Cuba Travel Guides

Yes, but not as ordinary tourists. US law does not ban Americans from Cuba; it restricts the financial transactions involved, which amounts to the same thing in practice. Travel has to fall under one of a set of authorized categories administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. These rules have tightened and loosened repeatedly across administrations, so check the current OFAC and State Department guidance yourself before booking rather than relying on any blog, including this one.

No. Cuba is a sovereign country and has been independent since 1902. It is not a territory, commonwealth or possession, and it has no political relationship with the United States of the kind Puerto Rico does. The confusion usually comes from proximity: Havana sits about 90 miles (145 km) from Key West, closer to Florida than Miami is to Orlando.

Violent crime against visitors is rare and Cuba compares well with much of the region on that measure. The realistic difficulties are practical rather than criminal: shortages of fuel, medicine and sometimes food, power cuts that can last hours, and limited internet. Bring any medication you need rather than expecting to buy it, and carry more cash than feels sensible.

Generally no. Cards issued by US banks do not work in Cuba because of the embargo, which means American visitors need to bring the entire cost of the trip in cash and budget for running out. This is the single most common way travelers get caught out. Non-US cards work at some hotels and larger establishments, but cash remains the practical default across the country.

Most visitors need a tourist card, often called a visa though it is a separate document, usually bought through your airline or a specialist agency before departure. US travelers also need to declare which authorized category their trip falls under. Requirements differ by nationality and by which country you fly from, so confirm with your airline rather than assuming.

Direct flights run from several US cities to Havana, and there are wider connections through Mexico City, Cancún, Panama City, Toronto and Madrid. Flying via a third country does not exempt an American from the US rules, which apply to the traveler rather than the route. Cruise calls have been restricted for years.

Havana's 1950s American cars and crumbling colonial architecture are the images everyone arrives with, and both are real. Beyond them: son and salsa that predate anything exported as Latin music, cigars from the Viñales valley, Hemingway's haunts, and beaches at Varadero and Cayo Coco that rival anywhere in the Caribbean. Trinidad, on the south coast, is the best-preserved colonial town in the country.

Casas particulares, licensed private guesthouses, are the better choice almost everywhere. They are cheaper than the state hotels, the rooms are usually better maintained, breakfast is included more often than not, and the money goes to a family rather than a state enterprise. For US travelers this also aligns naturally with the Support for the Cuban People category. Book the first night or two ahead and arrange the rest as you go.

Less than in most Caribbean destinations. Spanish is the working language everywhere and English is patchy outside hotels, tour operators and Havana's tourist quarter. In casas particulares, on buses and in the smaller towns you will need some Spanish or a translation app that works offline, since data is unreliable.

It is the largest island in the Caribbean by a wide margin, about 780 miles (1,250 km) end to end and comparable in area to Pennsylvania. That surprises people who picture a small island. Havana to Santiago de Cuba is a 13-hour drive, so a week realistically covers Havana plus one or two other places rather than the whole country.