Hi Andy

I have been to Cuba in January and it was very good weather and comfortable. For the two weeks we were there it was between 24 - 26 degrees every day and there was only one day of rain. Good time to go.

From looking at the information on the net about the hotel, its looks a great choice, also the food looks really good. Make sure you get to Havana, go on a rum tour (bring back some Havana 7) and go to see revolutionary square.

I think time is now ticking until Cuba starts to loose its identity due to the relaxation of USA flooding the island with its western ways.

Lance

Thank you for the reply. Glad you think it is ok and looks good. Glad weather is good at thattime of year. Many thanks. Andy

We were in Cuba the first two weeks of January last year and the weather was hot, 33oC, and very humid. We did have a couple of thunderstorms but they didn't last long.

As mentioned above, the Havana 7 rum is the one the locals drink and it's excellent. We hired a local guide with an old Cadillac for the day for around £50 but we were at the opposite end of the island, nearly Holguin. The internet isn't reliable and make sure that you log-off properly otherwise you will lose your credit.

Remember the usual good hygiene rules and you should be fine. Have a great time!

That's great. Many thanks. 2 good replies. Can relax bit about it now.

The weather in January will be fine - one of the best times of year to go and well outside of the hurricane season. And, yes, Anejo 7 is delicious - just don't commit the sacrilege of adding Cola to it :-) Sip it like you would a decent aged single malt whisky - it's outside the price range of most Cubans and most would consider it an extravagant gesture to drink it with mixers.

Havana is worth the internal flight or long road journey but if you can, stay at least one night there - Cuban night life doesn't really get going until 10pm and most tourists are bussed back to their hotels just as the main band of the night are coming on in most music venues! Most TOs will offer a trip to the Tropicana night club on the two day excursions to Havana but personally I think it's overated. I would suggest that if you are offered the opportunity to visit Santa Clara, which is nearer to where you are staying, it would be worth considering. It's less touristy and will give you a better feel for local life than a day in Havana would. One of the things to remember is that staying in a hotel on one of the cayos means that you will be very isolated from day to day Cuban life and Cuban people. If you want to gain a sense of what life is like in Cuba for the locals you need to get away from the hotel and off the Cayo. In that sense the big tourist resorts have already lost their Cuban identity. Bear in mind that tourists will have paid more per head for even a relatively low budget fortnight in Cuba than most Cubans will earn in a year - it makes all tourists seem very wealthy comparison.

Up until the US election I would have largely agreed with Lance re the potential effects of the quiet loosening of the embargo under Obama but now I am less sure. Trump is mightily beholden to the right wing Cuban ex-pat lobby in Florida and I think they will force his hand and he will not just re-instate it but possibly make it even more draconian than before. If that happens then I think you can expect to see shortages of basic goods in the shops all over again and the growing prosperity of the last 10 years to start going backwards, especially if it once again becomes harder for family members to send remittances back to family on the island.

I stayed at the Iberostar Daiquiri when I visited Cuba which is about 5/10 mins away from where you are heading. The Cayos provide beautiful surroundings, but as SMa mentions, it isn't the place to get an insight into what Cuba is all about as it's basically just tourist resorts so take the opportunity to head off on an excursion to gain more of an insight into what is a pretty fascinating country.

We did a day trip to Havana - again would follow SMa's advice of a night there if possible so you aren't as rushed given the distance involved.

Andy, it takes some finding but there is a lot of general information to be found on the Cuba forum that you might want to take the time to read through. As for me, I've just booked my 9th trip for this October and if I can help with any further info re Cuba in general just ask away. I can't help with much info re the AI tourists resorts as they are not the places I frequent - I usually stay with local families - but if you want any info on other possible places to visit in addition to Havana and things like Cuban etiquette etc then fire away :-)

By the way, never try and attract a waiter's attention using the usual palm up, flexing your fingers gesture that we would use - it is still very much associated with the slave/master relationship. Instead keep your hand facing plam down - feels alien until you get used to it - and never ever whistle them! A sure fire way for them to studiously ignore and avoid any eye contact. Cubans on the whole provide great service but are the exact opposit of being servile!

Many thanks to everyone for the reply's. Looking forward to going now. Cheers.

Just to add my little bit in to the excellent advice already given.

You may find certain items in short supply which sadly the locals have to deal with on a daily basis as a lot of items are provided for tourists first, a catch 22 as the economy requires tourists.

Always carry some toilet roll with you as you might find it isn't easily available away from main hotels and tourist resorts.

If you are able to spend a few days in Havana please take the opportunity to do this and see this beautiful city and experience the local culture, the bar cafe scene is superb with live music.

A great and inexpensive way to stay in Havana and join in with the locals is to look at staying with a family there, take a look at Homestay.com

Driving is extremely easy and we have hired a car and driven from Cayo Coco to Havana taking in several locations including Santa Clara and other small villages where people would stop and stare as a motor car is still a bit of a rare occurance, you get to see so much of the country and yes much of it is still very much from a different era. I can recommend http://www.cubacar.info/englisch/index.html

As in any country you do need to be aware that you are on holiday and can be seen as a target for pickpockets or other minor crime so take the normal precautions of not flashing expensive jewellery or lots of money, however having said that I can honestly say that I never once felt threatened and found the Cubans to be some of the nicest and most friendly people I have ever met.

Thank you for the heads up. Some very good info there. Cheers Andy

We have been to Cuba about half a dozen times but not in the last 5 years. We visited Havana when we were staying in Varadero -didn't attempt it when in Cayo Guillermo because of the extensive travel required -don't know if the standard of internal flights has improved but a group who went to Havana from our hotel, ended up being bussed back from Havana -took ~ 22 hours with breakdowns!!
Another vote here for hygiene precautions - we take hand gel and soap with us everywhere in the Caribbean as hotel and public washrooms frequently have no soap!

I think that things have improved re the hygiene situation in recent years, especially in the hotels but as Brewerdave says best to be prepared! When I first went in 2005 I was staying in Santiago not long after Hurricane Dennis swept through the island - Santiago hadn't been in the direct path but the local infrastructure and supply lines had been affected. We had our own 5 star system for assessing the loos - 1 star for each of the following: a seat on the toilet, toilet paper, water to flush, water to wash your hands, and ditto soap. An non-flushing cistern but a loo lady who went in with a bucket of water after each user was worth 1/2 star! Don't ask me why there was a shortage of toilet seats - most loos now seem to have them - but it was rare to for a loo to be awared more than 2stars! Nowadays most score at least 4 - mainly because in recent years, I can't remember one without a seat. It might of course be different in the Gents - I wouldn't know, being female :-)

And re the toilet ladies - apart from your hotel room's en-suite don't ever expect to find a loo roll in the cubicle. Instead you are usually doled it out on entering by the loo lady who will expect a small tip in return (5 centavo is enough) so keep a ready supply of small change to hand when out and about and not within reach of your own loo. This applies even on arrival at the airport so if you know anybody who will be going out to Cuba before you go, ask them to bring some small change back with them for you - this time last year myself and two sets of friends who were also going out in the early part of the year had a relay of small change, starting with the coins I'd brought back from a previous trip, going up and down the country! They will take small British coins too - they are savvy enough to know that a 10p coin is worth roughly 3 times 5 centavos at the current exchange rate! And so don't be surprised if you are approached by loo ladies or porters at the airport with a bag of UK change. Their system is to swap £1 worth of small change for a £1 coin and then when they accumulate £10 worth ask someone else if they can change them for a £10 note. The Cadecas (exchange bureaus) just like here won't change coins, only notes so they need to build up to notes in order to exchange then for CUCs. There's nothing black market about this - it will be done in full view of officials who know what they are doing and why. I see other tourists brushing them aside but I always change it for them - otherwise the tips they have been given by other visitors are useless to them.

Thank you for the info. It has been an eye opener with some of it lol. There has been some great bits of advice. So many thanks. Cheers Andy.

And thank you for replying and thanking contributors - so often people come on here asking for information or advice and then never come back so you never know whether they have found your reply helpful or not. Go with an open mind, accept that it isn't like the Med or places that cater mainlyfor the US market and Cuba can be a rewarding experience.