Taxis

[kiwicgn]

#18980

Hi Mario,

I am in the middle of planning a 2 week holiday to Cuba in mid-March this year for my partner and myself. I have bought your book Real Havana and read and found many good tips which I plan on using when in Cuba. I have also read a lot of your website.

We plan on spending the 1st 7 days in Havana, travel down to Trinidad and stay the night there. The following morning travel to Cayo Santa Maria and stay in a resort for 6 nights and then travel back to Havana and fly back home.

When in Havana we would like to travel to Vinales for a day and of course stop along the way and spend some time having a look around at the valley, the prehistoric wall etc. etc. We would like to hire a taxi for the full day to take us there, see some sights there and drive us back to Havana. Is this possible and what would this cost? At what location do we get the taxi from?

A plan is to hire a taxi for 2 full days. The taxi driver would pick us up from our hotel in Havana and then stop along the way (most likely in Cienfugos for a couple of hours) and travel to Trinidad. The following day use the same taxi to drive us over to Cayo Santa Maria. I have done some research and there doesn’t seem to be too much worth seeing from Trinidad to Cayo Santa Maria, am I right in my research?

If we were to use a taxi for 2 days (as above) what would it cost? At what location do we get the taxi from?

If we hired the taxi to drive us down to Trinidad with the option of stopping at Cienfugos for a couple of hours what would this cost?

If we were to hire a different taxi to take us to Cayo Santa Maria and if there were any points of interest to see along the way we would want to stop. What would that cost?

I have read on your website that you can book a taxi e.g. Havana to Trinidad for CUC160. What does this exactly include? Is it just the drive from your hotel in Havana to your hotel in Trinidad? OR can you ask the taxi driver to stop along the way? OR are you hiring the taxi for a full day?

Thanking you in advance for your response.

Kind regards

 

Bruce

[Mario]

#18991

Hi, your plan is ambitious. There will be a lot of driving around. Vinales is about 2 hours away from Havana (sometimes a bit more). Trinidad is over 4 hours from Havana in the opposite direction from Vinales. Cayo Santa Maria is 3 hours from Trinidad and 4.5 hours from Havana. Just make sure that you want to travel this far during your trip. But it would be a great trip and you would cover a lot of distance.

Anyway, everything you want to do can be done, exactly as you want it, but it will cost money. For example, a driver from Havana to Vinales costs about 80 to 90 cuc (equivalent to USD). So to go and return is about 180 cuc. A driver from Havana to Trinidad will be 160 cuc. A driver from Trinidad to Cayo Santa Maria will be about 100 cuc to 110 cuc. And driver from Cayo Santa Maria to Havana will be about 220 cuc. So all told, it will cost about 670 cuc (usd). That is hiring drivers by the trip. The taxis pick you up, drive you and drop you off.

If you want the drivers to hang around while you explore a particular area for a few hours, you have to factor more money. Sometimes considerably more. Drivers always want to do round trip. So if they bring you to Trinidad, they want to leave Havana in the morning, early, then bring you to Trinidad, and then find passengers in order to return to Havana (their home) on the same day. If you add extra hours to the trip, then many drivers will charge considerable overtime because they might not be able to find passengers for the return leg, and have to spend money on accommodations and food in a different city. Anyway, all that to say, if you want to stop for a few hours in Cienfuegos, the prices jump considerably.

Also note that in Cuba there is no car culture. No road trip culture. Infrastructure is a luxury reserved for large towns and cities. Most people do not stop along the road for cool things, because there are very few cool things along the road and even if there was something interesting, it would be hard to find and even the taxi drivers would not know about it. 99% of driving is from one destination to another. Exploring the open areas of Cuba is not done and taxis drivers are sometimes reluctant to do it, even for more money. If they get stuck in the backwoods, anything can happen.

On my website, all taxi prices are from destination to destination. Drivers charge more for stops. I should make clear that I don’t make any commissions from these drivers and have no control over the prices (my quotes will be accurate, but anything extra is between you and the driver). I just tell the drivers and you pay them when you are satisfied at the end of the trip. But usually drivers charge about 20cuc per hour for stops. But more if it really messes up their scheduling (if it happens in the afternoon or evening).

Again, your trip can be very easily arranged exactly how you want it, but you will have to throw some money around.

Concerning hiring a driver for several days, this is what I wrote to another person who asked a similar question. And I added some more info for your situation in particular.

–

Hiring a driver for the entire trip has been done before, but it can be expensive. Generally the best / cheapest approach is to use different drivers as you need them.

Individual trips outside the city are expensive but for about 100 to 150 cuc you can get to most places on the western side of the island. Going far east is a bit more expensive.

Hiring a personal driver who will be with you all day would likely cost about 100 cuc for days that you stay within the city and about 150 to 200cuc for days you leave the city. If you are going to do a lot of driving, then it is an OK value. But drivers will usually charge supplemental fees for long distance drives. Let’s say you decided to go from Havana on a 24 hour drive across the country… The driver would probably want a lot of extra money anyway. Plus you will have to cover his food and lodging. Hiring full times drivers is a luxury trip.

I get asked this question often. 99% of the time it is far better to just use different taxis as you need then. The only time that I remember a person using the full time driver for multiple days was because the guy had large camera equipment and was going to be taking photos all over Cuba over the course of a week. So he wanted to have one driver with him always to get him around and keep the cameras in the taxi. It cost a lot.

—

Now, I will give you just a tiny bit of unsolicited advice.

Vinales – If you leave Havana in the morning, get to Vinales and want to only spend 1 day exploring the valley, you can do it, but it won’y likely be the best experience. You cannot really drive in the valley. There are no roads. There are roads that go around the valley, but not inside the valley. It would be like going to take a taxi tour of the Grand Canyon. The taxi would only go around the area, but nowhere close to inside. Basically, if you are going to Vinales to see the valley, you would not see much in a taxi. The taxi can take you to the “Prehistoric Wall”, but note that there is nothing prehistoric about the wall. It’s just a painted mural on a rock. Just want to make sure you know that before you go.

The best thing is to take a walking tour of the valley or a horseback tour. You cannot really organize these things if you are only arriving for 1 day. Usually these tours are organized the night before and then the guide meets you in the morning at your casa and you go for the tour. If you will only be in Vinales for 1 day, you can just go hiking in the valley for a few hours. You will see beautiful things, but you likely will not get very far or see the things such as the caves or waterfalls. There are no signs for tourists in the valley (and very few foreigners go on independent hikes). And the valley is pretty huge. If you decided to stay 2 days (sleep 1 night at least) your casa owner would be able to organize a walking or horseback tour). These are not expensive.

Trinidad – 1 day in Trinidad is not much. If you stop in Cienfuegos (which I think is a bit of a waste) you will really not have much time in Trinidad. You can see the town in a few hours, but you won’t see much and you certainly will not have enough time to see anything around the town.

My best advice in general would be either to see fewer places (see either Trinidad or Vinales, spending a few nights in either, but not both) or if you really want to see both towns, then cut back on your Havana or Cayo Santa Maria days in order to fit more days in for the small towns.

If you have more questions, just ask me.

But – I will say, have you booked any of your accommodations in Havana or Trinidad or Vinales from my website? If yes, then we can arrange the taxis as you want and you just have to communicate with my assistant at casas.bestcubaguide@gmail.com. If you have not booked accommodations with us, then i would suggest that you book your taxis with http://www.taxivinalescuba.com/ They are a specialized taxi service company and we generally use them to fulfill all our taxi services anyway (I just send them the details of your trip and they do it). If you are just looking for the taxi services, you can contact them directly and they can give you the latest quotes for all your taxi needs. If you have already booked your accommodations on my website, then we can take care of the taxis, no problem.

take care man,

Mario

 

[kiwicgn]

#19014

Thanks very much for your help Mario, it definitely has given me more helpful info about taxis.

[crykay15]

#19782

Hi Mario,

We are loving your book.  It is going to be so helpful on our trip to Cuba.  We do have a question regarding taxis, six of us will be arriving in March on a cruise ship to Havana.  We would like to explore in an old car with an English speaking guide.  There are several company’s out that offer this tour, however, we would like to know if it is better to book ahead or try to find one (possibly two cars) while we are there.  Do they hang around the cruise terminal or would we have to go find them in Havana?  Also, is it recommended to drive around in a hard top or convertible, as there will be six of us?

 

Thank you, Lisa

[Mario]

#19793

Hi, I am happy you are enjoying the book. Here is my advice.

In Havana, the area near the cruise dock has limited traffic. There is no large parking area near the cruise area. You might be able to find a passing taxi to take you on a tour, but due to the amount of tourists hopping off the cruise ship at that time, the cost will likely be higher than normal if you take one of these taxis.

Also know that most drivers in Havana do not speak English very well. I would say the vast majority speak almost no English at all.

• The yellow car taxis will have state drivers. Some speak English, most don’t. These cars all take only 4 passengers plus a driver. They have air conditioning and they are hard top (they are modern cards). There are also some yellow minivan taxis. This would be a good option for you since you are going in a group of 6. But it can be difficult to find a minivan taxi, and even harder to find one with an English speaking driver.

• There will also be old car taxis on the street. These are cars from the 50s and 60s. These cars are hard tops. They are in very poor condition and are mostly used as communal taxis (similar to buses) where people hop on and off. These cars are mostly used by local cubans but tourists can use them too. The drivers don’t speak english and won’t give you a guided tour.

• The final option is an old convertible car. The convertible cars from the 50s and 60s were all bought up by the Cuban government and they were restored and they are used to give guided city tours. The drivers generally speak ok English. The base price for a tour with one of these cars is 25cuc per hour. Usually the drivers will try to get a bit more. But the base price is 25cuc per hour. These cars fit 5 passengers plus the driver.

Conclusion –

If you can find somebody online offering a minivan tour with an english driver, I would take it. This way your whole group can fit into one vehicle and the minivans also have air conditioning, and it would be comfortable for a 2 hour tour.

The other option is to get an old car convertible taxi. This is fun because you get to ride in an old car with a convertible roof. You will likely need 2 taxis. Still, it is not very expensive and you can check it off your list. If you can book these online for cheap, then book online. If not, you can find these cars in Old Havana and negotiate directly with the drivers. You might not find these cars at the cruise terminal, but there will be dozens of these old cars beside the Capitolio building.  I have included a map here – You can see just under the blue map market, there are a line of old cars waiting beside the Parque Central. Just go there and hire a taxi for a tour. Negotiate the price and you are all set to go. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OBwf9m3h7Dh82pAFOoSE0KO2uqA&usp=sharing

I hope this helps,

Mario

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Mario.

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