| Cuba
Budget Travel
First
of all, Cuba is not Asia, which means, prices are way more expensive
and it is not possible to live for 5 Euro per day as you can do
in some Asian countries.
Best and cheapest period to go is between April untill the end of
June, and from the end of September untill the beginning of December
In short, Cuba has 2 kind of currencies.
The first is called moneda nacional, pesos cubanos (Cuban pesos)
or simply pesos (CUP), this is the official Cuban currency in which
Cubans get their official salary.
With this currency one can pay in the markets, in most of the street
corner cafetarias, and for other things sold on the street. The
interesting part is that some of the daily goods are not available
in Cuban pesos. Cubans have to go to a La Cadeca (money exchange
office) and buy Cuban convertible pesos (CUC), which cost for about
25 national pesos each. Only then can one buy the "luxery"
items, like shampoo, toothpaste, furniture etc.
- CUC
(Convertible Pesos) and CUP (Cuban Peso) converter >>
- Cuba Currency explanation
>>
During
your travels in Cuba it is handy to have two pockets: one for CUC
(Convertible pesos) and another for Cuban pesos (CUP). You can buy
Cuban pesos with your CUC's in one of the La Cadecas (Casas del
Cambio).
Below
a breef calculation for a normal day as a tourist
in Cuba:
20
CUC per night for a room
12 CUC per day for food (3 CUC breakfast, 2 CUC street food lunch,
7 CUC dinner)
8 CUC per day for beverages (bottled water, juice, beer, etc)
20 CUC per day for transportation
10 CUC per day for recreation
10 CUC per day for miscellaneous
Total:
80 CUC per day
How
to reduce costs?
Accommodation
You can cut your room costs in half by sharing with another
person, as casa rooms are by the room (2 people), not by the
person.
It is VERY difficult to find a legal casa room for 20 CUC
or less in Havana. More like 25-35 CUC per night. So the way
to keep down lodging costs (besides having a roommate) would
be to go some other town, where you can probably get a room
for 15 CUC per night. But Havana also have some real cheap
budget hotels like
the Hotel
Lido and some others.
When you find a cheaper casa particular you probably found
an ilegal one. Remind that it is forbidden for a Cuban to
rent out rooms without a licensee. Risk is you get kicked
out of your room in the middle of night and the casa owner
gets a huge fine or even can loose his house.
Campings
do excist in Cuba however the so-called campismos
are most of the times far away of interesting places and cities.
Besides, the majority of campings
are meant for locals, not for foreigners.
-
Budget Hotels >>
- Casa Particulares
>> |
|
Food
You can cut your food costs in half by eating only street food which
can be paid in the local currency (CUP).
But my idea is, you won't like doing this.
Beverage
You can't do much to cut your beverage costs because it's a hot
climate and you don't want to get dehydrated. If anything, your
beverage cost might be higher, especially if you drink alcohol.
The only way to bring your beverage cost down to nil would be to
drink tap water, which first have to be boiled, and nothing else.
Transportation
Normally tourists take, besides a rental
car, the Viazul
bus which is not cheap but good. A 20% cheaper option is
the Astro bus, this bus has, officially, per route 2 seats for foreigners.
The third option is the train,
which is the most economical official way of getting around Cuba
legally. But trains never ride on schedule
except the number 1 and 2 which are riding between Havana and Santiagode
Cuba.
You
can cut your transportation costs down by:
A. Taking a bike and using it to get around. You
can bring your own bike or rent a bike in Havana
Address: Edificio Metropolitano
San Juan de Dios
esq. Aguacate, Habana Vieja
Tel: 53- 7 - 860 8532
B. By staying in one town and getting around on
foot. You see a lot less of the country that way, but what you do
see is a slower pace, and can be extremely interesting, if you're
into that sort of thing. Especially if you speak Spanish.
C. Hitchhike. This is a little risky since for
a normal Cuban it is forbidden to give taxi service to a foreigner.
It might happen you get stopped by the police, the driver gets a
fine and you get kicked out of the car.
D. Take public transport, same regulations as in
point C
The
cheapest public transportation in Cuba are trucks. During the trip
a lot of people are standing. Inside the trailer fits about 50-70
people. A trip with this means of transport costs, about 5 Cuban
pesos (0.20 USD) for 50 km. In the towns, search for the "terminal
de camyones" (terminal of trucks). The best is to come very
early, around 6:00 am, in the morning. To get a local price for
a ride in a terminal will be difficult. The driver either will ask
(because you're a foreigner) for 4-5 time higher price (instead
of 10 pesos he might ask for 2 dollars) or will not be willing to
take you on board at all.
Recreation
You can cut your recreation costs down by only doing free stuff
like going to the beach or just wander around the city. But if you
take in even one museum and one musical venue, you've probably already
spent that 10 CUC recreation budget. Cuban friends are often generous
with their time in taking you to lower priced nightclubs and the
like, but you would be expected to repay their generousity by paying
their way, so it comes out to about the same. Or a good deal more
if you and they are drinking.
Miscelaneous
You can cut down on the miscelaneous costs by remembering to bring
with you every single thing you are likely to need (insect repellant,
sunblock, etc) and not buying anything. Most travelers, even ones
on a tight budget, end up spending more than 10 CUC per day on "miscelaneous."
One "miscellaneous" cost would be the 35 CUC, or however
much it is now, exit tax when you leave (25 CUC) Cuba. Oh yeah,
and then there's the internet, if you plan to use it while you're
in Cuba. Most places it is 6 CUC per hour.
Usefull
links:
- CUC
(Convertible Pesos) and CUP (Cuban Peso) converter >>
- Cuba Currency explanation
>>
- Budget Hotels >>
- Casa Particulares >>
- FAQ >>
- Traveler's Information >>
|
