Welcome to the Travel Archives of Connected Horizons! Read our articles, guides and experiences from the time we spent in Cuba!
How did it all started? In the past Cuba has always had a rusty relationship with USA but amazingly enough the currency that could have been used around to pay goods in Cuba were the National Peso (CUP) and US dollar (USD). In 1994, the Cuban government introduced a new currency named the Cuban Convertible…
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#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…
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Travelling around Cuba on the usual backpacker budget is nothing easy to accomplished. Due to the closed economy of the country, the absence of hostels (which are substituted by homestays called casas particulares) and a whole transport system created for tourists, everything ends up being a little more expensive than your average latin america country….
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While in Cuba, there are not many transport options to choose from if you want to move around the island on a low-budget. Due to the fact that railways are pretty much inexistent (only some trains run from/to Havana-Santiago), colectivos & taxis can be pretty expensive, the other seemingly cheap option the connects major cities…
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After having visited the island from north to south we’re finally back in Havana but this time we’re ready for discovering the capital’s most secret spots at our own pace. At the end of the day, it is the last part of our trip before taking off and leaving Cuba, how could we rush it…
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After an infinite taxi ride thankfully shared with our irish/canadian friends, we have finally arrived in Santa Marta. Starting from Holguin, we’ve pretty much travelled from side to side of the island with only a short stop to eat and relax in Santa Clara. How did the taxi-driver made it ? We don’t know. But…
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A sea of black clouds ready for a storm: that’s the view from our car window. During our taxi trip Holguin-Varadero, we decide to stop by in Santa Clara long enough to be able to visit both the unmissable Che Mausoleum & armoured train. Despite the rain-threat, together with our new travel buddies Emily (Canada)…
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The drive from Santiago de Cuba to Baracoa was unique in its own way. Long serpentine roads and steep curves, are the perfect location for the crazy Viazul drivers to let their inner “rally” side to set free. In-between laughs & jokes time goes fast and before we notice the bus reaches the omnibus terminal…
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This morning our plan was to arrive in Holguin and spend sometime there but… as many fellow travellers would know, sometimes plans change very quickly ! On the bus from Trinidad to Holguin, we meet two funny germans that started talking about this Playa Guardalavaca so well… that we felt the need to go and…
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This time the drive from Guardalavaca to Holguin is heaven ! For a honest 25CUC, the driver of a Chevrolet 52’ give us a lift back to the bus station of Holguin; here, our german friends (Jose/Manuel & Misha/Michael) and us decide that a cheap and relaxing option to get to Santiago de Cuba would…
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As we walk around, Trinidad unfolds in front of us like a colourful canvas full of contrasts at any corner. The beautiful cobblestones streets, the tiny 100% cuban shops and the fancy touristy restaurants, all blend into an interesting trailer from the window of our Viazul. Fully loaded, we start our quest for the Hostel…
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Early breakfast at Hostel Armonia ! Today the plan is to find a taxi willing to bring us to discover the Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of Sugar Mills) & co. for a fair price. Knowing that taxis around the area of Plaza Carrillo (usually from there you take the taxi/bus to Playa Ancon) are…
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One of the starred, always-suggested and most widely offered tours to the surroundings of Trinidad, is the day tour to Topes de Collantes. This natural park, part of the even bigger Natural Reserve called “Sierra del Escumbray”, includes hundreds of hectares of virgin tropical rainforest in a setting relatively free from human-activity. The great biodiversity,…
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The plan for our second day in Viñales, is to explore all those “must-visit” highlights located in the surroundings of the town. After a huge all-inclusive breakfast (coffee, tea, guayaba/pineapple juice, omelette, fruit and buttered bread), typical of the casas particulares (kind of B&Bs), we quickly set off for the city centre to see whether…
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This morning there is no time for breakfast ! The only early bus for Cienfuegos (our next destination) leaves at 6.25am from the Viazul office on the main road of Viñales. One stop, two stop and after seven long hours of writing/sleeping/reading, we’re finally there. A couple of other people and us rush down to…
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Finally arrived in Cuba ! The trip to get here has been amazingly long. We left the Madrid “Barajas” airport on the 3rd of October and made our first pit-stop in Mexico. There, in the Terminal 2 of Mexico City airport, we spent a long night waiting for the last flight to Havana… trying to…
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