--- title: "Cuba travel guides, city by city | Wimup" description: "Cuba on Wimup: Top 10 city guides, when to visit, what to know before you go, and the food, faces and films worth knowing first." url: https://wimup.com/country/cuba type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-28 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Cuba **The largest island in the Caribbean**, and the one that reads least like a resort brochure. Cuba runs on colonial cities, tobacco valleys and **a live music culture that never needed a stage**. ## Quick answer Give **Havana** four nights: the old town, Centro and Vedado are three different cities. Then go west to **Viñales** for the tobacco valley, or east along the spine: **Cienfuegos** for the waterfront, **Trinidad** for the cobbles, **Santa Clara** for the revolution’s battlefield. Further on, **Camagüey** and **Santiago de Cuba** hold the more Caribbean half, with **Baracoa** at the far end. **Varadero** and **Cayo Coco** are the beaches. **March, April and November** are dry and quieter. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Mar–Apr · Nov - **Ideal length:** 10–14 days - **Budget per day:** $60–120 - **Language:** Spanish - **Getting around:** Víazul buses and shared colectivo taxis - **2** City guides - **9,748,007** People - **9** UNESCO sites Cuba travels as a chain of cities strung along one spine, and a first trip usually picks three of them. Havana is the arrival point and the reason most people come, Viñales holds the tobacco country two hours west, and Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba carry the colonial centres and the son tradition further east. Distances are long, buses are the practical way to cover them, and almost everything runs on cash the traveller brings in. ## 2 Cuba city guides 1. [Havana](https://wimup.com/city/havana.md): Cuba · 10 picks 2. [Santiago de Cuba](https://wimup.com/city/santiago-de-cuba.md): Cuba · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 9,748,007 - **Area:** 109,884 km² - **Density:** 88.7 / km² - **Capital:** Havana - **Major cities:** Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Holguín, Santa Clara - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Cuban peso (CUP) The peso is the only legal currency since 2021, and some shops price in US dollars. US cards fail and other foreign cards are unreliable, so carry the whole trip in cash. Change at a bank or CADECA. - **Language:** Spanish Cuban Spanish drops word endings and the s, which takes even confident speakers a day or two. English is common in Havana’s tourist streets and the resorts, and thin elsewhere. - **Calling code:** +53 - **Power:** 110V and 220V · Type A/B/C/L Both voltages are in use, sometimes in one building, with American, European and Italian sockets. Bring a universal adapter and a dual-voltage charger, and check the socket label first. - **Emergency:** 106 police · 104 ambulance No single number: 106 for police, 104 for ambulance, 105 for fire, answered in Spanish. Ambulances are thin outside the cities, and Cuba-valid medical insurance is an entry requirement. - **Blackouts:** Frequent, plan around them The grid has collapsed nationwide several times since 2024, and rolling cuts of many hours are routine outside the resorts. Carry a power bank and a torch, and keep paper copies of essentials. - **Visa:** Electronic visa, applied for in advance Apply online through the foreign ministry’s own system. Fees and conditions vary by nationality. Cuba-valid medical insurance is checked at the border, and the D’Viajeros form is filed before you fly. - **US travellers:** Twelve licence categories, not tourism Travel must fit one of twelve general licence categories, and beach tourism is not one. Most go under "Support for the Cuban People" and keep records for five years. Read the Treasury’s own terms. - **Getting around:** Víazul coaches and colectivos Víazul coaches sell out, so book ahead. Shared colectivo taxis leave near the terminals, charge per seat and are usually faster. Domestic flights save a day to Santiago de Cuba but cancel often. - **Where to stay:** Casas particulares Licensed private rooms, legal since 1997, beat state hotels on price, breakfast and information. Your host also finds the colectivo, the mechanic or the doctor. - **Tipping:** About 10 percent, in cash Service is rarely on the bill. Ten percent covers a sit-down meal, and small notes matter because change is scarce. Table musicians expect something, as does anyone in costume you photograph. - **Tap water:** Not drinkable Do not drink it anywhere, Havana included. Bottled or properly filtered water only, and be careful with ice outside established restaurants. A filter bottle saves a lot of plastic on a two-week trip. - **Internet:** ETECSA data and wifi, patchy ETECSA sells prepaid data and wifi, slow and unreliable, worse in a power cut. Download maps, tickets and translations before leaving a city, and warn people at home about gaps. ## When to visit - **Jan** (peak) - **Feb** (peak) - **Mar** (best) - **Apr** (best) - **May** - **Jun** - **Jul** - **Aug** - **Sep** - **Oct** - **Nov** (good) - **Dec** (peak) ## Fun fact The bee hummingbird, the smallest bird on earth at about 6 cm and under 2 grams, lives only in Cuba. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Cuba is frozen in 1959 **Reality:** The cars are real and so is the peeling paint, but the country has changed twice over. The dual currency went in 2021, private small businesses were legalised the same year, and mobile data reached ordinary phones in 2018. What looks like preservation is mostly scarcity. - **Myth:** There are two currencies and tourists use the special one **Reality:** There were. The convertible peso (CUC) was withdrawn in 2021 and the Cuban peso is now the only legal currency. The country has since partly dollarised, so some shops price in US dollars and the rest in pesos. What you need is cash you brought with you. - **Myth:** Americans cannot go **Reality:** They can, and thousands do. US law restricts the reason: travel must fall under one of twelve general licence categories, and beach tourism is not one. Most go under "Support for the Cuban People": private homes, private restaurants, and records kept for five years. - **Myth:** It is a cheap Caribbean island **Reality:** It is not. Shortages mean much of what a visitor buys is imported and priced to match, and payment is unforgiving: US cards have never worked and other foreign cards are unreliable. Budget in cash, and expect a guesthouse dinner to cost what it would in southern Europe. - **Myth:** Everything is state-run and identical **Reality:** The best meals, the best rooms and most of the interesting shops are private. Casas particulares have been legal since 1997 and paladares since the early nineties, and the 2021 reform let both incorporate properly. State hotels and state restaurants still exist and are rarely the better choice. - Bring every peso you plan to spend, in cash, in clean and undamaged notes. Cards issued in the United States do not work at all, other foreign cards have become unreliable, and there is no way to fix a shortfall once you are there. - Power cuts are part of the day, not an emergency. The national grid has collapsed repeatedly since 2024 and rolling blackouts are routine outside the resort strips. Carry a power bank and a torch, and choose a guesthouse with a generator if you need one. - Stay in casas particulares. A licensed private room costs less than a state hotel, the breakfast is better, and your host is the person who will find you a colectivo, a mechanic or a doctor. - Ask before photographing people, and expect to be asked for something in return by anyone in costume in Old Havana. That is a job, not a scam, and a small note settles it. - Tip in cash and in the local currency. Ten percent covers a sit-down meal, and small notes matter more than the amount because change is hard to come by. - Do not drink the tap water anywhere, including Havana. Bottled or properly filtered water only, and that includes the ice outside established restaurants. - Politics is discussed freely with visitors and carefully in public. Listen more than you push, and never put someone’s name to an opinion online. ## Famous Cuban faces - **José Martí**: Poet and journalist, and the intellectual author of Cuban independence - **Celia Cruz**: The voice that carried Cuban son and salsa around the world - **Fidel Castro**: Led the 1959 revolution and ran the country for nearly five decades - **Compay Segundo**: Guitarist and songwriter, the elder statesman of the Buena Vista Social Club - **Alicia Alonso**: Prima ballerina who founded the Ballet Nacional de Cuba - **Javier Sotomayor**: Holds the men’s high jump world record, set at 2.45 m in 1993 - **Wifredo Lam**: Painter who folded Afro-Cuban imagery into European modernism - **Ana de Armas**: Havana-born actress who went from Cuban cinema to Hollywood leads - **Benny Moré**: El Bárbaro del Ritmo, the great voice of son and mambo - **Ibrahim Ferrer**: Bolero singer the Buena Vista Social Club brought out of retirement - **Omara Portuondo**: Singer whose career runs from the 1950s Tropicana to the Buena Vista Social Club - **Chucho Valdés**: Pianist and founder of Irakere, the band that welded jazz to Afro-Cuban percussion - **Arturo Sandoval**: Trumpeter and Irakere co-founder who rebuilt his career in the United States - **Silvio Rodríguez**: Songwriter at the centre of nueva trova - **Ernesto Lecuona**: Composer of "Malagueña" and "Siboney", who took Cuban music into the concert hall - **Gloria Estefan**: Havana-born singer who took the Miami Sound Machine global - **Camila Cabello**: Born in Havana, raised in Miami, a pop career built on both - **Teófilo Stevenson**: Heavyweight boxer with three Olympic golds who never turned professional - **Mijaín López**: Greco-Roman wrestler with five consecutive Olympic golds - **Ana Fidelia Quirot**: Middle-distance runner who came back from near-fatal burns to win the world 800 m title - **Omar Linares**: Third baseman and the star of Cuba’s Olympic-winning baseball teams of the 1990s - **Andy García**: Havana-born actor, Oscar-nominated for The Godfather Part III - **Tomás Gutiérrez Alea**: Director of Memories of Underdevelopment and Strawberry and Chocolate - **Alejo Carpentier**: Novelist who coined "lo real maravilloso", the idea magical realism grew out of - **Guillermo Cabrera Infante**: Novelist of Three Trapped Tigers, who spent his exile in London - **Nicolás Guillén**: National poet, who put Afro-Cuban rhythm into Spanish verse - **Reinaldo Arenas**: Novelist and memoirist of Before Night Falls - **Amelia Peláez**: Painter of the Cuban avant-garde, known for still lifes built like stained glass - **René Portocarrero**: Painter of Havana cityscapes and cathedral interiors - **Carlos Acosta**: Dancer who went from a Havana ballet school to principal at the Royal Ballet - **Lizt Alfonso**: Choreographer whose company blends ballet, flamenco and Afro-Cuban dance - **Carlos Manuel de Céspedes**: The planter who freed the people he had enslaved and began the war of independence in 1868 - **Camilo Cienfuegos**: Revolutionary commander whose disappearance in 1959 made him a national icon - **Vilma Espín**: Chemical engineer, revolutionary, and founder of the Federation of Cuban Women ## Must-try Cuban food - **Ropa vieja**: Shredded beef stewed with peppers, onion and tomato. Usually called the national dish. - **Lechón asado**: Whole pig slow-roasted over coals, the centre of Christmas Eve and every celebration. - **Picadillo a la habanera**: Ground beef with olives, raisins and capers, spooned over white rice. - **Vaca frita**: Beef boiled, shredded, then fried crisp with lime and raw onion. - **Fricasé de pollo**: Chicken braised with potato and olives, the standard weekday dinner. - **Ajiaco**: Root vegetables and several meats in one pot, the oldest dish on the island. - **Tamal en cazuela**: Fresh corn cooked down to a soft mash with pork. The tamal without the husk. - **Moros y cristianos**: Black beans cooked into the rice until the grains turn dark. It comes with everything. - **Congrí**: The eastern version, red beans and rice cooked together with pork fat. - **Arroz con pollo**: Rice and chicken cooked in one pot, gold with annatto. - **Tostones**: Green plantain smashed flat and fried twice, salted while hot. - **Maduros**: Ripe plantain fried soft and sweet, the counterweight to everything salty. - **Yuca con mojo**: Boiled cassava under garlic, sour orange and hot oil. - **Pan con lechón**: Roast pork in a bread roll with raw onion, eaten standing up anywhere on the island. - **Frita cubana**: A beef and chorizo patty under a nest of shoestring potatoes, in a bun. - **Croquetas**: Ham or chicken béchamel, breaded and fried, sold from every counter. - **Pan con timba**: Bread, a slab of guava paste and white cheese. The cheapest snack there is. - **Langosta a la plancha**: Caribbean spiny lobster grilled with garlic butter, easiest to find on the south coast. - **Camarones al ajillo**: Shrimp in garlic and oil, with bread to finish the pan. - **Pargo frito**: Whole red snapper fried, usually with rice and tostones alongside. - **Enchilado de mariscos**: Seafood in a light tomato and pepper sauce. Despite the name, not hot. - **Flan**: Caramel custard, the default dessert and rarely a bad one. - **Arroz con leche**: Rice pudding heavy with cinnamon and lime peel. - **Cucurucho**: Coconut, honey and fruit packed into a palm-leaf cone. A Baracoa speciality. - **Guayaba con queso**: Guava paste and white cheese, eaten in the same mouthful on purpose. - **Dulce de leche cortada**: Milk curdled with lime and cooked down with sugar, an old country dessert. - **Mojito**: White rum, lime, sugar, mint and soda. Havana’s most successful export after the cigar. - **Daiquirí**: Rum, lime and sugar, shaken cold. El Floridita froze it and never looked back. - **Cuba libre**: Rum and cola with a squeeze of lime, named for the independence slogan. - **Café cubano**: Espresso whipped with sugar as it brews, served in a thimble and drunk in one. - **Guarapo**: Sugar cane pressed to order and drunk cold, with lime if you ask. - **Ron añejo**: Aged rum drunk neat. The reason the cocktails work. - **Malta**: Sweet, dark, non-alcoholic malt drink, sometimes cut with condensed milk. ## By theme - [Hidden gems of North America](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems-north-america.md) - [Winter sun](https://wimup.com/winter-sun.md) - [Winter sun in North America](https://wimup.com/winter-sun-north-america.md) ## Films - [Havana Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/havana.md), 10:45 ## FAQs ### How many days do you need in Cuba? Ten days is the honest minimum for more than the capital. Four nights in Havana, two in Viñales, then two or three in Trinidad with a stop in Cienfuegos or Santa Clara on the way. Two weeks lets you carry on east to Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba, which is where the island stops feeling Spanish and starts feeling Caribbean. Distances are long and transport is slow, so plan fewer stops than you think. ### Can Americans travel to Cuba? Yes, but not as ordinary tourists. US law allows travel under twelve general licence categories published by the Treasury, and most independent visitors go under "Support for the Cuban People", which means staying in private homes, eating in private restaurants and keeping a record of the trip for five years. No application is needed if your travel fits a category. Read the Treasury’s own guidance first. ### What do you need to enter Cuba? A passport, an entry visa applied for through the Cuban government’s electronic system, proof of travel medical insurance valid in Cuba, and the online D’Viajeros declaration completed shortly before you fly, which returns a QR code the airline and immigration both ask for. The fee and the fine print vary by nationality, and the rules have moved more than once, so check the foreign ministry’s own page before you book anything. ### How do you pay for things in Cuba? In cash you brought with you. The Cuban peso is the only legal currency since the convertible peso was withdrawn in 2021, but the country has partly dollarised, so some shops price in US dollars. Cards issued in the United States do not work, and other foreign cards have become unreliable. Bring euros or US dollars in clean, undamaged notes, change what you need at a bank or CADECA, and treat any working ATM as a bonus. ### What about the blackouts? They are real and they are routine. The national grid has failed completely several times since 2024, and rolling cuts of many hours a day are normal outside the resort strips. Bring a power bank and a torch, ask your guesthouse whether it has a generator, and keep some flexibility in any plan that depends on a fridge, a lift or an airport. It changes a trip; it does not stop one. ### How do you get between cities? Víazul runs the long-distance coaches tourists mostly use, and the seats sell out, so book ahead. Shared colectivo taxis leave from near the bus terminals, charge per seat, and usually beat the bus by an hour on the same route. Domestic flights save a full day between Havana and Santiago de Cuba but cancel often. Renting a car is possible and expensive, and fuel queues are the reason most people do not. ## Related countries - [United States](https://wimup.com/country/united-states.md) - [Canada](https://wimup.com/country/canada.md) - [All of North America](https://wimup.com/north-america) Part of [North America](https://wimup.com/north-america.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://www.cuba.travel/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Visa](https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/es/articulo/sistema-de-visado-electronico-evisacuba?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [US travellers](https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/1541?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.