One week in Cuba

[eblend]

Hi guys,

Going to Cuba in a couple of weeks, first time there. We will be staying at the far tip of Varadero and would like to take a day tour to Havana. I was looking a bit online and it seems like I will be able to arrange a tour from the hotel and they will pick me up there, take me to Havana for a day tour, and come back. This is okay, but I was also looking and saw things like classic car tours and such in Havana which is something that interests me more.

So with that being said, how does one get from Varadero to Havana, should I take the bus...or can I hire a local driver who will pick us up and spend the whole day with us and such? Looking for any info, as well as any other cool things to do while there.

Thanks

[GQBalla]

Cheapest option take the bus down and someone will approach you to do a tour.

More expensive. The tour through the hotel.

[eblend]

Originally posted by GQBalla
Cheapest option take the bus down and someone will approach you to do a tour.

More expensive. The tour through the hotel.

That's what I was thinking. If I get down to Havana, I am sure there are people lined up to greet tourists and offer their services, wasn't sure if that would be the case.

I might just do this.

[GQBalla]

Definitely

I think one guys first offer was 20 percent of what I paid.

[gwill]

Take the bus to Havana? It's a long drive between the 2 areas.

The Havana tour for one person is only $60-90. If your travelling with only one other person it's not that much cheaper to hire a local vs taking the tour. I did the trip from Havana and had 6 of us do a full days tour for $200 or so and they picked us up from the hotel in varadero. For our larger group we saved a good amount. We picked one of the cab drivers who spoke great English who took us into Havana the one day. He picked up a bmw bus and drove us around anywhere in Havana we wanted to go.

Advantage to the private driver is not getting stuck in tourist lines with the larger tours... And you can spend as much time as you want at specific places.

Our driver made a killing as we picked up $4k worth of cigars.. He seemed to get kick backs from every stop we made.

[lasimmon]

When I went to Havana from Varadero we hired these old classic convertible cars to drive us there.

Can't remember exactly what the cost was though.

[shakalaka]

We took the tour from our hotel. It was a 1 day tour into Havana, where the bus drove through various destinations and stopped at some places for some time. It took pretty much the entire day and you get to check out all the 'must see' places in Havana. There are opportunities for you to shop for cigars and booze etc as well.

If not the tour, you can get on a regular bus or get a driver that will drive you around if you are a bigger family. On a different note, if I remember correctly, there is an open roof bus that hops from hotel to hotel on the strip and takes back and forth on the strip (obviously not as far as Havana) but also a good thing to do. From what I remember it was really cheap if not free, but memory is a little fuzzy.

[eblend]

Originally posted by lasimmon
When I went to Havana from Varadero we hired these old classic convertible cars to drive us there.

Can't remember exactly what the cost was though.

Yah I am thinking of doing this myself.

http://www.havanavintagecartours.com/



So far my plan is to just take a bus to Havana in the morning from Varadero, but I am having a hard time finding the bus schedule. The viazul bus site sucks and only shows 12pm bus as the earliest, but I keep hearing about the 8am bus. If I can take the 8 am bus to Havana it would be great, and then the classic car guy can pick us up and give us the tour. I also heard some hotels can arrange for a transfer to Havana (without the tour) and then we can meet up this way with our classic car dude.

[darthVWader]

It's a long day if you take the tour bus. It'll stop at every resort to pick up other passengers and the same on the way back. Stay the night in Havana if you can. Stay at a Casa Particular 30-50 a night.

Havana is worth spending the extra time at.

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Travel-g1....Varadero.html

[Cos]

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