The forum is a bit slow these days….
But I can give you some advice.
If you are going alone, I would suggest that you just use the Viazul bus to get to Vinales. It’s cheap and it will work fine. The first bus leaves Havana at 8:45am and gets to Vinales 4 hours later. It’s a long ride. But it only costs 12cuc. The problem is that the last return bus to Havana leaves Vinales at 2pm.. so if you are doing a day trip, you cannot really use the bus to return, as it would only leave you about an hour to see Vinales.
You can get a taxi for the return trip. There are many taxis in Vinales that are located along the main road, and there will be a guy at the main tourist office in front of the plaza who can organize the taxi for you. It should cost about 20cuc to get to Havana. But it will be more difficult to get a taxi at night.
My best advice is not to take a day trip to Vinales. It is too short if you spend just 1 day… You have to at least spend 1 night. If you took the Viazul and left Havana at 2pm you would arrive in Vinales by 5pm. You could walk around and get to know the place. Then, the next morning, you could go for a walk in the valley and see some stuff. You could maybe even get a horse tour (ask your landlord to organize it) and then you could head back to havana by 2pm. You would still be in Vinales less than 24 hours, but you could actually see much more.
The horse tours will be best organized by your landlord in Vinales. If it does not work out, just go for a long walk in the valley. You will see a lot. There is a trail. There are other tours, like seeing caves, but those are expensive and you would have to pre-book. You could also go hiking up a mogote (hills around the valley). You can do this yourself or with a guide if you want.
Check Viazul.com for bus schedules. I strongly suggest that you book the ticket online ahead of time.
Have fun!
Mario
