It's more than likely that whether you book through one of the local state-owned operators or book direct with the hotel, you'll pay the same room rate and potentially could get a better deal anyway via either Cubanatur or Havanatour. One drawback of booking direct with the hotel is that you'll need to sort out your own transfer by road and on the whole you need good Spanish to negotiate public transport or to negotiate for the best price with a taxi driver. As far as I know there are some Varadero/Havana flights used for the organised trips but I've never known anybody other than someone on an organised excursion use them - I don't think they are scheduled services but special excursion charters.

So I would suggest that the easiest thing is to arrange your visit to Havana via one of the state agencies. Havanatour have a UK office and will arrange in advance a custom made trip from Varadero for you with the added advantage that you'll be able to pay here in sterling before you go. On my last trip they arranged something similar in reverse - 4 nights in Varadero at the end of a tour of the island. From memory it cost an extra £150 including a personal taxi transfer in a people carrier from Havana for just me (I was arriving in Havana late in the evening after most of the tourist transfers by coach had been completed) and a group transfer back with the coach doing the airport run from all the hotels on the peninsula. They sent me all the necessary vouchers in advance for handing over to the taxi driver and hotel etc as well as the contact details for a local English speaking Cuban travel rep. I found the whole process really efficient - apart from the bus breaking down on its way to pick me up for the return trip - but these things happen and the Rep based in the hotel lobby for Cubana was extremely helpful and kept me informed about what was happening when the bus didn't arrive at the expected time. She still got me to Havana Airport in plenty of time for my Gatwick flight.

I suspect that the Internacionale will make 3/4 nights in Havana more expensive than what I paid for my time in Varadero but I also suspect that you could still do it for little more than you probably paid your TO last time for the 2 night Tropicana trip.

Havana is a great city and since you've done a guided tour in the past, this seems an ideal opportunity to explore it further under your own steam. It's very easy city for tourists to get around on their own and if I can help with any further information on things to see and do, do feel free to just ask.

SM

If you go on to the Internacional´s parent company/chain website (Gran Caribe) you can check out the rates and availability online which will be a start. Sorry, I´m not sure if I am allowed to post a link but its easily found using a search engine.

Hi, just a thought - is it the Internacionale or the Hotel Nacional de Cuba that you are looking for? The link below will take you to the Gran Caribe page for the latter

http://www.gran-caribe.com/english/hotel.asp?hotel_code=SCTGCNacional

and it will be more expensive than the one that I initially thought you were wanting. But I would think that you could probably get a better deal getting a package via Havanatour or Cubatour than paying the 'rack rates' listed on the web site for booking direct with Gran Caribe. According to the website standard rooms start at 83 euros per night and I suspect that your other half has her eye on a junior suite at the very least!

SM

Thanks for the replies and info. You're right on BOTH counts SMa, it was the Nacional I meant and she DOES want at least a junior suite. Going to sit with her at the weekend and check out prices etc as I'm working away from home this week and perish the thought of me booking the wrong thing. Thanks again for the replies. Steve

Just an update. I went through Havanatur as advised and it's all arranged. Been told my paperwork will arrive 1st couple of days in June which is cutting it a bit close as we fly out on 4th June. Not panicking though because Carlos at Havanatur/GoCubaPlus has been excellent in setting it all up for me.

Glad to hear that you got sorted and you're right not to panic! Cubans adopt the 'just in time' approach to everything and in my expereince even if your paperwork is not all in order then they will sort it out once you arrive. In my case, I was handed a great wodge of vouchers etc on arrival in return for sight of my booking confirmation from the UK office.

Enjoy,

SM

PS I'm heading off to Santiago for the Fiesta del Caribe on the 30th June and if you have time when you get back it would be great to hear how you got on before I too wing my way over to Cuba!

Cheers for that and will let you know how it goes. Seriously can't wait

Turned out even though I thought I had booked with Havanatur on the Havanatur web page, it was with GoCubaPlus and it was a NIGHTMARE of epic proportions. NO vouchers OR paperwork anywhere. I had to spend approx £35 on internet charges over 5 days to find out if we were getting picked up from Varadero. The Hotel Nacional had NO KNOWLEDGE of my booking until I used their internet to send an email to Geronimo at GoCubaPlus. He then sent an email to me and the Hotel with a reference number. Had to go through the same hassle again to find out if the car was coming to pick us up and take us back to Varadero. NEVER again. I loved Cuba 2yr ago but this time has spoiled it for me forever. Every 3rd person wanted money and when I couldn't or didn't give them any we were looked at with hate, pure unadulterated HATE. I know Cuba is a poor country but constantly pestering the tourists is just going to stop us visiting.

I'm so sorry that you had such an awful time and feel really bad that I encouraged you to book via Havantur but it looks as if you have possibly been the victim of what might be a scamming operation trading on Havantur's reputation because it looks as if you're not the only one this has happened to

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1899733

It looks like you booked on the havanatur.com page which apart from the name is identical to the GoCubaPlus website - I would have recognised the difference because I know what Havanatur's branding and logo looks like but for anybody who didn't, I can see how they'd get taken in. The 'real' site is at havanatur.cu. and their UK office's website is at

http://www.havanatour.co.uk/

and displays the right logos and branding. The English office uses the English spelling and the Cuban offices use the Spanish spelling but apart from that the log is the same. For anybody thinking of doing something similar to you they would clearly be well advised to book through the UK office. I'm sorry that I didn't pick up on this from one of your earlier posts where you said

Not panicking though because Carlos at Havanatur/GoCubaPlus has been excellent in setting it all up for me.

That should have set alarm bells ringing for me and it didn't. If you paid with a credit card then I suggest that you take this up with your CC issuer - you might be able to get some redress from them as some people on the Lonely Planet board did. Also, it might still be worth your while contacting the UK office of Havanatour too - they probably won't be able to do anything about getting your money back but I'm sure that they would want to know and would be in a position to set the Cuban tourist police onto these cowboys.

I can see how this has greatly coloured your view of Cuba and perhaps things have changed since I last spent any length of time in Havana (I'm usually based in Santiago when I go) but I do hope that in the long run that this experience doesn't deter you from visiting elsewhere in Cuba, especially away from the main tourist areas and where it is still largely unspoilt.

Apologies once more for having unintentionally contributed to what was such an awful experience for you. It just goes to show how careful one needs to be when booking on-line even when one has taken all the precautions that one can to check out a company's reputation.

SM