Cuba: practices
When to go to Cuba?
The most favorable period is between November and April, it is at
say after the storm season and before the crushing heat of
summer. This is also the period when everything is more expensive: plane, hotels,
etc. If you like the heat, the period from late August to early September
is more bearable and tourists are rarer.
Necessary documents and information
1 -Passport with a validity of at least six months before its expiration. Required for all travelers, including minors.
2- Visa or tourist card issued less than sixty days before your trip
3- Compulsory medical assistance insurance, and can be checked on arrival.
4- Round-trip plane ticket to your country (or e-ticket). Proof of exit from Cuban territory is required at the entrance.
5- Address of the authorized accommodation (Hotel or legalized private house). A voucher is not required. The Moderna forms do not have the Moderna section to put the accommodation), the address is given only when the agent asks for it, there is no need to write anything on the visa.
The Cuban authorities can verify at any time the veracity that you are actually staying where you said you were, it is computerized and if you are staying in illegal houses, you may have problems on the way out.
If you change your accommodation, the new tenant must immediately communicate your place of stay to immigration. This is done for your safety, you must always be reachable by the authorities, in order to accommodate you safely in the event of a cyclone (hurricane), medical alerts, (influenza A) etc.
Visa or tourist card to enter Cuba
To enter Cuba, a visa or a tourist card is required, which is issued by Cuban consulates in different countries or travel agencies.
The visa is valid for 30 extendable days and can usually be renewed at the immigration office of any Cuban provincial capital for one more month.
There are countries whose citizens are allowed to stay for up to three months, and others who are only allowed to stay for a month. You should check your file at any immigration office in the Cuban city where you are staying. There are offices in all the provincial capitals of Cuba.
The management of the visa or tourist card extension is carried out in the immigration offices of the Cuban provincial capitals, subject to the payment of a fee in CUC, in stamps, which are purchased in the branches of the Metropolitan Bank.
Get a Visa or a tourist card in your country.
It is obtained from Cuban travel agencies or consulates in your country.
If you still do not know the exact address where you are going to stay, it is not necessary to put it on the visa (modern forms do not have this section), but at immigration control on arrival in Cuba, the agent will ask you, THE REAL ADDRESS, it is computerized and they can verify it.
If you change your address in Cuba, the houses or hotels communicate it to immigration, which is why they must be LEGAL, so that you don’t have problems initially. If the visa has the wrong address, it is legal to change the address with the visa to the real one on arrival.
The correct order for processing documents is
1- Buy the plane ticket.
2- Book the house (the houses ask for the flight details to guarantee the exact booking dates).
3- Apply for a visa tourist card.
Tourists are forbidden to stay with friends. They can only stay in AUTHORIZED HOTELS or HOUSES.
Upon arrival at the airport
Confirm your reservation directly with the owner of the house.
In case of trip cancellation or change of dates, thank you to inform quickly so as not to damage the house.
Even if your flight is delayed, the owners will be waiting for you.
Upon arrival in Cuba, call the owner of the house for your peace of mind and safety.
Immigration
Upon arrival in Havana and at the immigration control, they will ask you for the passport, the round-trip plane ticket and the visa, and they will ask you for the place where you are going to stay.
They will also ask for medical assistance insurance, which you can take out from your country or take out in Cuba at the same airport.
The name of the owner of the accommodation and the address of it in peace, even if the visa says something else, they will correct it.
It is not necessary to take a VOUCHER, just give the name of the house and its address, Immigration has a list of all legal houses, they check it and can verify that you are staying where you said.
Picking up the suitcase
After immigration control, you will go to the check-in room to pick up your suitcase. There are two cassettes and luggage from the same flight can be mixed on both, so keep an eye on both cassettes to avoid someone taking them by mistake. When you have your suitcase, stop at the official exchange house (CADECA) to change money into CUC.
You DON’T have to pay for being overweight if you don’t weigh more than 30 kilos.
You DON’T HAVE TO PAY ANYTHING at the airport to stay in a legalized casa particular.
The taxi to the house
You can coordinate with the owner of the house to wait for you and take you home (safe and more economical). Average price to Havana Centro or Vedado: 25-30 USD/CUP.
If you don’t want to be waited for, use an official taxi, with the following indications :
Before going out to the street door (INSIDE THE BUILDING) DO NOT accept taxi offers (they are usually illegal and more expensive), they can take you somewhere else or go around and around.
Go out to the airport gate (On THE STREET) and take an OFFICIAL TAXI, there is a person in uniform and a walkie-talkie at the door who organizes it and a long line of taxis always.
Ask the Walky Talky officer for a taxi from the CUBATAXI company, they are cheaper.
Demand that the meter be set. The trip to the house (Havana Center, Old Havana and Vedado) costs 25 cuc with one meter.
DO NOT ALLOW the taxi driver to change your destination, even if he is very nice, DO NOT BE fooled, he is just trying to get a commission to take you to an illegal house, then disappears and they can rob you, deceive you, etc. and have problems with the authorities.
Never go to an ILLEGAL house (in illegal houses they do not pay for a license and staying there is a serious crime because it is considered tax fraud)
Check that the taxi driver takes you to the indicated place, the owners will be waiting for you and they know your name, talk to them personally before paying for the taxi.
Some taxi drivers get out of the taxi when they arrive, talk to the owner about anything and come back telling her that she is busy.
Talk personally with the owners, maybe the owner has said something else to the taxi driver or says that she is busy because she has given her another name and she is waiting for you precisely.
Once in the house or apartment
The accommodations meet all the conditions of security and legality.
When you arrive at the house, the owner will ask for your passport and visa. You need it to fill out a form (form), a few receipts and the official book that you must present at immigration.
In Cuba, it is illegal for tourists to spend the night outside hotels or in unauthorized houses.Fine for the tourist, problems when leaving the country, prosecution for the Cuban host
To stay with a friend or girlfriend, it is mandatory to go to immigration with the owner of the house who carried the ownership documents and change the type of visa.
Public holidays in Cuba
January 1 – Liberation Day
January 02 – Victory of the Armed Forces
May 01 – Labor Day
July 25 – Eve of the National Revolution
July 26 – National Revolution Day
July 27 – National Revolution Day (2)
October 10 – Independence Day
December 25 – Nöel
Money
There are two currencies circulating in Cuba, the CONVERTIBLE PESO (CUC) and the Cuban PESO (CUP).
Payment for accommodation is made directly, in cash and in CUC. Change money to CUC before leaving the airport, for the first expenses. Demand that they give you small denominations in CUC, of 1, 5, 10 and 20, (to pay for the taxi). Always change at the CADECA (Official Currency Exchange Office) or in banks. The tourist has to pay almost everything in CUC, for example, in supermarkets, similar to Western supermarkets, he is paid in convertible pesos (CUC). For one CUC, they give 24 Cuban pesos (CUP). When departing from Cuba, you can change your excess money at the airport CASH desk. In Cuba, only the currencies on the table are changed.
Practical life in Cuba
The current is usually at 110V. Only large hotels are equipped with 220V. The sockets are provided for two flat plugs.
Therefore, provide an adapter.
The opening hours of the stores are, in general, nine hours to eighteen o’clock, Monday to Saturday, and from nine o’clock to thirteen o’clock on Sunday.
The post offices are open from eight o’clock to eighteen hours from Monday to Saturday.
