This guide is for adventurous backpackers who want to see off-the beaten track places. If that's you and you always wanted to see this exotic Island of freedom, then clear up two weeks in your schedule and follow my steps there.

Cuba

All(most) of Cuba in 2 weeks

Going to the restaurants is not a problem for a budget tourist as Cuba is a very cheap country. 

Do you want to see real Cuba? Tired of touristy places and resorts? Then this guide is for you

- tips on staying with the locals (renting accomodation via booking.com is not available for this region)

- itinerary for bus trips (comfortable intercity buses for foreign tourists)

- local taxi tips (tip no.1 - old cars are not comfortable!)

- recommendations on what and where to eat in Cuba

All Havana can be divided in 3 parts: old (touristy) center, center and new Havana. All fancy hotels and touristy places are in the old center but if you are looking for a more authentic experience, you need to stay in the center. 

When I arrived in the street where my accommodation was, the first thing I saw was a Cuban woman standing in the doors of a typical Cuban building smoking Cuban cigar. That's when I knew I came to the right place. 

I was staying with the locals by renting a room via booking.com (it's called casas particulares) and in Havana I was lucky because my host was speaking English. In other cities it's almost never the case. I

Best thing to do in Cuba is to arrange to have breakfast at your accommodation. It's for an extra but very reasonable price and it's life saving as you won't be able to buy any food yourself in supermarkets (there isn't any food there) and going to cafes and restaurants is good but there are always a lot of tourists and ot may be expensive. I just paid 5 CUC for breakfast and my hosts also gave me water bottles (sometimes for free, sometimes for 1 CUC, which was very good for me as you can't buy it in the supermarkets). 

Street food in Cuba is very specific. You can try but get ready for a lot of oil and grease. The best thing to buy in the streets is fruits. But to be honest I never did it myself, it was always my hosts who were buying fruits for me. Maybe they just know the places but it was absolutely fine with me. 

In the end of Malecon you'll see a lighthouse. It's a military object so you can't go in there but you can still admire it from distance. 

I've stayed in Havana for 2 days and to me it was more than enough. 

There are various types of transport in Cuba (even horses if you wish) and most of the time I was traveling by bus there but I didn't manage to book a ticket to Cienfuegos in advance so my host called me a taxi - taxi collectivo. It's something like blablacar except that it's a taxi. So there are a few people with you going to the same (or almost) direction. In our taxi I was the only one going to Cienfuegos which was the first stop. 

This taxi collectivo was an old american car. They look beautiful but if you're the last one to be picked, you will sit right where the transmission is (yes, in this old cars there are 3 seats in the front raw) and it wasn't very comfortable. But the ride was good anyway, we even had a short stop to go to the toilet in a road cafe. Such trip costed 10 or 15 dollars which is nearly as much as the bus.  

Best and the only way to get to Havana from the airport is taxi unless you rent a car or have a private transfer. The price for such a ride fixed by the government is 25 CUC (nearly 25 dollars). My taxi driver wanted to get 37 CUC but I knew the real price and for the first time in my life I bargained and won.

If you haven't then you definitely need to go there. You will see people fishing (that's what people in fancy restaurants will eat later) and 99% you will be hit or almost hit by a huge wave coming out of nowhere. 

Cienfuegos is a very small town so it's a nice stop over to go to Trinidad later. Don't expect a lot of things to do and to see in Cienfuegos, just walk around, enjoy beautiful (as beautiful as in Havana but in a better condition) buildings, sleep over and move on to the next city.

But if you arrive in the morning and have a whole day there, you can go to a beautiful waterfall nearby, just ask your hosts (if you'are staying in casas particulares) or someone in big hotels or even in the street (sometimes they offer tours just in the street in the city center) about a tour to a waterfall and they will tell you all the details.

From Cienfuegos to Trinidad you can take a bus. There's a bus company for tourists - Viazul. Buses are quite comfortable, there's air conditioner (sometimes even too much, so take some warm clothes) and drivers speak English (a little). 

In Trinidad the main sight is it's architecture, so just walk around there. But it's also quite a small city, The main tourist attraction is Casa de la musica. It's a big stairs where during the day tourists connect to wifi and on the evening it becomes a restaurant with live music and salsa dancing. 

Also near Trinidad there are some green areas so if you love nature, you will have something to do. You can take a tour to a small waterfall nearby. I took a horse tour and even though it was my first time riding a horse on my own, the guide explained how to guide a horse so I really enjoyed the whole experience (just put on some pants, not shorts). Also as a part of the tour they will show you how to make a sugar cane juice and you will be able to try it (sugar cane+rhum is so delicious!). 

From Trinidad to Holguin you can also go by bus. To me it was a little stopover on the to Santiago de Cuba because otherwise it's a very long ride on the bus. But turned out that a little beach time was exactly what I needed. The beach was amazing, the water was so warm and calm. So come to Holguin and spend the whole day on the beach, you won't regret it, 

I asked my hosts to call a taxi for me. Taxi took me to the beach from my place and either it can wait for you there to bring you back or you agree on a time when he comes back to the beach to take you back to your place. Which is very convenient as you don't need to look for a new taxi there.

From Holguin you can get to Santiago de Cuba also by Viazul bus. 

Compared to all previous cities (except for Havana) Santiago de Cuba is quite a big city. So you can also walk around, enjoy the architecture. Just be prepared that it is the hottest city of all in this guide, so make sure not to be in the open sun for too long. 

The road from Santiago de Cuba to Vinales takes almost the whole day. First it's 16 (!) hours on a bus to Havana. But it actually wasn't as hard as it seems. Yeah, you are tired, but there are a lot of stops so you don't need to sit for all 16 hours straight. And after that you need to take another bus from Havana to Vinales. 

I guess it was my favorite town in Cuba. It's in a middle of a green valley so you can enjoy nature and beautiful views there. 

In Vinales you can go hiking, rent a bike and go for a ride or go on a horse tour, After Trinidad I wanted to do another horse tour and this time I was almost a pro. 

The tour was quite interesting, It starts with cigar farm where they show you how tobacco leaves are grown, how they are turned into a cigar and if you want, you can buy real Cuban cigars there (I'm just not sure if you can take them out of the country). 

Next stop in a coffee farm. They also show you how they grow coffee beans and you can also buy coffee there but I didn't like Cuban coffee so I guess not everyone may like it. 

The last stop was a little lake with a small bar nearby where you can have a little rest from all the horse riding, 

Next day I rented a bike and went to a sight called Prehistoric wall. 

You need to pay 3 CUC to come close and that's a little too much to just take a picture of a rock. But as I already arrived there, I paid and took a couple photos there. But the ride itself was quite nice as you pass by fields, little houses and everything is so green around. 

I went back to Havana from Vinales to sleep over and fly back home the next day. It may be a good option if bus and plane timetables don't match for you.

Additional information for your Cuban trip:

First thing you need to do in Cuba - exchange money. There's an official currency exchange company and they have only two offices in the airport. I spent one hour in a queue.

Every blog post about Cuba mentions that it's better to exchange euros there. That's true but only because it's easier.

As I already said, I was staying with locals at casas particulares as it allowed me to travel on a budget. If you don't feel comfortable with such an accommodation, there are big hotels in all of the cities.

Here are a few examples (first link is where I was staying, second one - an alternative):

As I already mentioned, I used Viazul bus company, 

Viazul wetransp

Sometimes after booking a ticket on this website you receive immediately a ticket, sometimes just a confirmation of booking. It's okay, you will just need to exchange it for a real ticket in a ticket office right before the departure (ticket offices are always at the bus station).

Make sure to arrive a little in advance because sometimes the information about bus stops in maps.me is not updated. So if you arrive on the spot and see nothing, just ask someone about Viazul bus, they will guide you to the right spot. 

All(most) of Cuba in 2 weeks

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