular postings on Bookings.com.
