What You Need To Know To Travel Solo in Cuba
If I only traveled when my schedule and my friends’ schedules matched,f I would be waiting a very, very, very long time. So when my call for a travel buddy to Cuba went unanswered, I decided to go myself. And with Trump’s new laws restricting travel to Cuba, I am so glad I did. I had the best time of my life - so I hope this encourages you to travel alone and helps you get to the nitty gritty details of traveling in Cuba.
Walking through the streets of Trinidad Taken by Miranda Jade
Money
If you have a US bank you WILL NOT be able to withdraw money in Cuba; if you plan to go, make sure you bring more than enough cash because if you run out, you will be shit out of luck in a big way. Cuba has a dual economy where the CUC is the tourist currency and the CUP is the local currency. $1 is equal to 1 CUC which is equivalent to 25 CUP. There is a 3% currency exchange charge and a 10% penalty charge for exchanging in American dollars. I had a layover in Florida from DC which is where I exchanged dollars to euro which allowed me to avoid the 10% fee when I exchanged money in Cuba. Before going to Cuba, I read about some bloggers who were advocating for tourists to use CUP; I have no idea how they got CUP and there doesn’t seem to be any benefits since people still charge tourist CUC.
A casa particular in Vinales with the blue symbol on top
Lodging
Cuba has very clearly adjusted their infrastructure to cater to the growing tourism industry. I booked 5 out of my 10 nights in Cuba on Airbnb and decided to just “wing it” the rest of the way after reading about Cuba’s casa particulares system. I also wanted to have a flexible schedule that would allow me to stay longer wherever I wanted without losing money, which was great foresight since I ended up staying in Trinidad for 3 extra days than planned. Casa particulares are houses that are privately owned by families who rent out rooms, house attachments, or entire floors of their homes to tourists. Casa particulares are discernible by a blue symbol and most have signs detailing what is included and if space is available. My casas cost $15-$35 a night. Most places charge per room so even if I had another person with me, the cost for the night would be the same. I was fortunate to go to Cuba during the off season when open rooms were easy to find. If you plan on going to Cuba during their tourist season (September - April) make sure you book well in advance, especially for places like Vinales and Trinidad. All the places I stayed had separate entrances and felt extremely safe, and my hosts went out of their way to welcome me into their homes and made me feel safe. In places like Vinales where there are a lot of activities, your host may be the go to people to organize your trip. However, ask around and see how much people are generally paying. A lot of people operate on a system where they bring each other customers and get a cut depending on how many people they can get to use their service. I had a very positive experience booking activities through my casa; I also had friends who did not, but were able to book things through my casa.
Ropa Vieja in a restaurant in Trinidad
Food
A lot of tourists I met said that they really didn’t like the food in Cuba and that it wasn’t well spiced “probably because of the embargo”. Look, if you didn’t like the food in Cuba because you didn’t taste spices, I can almost promise you it was because you went to places you found on Lonely Planet or places that are geared to white tourists. The best places to eat in Cuba are not traditional restaurants found in the guidebooks, they are paladars. Paladars are privately-owned (in contrast to government-owned) businesses that are sometimes operated outside of a person’s house. Prices vary depending on location. Meals in Vinales range d from $3-$7, Trinidad $7-$10, and Havana closer to $10-$15. With that said, I only paid about $6 for my meals in Havana because I purposefully sought out less touristy paladars which were substantially less expensive.
Old cars sometimes used as taxi colectivos Taken by Miranda Jade
Traveling in Cuba
Cuba has made in-country traveling convenient with their Via Azuls, which are similar to megabuses but ran by the Cuban government; most importantly, they are air conditioned. I took the Via Azul from Vedad to Vinales, a 3 hour bus ride for $12. The other option for traveling through Cuba are taxi colectivos, which are privately owned cars you can arrange through your casa particular. I took a taxi colectivo from Vinales to Trinidad where I was shepherded into a “bus” an hour after being in a car. What was supposed to be a 6 hour ride turned into 9 hours. For longer rides like Vinales to Trinidad, I would recommend Via Azuls. Private drivers are (understandably) unwilling to drive 7 hours away from home, so you end up being shuttled into another vehicle at a hand-off point. However, the taxi colectivo I took with friends shaved two hours off of what was supposed to be a 4 hour ride.
A Street in Havana
Solo-Traveling
As an Asian woman walking through Cuba alone, I attracted attention and stood out in a lot of situations. In the United States, there is a lot of fear surrounding traveling in Cuba especially in traveling alone. However, I can say that I felt a lot safer in the streets of Cuba than in a lot of situations in the US. While men regularly hit on me, the moment I expressed that I wasn’t interested, they immediately stopped, which doesn’t always happen in the US, as women in the US can attest to. I walked home at 1am every day in Vinales, and I walked a mile in the dark to my casa at 4am several nights in Trinidad. People are extremely nice and there are police spread out because they know tourists are coming home late; there also seemed to be some kind of neighborhood guard. I noticed members of the neighborhood keeping an nonthreatening distance away and making sure I got home okay, and taxis made sure I got into my casas and locked the door before driving or biking away. Neighborhoods made me feel safe and constantly gave me the sense that they were always looking out for me. If you are uncomfortable with being alone, traveling in a country where you can’t communicate with the people , or living with sparse wifi, I would recommend rethinking any decision to travel solo. But once you get through that hurdle, I highly recommend it! Traveling solo allowed me to be selfish about my time, and it gave me the opportunity to slow down and find myself again after a truly grueling year.
If you are planning to travel to Cuba, feel free to shoot us any questions you have by emailing us at almostasianalmostamerican@gmail.com or through our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Asking questions and reading articles about travelling through Cuba definitely made my experience more positive.
