Upcoming Cuba trip- 12 days
 

I decided last minute to take a trip to Cuba on Southwest Airlines with my 16 yr old daughter (great traveler, both of us are US citizens) and a friend who will be joining us from Germany. My friend and I speak perfect Spanish. We will be traveling in mid July and are organizing everything ourselves, including overnight stays at Airbnbs / casas particulares.
When I paid for the visa through Southwest I chose the category "educational/ people to people". I plan on giving a couple of presentations about our Cuba experience to our community so figured that was the correct category.

Ideally we'd like to maximize on our time in Cuba as far as cultural and people-to-people experiences, as well as photography opps, but also have a little bit of downtime (early morning or late afternoon only) on a very beautiful beach here and there. I'd love to get some help on our trip itinerary, particularly the last few days. I'm debating between spending 2 nights in Cienfuegos and then two nights in Trinidad.

Day 1: arrival 5 pm at Havana airport, taxi to airbnb in Havana Vieja, dinner with host
Day 2: walking tour of Havana- possibly with guide - any recommendations for specific guides?
Day 3: more Havana
Day 4: 8 am departure to Vinales - either on bus or with colectivo - would a stop in Terrazas be recommendable?
afternoon arrival at organic farm Airbnb in Vinales, dinner with hosts
Day 5: explore Vinales, horseback riding etc., overnight in Vinales
Day 6: day trip to Cayo Jutias or Cayo Levisa, overnight in Vinales
Day 7: early morning departure direction Cienfuegos - Trinidad- should we take colectivo or bus and if via bus should we stop and overnight mid-way somewhere? Is Cienfuegos recommendable (Cienfuegos- Laguna Guanaroca, El Niche Waterfall)
Day 8- Day 9- Cienfuegos or Trinidad - playa Ancon
Day 10: ?
Day 11: ?
Day 12: ?
Day 13: time in Havana /beach? until afternoon airport departure

Thank you.

DT will announce changes to the travel policy on Friday, June 16. There is supposedly a 30 day commentary period before they go into effect, making that mid-July.
If I were in your position, I would be researching how to get to Cubs through Mexico/Canada, if that too is not made more problematic, than trying to plan what to do on a trip that may not happen.

SC, we're waiting for Friday's announcement before we fret too much about our August trip. I think that's good advice.

I am simply saddened that it is likely to be 4 years before I see my friends in Havana again.

I know - we've never been, and are unhappy that we may have missed this window of opportunity.

I'm hopeful it won't come to a reinstatement of travel restrictions that quickly and I am moving forward with my planning. Southwest Airlines reps haven't heard of anything and I am able to cancel anytime up to ten minutes before the flight.

Sadly it will.
30 days
Get cancel for any reason insurance
None of the airlines customer service depts. could tell you how to get a visa (when the airline itself provides them) even after the flights started, so what SW customer service flunkies know or don't know about this is immaterial.
Good luck with that one I'd be booking on Cubana out of Cancun, if anywhere.

It's not over yet.
"Lawmakers in Congress recently reintroduced the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (Senate Bill 1287). The bipartisan bill now has 55 cosponsors and would guarantee Americans the right to travel to Cuba."
My two senators, Leahy and Bernie Sanders, are co-sponsors of this bill.

The long time Cuba travelers on TA and TT say this bill has been introduced yearly since 2001 iirc and has never passed. It has the support of legislators from all the agricultural states that wish to increase sales to Cuba. The Mismi Cuban hardliners spend a lot on politicians who support their old grudges.

Southwest has a great cancellation policy. In the meantime, check on traveling via Mexico; you can obtain your license/visa for Cuban travel right at the airport. I know a few individuals who've traveled this way; I, myself, will have to do likewise if I manage to return to this island nation in 2018. We Americans have gone far too long in traveling to Cuba freely; the embargo and restrictions have severely hurt the people of Cuba as well.

It's time for us citizens to take some drastic action against "the trump"-- for he and his administration have gone much too far in unraveling the gains made during the past administration, positive gains to enhance the well being of the people. It's pathetic and quite sad!

To answer your initial query, I'd say spend time in Trinidad; my guide in 2015 had only encouraging statements about this city known for its architecture and history. Most tour groups go there and spend at least 3 days.

I wish you the best in your impending trip, and since you speak Espanol, you should have a smooth journey while there.

Unfortunately for many of us, traveling through Mexico almost doubles the price of flying to Cuba, and puts Cuba in the same price range as many more or as interesting places with architecture, beaches, music and culture.

Hopefully you can go on your trip. Cienfuegos and Trinidad were both highlights for me. Why not stay two nights in each of thise towns?
Trump claims to be about helping with jobs and the economy. Now he has hit the travel industry hard. I was thrilled when Obama was electd as I hoped he would make me possible for me to travwl to Cuba. I went in 2014 and want to return.

Assuming you can go ahead with your trip, have you considered putting the Havana time at the end of the trip? You don't want to be travelling back on the last day, and just having one night there at the end is really a waste of a night. However seeing that you arrive at 5pm, by the time you negotiate immigration and luggage reclaim at Havana airport, it'll probably be closer to 7pm, so you are faced with one "lost" night, one way or another, either at the beginning or the end of the trip.

We found organising getting the bus from Navana to Vinales - it turned out that the tickets hod sold out a long time in advance and getting to the bus terminal to buy a ticket was going to be expensive in time and effort. So we ended up taking a taxi to Vinales, which was an interesting experience. We didn't stop off at Terrazas but we did do a stop at a tobacco farm which was very interesting.

To get from Vinales to Cienfuegos/Trinidad, there is the normal Viatur tourist bus, but there is also a Transtur bus [which we were wrongly told was full, probably in order to get us to take a taxi!] - the office is on the main street in Vinales and I would strongly recommend using these buses whenever they are available. They seem to be aimed at transferring hotel residents from one hotel to another, but there isn't any prohibition on other tourists using them if there is space; the snag is finding out about them. There is no need to take an over night stop; the bus stops for lunch at a very nice place with decent loos, a nice restaurant which provided us with juice and toasted sandwiches served outside under the trees, all for a very reasonable price, and a small zoo!

As Cienfuegos is closer to Havana than Trinidad, i would suggest going through to Trinidad, then going back to Cienfuegos, and then back to Havana. You need if possible to book your accommodation in Trinidad asap. It is a lovely place but the amount of decent accommodation well exceeds the demand and there are some casas on the outskirts of the centre of the old town that really don't come up to scratch. [we stayed in one as did our friends]. Either stay in a better place in the centre or in a hotel on the beach which was lovely - there is a tourist bus out there or grab a collectivo taxi. 3 nights in Trinidad are probably enough to see the sights but the real joy of being there is the music, which is terrific. Every bar and restaurant has a band or some description, and it's great fun going round from place to place listening to what they all have to offer, though "Guantanamera" can begin to pall after you've heard it ½ a dozen times in an evening.

from Trinidad to Cienfuegos is only about an hour, but we combined it with a trip to a local beauty spot called El Nicho where there are several walks and the chance to swim in several pools [complete with lifeguards, believe it or not]. Even so, you might get away with only 2 nights there as you should arrive in the early afternoon, even if you detour round El Nicho.

There is plenty to see there - the main attractions are to be found at Punta Gorda where there are some lovely villas, including a restaurant which is an imitation of the Alhambra, but the town centre is interesting too - we had an impromptu tour of the theatre which was interesting as it had a wonderful history of famous performers and there is a nice cafe next door. You also have the opportunity to enjoy a Cuban shopping precinct which amongst other things featured the biggest barbers' shop I've ever seen.

From there it's about a 3 hour trip back to Havana; I would suggest booking the bus in advance if you can:

http://transturhavana.com/services_b...ttransfers.asp

otherwise you can book them in all offices of Cubanacan - which should mean in theory that you could book them all at the same time in Havana or in Vinales at a Cubanacan office. [BTW, there are several different type of Tourist information offices - in Trinidad we counted about 5 - and they all offer slightly different services. How they decide which one does what remained a mystery to us throughout the 3 weeks we spent there!]

I hope this helps - Cuba is not the easiest place to visit but it's well worth the effort.

You seem to have lucked out on the timing vis-a-vis the coming changes. Have a great trip!

I gather any trip that's already been booked will be grandfathered in under the Obama rules, so you should be good to go. From what I read, though, the trip as you describe it would not be allowed under the new rules. "People-to-people" will have to be something structured and organized. We won't be permitted to define it ourselves. "I'll give a presentation to a community group when I get home" probably won't fly once the new rules are in place.

Under current rules, we are required to keep a log of our activities in Cuba, and it needs to be more detailed than "Monday: visited cigar factory and art museum." I've dutifully followed that rule during my trips even though no one has ever asked to inspect my journal once I returned. I suspect the enforcement of that requirement could become more stringent. Just to be safe, I'd make sure to keep that log, and do it while you are there.

We plan to keep a log, particularly for the days we're in Havana pre- and post- tour.

. "I'll give a presentation to a community group when I get home" probably won't fly once the new rules are in place.

And doesn't under current rules either.

"I suspect the enforcement of that requirement could become more stringent."

So what is OFAC going to do? Invade a sovereign country to grill your tour guide, a Cuban citizen? Show up at the paladar where you ate to make sure the check is really on their letterhead? Call your casa particular host to see if you really stayed there as your bill says?

Under current rules, you are allowed to put together your own people-to-people itinerary as long as your entire time is spent in such activities. I think some of the self-designed trips do stretch belief. I know someone who was just there and she said she spent her time "talking to Cubans," so she felt okay checking "people to people" on her form. I half expected her to break into song: "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you …" Plus, I don't know how that happened because she knows almost no Spanish. ;)

No, OFAC can't contact people in another country. It can contact U.S. citizens upon their return home and look at activity logs and receipts. Will it have the staff to do such things? I don't know. I'm saying I would be judicious in making sure all my documentation was in order.

"...look at activity logs and receipts."

Have you been to Cuba yet? No one gives receipts, or at least no cuentapropista, which is who "we" are supposed to be dealing exclusively with from the changes on.

Absolutely, I've been to Cuba. I worked on the latest edition of the Fodor's guide and have written a few features about Cuba for this website.

Casas particulares and paladares are supposed to issue receipts. You're right that many of them don't. I've always insisted on one. They'll write something up, even if it doesn't look very official.

I think that we had receipts from the casas, SC - the very first thing we had to do when we arrived was to produce our passports and sit down with the owner so that they could fill in the form for the government. I'm pretty sure we got a copy of it, but I could be wrong - I even remember duplicating paper being in evidence and it was a long time since I'd seen anyone using that.

also when we booked tours and transfers, though not for taxis etc, and not in small paladars.

what amazes me is the thought that the average border control person is going to be bothered with this stuff - haven't they got better/more important things to do?

It does not fall to passport control to enforce these rules. It falls to the OFAC division in the Treasury Department. That is the government office that could conceivably contact you after your return. That is the office that will be charged with clarifying the new rules in about 30 days.

BTW, the new rules will not apply to anyone who paid money toward their trip prior to June 16th (we did - both a deposit on the tour portion, and the air tickets).

honestly that legislation which it seems has been attempted many times means nothing compared with yet another presidential mandate...lets get serious people..Trump can pretty much override anything and do what he wants when it comes to Cuba ..that is not politics it is fact. And even though people have deposits made etc. I have to wonder what kind of flights the airlines will be putting on next year if load factors are down because most are not interesting in the very expensive group tours. Group tours will not fill aircraft...not at all...most on our plane this year were staying in casas and doing same as we did on our own. As much as I would like to think this will all just go away I don't think it will...Trump will continue this type of behavior on things he can control because some of the really big stuff he can't. The uncertainty will kill this market and people are already cancelling Air BNB or other land arrangements while they still can without excessive penalties.

I don't disagree with you at all, except it's all politics :-)

(We're going in August, I don't think anything will have changed by then).

August should be no problem ...as for receipts...well when the casa owner took passports for recording we got nothing...no receipt for final payment although I am sure they could have taken something and wrote one...no receipts for guides although again they would write something....but honestly I knew no one was asking. Politics or whatever it is a sad way for our leaders to spend their time when we have so many issues more important.

The opening to Cuba that began 2.5 years ago was accomplished entirely by executive order, which meant that it was fragile and could be undone by executive order in a different administration. That's exactly what happened.

yep the stroke of a pen and encouragement from Little Marco and you have a different ballgame.