Cuba Daily Travel Budget Tips

Cuba Daily Travel Budget and Tips

Back in the fall of this past school year, I was busy teaching Spanish to about 800 elementary school kids. Among these classes were my 6th grade Hispanic/Latino Culture classes. As part of the cultural lessons, I chose different countries for us to learn about and research together. For our second week, curious myself, I chose Cuba. I had always learned that Cuba was some evil communist regime that attempted to aid in blowing us off the map back in the days of the Soviet Union. Cuba was a bad guy, that was it. Then I learned after some lesson-planning that President Obama had started a plan to normalize relations with Cuba. After more research and lots of videos, I started to learn a bit about the culture and history, and realized how amazing it would be to visit Cuba. When I got home that day, I started researching how to travel to Cuba with a US passport and how much to budget, etc. When searching “Cuba daily travel budget,” the first thing I saw was that going to Cuba would not be cheap. So I wrote it off and a few months went by.

Then came third quarter, when a new set of 6th graders rolled in, ready to learn some Cuban culture and attempt to do some Cuban salsa dancing. Towards the end of class one day, one of my students asked, “so now that Trump is president, what is going to happen to what Obama did?” I thought back to an article I had read a few days before saying that Trump (Presidente Pendejo or el idiota as he is endearingly known in Cuba) along with Marco Rubio were planning to undo Obama’s normalization plan (What? Trump undo one of Obama’s plans and replace it with a terrible, rushed and not-thought-out-at-all new plan? Preposterous!). “Well it seems like Trump is most likely going to change things back to the way that they used to be.” I responded. Then without thinking, I blurted out “That is why I have decided that I am going to travel to Cuba this summer, before that happens.” Then I thought to myself, “Wait, did I just say that? Shit, I totally just said that.” Saying something like that to a class full of crazy 6th graders might as well be signing your fate with blood. And so, my fate was sealed, I was going to Cuba. So it was time for more researching a Cuba daily travel budget!

Some hefty research

“How to travel cheap in Cuba” “Cuba budget travel” “Cuba on a shoestring” “Cuba cheap” “Cuba backpacking budget” “Cuba daily travel budget”… I frantically changed the wording on my google searches over and over, to no avail. Even the best budget backpacker sites were warning not to go to Cuba without planning to spend at least $75 per day. And that was with missing out on things like museums, beaches and a lot of really cool experiences. “Welp, I’m going to be pretty broke after this one,” I thought.

Welcome to Havana, Cuba!

Then in June, the school year came to an end, and before I knew it, I was hit by a wall of moisture and intense heat, stepping out of the Cuban airport into Havana. I explained to my casa particular (Cuba’s version of a B&B, generally the cheapest way to go and also an amazing way to meet locals and have genuine Cuban experiences) owners that I was trying to travel cheap and needed lots of budget travel advice. They poured information onto me and then pointed me in the direction of a good $3 meal. Hold on, the budget travel blogs all said that I should budget $10-15 per meal, so what would I be getting myself into for $3?!

After my delicious and hearty $3 Cuban meal, I headed back to the casa to pick their brains more and learn about Cuba. Manny and Arasely, my amazing casa owners taught me all about how most Cubans live and the ways that they save money on their own daily budgets. I’ll never forget the other great discussions I had sitting on the apartment balcony with Manny that week. One thing that really stuck out to me was that the best surgeon in Cuba makes $40 a month and the average Cuban lives on $25 or less monthly. So how, in a country where the best surgeon makes $40 per month is it that budget travel pros are telling me that I will need twice that every DAY for a BARE MINIMUM Cuba daily travel budget?

The final numbers of my Cuba daily travel budget

Well now here I am, at the end of my 23 days in Cuba. My average Cuba daily budget came down to $41.41. That includes too much drinking, museums, hiking guides, Cuba’s overpriced tourist buses, scuba diving, cigars and too much drinking. Some days I spent less than $25. A Cuba daily travel budget does not have to be nearly as much as what most travel blogs will say!

How?

The trick is the same trick that it is anywhere else. Ask around before staying anywhere and try to bargain for a better price. Bargain wherever prices aren’t posted or fixed for anything and everything. Don’t get in a taxi. Don’t eat where tourists eat. Basically, live like a Cubano/a. That’s the way you should be traveling to other countries anyways if you are trying to have a genuine experience!

Here’s some more elaboration:

The best tips to the lowest Cuba daily travel budget…

1. Currency

Every blog I read did a great job explaining the two currencies in Cuba. Basically, there is a tourist currency that is worth 25 times more than the national currency. But these blogs acted as if you would be thrown in jail if you were caught using the national currency. It is perfectly legal to use, and you’re totally missing out on authentic Cuba if you aren’t using it! Trust me, the government-run exchange store gave it to me no questions asked every time, and everybody accepted it from me. Don’t trust anybody that tells you that you can’t use it! You’ll get ripped off and waste a lot of money often times without it. By searching and asking around for places that accept pesos nacionales, you’ll find cheaper meals, transportation, snacks and more!

2. Housing

Casas Particulares- The cheap and authentic way to stay in Cuba, these are rooms of people’s homes that they rent out. The most I ever paid per night was $25. In budget travel terms, this is a lot, but I usually spent less and occasionally made friends to split the prices with. Generally, casas are going to be your biggest expense every day in Cuba, but keep in mind that you are supporting Cuban families, and there’s really no way around spending at least $15 every night that you stay somewhere. It’s worth trying to bargain with them if you are staying more than one night, and sometimes you can get meals included too. The best deal I ever pulled off was $20 per night with three meals included. That was practically my entire daily travel budget for those days! An added bonus was that it was with an amazing family that I spent hours talking to every day I was with them. There are a very select few hostels in Cuba, but when you can stay in a Cuban’s house for cheaper, why would you go sleep in a grungy bunk bed?

3. Intercity transportation

Cuba’s intercity transportation is what you would expect: complicated. There are typical yellow taxis and there are pristine 1950s muscle cars that you can pay to drive you around. These are the expensive options. A simple tip is if the car is waiting for you, you are going to pay a lot more. Instead, you need to ask your casa owners about bus routes and where to catch colectivos. Colectivos are common all over Latin America, but here in Cuba they are hard to spot. They are the old American muscle cars, but not the ones in mint condition that wait outside the fancy hotels. These are the ones that are constantly flying down the main roads, spitting out constant dark clouds from the tailpipe. Head to the main roads and stand on the sidewalk with your hand outstretched. Say no when people ask “taxi?” You’ll know that it’s a colectivo when they pull right up to you and stare at you until you say where you want to go. If they go there, they’ll say “sube (soobay)”- get in. Give the driver 10 CUP (that’s literally 25 times less than you will pay many taxis). The only issue with this one is, although it will save you money, if you don’t speak Spanish it’s going to be tough to figure out. In that case, Cuban cities are awesome for walking everywhere. I walked 16 miles my first day in Havana and average 8 per day for the whole trip! Colectivos are also great for heading to places within an hour out of town, such as hiking trails and beaches.

4. National transportation

Take this advice with a grain of salt. I myself (now a Cuba daily travel budget pro 😉 rarely messed around with taking anything other than the tourist buses to get from city to city. And the times that I did mess with it, I was often miserable. You can save a little money and often get to your destination faster by using transportation other than the tourist buses run by Víazul. Colectivos are an option for this too and are easily organized outside of bus stations. These are usually pretty good, although the promised A/C is always a lie. They are less comfortable but tend to be much shorter trips. Another option is camiones. The one time I did this, I massively regretted it. Camiones are big semi-trucks with the trailers converted into bench rows where passengers are packed in like sardines, seats are not padded and you are guaranteed to lose half your body weight in sweat. I took a camión from Santiago to Havana. The trip was probably the roughest 14 hours I’ve ever had to endure physically. So yeah, take them at your own risk and for short distances only. Or ignore this paragraph and bask in the comfortable air-conditioned seats of lovely and pleasant Víazul and don’t worry too much about the hour or two that you may lose.

5. Food

Cuban food is okay. You have to understand that because of the limited number of products that reach the country and the limits of its own agriculture and production, Cuba’s food is very basic. Sometimes you will stumble upon a place where the cooks are really creative with the scant resources that they have, but mostly, you will be eating a piece of chicken or pork with a side of rice and a small salad. No sauces. It’s certainly not bad food and it’s pretty healthy, but you most likely will not miss it much when you get home. Saving money on food in Cuba is easy, even with limited Spanish. Look around for places with prices pesos naionales and you’ll never spend more than $3 for a meal. There are places (most notably in Viñales) with $3 meals in the convertible currency, but everywhere else finding menus in nacionales is your best bet. Stretching your Cuba daily travel budget in an attempt to eat better will often get you slightly facier food, but smaller portions. In Santiago, look for places called ‘fonditas’ to save on meals. Generally, the food got more interesting the further east I traveled, with Baracoa and Santiago being the pinnacles of Cuban cuisine!

6. No hitchhiking

It is illegal for Cubans not licensed to transport tourists to do so. That means that by hitch hiking, you are putting the people who pick you up in danger of jail time. I made good friends with some Cubans that drove me back to town from the beach once, but they insisted on doing so. Hitch hiking can also put you in trouble with the police, although Cuban police are generally much more concerned about punishing Cubans that break laws intended to protect tourists than the other way around.

7. No couchsurfing

Also illegal and not recommended for the same reasons above. Your Cuba daily travel budget will have to be stretched on housing, there’s really no way around it. Read the tips above.

In conclusion…

Although Cuba may not be Southeast-Asia-cheap, it is well worth the extra $20 you will spend per day. Plus, if you are in the U.S., you can fly here for way cheaper! The culture and authenticity that you will experience here is like nothing I have ever known anywhere else. And it does not cost nearly as much as any other budget blog will warn you of! Plus, if you are traveling as a couple or in a group, you can do a Cuba daily travel budget even cheaper than I did! Buen viaje!

P.S.: Enjoy this timelapse video I shot at the Malecón in Havana, Cuba!

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Read more of my amazing Cuba stories and tips here!

And here’s the most helpful article I could find before going for it myself!