Claire Boobbyer - Frommers EasyGuide to Cuba

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ISBN 978-1-62887-234-7 (paper), 978-1-62887-235-4 (e-book)

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Editor: Alexis Lipsitz

Production Editor: Lindsay Conner

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Manufactured in the United States of America

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Frommer's Star Ratings System

Every hotel, restaurant and attraction listed in this guide has been ranked for quality and value. Here's what the stars mean:

Recommended

Highly Recommended

A must! Don't miss!

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and busses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about, these hotels, restaurants, museums and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire Boobbyer is a Cuba travel expert. She has been writing about the island for the last 15 years for guidebooks, newspapers, and magazines. She writes for the U.K.s Daily Telegrap h , the Guardian , the Independent , Time Out , and National Geographic Traveller UK , among other publications. For the last two years she has led tours to Cuba for New York Times Journeys, Smithsonian Journeys, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the many Cubans who helped me along my way during my extensive research trip across the island in 2015. Thank you, also, to my editor Alexis Lipsitz Flippin.

ABOUT FROMMERs TRAVEL GUIDES

For most of the past 50 years, Frommers has been the leading series of travel guides in North America, accounting for as many as 24% of all guidebooks sold. I think I know why.

Though we hope our books are entertaining, we nevertheless deal with travel in a serious fashion. Our guidebooks have never looked on such journeys as a mere recreation, but as a far more important human function, a time of learning and introspection, an essential part of a civilized life. We stress the culture, lifestyle, history and beliefs of the destinations we cover, and urge our readers to seek out people and new ideas as the chief rewards of travel.

We have never shied from controversy. We have, from the beginning, encouraged our authors to be intensely judgmental, criticalboth pro and conin their comments, and wholly independent. Our only clients are our readers, and we have triggered the ire of countless prominent sorts, from a tourist newspaper we called practically worthless (it unsuccessfully sued us) to the many rip-offs weve condemned.

And because we believe that travel should be available to everyone regardless of their incomes, we have always been cost-conscious at every level of expenditure. Though we have broadened our recommendations beyond the budget category, we insist that every lodging we include be sensibly priced. We use every form of media to assist our readers, and are particularly proud of our feisty daily website, the award-winning Frommers.com.

I have high hopes for the future of Frommers. May these guidebooks, in all the years ahead, continue to reflect the joy of travel and the freedom that travel represents. May they always pursue a cost-conscious path, so that people of all incomes can enjoy the rewards of travel. And may they create, for both the traveler and the persons among whom we travel, a community of friends, where all human beings live in harmony and peace.

Arthur Frommer

The Best of Cuba

C uba is unlike any other place on earth. What draws people to this fascinating Caribbean island is much more than beaches, sun, and rum cocktails, though there is plenty of all three for those who want them. One of the last Communist-bloc nations left, Cuba doesnt suffer from the drab and desultory demeanor of its faded peers. Cubas rich culture, unique political history, and continued survival through ongoing economic hardship make it one of the most eye-opening countries that experienced travelers can still discover. Seeing the best of Cuba means dancing to its intoxicating music, admiring how Cubans improvise on a daily basis to make ends meet, and visiting a land that is trying to reconcile its socialist utopia past with its dips into capitalist waters. Its a nation now populated by a significant swath of newly moneyed Cubans who are, wrote Carlos Manuel Alvarez in 2015 in OnCuba magazine, specimens at the midway gallop between Cubas iron socialist morality and a certain post-realignment Havana consumerism.

CUBAs best Authentic Experiences

Patronizing Paladares & Casa Particulares : The best way to appreciate Cubans and exchange ideas about Cuba and the outside world is by stepping inside a paladar restaurant or a casa particular, the Cuban version of a simple bed-and-breakfast. These private initiatives are among the few ways Cubans can earn badly needed hard currency and give travelers a wonderful opportunity to interact with locals.

Exploring La Habana Vieja (Old Havana): The streets and alleys of this colonial-era city center have been immaculately restored. New private restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops have enlivened the colonial core. Wander the plazas, churches, and forts here. See .

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Celebrating Las Parrandas: Near the end of the year, the little colonial town of Remedios gears up to host Las Parrandas, one of Cubas grandest street parties and religious carnivals. Everything culminates on Christmas Eve in an orgy of drums, floats, and fireworks. See .

Going Wild in Baracoa: The beauty, the legends, the wildlife, the walks, the rivers, the food, and the myths: Cubas adventure capital is not to be missed. See .