Wider Cuba Travel

[El Presidente]

I do get asked frequently if it is worth visiting other cities/regions in Cuba outside of Havana/Pinar. 

While over the years I have visited most cities/regions within a 3 hour drive of Havana, I am no expert. 

Can I ask those who have done some extensive travel in Cuba to give a little detail of the cities/regions they have visited, a quick pro's and cons and whether it is worthwhile. Mind you I think all travel is worthwhile but you get what I am aiming at. 

I will flick this through to the new "Cuba Travel" forum (up next week) when done. 

Post some pics if you can. I will put all contributors into the draw for a little sampler of cigars I am currently enjoying 

[Corylax18]

Great Idea for a thread. I am in the process of planning my next trip for this fall and I am looking for some "off the beaten path" places to visit/things to do until the rest of my group makes it to Havana. 

[MrGinger]

Cienfuegos - PROS great town on a bay.  Chill, few tourists.  CONS - not many paladars/places to eat

Trinidad - PROS nice town square, recognized by UNESCO, great live music at the Casa de Musica, cobblestone streets, beautiful waterfalls close by, CONS - lots of tourists in the main square at times.

[oliverdst]

Cayo Largo. Beautiful and no crowded.

When I was there in 2010 there were just 5 or 6 hotels and a mini downtown with a LCDH.

Not many things to do but the beach, believe me, is enough.

[stogieluver]

Cayo Santa Maria is a great beach area with resorts that would please most tourists (who know they are in Cuba, not the USVI). 

[Troels]

 

Guess its all a matter of what you are after. 

Loved the atmosphere in trinidad. Stayed in a casa a bit away from the center. The country side is not far and the feeling is different from havanna. Enjoyed watching life on the street and listening to the sounds. There seemed to be a great sense of community amongst the people in the hood and they seemed to care for each other in a way I dont know of around here. Would have loved to go a bit further off the beaten track, but thatll have to wait for the kids to grow older. The fact that we couldnt find ice cream for sale every day in trinidad was enough trouble for the family at this stage

while the ressorts of varadero wasnt my favorite spot, I enjoyed staying in a casa on the beach around calle 20 or so, a place named after the owners berta y alfredo - to be googled. Lovely beach and alfredo is a good cook - not a very authentic cuban experience I guess, but a nice, cheap and easy way to add some beach life to the trip. 

[El Presidente]

5 hours ago, SenorPerfecto said:

Cayo Levisa. Recommended little island 30 minutes off the shore north of Vinales. Only 1 hotel. Very nice beach.

Looks like one to put on the list to visit 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g616287-d273666-Reviews-Hotel_Cayo_Levisa-Pinar_del_Rio_Province_Cuba.html#photos;geo=147270&detail=273666

 

[BellevilleMXZ]

Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Ensenachos are both Very nice areas. We have stayed at the Iberostar Ensenachos twice, the only place we have stayed twice down there. https://www.iberostar.com/en/hotels/cayo-los-ensenachos/iberostar-ensenachos

We always stay in the adult side(spa suite). Yes it is a bit of a trip from the airport(1.5 hrs approx), but its a scenic ride through some small towns, and the guide on the bus always offers some good info as you travel. The beaches here are AWWSOME, and have bars on the beach. There is a marina close by you can take snorkeling, boating, fishing, etc from, and there are quite a few day trips you take too.   Food is decent and of a large variety. They also usually always have nightly entertainment in the large lobby. Spent many a night here with a cigar and rum!  Great place if you just want to veg for a few days or a week. Decent size cigar shop here too, with a decent selection. Its only been since nov. but can't wait to go back! And most importantly there is a LCDH just down the road at a little town. http://www.habanos.com/en/noticias/inaugurada-la-casa-del-habano-en-cayo-santa-maria-villa-clara-cuba/?age-verified=ebb7dc7731

[El Presidente]

Brilliant 

[stogieluver]

The only thing I didn't like about Cayo Santa Maria was that there was no place to smoke inside.  I couldn't believe it.  That was five years ago; maybe things have changed since then, but I doubt it. 

[BellevilleMXZ]

37 minutes ago, stogieluver said:

The only thing I didn't like about Cayo Santa Maria was that there was no place to smoke inside.  I couldn't believe it.  That was five years ago; maybe things have changed since then, but I doubt it. 

The place I posted, pics of , you can smoke in the lobby. Yes its not really inside, but typically cool. Huge also......One of my favorite things about the place actually, we spent hours there smoking and hanging out.  

[Mycroft]

Check out eastern Cuba. Far from the centers of cigar production and the glorious nexus of the Spanish silver trade that was old Havana, it is a different world from the frenetic energy of that city - dirt poor, but laid back, weird and still quite safe. My suggestion : Fly to Holguin and rent a car. Gardalavaca is just down the road. There is a small 4 room hotel past the row of all-inclusives, with fantastic black market lobster in the fishing village meters away. Drive up the coast to Baracoa. Before you get there is a fantastic wild beach with a small hotel. Baracoa is great - historic, tropical, totally falling apart but charming, right on the coast, and with good Casas. Drive over the Sierra to Guantanamo. On the way are small isolated pebble beaches. I once spent a hilarious evening in Guantanamo drinking local rum with a Cuban ex intelligence officer. But there is no beach here as that is Guitmo. Then on to the city of Santiago - some great little traditional music venues and world class hustlers (can be a big hassle if you are a single woman). You are really in the heart of the revolution here.  You won't find the same cynicism that oozes out of the cosmopolitan Habaneros when talking about Fidel here. In this dirt poor part of the country they know what they were fighting for. Go to the museum in the house where the initial launch on the Macado barracks was launched. Read the story of the complete screw up that was the Cuban Revolution until Che and Camille took control of things. The impressive fort has some spectacular views of the coast. The coast west from Santago is stunningly beautiful and isolated with black sand beaches. At the end of the coast road is Las Colaradas, where the Granma carrying the Castros and a small army of revolutionaries from Mexico, beached in a swamp to start the Cuban Revolution proper. The landing by the way was a complete fiasco. There is a reconstruction of the boat here (the original is in Havana). Then cut across the island through Manzanillo and Bayamo back to Holguin. Needs a week or so to do, and you won't forget it.