Dear people on this website, I’m strongly considering going on a trip to Cuba soon alone. I’m a decent Spanish speaker and an American, wondering if anyone has any good tips or advice for the trip. I know I want to see that ice cream shop that fidel was obsessed with.
Thanks in advance!
Get vaccines that aren’t offered where you live. They have a lung cancer vaccine banned in the US.
Edit: Smallpox vaccine could be useful if Cuba gives them. With monkeypox, smallpox vaccines are the only existing vaccine that defends against it. I don’t think the US has smallpox vaccines available yet.
This is the biggest protip.
I didn’t think so at first while reading the comments, but the vaccines are one of them. We have the highest Covid death and infection rate and we need to save our immune system for all the times we catch Covid. (Plus other diseases that anti vaxxers increase the death/infection rates of.)
Is it not a profitable vaccine to offer? Is it just banned because Cuba?
It only costs a dollar to make. I’m assuming yeah it’s just because Cuba.
Hearing about that vaccine is insanely impressive - You can be sure if a Western org developed it we all would’ve heard about it.
Very cool to know the US embargo is currently directly promoting higher lung cancer rates in the rest of the world.
Don’t tell the DHS-TSA dipshit that you went to Cuba. Don’t get a Cuba stamp in your passport.
Be prepared when you return from Cuba to be interrogated for possibly multiple hours by US border patrol. That’s what happened to me. If they ask you why you went, do not say “tourism.” You have to say, “support for the Cuban people.” Everything will be easier if you go through a travel agency, as they will understand all the rules regarding the sanctions. I believe travel one does trips to Cuba. As far as getting interrogated, things to remember: You have to give them your name, your ofac license, passport, where you stayed, and your bags. They are allowed to search all of your bags without warrants, so do not bring back contraband. Pretty much the only things you should bring back are books and art pieces (and they may take those). You don’t need to answer any questions being those that they ask, but they also do not need to provide you a lawyer and can detain you for almost as long as they want. HOWEVER, if they cause you to miss a connection, they are required to give you a new flight. I could talk more about my experience but don’t have time. DM me if your want to talk more.
If they ask you why you went, do not say “tourism.” You have to say, “support for the Cuban people.”
This is really unexpected, why is that?
in the statute that restricts travel to Cuba, there is a list of purposes for which you’re allowed to visit. “support for the Cuban people” is one of them.
Huh, that’s really good to know
Adding on to this, if you bring cash with you on your flight prepare to be stopped, searched, and questioned extensively. I’m not sure about the current status of Visa and Mastercard while in Cuba and if it has changed recently, so having a little bit is probably a good idea because I assume they still won’t work because of the sanctions. Though if you happen to be Russian and have a Mir card, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything. :)
Can you just say it was for a vaccine not offered in the US?
Americans are not permitted to stay in hotels owned by the Cuban government (most of them) you’ll get in trouble when you return home. You need to stay in an AirBnB or some other privately owned accommodation, otherwise you’ll be viewed as violating the yankee sanctions on the Cuban government.
As far as the actual trip is concerned, it’s a bit expensive and very touristy but Tropicana is an absolutely fucking amazing show and well worth the money if you can swing it. And, of course all the usual things like the Museum of the Revolution etc but I’m sure you were going to end up there at some point anyway.
How would anyone know that you’ve stayed at a government hotel, though?
I want to see the icecream shop, too!
brush up on the cuban spanish dialect
really is very strong and if you are used to mexican spanish or european spanish you might be in for a rude awakening
have fun! also theres lots of good advice in the travel comm. the pizza is good.
Thank you!
I’m trying to remember from your previous posting, is your partner/spouse from Cuba? My brother just got back from Cuba and was visiting some of his spouse’s family, and I was interested in getting some additional perspectives on some of his observations.
yeah hes gone to bed but i can ask tommorow, hes lived on a farm in cuba as a kid and a few years as an adult, and spent most summers on his grandparents farm as a tween. hes a farm boy with no city experience so he couldnt tell you about things not from a rural east cuba perspective. oh and hes (hey/they) is my fiance! we should be married in the fall of this year, then we will go to cuba and for our honeymoon! im so excited. feel free to dm me if you want.
Thanks. I will. I’m about to have a bunch of busy days, so it might take me a second to get to it.
If you don’t have an itinerary all planned out I highly recommend going on a tour bus trip, it’ll help you get the fullest scope of knowledge about Cuba. If you go with a normal tour bus you’ll get some American-brained reactionary as the tour guide though, be warned, most folks who interact with tourists regularly are openly anticommunist (fancy themselves more imperial core than periphery I guess). I’ve heard good things about Young Pioneer tours and they’ve got a tour for this may day. My impression is that they won’t be wildly reactionary, I hope 🤞, and I’ve recommended the tour to another curious Hexbear so y’all might be able to comrade it up.
Edit: Also if you’re in Viñales PLEASE check out Heladería El Rapidito, it’s so good and so cheap (like 30-40 cup per cone I think? That’s like literally a quarter for delicious ice cream).
Parque Coppelia
is the largest ice cream parlor in the world when serving about 35.000 customers per day, at the highest can serve 1.000 people at the same time. Built in 1966, Parque Coppelia is located in the Vedado district, Havana, is the largest ice cream parlor in the world, according to BBC
I hear many Americans fly into Mexico City or Cancun and then buy tickets from there to Havana in cash and don’t get their passports stamped, just get a visa for a small fee and then pay an exit visa for a small fee. No ATMs on the Island will be accessible to Americans so all money to be used would be brought in cash. Then they fly back to either Mexico City or Cancun and then fly back home after a trip in Mexico. No mention of Cuba.
I haven’t done this and I’m not telling you to do this, but others do it.
My gusano friend flys to Canada and then to Cuba
Make sure to stay at Casas if you’re not going on a tour bus!they’re cheaper, preferred, and an easy way to exchange your USD to CUP. Btw bring a TON of cash into the island (and a suitcase full of medicine if you can, the communist party can direct you to the best clinic to bring it to). I’d say 1k per week of free cash to keep things easy and flowing and get yourself fun trinkets to fill the empty medicine suitcase. Imperial core cards and banks refuse to operate in Cuba, so do it all before you’re on the plane!
Went there in 2018, few notes from my trip. Mostly warnings though
- Bring cash and expect to never have access to your bank acct/cc while you’re there … Everything is off the books there
- The local cuisine is shit. We stayed with families Airbnb-style in 3-4 towns and asked each of our hosts where their favorite restaurant was. They all pointed to places where the highest price item was a slice of spam and rice. For like $2 USD… though I may be spoiled, I lived in NYC at the time.
- side note, best meal while we were there was $10 USD in the middle of Havana, buffet with fish/meats, everything, fry bread they made right in front of you
- Learn the diff between the two currencies before you go there… plenty of times we thought they meant one and it was really the other.
- Learn the history, it’s a gorgeous place
- In the cities, the grifters are next level… One told us their empty restaurant was open, only when we sat down and ordered, they said they turned off the ovens/grills for the night, but they know a party at a warehouse and has a friend who drives a cab that can get us there cheaply. We went with him, turning down several cabs while waiting for his friend, and he expected us to basically pay for his drinks all night. Ok/w/e … then after we bought him a beer or two, he basically passed it around to everyone there. AND THEN asked for us to buy another. Like I get buying you drinks, but then share them around?
When we left, the guy’s friend was there and charged us a ride back to our Airbnb. We found out later the amount the million cabbies waiting outside the ware house would’ve charged to get us back was 1/5th of what the guy’s friend charged us.
Another was a “friend” of a friend we had state side who said he’d show us around, we thought it’d be fun, we’d walk around and we’d buy the guy some drinks or dinner/lunch somewhere as a thank you. The stateside friend talked very highly of him, like they were best buddies and knew each other for a while. When it was time to meet up with the guy, he said his friend would be driving us and charge us some outrageous price to drive us around the city. We basically noped out of that … Turns out my friend state side forgot to mention how much he paid for his exp… It was also one of our last days and we were almost out of cash
Tldr: it’s a very pretty place. Lots of history and lots to learn/see. Only issue is communism on the country scale in that country made everyone either starving with terrible food or a grifter.
