Havana ; To and From
Not the easiest flight path from Dublin, nothing direct means a limited US connection option or via a European capital, we opted for a connection through Madrid, which apart from immigration was smooth enough. In fairness a UK passport is no asset in the EU these days.
Flight from Madrid is about 10 hours, so pick your seat carefully, W2Fly worked well, out at 14.30 landing @ 18.50 local time, and return overnight, back in time for lunch in Madrid.
A Tourist card ( VISA ), is required to enter Cuba, and you require return flight confirmations, as it only allows access for 30 days. There is also an online declaration required. Paperwork is reviewed at immigration before you are allowed to pass into a chaotic baggage hall.
Baggage is fired out in all directions, and excited Cubans and fellow tourists clamber to be re-united with their bags. In all our time travelling we were one of the casualties, with one bag going astray. Reporting this to the baggage authorities, gave us our first taste of Cuban indifference, what can be done leisurely with little positive engagement is the preference.
We had booked a car to take us to our Hotel National de Cuba, fortunately the driver had waited for us. It’s about a 30 minute transfer, and being a society hungry for cash € 50 or $ 50 take your pick of currency.
Arriving at the hotel does lift the spirits, beautiful old building, lucky we had upgraded to Executive floor. The grand old dame of Havana has suffered through Covid and investment stalled, so the common areas and bedrooms are a little tired. So too are many of the staff, so don’t be surprised when you ask for something that they say no turn their backs and walk away.
Day 1: Havana
In Havana, the summers are hot, oppressive, and overcast and the winters comfortable, humid, windy, and mostly clear. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 18°C to 32°C and is rarely below 13°C or above 33°C.
The best time of year to visit Havana for warm-weather is from late November to mid April.
Cuba does not sell sun tan lotion, and has few choices when it comes to clothing, we did find a bottle of after sun but decided against. Our savior was the attendant at the pool, who had some lotion left behind by other guests, without that we would have struggled to spend much time outside during the day.
New Havana is a poor crumbling, pot holed city, after shopping we decided to walk down to the local market to see what was to offer, unsurprisingly very little
Further along past some dodgy looking housing we thought it time for refreshments at a local cash only bar
Santa reminding us that he has global appeal. We carried on to the Malecon the main road running the length of Havana adjacent to the Straits of Florida,
We called into the Melia Cohiba Hotel wrongly thinking they may have a shop selling sun cream, same disappointment at the Hotel Grand Aston La Habana.
We called it a day, headed back to the hotel and prepared for the evening ahead. In fairness the Nacional Hotel has beautiful grounds and it is very pleasant having a drink in the garden terraces, if you can get served. Persistence and patience are required in equal measure. The only good thing is that by the time you have had a couple of drinks and asked for the bill to pay, the staff have generally forgotten what they have served you, the waiting staff consume some of their customers drinks prior to delivering them, so the delays and lapse of memory were easily explained.
Just outside the hotel were a number of restaurants, we ate in three -all cash transactions –they take US Dollars/ Euro or Cuban peso’s reluctantly but no cards. We enjoyed Waoo a small Italian, and Havanas 21 the best, but for experience Vita Nuova is worth a visit, customer service and Cuban hospitality collide spectacularly.
Day 2
Still fighting with lost luggage, or pool attendant came up trumps with sun tan lotion, so we celebrated by the pool, a day off, well it was New Years Eve.
Day 3
News from lost and found was mixed, they had tracked down our lost bag, and the subject of our inconvenience ( Juan ), had dropped it back to the airport, the suggestion was that the airport would deliver it later that day to the hotel for us.
After breakfast we headed to Old Havana via the Hop on/off Bus, it trucked us through the streets to Parque Central.
Where we stopped at the Axel Hotel Telegrafo for a drink at the roof top bar.
Glorious views over the square, being a non heterosexual hotel the view is the only thing that is.
The bus travels up to the ferry terminal to discharge and collect some tourists spending Tuesday in Havana, and then tracks back down the Malecon, and heads to the Avenida de Los Presedenties the embassy belt
running towards Revolution Square.
Not the most exciting concrete structure, but the main man is keeping a watchful eye.
The bus then goes off around less interesting parts of Havana, so 30 mins nap is probably wise before it drops you back close to the National Hotel.
Needless to say the bag was still missing, when we returned back to the hotel.
Transfer to Varadero
It is a two hour taxi ride to the resort area, this complicated by an early morning run to the airport to engage with lost property, after a two hour wait, a door to lost luggage opened and the bag was handed back. The taxi driver apologized for the delay, which was interesting, certainly the staff at baggage didn’t, all in a days delay for them.
So, three hours later back at the hotel, 3o minute check out and off to the beach resort
We had set the taxi rate with the driver at € 100, which isn’t a bad rate considering it is a full two hours, with some tolls leaving Havana.
Varadero could not be more different than Havana, modern all inclusive 5* hotel chains bestride the narrow 26 Km long peninsula.
We had chosen the Melia Varadero Hotel, with its private beach and golf course.
Whilst the hotel is all inclusive we opted for Club level, to enjoy some extra benefits, and a more peaceful retreat for breakfast and a few drinks after a hard days sunbathing. The other advantage is a seamless check in/out away from the main reception area, and you have first preference to book the restaurants, the best we thought being the Japanese .
The hotel is modern, and much quieter than normal, largely due to much reduced traffic from its old benefactor, there is only 1 weekly flight from Moscow down from 26, however, it still feels like most of that flight had chosen our hotel , difficult to miss the bling, artificial body parts and ignorance.
The pool area is perfect
And only a short distance from the beach
Plenty of bars and restaurants on site so no need to venture very far, but the sunset was always spectacular.
It was too hot to consider golf, but the club was only a short distance away, with club house and restaurant.
We never did find sunscreen even here in the resort area, the local shop struggled to stock too much.
We packed our bags and headed back to the airport 2 hours away in Havana.
The airport is almost as devoid of food and drink as the supermarket, so we should have taken our own provisions from the hotel, but the benefit of hindsight may pay off, if we return someday.
