10 tips for visiting Cuba

10 tips for visiting Cuba
Rick Jervis, USA TODAY 6:35 p.m. EDT September 25, 2015

SANTIAGO DE CUBA — You've seen the TV images of embassies opening in
Washington and Havana. You're heard the stories of Cuban rumba parties
and beaches. You're ready to take a chance and head to an island that's
been off-limits to Americans for decades.

But is it ready for a flood of picky American tourists?

I recently spent a week in Cuba, traveling from Havana to this eastern
city to cover Pope Francis' visit. It's my third trip this year and I
could safely say traveling to Cuba can be one of the most frustrating
and challenging but exciting and rewarding trips you'll ever take.

So before you pack up and go, here are my top 10 tips on traveling to Cuba:

1. Book early. Flights to Cuba are still conducted by handful of charter
companies and often fill up weeks in advance. Plan early.

2. Know your exception. Tourism travel to Cuba is still forbidden under
the U.S. embargo, so you have to choose one of 12 exceptions as
regulated by the U.S. Treasury Department (check its factsheet). Under
the new rules, you don't need preapproval from Treasury, but you should
be prepared to say which one applies to you.

3. Choose your stay early. Hotel rooms also fill up extremely fast in
Cuba. In January, I flew into Cuba with no hotel reservations, thinking
I'd find something while there, only to be told there were no vacancies
in the city. I wouldn't recommend this route. Here's a good site to
peruse Cuban hotels: www.cubatravelnetwork.com. Your charter company can
also help with this.

4. Consider private rooms. Some hotels are historic and interesting,
such as the Hotel Nacional and Ambos Mundos in Havana. But renting a
private room in a home is an increasingly attractive option. On a recent
trip, I booked through AirBnB.com, and found a great room with private
bath in a gorgeous colonial-era home in Central Havana for about half
the price of a hotel room. A huge advantage of booking through AirBnB:
You pay with your U.S. credit card in advance, rather than take enough
cash to cover lodging (see #5). It's also a good way to meet the locals
and get good insider tips.

5. Bring cash. U.S. credit cards still don't work in Cuba, so you need
to bring enough cash to cover lodging, meals, transportation, airport
taxes and other costs. While at your U.S. departure airport, it's a good
idea to exchange your greenbacks for either euros or Canadian dollars,
as U.S. dollars are taxed at a higher rate in Cuba.

6. Bone up on CUCs. Cubans operate on a baffling dual-system currency
system where foreigners are required to use Cuban pesos convertibles
(known as CUCs), while the locals deal mostly in the national Cuban
peso. Prices for goods and services are generally higher in CUCs, though
you sometimes receive change in Cuban pesos. Don't worry, this will
become much more confusing while in Cuba.

7. Beware driving in Cuba. Though a cross-country drive across Cuba can
be fascinating (I did it once in 2007), it's also extremely challenging.
There are few signs and roads aren't always smooth. If staying in one
city, I'd recommend hiring a driver each day. Talk to the taxi driver
who takes you from the airport to your hotel or casa particular. He's
often available for hire at decent rates.

8. Avoid tourist-driven spots. The fabled Tropicana nightclub was once a
lush venue where storied musicians such as Benny More and others played.
Today, it's a sad version of itself populated with more foreigners than
Cubans. Avoid places like this. Ask your driver or other locals for the
best new spots in town or do some web-research before heading to Cuba.

9. Disconnect. Be prepared to have very little connection to the outside
world while in Cuba. U.S. cell phones don't work and the Internet is
spotty, slow and available in only a handful of places in major cities.
This isn't an altogether bad thing. It's refreshing to make eye contact
with people and actually hold conversations rather than constantly be
peering into a small screen.

10. Be patient. The slow gears of a communist-run state paired with
Cubans' natural slow pace of life (I'm Cuban, I know) makes for, at
times, excruciating wait times. On this last trip, my morning flight
from Havana to Holguin was delayed six hours — no reason given. Another
flight was delayed four hours. It was frustrating but I also got a
chance to meet some pretty interesting Serbian and Brazilian travelers
trapped in the same chaos. Go with it.

Jervis is a USA TODAY's Austin-based correspondent.

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