Places outside of Havana
 

We are flying to Cuba again in December (second trip this year), after my gf finishes her salsa lessons we are planning to head outside of Havana where we haven't really been before.

We have a bit over a week time available so we were thinking of Trinidad and preferably something else on the way. Any suggestions of nice places to visit? Santa Clara or Cienfuegos worth a visit? We like to see and feel places, not sit in a bus with bunch of other tourists.

Any suggestions how to travel? They advertise rental cars nowadays (Hyundai/Seat/Audi) and from a few trips from Havanna to the countryside, the driving doesn't seem too bad.

Hi Ojala,

Best way to travel is by car. REX CAR RENTAL (http://www.rex.cu/rentacarVistaModelo.asp) have the largest and best network in CUBA and their cars are reliable too. Incase of any problem help is pretty near by as they have their network spread far & wide.

You can drive from Habana to Matanzas & have some nice lunch here and then move on to Varadero where there are many many options to choose from with PRINCESS PARADISUS DEL MAR being the numero uno option. You can checkout www.solmeliacuba.com and book online what you like as per your budget. You can stay in Varadero for 3 nights and then move on to Cienfuegos and again enjoy the excellent beaches and the sun.

Hope this is of help.

Safe Flying

EGT

The streets seemed to be fine but how is the driving a rental car, does it cause problems in the cities? Security issues? How are the maps?

The traffic in Havanna didn't quite encourage to drive a rental..

My top choice would definitely be Trinidad. Further afield Santiago de Cuba is also worth considering if you can manage to get that far.

Cienfuegos may be a useful stopping place on the way to Trinidad but Santa Clara is not worth a visit unless you are particularly interested in Che Guevara.

Stayed at Playa Pesquero once and only made it into Holguin which was interesting in and of itself. Was also recommended by many to visit Santiago de Cuba but never made it there.

How was your trip?

Excellent as usual! The weather in HAV wasn't that perfect but we had good luck in Santiago. Friends who arrived early January had a freezing trip..

Santiago was much more quieter than we expected, also very different from the spanish influence in Havanna. Also the music was way more traditional.

We ended up flying from HAV to SCU on AeroCaribbean (ATR) and return on Cubana (YAK-42). Everything at the airports and during the flights worked just perfectly, I've had much worse experiences with US airlines.