Anybody been to Cuba?

My husband and I have been to Cuba but not to the area you mentioned. We went to the very quiet Cayos to the north. We took a 2 day trip south to visit the Cuban rain forest which was excellent, which included a trek through the forest. If you decide to do this, take some old clothes (teeshirt / shorts/ trainers etc) with you as it really rained hard.(Well what do you expect in a "rain forest" !) In spite of this it was still very warm.
Another thing, if you have room in your suitcase, take as many extra toiletries with you that you can spare e.g shower gel, deodorants, soaps, shaving foam etc as these items are hard to get for the local people, and when they can it is very expensive. Our resort collected any part used bottles of stuff that people were prepared to donate. Small items such coloured pencils/bracelets/nice soap/baseball caps (especially logoed ones such as Nike or Reebok) etc given as gifts to the room maids are always appreciated.
I don't know about Varadero but the beaches where we were absolutely gorgeous and so empty and clean as they were swept every day. Because they are so far away from civilisation there were none of the dreaded hawkers trying to sell you things!

If you want to swim with Dolphins this is the cheapest place to do it - its not far from varadero. The only thing the pool could be dirty!
Havanna is a fab place just to walk around, they still use the basket to get food from the ground & pull up to the top of their apartment. Properties look like their are falling down but people still live in them and a whole family i.e grandparents etc in 3 rooms! I think its the town hall where everyone gathers, you can have a photo taken which is fun, for just $1- the photographer does it the old fashioned way, cloak over the head jobby.
Hemmimgways is expensive to drink but maybe get 1 between 2. Museum of Revolution is an eye-opener!
Be careful if you buy black market cigars the one they show you might be real but the rest could be rolled up paper.
Have fun its a great place.

wrapper2007 wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if anybody had been to Cuba. We are staying in Varadero and Havana in October and just wanted to know if anybody can offer any advice on things to see and things to avoid.

Also, any advice on changing money would help.:T

Hi there, Me and Oh are going in october too
I will give you a link to a forum that has great info on varadero, there is so many questions that people have asked, and i am sure you will find these helpful.

There is questions about money, excursions, where to go tips, etc, and there is so much info on there you will find all that you need.

I'll pop back and post the link.:D

Carry essential items like toothbrushes etc in your hand luggage. Our luggage got lost and it's virtually impossible to buy simple things like that

When we went we were plagued by mosquitos making it impossible to eat out in the evenings. We we also found nice desserted beaches, then groups musicians (mariachi) came out of nowhere...even moving away from the hotel beaches the hotels would come along with a speaker and turn up the volume for us...grrrr. The shows were good, the internal flights were a revelation, Havana was beautiful, the people were very friendly and it seemed commonplace for the locals to invite you to their homes for dinner and you paid just like in a restaurant, the old cars everywhere were fabulous. Just a word of caution, when we were there Prostitution was rife as was drug dealing in the tourist areas.(this was a cuple of years ago so it might have changed)