Creating an itinerary for a trip to Cuba seems easy, at first glance. Its top destinations are well known and, if you are short on time, Havana alone can give you a taste of what this wonderful country is all about. However, if this is a longer, once in a lifetime trip for you, it can be hard to decide where to go and what to leave out.
In my opinion, the key to creating a great Cuba itinerary lies with getting the right balance (for you) between discovering its rich culture and history and spending time in nature, whether that is its tropical beaches or national parks. In this blog post, you’ll find my two week Cuba itinerary. It is perfect for exploring Cuba’s highlights in a relaxed Caribbean-style pace and can easily be adjusted all the way down to a 10 day trip. If you love culture, history and tropical beaches in equal measure, you are in the right place. Let’s start.
Total No of days: 10-15 (excluding flights)
Havana: 4-5 overnight stays
Cayo Coco: 4-7 overnight stays
Trinidad: 2-3 overnight stays
Who is this itinerary best suited to?
Travellers who love culture and beach time in equal measure.
Backpackers, flashpackers & luxury travellers. You can easily adjust the quality of your accommodation & meals accordingly!
HOW TO GET AROUND IN CUBA
Cuba is a big island. Getting from Havana to Santiago de Cuba is approximately 700km (435miles) and that is not even from one side of the island to the other! Even though there are airports in all major cities (and there is even one in the beach resort of Varadero), most foreigner travellers steer clear from internal flights. While l lack the knowledge to properly comment on the safety records of Cuban aviation, I will say that we consciously chose to travel only by land. It’s worth doing some proper research if you are thinking of travelling by air.
TRAVELLING BY PRIVATE SHUTTLE
As you can see in our itinerary below, my fiancé and I travelled by private shuttle from Havana to Cayo Coco (6.5h drive) and from there to Trinidad (3.5h). We booked these transfers through a brick and mortar travel agency in Havana (yes, they still exist!). Both taxis were modern and comfortable. Price-wise, the fare was quite high for Cuban standards but cheaper than what it would be in Western Europe / US / Canada.
TRAVELLING WITH A VIAZUL BUS
From Trinidad, we got back to Havana (4.5h) on a bus from Viazul, a public bus company serving long distance routes. The Viazul bus was fairly modern and the service was punctual and quite affordable; plenty of foreigners were using it. The best part is that we booked our tickets online!
CAR HIRE IN CUBA
Neither my fiancé nor I drive, so I cannot really comment on whether it’s a good idea to hire a car in Cuba. While it would certainly provide you with great freedom, I have heard a lot of people expressing concerns about car hire for multiple reasons, including steep prices, poor road signage and the condition of a road network which has seen better days.
OUR 2-WEEK CUBA ITINERARY
✈️ 10h direct flight from London
We flew directly from London to Havana with Virgin Atlantic. This was our first experience of flying with them and it was a pretty good one! We flew in economy class. The food and in flight entertainment was good and the staff were very polite.
Getting through passport control at Havana airport took a bit of time but the process was smooth and well organised.
4 wonderful days & 5 nights in the glorious Cuban capital.
We arrived in Havana late in the evening so, in effect, we had 4 full days which we found to be a good amount of time to see the highlights of this great city.
From the stunning colonial architecture of Havana Vieja (old Havana) and the impressive seafront of the Malecon to the brutalist architecture of La Plaza de la Revolucion and the faded beauty of its various neighbourhoods, it seems that every stone in this city has an interesting story to tell!
Add to this the seductive music performed live at every street corner and you’ve got yourself a truly one of a kind destination! We loved every minute of it!
🚕 6.5h drive from Havana to Cayo Coco (private shuttle)
7 days in Cayo Coco: Taking it slow in one of the best beaches we have ever been to!
Cuba is a gorgeous multi-faceted country and part of its Caribbean charm lies with its numerous tropical beaches. Soft white sand, warm turquoise waters, palms swaying in the wind… the whole nine yards! Cayo Coco is one of the most famous beach resort areas of Cuba, second to none other than super popular Varadero.
All inclusive accommodation is the norm when it comes to beachfront hotels in Cuba and we stayed in Melia Cayo Coco. We loved our overwater bungalow set inside a tranquil tropical lagoon and minutes away from the most spectacular swimmable beach (… and we didn’t even have to mortgage our house to afford it)!
🚕 3.5h drive from Cayo Coco to Trinidad (private shuttle)
2 days in Trinidad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Spanish colonial settlement which still looks like it did in 1850!
Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the sugar trade was the main industry in the region. Its candy coloured houses and cobblestone streets made us feel like we are in a filmset, a sentiment which only grew in the evenings when the central square turned into a dance floor and everyone swayed in the rhythm of Cuban salsa!
Given the small number of hotels in Trinidad, this was the perfect opportunity to stay in a casa particular! The Cuban version of Airbnb definitely gave us an insight into the realities of Cuban life, with many expected and unexpected pros and cons!
🚌 + ✈️ 4.5h bus drive from Trinidad to Havana + 11h direct flight to London
Cuba was on my bucket list ever since I can remember and my super high expectations were exceeded!
There is no other country, no other island like Cuba and I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying their time here. We certainly had a blast, and would go back in a heartbeat to explore more!
HOW DID WE PUT TOGETHER OUR CUBA ITINERARY?
Visiting two of Cuba’s major destinations, Havana for 4 full days and Trinidad for 2 days, was an easy decision to make and, in hindsight, we chose wisely. In both cases, we had enough time for everything we wanted to see at an easy pace. Not having to rush proved to be invaluable in the heat.
The tough decision was how much time we should spend on the beach (first world problem, I know). You see, we love spending time on the beach but we were afraid of missing out. And the truth is, we did. We missed out on Cuba’s other wonderful destinations (more on that below). However, adding a fourth stop in our itinerary would increase time spent on the road significantly, and we’d end up being tired. So we kept it simple. Havana, Cayo Coco, Trinidad.
HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT (FOR YOU) CUBA ITINERARY
If you are struggling with these kind of decisions, my advice to you would be to think about two things:
- What kind of trip do you want this to be? Are you a culture vulture? History buff? Do you love spending time on the beach? Enjoy exploring the world’s great cities? Do you love visiting national parks around the world?
- How much time are you willing to spend on the road? Cuba is a big island and most foreigners won’t fly the friendly Cuban skies. Adding multiple destinations to your itinerary will mean spending many hours in a car / bus.
When travelling the world, it is important to step out of our comfort zone and try new things that will deepen our knowledge and understanding of a new place. On the other hand, it is essential to personalise our itineraries to our preferences so that the activities we do and experiences we have are engaging and fun. Achieving the right balance between the two is what makes for a great trip.
ADJUSTING THE ITINERARY & ADDITIONAL DESTINATIONS
Thinking of adjusting our itinerary to suit yours?
As I mentioned previously, our itinerary can easily be done in 10 days, if you reduce the number of days in Cayo Coco. Similarly, if you wish to move around more, spending less time on the beach will allow you to add another destination in.
Alternatively, you could spend less time in Havana or Trinidad. Lots of people will tell you that Havana can be explored in three days and Trinidad in just one. That’s doable, but we liked having the extra time to take it all in.
ADDITIONAL DESTINATIONS TO CONSIDER IN CUBA
As for additional destinations to consider, Viñales National Park (3h east of Havana) and the city of Santa Clara (on the way to Cayo Coco and Trinidad) caught my eye during my pre-travel research. Santiago, Cuba’s second largest city, also looks like a very interesting place to visit but it is a 9.5h drive from Trinidad! Anyway, in a top 5 list of Cuban destinations, I think these three would come right after Havana and Trinidad.
If you love outdoors activities, there’s more to Cuba than Viñales. There are quite a few national parks offering incredible opportunities for trekking, birdwatching etc, so, it’s worth doing a bit of research before finalising your itinerary.
In terms of beach resorts, we considered popular Varadero (2.5h west of Havana) as an alternative to Cayo Coco along with neighbouring Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Guillermo. I do think though that, in the end of the day, what matters is that you are happy with the hotel you opt for. It appears that all resort areas in Cuba feature excellent beaches.
Needless to say, there are plenty of beaches scattered all around Cuba’s coastline that are not part of a ‘beach resort area’. So, you don’t have to stay in an all-inclusive to go to the beach. We visited a public beach near Trinidad and it was beautiful. There were plenty of locals around too, which gave it a different feel than the beach in Cayo Coco.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Cuba is overflowing with natural beauty and its cities and towns are brimming with history, architectural interest and cultural delights. The perfect 2-week itinerary for us involved exploring two of its top destinations, Havana and Trinidad and spending a week in Cayo Coco, one of its best beach resorts, and we had a blast! If you are visiting this stunning country anytime soon, make sure to think about how much time you wish to spend in its culture and history rich cities and how long you wish to allow for its stunning tropical beaches and / or national parks. That way, you will be able to create the perfect itinerary, for you…
This is not a sponsored post & I am not affiliated with any of the hotels, restaurants or organisations mentioned.
