Havana, Cuba

How to get there

Several airlines, domestic and foreign, including Iberia, Air Europa and Cubana de Aviation, maintain daily flights to Cuba from the Spanish capital. There are also some charter flights from a couple of other European cities including London. There are even a couple of flights from Miami, that up until recently were not allowed under American law.

Visas

To enter Cuba valid passport is required with a minimum period of six months remaining. Most people will require a visa, issued in their home country or Spain; this will be valid for a single entry and exit from the country. Typically, travel agents are responsible for processing the application several days before the departure date; there is no visa on arrival available.

Currency

The national currency is the Cuban peso, but the tourists can also pay in U.S. dollars. You can change other currencies for Pesos in hotels or las Casas de Cambio exchange booths. It is not advisable to change money at unofficial places.

Sometimes it is difficult to find change of $50 and $100 notes. Banks are not allowed to draw less than $ 100 by credit card if they are not American issued. There are already many places that support the exchange of Euro’s.

Accommodations

The possibilities are numerous; both to either remain in the city of Havana and in some of the best known tourist resorts such as Varadero, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad or Playas del Este. There are also private homes and hostels; some are very good while others have poor levels of comfort. In any case, it may be a valid option to spend one or two nights if necessary when you first arrive.

Eating Out

Enormously rich in fruits, Cuban cooking is based on chicken, pork and beef dishes as fundamental to be accompanied by rice and beans. Lobster and shrimp are the other components of the gastronomy of the island. Restaurants such as La Bodeguita del Medio, Floridita, Hanoi, El Palenque, El Aljibe, La Casa del Habano, The Palace Crafts or El Patio, can be found in addition to those in hotels.

Private houses offer an interesting alternate where you can eat very well for $10. The Dona Carmela and Cañonazo, near La Cabana, are among the best, as is the association Canaria Leonor Perez Cabrera, near the Bacardi Building, where you can eat lobster for $6.

Shopping

Buying rum and cigars on the black market has its minor risks, but can still make a good story for the people back home. Around the Plaza de Armas there is an interesting market for second-hand books, and crafts, where you can buy all sorts of memorabilia of the island. There is another flea market at the back of the National Hotel, near the Havana Libre. Here music lovers have the opportunity to acquire all kinds of Cuban music.

Transport

For the tourist there are three kinds of taxis with meters, the best is the special or economic. There is also an incredible range of bicycle-taxis, carriages with horses, and anything else that may carry a person around town will be used for transporting tourists.