Visit Cuba in a Long Weekend

Why you should visit Cuba

You can totally Visit Cuba in a Long Weekend, it has very welcoming people, beautiful countryside, historic places (including 9 UNESCO World Heritage sites), and so much culture. The main island of Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, located just 90 miles south of Florida. There is so much to see and do, rum tasting, cigar rolling, drinking daquiris, and exploring the long history in Cuba. Getting to Cuba is easiest from Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami Airports, they have multiple flights per day, but a visa is required when traveling from the United States. Cuba’s 3500 miles of coastline makes for some serious beach options. Cuba has three major exports tobacco, sugar, and nickel. Riding in the classic cars is an experience you can really only get here.

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We have created the perfect packing list to get everything you need for your small town getaway into one lightweight personal item. Flights are getting more expensive, and carry-ons have become a charge for almost every flight. Getting everything you need into the perfect personal item is one of the best tricks to keep costs low.

History of Cuba

Before going to Cuba, knowing the history will help you to understand the Cuban Culture, and to appreciate all the historic places in Cuba. Although, this is a very truncated version, and going to Cuba you will feel this history and culture all around you. The tour guide kept telling us, “you see this? it is older than your country” lol seriously, the cannons are used as street barriers and are older than the United States. It got to be a running joke, but it also was so humbling to be among all that history.

Cuba was first settled by the Guanahatabey and Taino Native Americans. They were farmers, hunters or fishers. Then in 1492, Christopher Columbus landed and claimed the land for Spain. The Island was named Isla Juana, but was later renamed from the local name coabana. They then appointed Spanish Governors to rule Cuba, and brought the Roman Catholicism This lasted until 1898, when the United States military rule until Cuba’s Independence May 29, 1902.

In the 1950’s, President Bautista ran Cuba, his government was openly corruptution and opression led to Fidel Castro and the 26th of July movement, they began a revolution against the current government and President Bautista. The Revolutionaries were originally working to remove US Mob influence, and gambling houses from Havana, as under the Bautista regime the US Mob had made Havana their east coast playground (Vegas being the west coast playground). In 1959, the revolutionaries successfully overturned the capital and drove Bautista from the island. All casinos were closed on the island, and the only remaining roulette wheel is located as a display piece in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.

Fidel Castro then assumed both military and political power as Cuba’s Prime Minister. In 1960, all US businesses were nationalized without compensation to the previous owners. The US then breaks off all diplomatic relations with Havana. After the failed attempt at invasion, at the Bay of Pigs, Castro declares Cuba a Communist State.

Tensions between the United States and Cuba have been strained over the years. In 2015, President Obama began negotiations to start to ease relations between the two countries. Many of the sanctions that were rolled back during the Obama presidency, were immediately re-instated during the Trump administration. This does not mean that as a US Citizen you cannot go to Cuba, you just have more requirements to get there.

Cuba is famous for it’s Rum, it’s cigars, Ernest Hemingway’s time on the island, and it’s classic cars. The National Language is Spanish. Cuba is also know as the Pearl of Antilles, The Sugar Bowl of the World, and The Home of Sugar.

How to get to Cuba from the USA

If you are traveling to Cuba from the United States, you will be required to get a Cuban Tourist Card, or a Cuban Visa. There are 12 categories of travel approved under OFAC

1. Family Visits
2. Official Visits of US Government
3. Journalistic Activity
4. Professional Research/ Professional Meetings
5. Educational Activities
6. Religious Activities
7. Public Performances, clinics, workshops, competitions, and exhibitions
8. Support for the Cuban People
9. Humanitarian Projects
10. Activities of Private Foundations
11. Export, import, or transmission of informational materials
12. Authorized export transactions

The Visa we used, was for the support of the Cuban People, this visa is made to support the Cuban People. Ensure you keep receipts and documentation for 7 years should you ever be audited on how you helped support the people.

Many of the airlines that fly direct to Cuba can provide you with a visa, but you must have one before leaving the United States. It will have two sides to the visa, customs in Cuba will take one side when entering and another side when leaving Cuba, so make sure to keep it close. Also, it is best to speed through customs to only bring a carry-on bag… checking a bag may lead to additional searches that can add time waiting at the bag carousel.

If you are looking for something that is more planned, like we did, the company Letty’s Cuba is very experienced in Cuban Travel. They organized everything for us and made it a seamless endeavor. You can certainly build it yourself, and it will be awesome too!

Basic Tips and Tricks

Make sure you bring cash if you are coming from the United States, your credit and debit cards will not work here. You will need to convert your US Dollars to Cuban Pesos. There are two forms of currency in Cuba, the tourist currency and the local currency. Convert your money at the airport to minimize the potential issue of getting the wrong currency, as the local is worth a small portion against the tourist currency. We factored $100 per person per day in cash to ensure we had enough.

You are there likely to support the Cuban people, make sure to tip and tip generously to the people giving you services. We stayed at a local villa, instead of a hotel which ensured our lodging dollars made more of difference.

We tried to support smaller local restaurants as much as possible. This is a rule of thumb when traveling, if you can find a local spot, you are more likely to feel the culture of the people you are visiting, rather than the cultural normativity of a cookie-cutter chain establishment.

The weather can be hot and hurricanes can impact you during the summer months, if you can make the trip in the Fall or Spring you will likely enjoy the walking a lot more. Having gone in August, I can say that it would’ve been nice not to be that sweaty during the day.

Must Visit Sites in Cuba

The Cannon Fire Ceremony is a must visit site, it happens at Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabaña every night at 9pm. Plan to get there early for a view of the sunset over the Havana harbor, and then find yourself a spot to watch the event. The fire the cannon every night since the 1700’s to signify the closing of doors for the night. It is historic, interesting and if you wish you can even buy some souvenirs of the event. It is a popular event, you may want to ensure you arrive early so you don’t miss anything.

Take a tour of the Capitolio Nacional, which is one of the most notable buildings in Havana, with its gorgeous dome it feels very palatial. The building holds the 3rd largest indoor statute La República which stands 17.6 meters tall.

Continue the historic tour, with a walking tour of Old Havana some of the best areas are Plaza Vieja, Plaza de San Francisco de Asís which has a circa. 1600’s convent still used today. The Plaza de Armas is a very important location, that includes El Templete, Castillo de la Fuerza Real, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes park, Museum of the Capitanes Generales, and finally the impressive Cathedral of Havana.

After all that walking you will need a drink, and where better than Bodega del Medio, where the mojito was invented, and Ernest Hemingway used to drink on the regular. The downstairs is always super busy, but if you take the back stairs up you can find a smaller bar, with a view of the street and if you are lucky some fun live music. Drink a couple, they are delicious. Really, I don’t really like mojitos, never was impressed by the flavors, here they meld together perfectly (secret is they use real sugar, not simple syrup) and I drank several… Totally worth it!

Ernest Hemingway’s House Finca Vigía is located outside of town in San Francisco de Paula, you will need to take a car to get there. The house was built in 1886, and it is where Hemingway wrote The Old Man and The Sea. The house has been converted into a museum, that you can tour and even see his library and book collection.

To be honest, Ernest Hemingway drank at a lot of places, but the next one is super fun and even has a life size statue of him, El Floridita where the daquiris are always flowing. They literally crank them out like crazy, tons of flavors virgin or alcoholic, all super yummy.

To keep the liquor flowing, you should take a Rum Tour, with a tasting at the end. We did a tour of Havana Club Rum. It was a great tour, it gives an overview of the Rum process, the history of sugar growers

You will be within walking distance of the Grand Theater of Havana, it was built in 1838 and is now home to the Cuban National Ballet. If you go during the week, see if you can peek inside and see the beautiful building. Even better, check the calendar and watch a performance, it is one of the world’s best companies.

A great place to get some more authentic souvenirs, and even some kitschy stuff to bring back for others is the Almacenes San Jose. This is a large market, located by the port of call, and you want to avoid it during cruise dockings if possible. The market has so many options, jewelry, paintings, humidors, all kinds of hand made items, food and everything in between.

Make sure you make it to the Malecon, sea wall, for sunset. It is quite the party every night, and the sea breeze feels so beautiful and the sunset is always gorgeous. You can sit or walk along the wall, and it is just an experience like no where else in the world.

Finally, ask the driver or taxi to take you on a drive through the city, head up to the Forestal Park, it is a riverfront park, that looks almost untouched by the world. You can grab a snack at the snack bar, or even an ice cream and just enjoy the nature around you.

Viñales Valley is located in the Sierra de los Órganos mountains, it looks like Jurassic Park, and feels like it too. You can almost picture the dinosaurs running through the countryside here. This is quite the destination it literally has it all, you can learn about cigar rolling, coffee and go horseback riding.

The tour we did of the valley, first took us to a tobacco farm. At the farm, we learned to roll a cigar, and had the opportunity to buy cigars direct from the growers. We took advantage of this opportunity, because these are as fresh as you can get. However, these will not say “Cuban Cigar” on them and count as a souvenir not against your Cuban Cigar import allowance. I honestly felt like this was a better option, as the money goes to the farmers, rather than the government. The farmers are only allowed to sell so many, as the government regulates this trade pretty significantly.

Then ride horses to the area where they grow coffee. Seeing a coffee plant in person, is a real treat there is a very small band around the world know as the coffee growing region. You can buy coffee, or coffee liquors from them there. Let me tell you it is very strong. You then ride the horses back, get some lunch and head back to Havana.

9 UNESCO Sites in Cuba

There are 9 UNESCO Sites in Cuba, 7 Cultural Sites and 2 Natural Sites. There are 3 sites that are still marked tentative, so they are not sure if they will make the list yet.

• Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba 
• Historic Centre of Camagüey 
• Old Havana and its Fortification System 
• San Pedro de la Roca Castle, Santiago de Cuba 
• Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios 
• Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos 
• Viñales Valley
• Alejandro de Humboldt National Park
• Desembarco del Granma National Park

Tentative:

• National Schools of Art, Cubanacán
• Ciénaga de Zapata National Park
• Reef System in the Cuban Caribbean