Tryp Peninsula Hotel, Varadero Cuba

So you want to go to Cuba? I have some tips.

BySherri

One of the most rewarding and relaxing vacations I’ve been on was to Cuba. I was burnt out, tired, and looking for a vacation deal to relax on white sand and dip in the gorgeous blue water. In my online search, a last-minute deal to Cuba won my attention. For C$700 (plus tax) I dragged my mom, kicking and screaming (not really, she was packed and ready to roll before I was), onto the plane! There are some similar deals right now!

Don’t expect 10-star resorts and super high-end food. Instead, enjoy the local cuisine, beautiful smiles, and as much seafood as possible. I didn’t have any expectations for my arrival in Cuba. Our tour guide was entertaining and friendly and kept us laughing from the airport to our resort, Tryp Peninsula Varadero.

Why are all the signs inside our tour bus in Chinese and Spanish? It came from China and even the air conditioning is intermittent because of the humidity.~tour guide

Our resort was beautiful. The staff and security guards were super friendly and genuinely interested in life outside of Cuba. One guard at the beach was fascinated with my iPhone as his wage was equal to C$25 per month, and he could not purchase one.

  • Tryp Peninsula Hotel, Varadero Cuba
  • Tryp Peninsula Hotel, Cuba
  • Tryp Peninsula Hotel, Cuba
  • Cuba, Tryp Peninsula

Our housekeeper greeted us warmly with an amazing flower arrangement that she had a friend make for us. This beautiful bouquet stayed fresh for seven nights.

My favourite day was an excursion to a “deserted beach” by catamaran. Nothing beats being out on the water surrounded by happy people enjoying the warm sunshine. We swam with the dolphins, snorkelled, relaxed on a white sand beach, and enjoyed a fresh lobster and pasta lunch. I did not want to leave!

  • Cuba catamaran
  • Swim with the dolphins, Varadero, Cuba
  • Swim with the dolphins Cuba

Another wonderful day trip we booked was to Havana. You can’t go to Cuba without seeing Havana. It was a long bus ride from Varadero to Havana, but the countryside was engaging, so the time passed quickly.

Life in Havana is tough. We met many people who begged for soap and gum (see tip #6 for how we distributed items). I was taken aback by the museum staff grabbing my camera to take a photo of Mom and me. She wouldn’t give it back to me unless I gave her gum. Just be careful. I was very firm and demanded my camera back, and she complied. That was my only unpleasant experience, which is minor.

  • Havana, Cuba
  • Cigar lady, Havana, Cuba
  • Havana, Cuba
  • Havana, Cuba
  • Havana, Cuba

Tips for Travelling to Cuba

  1. Visit Cuba with no expectations. You will be surprised by how much you enjoy the simpler things.
  2. Bring a beach towel. Our resort had a limited number of beach towels for guests, and we found that because of the humidity, ours did not dry (even out on the balcony overnight) unless we put them in the hot sun at the beach. I recommend bringing a lightweight microfibre towel that will dry quickly.
  3. Bring a travel mug. There is no staff at the beach or by the pool to bring you drinks all day (at least at the resort I stayed at), so to avoid spending all day standing in line for a small plastic cup, bring a travel mug with a lid.
  4. Enjoy THEIR cuisine. I had no complaints about the food, though I know other travellers were not happy with the choices. I ate fresh seafood daily for lunch and dinner; I was in Heaven. You’re in another country to experience their culture and taste Cuban food. Enjoy it! The pop even tastes different (better) because it’s sweetened with cane sugar instead of corn syrup.
  5. Currency (UPDATED). Cuba eliminated the dual currency in January 2021 and the CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso) is no longer accepted and CUP (Cuban Peso) is the only accepted currency. How do you tell the difference? The CUP bills have faces on them. All resorts and hotels accept CUP as well as street vendors, bus fares, and for street food, so make sure you have the lower denomination. You can also bring Euros or Pounds. As a traveller, US dollars are not accepted in Cuba and even the currency exchanges in the airports are no longer exchanging US dollars for CUPs. You can’t use debit or credit cards issued by US banks either. Canadian dollars are accepted…Cubans love Canadians!
  6. Tip Cubans with Products. Many of us like to bring gifts for our housekeepers at the resorts or to give to children on the street or in schools. What we found to be the best way to share these items is as follows. For our housekeeper, we left nail polish, pretty scents, soaps, and personal care items in our room, a few at a time. These can easily be picked up at your local dollar store. We found it best for the children in the community to give items to a teacher or local church and distribute them to the children as rewards. Some good examples are colouring books, crayons, pencils, hair ties, chewing gum, and candy—smaller items that are easy to pack in your suitcase.
  7. Meet as many locals as you can. Cubans are beautiful and full of laughter and enjoy chatting with visitors to their beautiful country. Make sure you meet them! Leave your resort and enjoy yourselves!
  8. Unplug. This may not be your choice, but internet and cell service are rare and slow in Cuba. I could send text messages but no photos or social media, and even buying time at the computer in the resort was slow and frustrating. I turned off my phone, “ziploced” it (yes, I kept it in a ziploc bag because of the humidity), and enjoyed my time at the beach.

If you’ve experienced something different from me, please add your comments below! I’d like to hear about other experiences in anticipation of my next visit.

I have an obsession with travel and photography and hope my experiences inspire you to travel. My focus is luxury travel and lifestyle including food and wine!

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34 Comments

    1. That’s perfect!! There is so much to see in Cuba and my photos barely cover a portion of it. When do you leave? I am looking forward to seeing your pics on Instagram!

  4. I love this post! And I love that you take gifts, what a great idea! Havana looks like the colorful city I’ve been waiting to meet, and cannot wait to visit. Did you wander alone or were you with a group? Did you always feel safe? We wouldn’t do a resort, more city travelers so I’m curious on the safety of the cities.

    1. Thank you Lily! We took a tour into Havana to cover more ground. We mostly stuck to our group because of the time constraint on a tour. I’m sure there are unsafe areas of the city, also, but from others’ experiences, it is a very safe country.

  5. So true about Havana! Our guide told us to not give to beggars.. because then you’d have a trail of people following you. It was tough.. but a tough life there too for many people.

  6. I love the idea to go with no expectations. That’s the best way to explore in my opinion. Beautiful images and thanks for the great info Sherri!

  7. I agree with Kristen – traveling without expectations definitely allows you to enjoy a site more since you can embrace whatever experiences you have along the way. Your photos are wonderful. Love the beautiful and vibrantly colored architecture. That would be a photographer’s dream!

    Abigail of GlobalGirlTravels.com

    1. Thank you so much Abby! Cuba is definitely a photographer’s dream. I’d like to go back soon and visit more of the country. 🙂

  8. Cuba sounds amazing! We would love to go someday. Your tips are great – especially the cup, zip lock bag, gifts and towel tips. I wasn’t aware that humidity was that bad! We also have to keep in mind not to give gifts to beggars don’t want a trail of people following us around.

  9. Amazing. I so wanted to visit Cuba this time last year but I was at the end of a multiple month trip through Central America and was low on cash and at the time could not find any information on how much everything would cost etc. I regret not going so much but all your photos defnitely still make me want to visit!

    1. Thank you Sasha. I definitely recommend it and want to go back to visit other parts of the country. One week was not enough for me!

  10. Ah man, Cuba looks incredibly colourful – it’s definitely one for the list… Good tip about the travel mug, i honestly wouldn’t have thought about bringing that with me! I remember watching an episode on Cuba recently on the Travel Channel and the food definitely looks like it doesn’t disappoint!

    I didn’t realise there were two currencies in Cuba!? What?!?

  12. Cuba is gorgeous! I love the colors and the vintage cars. I think I’d also put the catamaran cruise as my favorite activity, being a deserted island with great people sounds like a great experience. The fresh lobster and pasta lunch made me crave for some. :p

    1. I agree with you! The catamaran cruise was amazing. It was so nice to be out on the calm water in the sunshine for the day. 🙂

  13. Cuba looks gorgeous. I’ve never considered taking gifts to give to housekeepers or street children. maybe that’s my Australian heritage!

  14. With what is happening in Cuba (new flights, new treaties between them and USA, FC’s death) a lot of people will be searching for tips about a Cuban visit. Your article is a good reference document and I can see it can give detailed information to a lot of 1st time visitors to Cuba.

  15. Wow this looks amazing. I love that you took in the culture and got some time to relax by the pool and at the beach. That’s definitely the way to do it. That deserted beach looks incredible. Some great tips in this guide. It will be interesting to see what changes now. I guess you may need to go again to check it out 😉

    1. Thank you! It was such a great trip and I definitely do need to go back again like you said! 🙂 We only touched 2 cities but there is so much else to see.

  17. Can I just say how wonderful that photo of the Cuban woman smoking tobacco is?! Cuba really is a one of a kind destination! It’s like traveling back in time.

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