cool, aways thought my housemates were talking bullsh*t anyways. would love to see cuba for the reasons you stated

Left Cuba a week or so ago. Maybe I'll do a more formal TR, but dc_publius has the best advice in the thread. There's at least moderate street hassle in touristy places. Locals aren't particularly warm or open; I heard it is even illegal for them to socialize with foreigners? It's extremely difficult to get off the tourist trail: you're limited to Viazul (the government tourist bus system, with limited network and frequency), the trains (difficult and slow), taxi (obviously not cheap, but not as expensive as you would think), hiring a car, or biking.

Havana is the best the country has to offer imo. It's really got European quality of architecture and stuff. Vinales is nice natural scenery. Trinidad is a nice colonial city, maybe on par with Granada, Nicaragua or Antigua, Guatemala. We really enjoyed Sancti Spiritus--a colonial but not very touristy city, which Cubans told us wasn't worth visiting--the most. Santa Clara was pretty neat too.

Yes, Cuba doesn't have international chain restaurants or anything. But probably 90% of their restaurants are ****ty government chain restaurants. I'd prefer the existence of international chain restaurants with the option of good, local restaurants compared to a near-monopoly of mediocre government restaurants.

The casas particulares are the main redeeming quality. We ate almost every meal in one. So the food was actually pretty good for us. But the casas are kind of odd too sometimes; it's just the only allowed workaround to the government hotel monopoly, so the owners tend to be pretty businesslike.

Cuba definitely is much safer than the rest of Latin America regarding violent crime. It's a good bit worse than most places in terms of street hassle though.

Obvious but commonly ignored tip: don't drink the water or let bartenders put ice in your drinks.

I made this mistake when I went back in 05 and got sick as a dog for my entire three week stay.

Apart from that, it was an interesting destination and well worth a visit.

Being to Cuba a bunch of times but never far off the resorts. People are very friendly and never had a bad experience.

Imo if you're into the historical value then Havana is the the spot to go.

If you really want to party then Varadero is the spot.

If you want to take a family vacation then Cayo Coco is perfect. (bad mosquito's though)

Holguin is a nice compromise between Varadero and Cayo Coco.

Best time of the year to dodge cold weather and still be at a good price if you're from Canada/Northern Europe is the first 2 weeks in December.

What about playing online poker from there?

I know the government would not like it but that does not mean they actually do anything about it. For example I am told one can access betfair sports betting website so it might be illegal like prostitution in Thailand.

First hand experiences please.

never been there so no 1st hand, would assume the internet sucks tbh

The only place I found to go on the internet in Havana was the biggest hotel in town, a run down building from the 50s, and it took 15 minutes to load my Gmail for $3 US (and this was 2009).

That said, it's like some crazy experiment when you are there. I've been to 40 countries and Cuba is no doubt the most original of all. Really interesting place to go.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the nature there. I think that is the biggest reason to go. I've never been, but I have seen some PBS specials on it and it has some gorgeous untouched natural beauty. Not sure how accessible it would be though.

Had a sick (degen) trip there for a bachelor party about 3 years ago. I have been to lots of places in latin america and although it was cool to see cuba, it felt very lifeless and stale in almost every regard. Without the prospect of upward mobility, there is no incentive for work, or action, or attention. It just felt like it was lacking something that most other latin countries have, especially Ecuador where I am currently living and grinding. The trip was a blast, the casa particulares were cool, and the chicks were hot, but overall, it was just sort of a depressing place to me.

100% impossible currently. There is no such thing as wifi and private internet connections are against the law. Some people have them illegally, but they are brutally slow.

Nicaragua and Haiti had far better internet, if you want a standard of comparison. Cuba was along the lines of Mozambique (not quite Ethiopia bad).

ive heard its great if you can get in

Cuba can be VERY different for everyone that goes there depending on your reasons for going there. You have a lot of different experience options. Trips solely for all inclusive resorts, or sightseeing + history, or whores, or a casa particulares could all be an option and all be very different.

Good luck just getting internet in Cuba. It's hard to find, extremely expensive and worse than 56k. Playing poker on it would tilt a Buddhist monk.

TheNewT50,

You should do an Ask Me Anything style travel thread here. It seems like you have traveled very extensively and you write and compare about the places very well.