HAVANA OEH NA NA

Visiting Havana had been on my bucket list ever since watching Dirty Dancing II: Havana Nights. They movie may have bombed but it inspired me to go to Havana.

Where we stayed

We stayed in Havana for four nights while being on our way to Mexico. In Cuba you can stay in Casa Particulares, some sort of home stays. You can book these on arrival as the houses are indicated with signs, but I like to check reviews before I stay somewhere. We stayed in the colonial style Villa Costa Habanera which we found on Airbnb, it cost about € 50 per night and it was the perfect Havana experience. It is located in the El Vedado area, which is a 20 minute walk to the historical city center and a short walk to the Hotel Nacional. I liked the local feel of El Vedado and felt completely safe, for us it was the perfect location. Villa Costa Habanera is on the expensive side for Havana, but I loved how clean it was and you receive a lovely breakfast. They really went out of their way to accommodate us with a good breakfast each morning, as you never know what you what will be available in the shops in Cuba. Villa Costa Habanera only has a few rooms, so you will be treated very personally by the owners and the staff.

Practical information

Cuba has Visa requirements for most countries, so it is important to check those before you travel. Being Dutch we arranged a tourist Visa via Visa4all, which was perfectly arranged. I read many issues regarding withdrawing cash in Cuba. We withdrew cash with our credit card immediately on arrival at the airport and had no issues with that. It is also possible to exchange cash at the Hotel Nacional. The Cubans are generally really nice and helpful. Sometimes they do want to make some money, by showing you the way to a restaurant or street. They try to make conversations with you to practice their English. I actually felt a little guilty in some conversations as they would often ask you what your next destination is (they expect you to travel through Cuba for some weeks) and I would explain that we were visiting Havana on our way to Mexico. I didn’t realize that a lot of Cubans are not allowed to travel outside of the country, so it made me feel a little guilty that we are so spoiled and have the luxury to travel almost everywhere and that this was just part of a large vacation for us.

The internet options in Havana are really expensive and slow. We bought a few minutes of internet in Hotel Nacional (pictures below), so we were able to sent some messages informing our parents that we had arrived. But as we were only in Cuba for four days I liked to disconnect for a few days.

Activities

You don’t need to plan any activities when visiting Havana. I loved just wandering on the old streets in the old Havana center and stopping at bars and streets to listen to music. Havana truly is like you have seen in movies, except that it was more run down than I expected. You mainly see pictures of the old center, which has been renovated greatly, but right next to the old center you will find a lot of buildings that are complete ruins. Of course there are colorful old cars everywhere, which I loved taking pictures with. The Malecon is the place to be at night, as all locals gather there to blast music and have drinks. You are absolutely welcome to join this, they seem to like tourists participating on their nights out!

The Malecon at night
Barbie girl in a barbie world!
Matchy matchy
Lots of buildings are absolute ruins like this one

Hielke had been to Havana before and made a friend while he was there 10 years ago. This friend still lived in the exact same location as 10 years ago so we were able to bring him a visit. He decided to take us out for a day, so we had a local tour guide which really added to our experience. I really liked meeting up with him and his girlfriend as they would show us around town, gave us local food and they spoke English really well. They also took us on a ferry from the old town to the opposite of the water. From here you had great views of old town Havana and there were hardly any tourists.

Havana view from the opposite side of the water

Another activity we did was going to the beach. We visited Playas del Este with a taxi and ended up liking it so much that we went twice. There is also a bus to Playas del Este but there was a gigantic waiting line and it did not seem that we would be able to get on the next four buses… (which go hourly) so we took a taxi instead. Playas del Este is the perfect Caribbean destination on your journey. The water was super blue and had the best temperature (just enough to cool down, but not too cold), the locals were blasting reggaeton music with their boomboxes and you could rent chairs really cheaply. I did not get bored once on this beach, as there were always Cubans dancing and flirting with each other. And being a big bottomed girl I felt like I was at the exact right place. The Cubans sure know how to party and whole families get the party started at this beach.

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