The Perfect 3 Days in Trinidad — The Adventures of J&K

Arriving in Trinidad was a flashback of turning up in a tourist town in South East Asia. Despite the annoyance I know I felt in those situations, I’ve been missing travel so much that I actually smiled at the memory. There is literally a rope at the bottom of the bus station driveway holding the touts out. You must pass the gauntlet, of course, if you want to exit the bus station, but, unlike in South East Asia you have space and time to devise a plan after you disembark the bus and before being swallowed up by touts waving laminated casa pictures. A polite smile and ‘no, gracias’ and we were on our way to our pre-booked Airbnb.

We were very happy with our choice to book our casas ahead and have all our destinations downloaded on Google Maps. Casa D’La Popa was a particularly good choice.

Actually, it was fantastic. Beautifully decorated with handmade lamps and paintings by a local artist, it was everything I was hoping for for our Trinidad stay. The whitewashed walls climbed to high, airy ceilings and our bedroom windows were encased in bright blue shutters. It was probably one of the most atmospheric rooms we've ever stayed in.

Yenna, the owner, was very helpful and spoke excellent English. Her sense of style and charm was apparent throughout the entire house. And, the best part, in a house full of great details - was the rooftop patio and it's spectacular view over the city. The rooftop was particularly wonderful after the intense heat of the day had faded and the sun started its descent into the sea. Really, Casa D’La Popa was the perfect place for us. We had bought ourselves a bottle of rum and some fake Coca Cola to make our own ‘Cuba Libres a la balcon.’ But, only because mojitos require more than two ingredients. The sunset was epic, every single night.

Minty water… just kidding! They’re obviously mojitos!

Day 1

We started our first full day in Trinidad by hiking up to the TV tower, hoping to get the uphill portion of our day done before it got too hot. Speaking of hot, Trinidad is much warmer than Havana, Vinales and Varadero on the Gulf side of the island. I wasn't expecting that! The more you know… Back up at the TV tower, the industrious ground workers have leaned a rickety ladder against a small outbuilding on the edge of the hill overlooking the valley. The friendly workers guide you up the ladder and to sweeping, uninterrupted views across to the mountains and down the valley below. The stunning view is definitely worth both the sweat and buying an overpriced bottle of water from the workers. And, as a bonus, the water was the coldest we had in Cuba!

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the cobbled streets checking out the colourful buildings and street musicians. We eventually found ourselves, surprise, surprise, on a rooftop terrace, happy hour mojitos in hand, listening to live music and watching the sun fall behind the buildings before melting into the sea. That's the stuff Trinidad nights are made of!

Day 2

The Playa Ancon area is a great biking destination and the perfect day trip from Trinidad. It was definitely on the hot side for biking, but still one of my favourite days of the trip!

We rented bikes from across the street from the Santi Spiritus Post Office, as recommended by our Airbnb host. She even walked us right there to the door and translated for us with the bike man! (I’m telling you, Casa D’La Popa is great)

We started biking South and quickly found ourselves on the road to La Boca. The road has great views of the mountains and quiet fincas and isn't very busy. This is a slightly longer route to get to Playa Ancon, but recommended by everyone, as you get to bike alongside the water almost the whole way, versus cutting through inland. Once you get to La Boca, the road towards Playa Ancon is virtually traffic free! It's really very easy to find your way for this day bike adventure. Just head south west on the only road to La Boca and then again follow the only road along the water South.

We hit the ocean at La Boca and had a rest on the sand in the shade. We followed the road the rest of the way to Playa Ancon, a sweeping stretch of sparkling sand and turquoise water. There are lots of beautiful places to stop for a drink of water and break from the sun along the water on the way from La Boca to Playa Ancon. In the end we decided to backtrack and go to a smaller beach just before the road takes a slight detour off the water to loop around a new hotel under construction. They had lots of shade umbrellas spread out along the beach, which I liked the look of. No matter where you choose, you'll pay 1CUC to park your bike securely on the beach. People in neon vests will most certainly point you in the right direction and take your money for parking. Once you choose your ideal spot of sand your personal waiters/bike-watchers will provide you with whatever beach drinks your heart desires. They had sandwiches, too! Neither are a great deal, but they're reasonably priced considering you're in the middle of almost nowhere on a gorgeous beach. We spent a very happy afternoon swimming, reading and sipping… you guessed it ... Mojitos! before biking back into town. I regret nothing.

Beautiful coastal views on the bike ride from La Boca to Playa Ancon

Day 3

On our third full day in Trinidad we hiked down into the Valle de Los Ingenios. In hindsight we probably would have rented bikes again and biked around down there, but there wasn't a lot of information and we didn't know what to expect until we had already hiked down. I suppose hiking is the wrong word. We walked down the road out of town towards the valley and down a pretty steep hill. The paved road turned into a dirt road after the hill, so I guess if there had been a lot of rain biking wouldn't have been so great. You can definitely take a horse ride down in the valley, which I’m sure is also a great way to see it, but Jonathan is allergic to horses, so that was out. I heard talk of a waterfalls/swimming hole down there but we didn't make it that far. Valle de los Ingenios was another very pretty day trip from Trinidad, and with a mode of transport more efficient than our feet I’m sure there would be a lot to see! I was happy for the walk, though, and after we had worked up a sweat, which is very easy in Trinidad, we walked back up into town and rewarded ourselves with delicious ice coffees at Don Pepes. Ok fine, one coffee had ice cream in it and the other had liqueur… but I’m sure we deserved it!

Arriving back at the Airbnb we got some unfortunate news. The taxi we had ordered for the morning to take us back to Varadero couldn't get gas and had to cancel. The night before! At first we thought the driver just wanted more money, or didn't have other people to go on the trip. But, it turns out that this is a real thing. Petrol is limited and it is only offered to private citizens after all the government vehicles have their gas. Mind blown. Imagine waking up and not knowing if you could get gas for your car? Or having to wait in a line for half the day to find out you didn't make the petrol cut? We are so lucky to live in Canada.

Slightly stressed, since we had to get back to Varadero for our flight home, off we ran to the bus station. The tickets for the 7am bus were sold out, as expected. It is a 6 hour bus journey and most people want to get that over with first thing! There was another bus at around 3pm the next day, but that wouldn't get us into Varadero until around 10pm, which wasn't ideal. The bus lady put us on the waiting list and told us to come an hour before the bus was scheduled to leave for our best chance of getting onboard.

And so there we were, at 6am, in the dark requesting luck from the stars above. Thankfully, after waiting in line for a while, we were issued a bus ticket and our luggage was whisked away to be loaded. Phew! Transport in Cuba can be a frustrating and fascinating experience that is totally getting its own post.