From transport & casa particulares to food & money, our Backpacking Cuba Travel Guide gets straight to the essentials you need to know to travel Cuba on a budget.
Contents
Backpacking Cuba
For citizens of the United States, we recommend first checking out this one stop travel guide to American’s Traveling to Cuba.
Although Cuba is a very safe country to travel in, we always recommend purchasing travel insurance before any trip. We’ve been using World Nomads through 80+ countries over the past 12 years and have been really happy with their coverage and services.
For more details check out our World Nomads review here.
1 Month Cuba Itinerary
Take full advantage of the 30 day visa & experience Cuba before it changes forever – find out where to go in Cuba in our 1 month itinerary!
Read more#1. Transport
Viazul is the most popular & convenient way to travel around Cuba on a budget – they are a long-established company with bus services that are the most reliable, punctual & hassle-free.
The air-conditioned buses are comfortable & fitted with toilets & televisions.
Tickets can be booked at any Cubanacan, Cubatur & Havanatur travel agencies & some branches of Infotur – these can be found in most major cities. Booking 1 or 2 days in advance is usually enough to guarantee you a seat.
Complete schedules to many destinations in Cuba can be found on the Viazul website though making reservations online are usually problematic.
Prices start from around CUC$4-5 an hour – the further/longer you travel, the cheaper the price per hour.
You can book airport transports from Havana airport here.
#2. Accommodation
Whether you’re traveling on the cheap in Cuba or travelling in a little more luxury, your best choice for accommodation in Cuba is staying in a casa particular.
Many of the most popular casas have their own websites or profiles on Airbnb but there’s no need to book ahead or book online – when you first arrive in a new city, just walk around & look for a blue anchor sign.
We arranged our accommodation as we traveled but if you prefer to book in advance check out Hostelworld as a trustworthy source of accommodation in Cuba.
Visit a few casas until you find one you like, for the price you’re willing to pay.
Use Lonely Planet as a guide but they generally list places above CUC$20 – you can always find a casa for CUC$15.
All casas are very clean, tidy & friendly. You can have as much or as little contact with the host family as you like. Note that most will only speak Spanish.
The most important thing to look for in a casa is that it has its own entrance – cuartos independientes (independent quarters). This was you have more privacy & can come & go as you please.
On a side note always lock your doors and be aware of pickpockets when going out for the day. We recommend wearing a money belt with RFID blocking and traveling with an anti-theft daypack in Cuba.
At a bare minimum, your room will include a double bed, air-conditioning & usually a private bathroom (guaranteed for CUC$20).
Sometimes a room will include 2 double beds, a fridge and/or cable tv with a couple of English channels.
Most casas offer meals, for an additional prices:
- Breakfast – CUC$3-5
- Lunch – CUC$6-8
- Dinner – CUC$6-8
Casa particulares can organize tours, guides, transport, etc.
Casa Particulares FAQ
Casa particulares in Cuba are the best-value accommodation in the world – find out how you can find an air-conditioned room anywhere on the island for CUC$15
Read more#3. Food
There are a few hierarchies on the pecking order when it comes to food in Cuba.
On the bottom of the food chain is eating at peso food stalls, which have some of the cheapest streets eats you’ll find anywhere in the world:
- Coffee – 1 pesos / 4 cents
- Juice – 2 pesos / 8 cents
- Sandwiches – 3 pesos / 12 cents
- Pizza – 5 pesos / 20 cents
Peso street food in Cuba might not be the tastiest or most nutritious but it’s very cheap & you can fill up for many pizzas & juices almost nothing.
Next on the food chain are government restaurants in Cuba.
They have no sense of customer service, getting your food can take over 1 hour & it’s all Cuban food, also known as comida criolla.
Don’t expect much from your meals in government restaurants but they usually tastes better than they look.
On the plus side, for CUC$1-2, you can get a 3 course sit-down, restaurant meal with a drink – without having to make small talk or smile back at the wait staff!
Finally, there are private restaurants, some catered to Cuban tastes & others to foreign palates & wallets.
Local private restaurants are similar to government restaurants but smaller & more casual. They’re slightly more expensive (dishes around CUC$1-2) but the food is usually tastier and it’s still totally affordable for those doing Cuba on a shoestring.
Private tourist restaurants are familiar with Western customs of hospitality & customer service and many of the staff will speak English.
In these cities, you can find restaurants of all kinds of cuisines including Italian, Arabic & Chinese, mainly operated by Cubans – note that tourist restaurants can also be state-run.
Meals at most tourist restaurants range from CUC$8-30.
If you’re a foodie, stick to the tourist trail & you can definitely get your fix of good International cuisine in the bigger cities like Havana & Trinidad
Street Food in Cuba
Street food in Cuba is arguably the cheapest in the world – find out how you can easily eat 3 meals a day for less than $1!
Enter Your Text#4. Money
Cuba has a dual currency system – the convertible pesos (CUC$) & Cuban pesos (moneda nacional, MN$).
Essentially, CUC$ is used for anything to do with tourists & the tourism industry, while locals almost solely use the Cuban peso.
- CUC$1 = 25 peso (or MN$25) or US$1
- 1 peso ($MN) = US$0.04 or CUC$0.04
CUC$ convertible prices are usually charged for Viazul buses, casa particulares, official taxis, entrance fees for museum & attractions, tourist restaurants & souvenirs.
$MN peso prices are used to at peso food stalls, government restaurants, local private restaurants & local transport (eg. camiones).
You can only change Cuban currency in Cuba: at banks, exchange shops (Cadecas) & hotels.
Changing US dollars to CUC incurs a 10% penalty, but there’s no penalty for converting CUC to USD.
Euros or Canadian dollars are the best currencies to bring into Cuba to convert.
Cuba is a cash society but ATMs are becoming more & more common – you can usually find them in most touristy cities.
However ATMs will charge you CUC$4.50 for every transaction & the maximum amount you can withdraw is usually CUC$150.
#5. Tipping
If you’re travelling Cuba as a backpacker, there are only a few occasions where you might like to tip:
- Restaurants – 10-15%
- Buskers or musicians in restaurants, streets or plazas – loose change
- Taxis – 10%
In some museums or government buildings, a member of staff may offer to show you around – they expect a tip of CUC$1.
Havana tour options:
#6. WiFi
You can access the Internet in Cuba by buying a prepaid scratch card with a PIN code.
Wifi cards are available at government-run ETECSA stores. They cost CUC$2 per hour & you can purchase them in different denominations (eg. CUC$10 for 5 hours).
You don’t need to use the whole amount of time in one session or in one location. Any remaining time can be used throughout Cuba, within 30 days from first use.
You can also buy wifi cards from hotels which have wifi access or from touts on the street (for a premium) – you’ll often have locals whispering “wifi, wifi” in your ears as you walk pass, like it’s some kind of contraband!
There’s a 99% chance that any large group of people – locals & gringos – gathered in 1 place is going to be wifi hotspot.
#7. Laundry
There are no laundromats in Cuba – Casa particulares (or hotels) are the only places in Cuba that provide laundry service. Luckily you can definitely afford it if you’re travelling cheap in Cuba!
Casas are very relaxed with prices – one place suggested CUC$2-3 depending on the pile of clothes, another casa insisted that we pay what we felt like (she was happy with CUC$3 for a big load of clothes, including a couple of pieces that were hand-washed separately).
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*** The Final Word – Once you get your head around the money, it is super-easy & interesting to travel Cuba on a budget! ***
Did we leave anything out that you’d like to know?
Accessible DIY travel to more distant locations via multiple connections or longer forms of public transport
* This post contains affiliate links, which means that we receive a small commission if you click on a link & purchase something that we have recommended, at no extra cost to you.
Visited in May-June 2016
Comments
I went to Cuba two years ago and loved it. Wished I had seen your post beforehand though as you had some great tips.
Thanks melbtravel – from an Adelaide girl over here 🙂
I’ll think you’ll just have to go back soon!
Very informative – Cuba looks like a very interesting country definitely on my list!
Hi Maria-Bella, thanks for your comment, I feel it’s changing fast so hope you can make it over there soon! 🙂
Cuba has long been on my mind. After seeing your blog I feel like flying there right away. I hope I get to smoke a Cuban cigar in Cuba someday, haha.
Thanks Abhinav! You can also visit cigar factories & taste all the top brands – we stuck to the local cigars you can buy on the street for 1 peso, that’s 4 cents!
Thanks for such a comprehensive guide!!…
It makes my planning process very easy
Hi Jitaditya, happy to hear it helps – let me know if you have any questions on Cuba! 🙂
Great site. Will read all of it (and print some). Going to Cuba for a month in January and I dive. The prices you listed seem quite good to me. I’m not into live aboard, too expensive. And I love to travel on a budget…Don’t know why but it’s always much more fun and better to truly experience a place and its people.
Thanks!
Anne
You’re welcome Anne, thanks for your comments.
The cheapest diving in Cuba is in Playa Larga ($25 a dive) – see our post http://diytravelhq.com//playa-larga-bay-of-pigs.
At Playa Santa Lucia there’s one dive shop charging $40 – http://diytravelhq.com//playa-santa-lucia-unloved-beach-resort.
We also found diving offered at Guardalavaca & Varadero. It might be a challenge to get to some of the other isolated beach spots by camion (truck) but you should always be able to find cheap peso food if there are local people living there too and not just resorts.
Let me know if you have any questions, happy to help! 🙂
This is a very detailed and very useful information that you have provided. The information about the Casa’s is specially interesting to us as we were not really aware of this kind of accomodation option.
Thanks Vyjay, cases are like home stays where you rent a room in a family home – they’re the main choice for accommodation in Cuba & always excellent value! 🙂
Great and useful tips. Cuba is somewhere we want to visit in the near future. I am keeping this as a handy guide. Thanks for sharing 🙂
No worries Kemkem, I hope you can make it to Cuba soon, it’s a wonderful & easy country to travel in 🙂
We had no idea that there were so many affordable options in Cuba. Thanks for the information. Hopefully we’ll get to go see for ourselves before long!
Hey Taylor, yes Cuba is excellent value for all budgets! Thanks for your comment, good luck in your future travels 🙂
So useful!! Sending to my friend who’s planning on visiting.
Thanks Jess, that’s awesome 🙂
I’ve been wondering what the logistics of traveling in Cuba would be like. This is great information! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Tracie, Cuba was a lot simpler to travel in than I thought it would be too so I hope this helps people understand the basics – thanks for your feedback 🙂
If I’m at a resort in Cuba and tip my maid 1 cuc, what is that 1 cuc worth to her?
I was in a store and saw a Tetris pack of milk. It showed 1 cuc or 25.00 cup. It showed both prices.
Some of the resort people said they make 40 per month. Is that cuc or cup
Is my 5 cup tip, really that valuable to a Cuban ?
I really do not understand
1 CUC is equivalent to $1, which is equal to 25 CUP. You generally would never tip in CUP as it doesn’t equate to much for Cubans. That being said, they could still buy 25 glasses of soda, 5 pizzas, 12 egg sandwiches, or 4 draft beers at the right places. You can do the same if you know where to look as well.
Cuba does not have a tipping culture so although 5 CUC would mean a lot to an individual, we don’t believe in propagating this custom. It exaggerates class differences between those in the tourist industry & normal Cubans. It also prioritizes foreigners & locals may expect handouts in the future. The etiquette at a resort may be different though since the staff have already come to expect certain protocols.
Your post is the best I’ve read on Cuba so far. Thank you!
Thank you so much! We might have to agree 😉 So happy to hear that you found it helpful!