#1 Infotour your best friend
This travel company is state-owned and has the sole purpose of helping tourist to travel around Cuba. Here anyone can fetch maps for the most known locations within Cuba but also ask for tour prices, Viazul times and much more !
#2 Beware of the many fake guides/tour operators
A bit of a cliché to list but most of the people we met that offered us help and/or tours (apart from literally just a couple) tended to tell tourist their version of prices, times and even of what would be the best to do. Unfortunately, we learnt the hard way that most people get commissioned if they bring tourist in certain places / do certain tours and hence they are not a very reliable source of information.
#3 Make sure to check your bill
A great variety of times, our bill was full of not-ordered meals and inexplicable extra charges that pushed up the final amount even by 30% in some cases. Be sure to compare everything on the bill with the prices on the menu and we can assure you that most of the times (especially in medium-range not-so-touristic restaurants) something will be off.
#4 Learn the difference between CUC & CUP
Currently in Cuba there are two currencies which are both legally used to buy goods. Although CUC (Convertible Pesos) are generally used for more expensive goods and services, in certain occasions when purchasing simpler stuff at a market, locals would accept/give back the rest in CUP (Moneda Nacional). Since the two currencies (notes and coins) looks very similar but have a completely different value (1CUC = 24CUP), the earlier you can differentiate the two, the less often people will be able to scam you. To learn more, read our full article Cuban Currencies | Two Versions of the same Peso !
#5 Bargain on everything
Once again, bargaining is key for getting a fair price. Whether its a tour, taxi ride, souvenir or anything else (but food and goods bought in tiendas) the initial price will always gonna be the rich-tourist tailored one. Especially in low season (July-October), you’ll often be able to get an additional 10-15% off anything on top of an already good-bargained price !
#6 Sharing (a taxi) is caring
As explained in How to Move Around Cuba, Viazul and Taxi Colectivos (Share Taxis), will mostly have fixed fares per person. On the other hand, normal taxis can be a great way to travel around cheaply if you manage, like we did, to find other couples willing to share the price to reach the same location. In some instances, taking a taxi and sharing the price over two couples was even cheaper than the bus Viazul itself !
PLANNING A TRIP TO CUBA? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!
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