Cuba is unlike anywhere else in the Caribbean, or anywhere else in the world. A socialist island nation frozen in some respects at around 1960 — vintage American cars, crumbling Spanish colonial architecture, ration books — yet thrumming with music, color, and a social energy that constantly defies the deprivations of the system. It is a place where everything is an improvisation and somehow it all works.
The country stretches 1,200 kilometers from the lively capital Havana in the west to the remote mountains and chocolate-scented colonial town of Baracoa in the far east. Between those poles you'll find tobacco valleys and mogote limestone hills at Viñales, white-sand beach peninsulas at Varadero, cobblestoned Spanish towns at Trinidad and Remedios, and the Afro-Cuban heartland of Santiago de Cuba.
Be honest with yourself about what you're walking into. The economy has been under serious strain since 2019. Power cuts are frequent and sometimes last hours; fuel shortages affect transport; shelves in state shops can be bare. The peso (CUP) has collapsed in value against hard currencies. Travelers who stay in casas particulares (private homestays), eat at paladares (private restaurants), and move on Viazul buses or shared colectivo taxis will have a better and more honest experience than those sealed inside all-inclusive resorts.
What Cuba gives you in return for the inconveniences is extraordinary: genuine hospitality, streets full of improvised live music, a landscape of remarkable variety, and a history compressed into every corner of its colonial cities. Few countries are this vivid.
Destinations
- Havana — the capital; Old Havana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Viñales — tobacco farms and limestone mogotes in a spectacular valley
- Trinidad — one of the best-preserved colonial towns in the Americas
- Varadero — Cuba's main beach resort, 20 km of white sand
- Santiago de Cuba — the second city; Afro-Cuban culture and carnival capital
- Baracoa — remote eastern town, Cuba's oldest settlement
- Pinar del Río — gateway to Viñales and the western tobacco country
- Cayo Coco — northern cay with quiet beaches and flamingos
- Cayo Largo — small island off the south coast, excellent snorkeling
- Holguín — eastern city near Guardalavaca beach
- Matanzas — province capital near Varadero, known for Afro-Cuban traditions
- Remedios — small colonial town on the north coast, famous for its December fireworks festival
- Guamá — crocodile reserve and Taíno village reconstruction in the Zapata wetlands
