1. Stay in a casa particular
If you want to get to know Cuba you’re going to need to get to know Cubans. There’s no easier way of doing this on a two-week trip than to stay in the Cuban version of a B&B, a
casa particular. You’ll feel more like a lodger than a hotel guest, sharing the owners’ living space with them and, given the national penchant for chat, engaging with them in next to no time. It's essentially the socialist
Airbnb.
2. Don't expect too much Internet
As far as the internet goes, Cuba is among the most poorly connected countries in the world, with severe state restrictions on who and where gets access, dreadful connection speeds and no mobile broadband other than wifi.
Unless you are staying in or near a top hotel, don’t expect to be able to connect with your phone at all. You might just be lucky enough to find one of the few public wifi spots or patient enough to queue at one of the small number of internet cafés – where the connection will be screen-gazingly slow and the rates usually exorbitant.
So unless you do all your online research before you leave home, one of our best Cuba travel tips is to bring a guidebook.
3. Plan your nights out
Leaving a night out to chance can be the making of a memorable one anywhere in the world, but in Cuba the chances are slimmer. Even in the holiday resorts, trying to find ‘the buzz’ or ‘the strip’, you’ll be on a hiding to nothing – there just aren’t enough venues and those that there are, in most towns and cities, are sparsely spread.
Find out in advance where the night spots are, be prepared to spend some time travelling between them – especially in Havana where they are greater in number but dotted sporadically over a huge area (you’ll probably need to use taxis). If you find a venue you like, stick with it.
Explore our guide to the best things to do in Cuba for lots of ideas on how to spend your Cuban holiday.