14 days travelling around family of 3

Hi Ana,

For flights, you should check Google Flights for deals. It is very easy to browse. Click on the following links to see flights from London to Havana for March 29 to April 12, 2018.

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LHR,LGW,STN,LCY,LTN,SEN,QQS;t=HAV;d=2018-03-29;r=2018-04-12

You will have no trouble traveling with an 8 year old. My daughter is 6 years old and I have traveled to Cuba with her many times. It should be pretty easy for you.

My recommendation is to not rent a vehicle. It will be cheaper for you to simply use taxis to get around Cuba. A vehicle will easily cost you about $120 per day. For that same price you can hire a taxi and driver to drive you hundreds of kilometers to a new city to explore.

My recommendation for an itinerary would be this:

Land in Havana March 29.

1. Spend 4 nights in Havana (29, 30, 31, 1). Explore the city. There is a lot to do and you have lots of time to plan out the things you would like to visit. We have a good choice of casas to rent in Havana, just click here: https://bestcubaguide.com/casas-particulares-in-el-vedado-havana-cuba/
2. Go to Vinales for 3 nights (April 2, 3, 4). You can take a horseback ride around the valley and enjoy the small town lifestyle. There is a beach you can visit nearby. It’s a beautiful place. Here are some casas https://bestcubaguide.com/casas-particulares-in-vinales-cuba/
3. Go to Trinidad for 3 nights (April 5, 6, 7). Check out the Trinidad travel guide to see what a wonderful place it is (https://bestcubaguide.com/trinidad-cuba-free-online-guidebook/) For casa bookings, look here: https://bestcubaguide.com/casas-particulares-in-trinidad-cuba/
4. The beach for your last 4 days: The best beach in Cuba is in Varadero. But it is filled with tourists and has many hotels with pools. You could rent a casa, which would be about 1 block from the beach. I can take care of this rental for you, or you can see places online. Varadero is the main tourist town in Cuba. But the beach is excellent. If you want a more private beach, you can go to a beach like Playa Larga. The beach is much smaller, but there are no resorts, only small rental casas along the beach. But this beach is far from everything. The town is tiny and there are very few restaurants or bars. You might get bored… But it is a nice place. While more tourists are starting to visit Playa Larga, it is still not very touristy. More info can be found here: http://www.cubacasas.net/cities/playa_giron/
5. For your last night, you would return back to Havana and prepare for your departure.

How does this sound? You would be visiting 4 different places and you would get a good sense of Cuba. This is a common route for people wanting to see a lot of Cuba and meet Cubans from all over the western part of the island.

tell me what you think or just ask if you have more questions.

Mario

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Mario.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Mario.

Hi Ana,

Actually, the booking of the casas and organizing of the trip is very easy for us to do. We communicate with the landlords directly and book your trips with the taxi drivers. I will also give you the contact info of my assistant in Cuba so that if there are any issues, you can reach her directly. She speaks perfect English and lives in Havana. This way you also have a trusted contact in Cuba in case you need anything.

Despite our best laid plans, sometimes there are minor problems which happen, for example a taxi comes late or if there is a storm you might have some delays. These are normal and I am just telling you ahead of time. But there are never any serious issues.

The first step in the process is to find the casa that you would like in Havana. Since you are 2 adults and 1 child, I would suggest a casa with 2 beds in the same room. In my opinion, Vedado is the best neighborhood for a casa because the homes are in better condition than in the rest of Havana and the area is quiet and safe. You can easily travel by taxi or walk to Old Havana or any place else in the city. So, here are some suggestions for casas in Vedado. I am suggesting rooms where there are 2 beds in 1 room, so that you can be near your young son.

1. https://bestcubaguide.com/portfolio-items/casa-particular-abraham-independent-vedado-apartment/
2. https://bestcubaguide.com/portfolio-items/casa-particular-anmar-independent-apartment/
3. https://bestcubaguide.com/portfolio-items/casa-particular-ernesto-independent-apartment-vedado/
4. https://bestcubaguide.com/portfolio-items/casa-particular-lisett-5-bedrooms-vedado/

Once we have the Havana casa, we can get the other casas in the other cities.

For the taxis, we can organize everything. The taxi prices are here: https://bestcubaguide.com/city-city-taxi-transfers-cuba/

The airport pickup would cost 25cuc. 

The taxi from Havana to Vinales is 90cuc

The taxi from Vinales to Trinidad is 250cuc

The taxi from Trinidad to Varadero is 150cuc

The taxi from Varadero to Havana is 95cuc

The taxi transfer back to the airport at the end of your trip would be 25cuc

The total taxi cost would be 635cuc which works out to about 490 GBP

For alternative transport, you have 2 options.

1. You can book taxi rides while you are in Cuba. So you can approach drivers on the street and ask them the price to take you to these different towns. You can usually get a deal. The cars in Cuba fit 7 passengers and the driver might charge 30 to 40cuc per passenger. You will be riding with other people in the car, but the overall price will be cheaper. For the trip from Vinales to Trinidad, you would likely save 100$. For the other trips, you would not save much, since you are 3 people. I cannot organize these group travels. You would have to do it while in Cuba.
2. The other option is to take the Viazul bus, which is the Cuban national bus service. You would have to book your tickets as soon as possible, since this bus fills up fast. The bus trips will cost about half as much as the taxi. But the trips also take longer because the bus makes many stops. You can check out this link for more info http://www.viazul.com/

For the casas and the taxis, you would pay the drivers and landlords in cash when you arrive. We take no money for our services. Everything goes directly to the service providers.

If you want to start the process, please send me an email at my personal email address  rizzi@videotron.ca . It is better if we communicate about the details privately, rather than on this forum. And my assistant can take care of all the details for you and we will answer any other questions you might have.

take care,

Mario