Best Two Week Cuba Itinerary
Being slow travellers, we spent our two weeks in Cuba solely exploring the west end of the island. Our itinerary included: Varadero, Havana, Vinales, Playa Giron and Trinidad. I was impressed with the variety in the stops in this smallish section of a Caribbean island. When most people, especially Canadians, envision Cuba, its beaches they see, but thankfully, there is so much more to this island than all-inclusives!
That being said, one of the many advantages of all those Canadians going on all-inclusives is that many smaller cities have direct flights to Varadero in the winter. Although touristy, as expected, we found Varadero easy, small and very tourist-friendly; making it a great starting and ending point of our trip. Oh, and as a bonus, Varadero is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. So beautiful, in fact, that even J, who is decidedly anti-beach, approved of the stop. Another bonus, the lineups for internet cards and banks, things you need to sort out upon arrival, were much smaller than the ones we saw in Havana and Trinidad.
Varadero
Varadero Beach
Varadero has the stunning vacation-esque beach worthy of your computer screensaver. Varadero book-ended our trip. We spent two nights there on either end. That was the perfect amount of beach time for us. We also had slightly longer than two weeks total, so we could afford to be generous with our time.
Where we stayed: Beny’s House
Where we ate: El Amanecer (sandwiches), La Vicaria, Paladar Nonna Tina
Havana
The colourful streets of La Habana
Havana is gritty, colourful and unmissable. It is a truly fascinating city with many faces. We spent three nights here.
Where we stayed: Hostal Coabana (AirBnb)
Where we ate: El Cafe, El Dandy, La bien Paga, El Helad’oro
Vinales
Spectacular Vinales vistas
Vinales, our favourite stop, was a walkers paradise. I could go back and spend an entire week walking the paths around the mogotes and taking in the vistas… and cheap mojitos. This is exactly our kind of place. We spent four nights here.
Where we stayed: Crepusculo (AirBnb)
Where we ate: Pepos, El Balcon
Playa Giron
Playa Giron has great snorkeling and one-day all-inclusives to reward yourself for doing all that exercise in Vinales. Plus, it breaks up the very long trip between Vinales and Trinidad that most backpackers take. We spent 2 nights here.
Where we stayed : Sunset Lounge (AirBnb)
Where we ate: El Crocodrilo
Trinidad
Music is everywhere in Trinidad
Trinidad, although another big city, has a completely different feel than Havana, live music on every corner and easy, fun DIY day trips. We stayed here 4 nights (but think 3 would have been enough).
Where we stayed: Casa D’La Popa
Where we ate: Taberna la Botija, Cafe Don Pepes
