Cycling in Cuba Comments

Firstly, do cycle Cuba and do it as soon as you can. Road traffic is going to increase in the future, so don't wait too long. Secondly, it's all about the wind. The prevailing winter wind blows from East to West and sometimes it blows hard, so plan your itinerary accordingly. Cuba is easy travel so don't worry about accommodation (there is plenty of it).

THE WIND

The Caribbean is a windy place in winter. People go there for kite boarding and wind surfing. Read the bike travelogues, like those on Crazyguyonabike.com, and cyclists write about how hard it was going into the wind, and if they don't mention the wind, it's because they were going with the wind. A happy trip is all about going with the wind. The prevailing winter wind is an Easterly (east to west).

WHERE TO GO

I could break our trip into a number of unequal legs. There are many other possibilities that you might consider.

1. Veradero - Havana. Don't bother. Mostly highway and not a very interesting riding. Some people like Matanzas. We thought Playa Guanabo was interesting. However, it was nice to ride and take the ferry into Havana, but if short on time, this section would not be the highlight of your trip.

2 Havana. If you have two wheels, by all means, ride Havana. Yes, you can ride the Malecon (sea front), but it's also a great way to explore the boulevards and back streets of Havana. Get away from the zonas touristicas. We rode through many poorer neighbourhoods and never felt uneasy. And it's a great way to get you to small shops/kiosks for a drink or bite to eat.

3 Havana - Viñales. This is a lightly populated part of Cuba. Nice scenery but many of the towns are really small, some even lack local shops. They are so small that you may get less of a cultural experience and more a scenic trip (call it "eco-tourism"). It's surprisingly well traveled by cyclo-tourists (easy access from Havana), so Casa owners will be expecting you. It was enjoyable, but on reflection, not our favourite section.

4. Viñales. I mention Viñales because the riding was surprisingly good in the area and we wished that we had spent a little more time there and extended our riding there.

5. Playa Larga - Trinidad (including Cienfuegos). This was a really nice section. The riding for the most part was quite good, road surfaces good, it offered some nice small local beaches and a couple of great historic colonial cities. Cienfuegos is a great little city while Trinidad may be touristy, but it's still well worth a visit. The ride between Playa Larga and Playa Giron was quite nice because of the beautiful Caribbean water colour. And don't miss a chance to chill at Playa los Cocos (Playa Giron). Note the road from Trinidad to Sancti Spritus looked like a great ride from the bus window.

6. Holguin or Bayamo - Havana (main East-West highway). I can only comment on this on the basis of what I saw from the bus window and from other people's comments: Don't bother. Mostly a 2 lane road, plenty of traffic and boring scenery.

7. South Eastern Loop (Bayamo - Santiago - Manzanillo - Bayamo). Some of the riding was boring (mostly on the central plain around Bayamo), some of the road was in poor condition (the majority of the coastal section), but there was also some terrific scenery, interesting cities and more cultural opportunities. So on balance, it was a very good experience. The Eastern region is much less impacted by tourism, so it was more of an "authentic" experience but travel was as easy as in the Western half of the country, though much less English is spoken.

8. Gilbara. We had a few extra days and biked to Gilbara from Holguin and back again. It is a nice ride and Gilbara is a cool town. Get there before it changes to much.

Favourite Cities: Havana, Cienfuegos, Bayamo, Gilbara

Honourable Mention: Trinidad, Santiago,

ACCOMODATION

The Casa Particular experience is one of the reasons that the Cuban travel experience is so fun. We really enjoyed it. The standard of accommodation was much higher than we expected. Every one of the 21 Casa's that we stayed at had AC. All had private bathrooms. The vast majority had mini-bars (fridges) in the rooms! Cleanliness seems to be part of the Cuban culture and the Casas were no exception. Staying at a Casa Particular is a wonderful opportunity to interact with Cubans. Casa owners give you as much space as you wish; they are always happy to talk, but they back off when you don't want to talk. Many of the Casas also had separate entrances to your room, so you don't always have to walk through the living room when you come and go. We usually ate breakfast at the Casas, unless we needed to get off to a very early start. Most Casa owners didn't mind getting up early to make breakfast as it provides good income, but sometimes you could sense that early was not a good idea, so we would skip those. Note, that if you go on a group biking tour, you would likely stay in hotels and miss out on the Casa Particular experience.

As for advance reservations, that is a personal choice, but we went with the approach of allowing the Casa owners to call ahead to either a Casa of their choice or our choice, if we had a recommendation from another source. It's non-binding, so if you don't like the look or feel of a place, you can turn it down on arrival. We found reserving a day ahead made arriving in a town easier. As for Havana, we pre-booked it ahead of time and even then, we found many places were already full, but rarely had problems elsewhere. There are a lot of Casa Particulares in Cuba, so you won't sleep in a ditch!

We also stayed in 3 hotels which were all reasonably priced (and included breakfast). They were fine. Sheets & towels were also clean and new (not threadbare).

COSTS & MONEY

Cuba is good value for money. The Casas were $20-25 for 2 people. Large breakfasts are typically $4 each. Dinners in the Casas or paladars (restaurants) were typically $8-10 each for large portions. Sometimes less expensive food was available in the cities, but the general rule is that you get what you pay for. Beer is $1 in kiosks and normally $2 in Casas or restaurants. Soft drinks are half that. Cocktails $2-3. Rum bottles are a couple of bucks for a small one. Fares on the inter-city (Viazul) tourist buses were also reasonable. Throw in a few admission prices to museums and that's about it. The lunches and fruit purchased along the way in Moneda Nacional amount to almost nothing.

To keep it simple, we brought Canadian cash and exchanged it on arrival, and a couple of other times. We heard that ATM's were OK, but we figured that cash is cash. Don't bring USD as there is a 10% surcharge on exchange. We had some CUC's left over and we were able to convert them to Canadian dollars on departure. I also exchanged some CUC's for Moneda Nacional (about $80 over 5 weeks), for the small stuff and for tips at restaurants. I exchanged CUC's for Moneda Nacional at a "Cadeca" and at a Bank (both straightforward, but quicker at a Cadeca). We heard rumours that the CUC may be phased out at some point in the near future.

BIKE STUFF

Sure, we brought a few extra parts, but the most important thing is to bring a bike in good working order and NEW tires. We rode brand new Schwalbe Marathon tires. We were advised to bring lots of spare tubes, but we didn't get ANY flats in 5 weeks. Despite lack of parts, Cubans are quite ingenious at keeping things going, so most bike issues could be rectified once you found the right people.

The other dilemma that cyclists face is how wide their tires should be. I have an old Raleigh touring bike with narrow fenders (mud guards). It didn't rain while we were riding, so I could have left the fenders at home. The fenders constrain my tire width, so I rode with 28mm's. Some people write that 35mm is the narrowest you should ride with in Cuba. Well, we found that 28mm were the right width for 90% of the roads we rode in Western Cuba and 80% in Eastern Cuba. I was happy with 28mm in Western Cuba and wished I had 35mm in Eastern Cuba. Keep in mind, that even when fully inflated, wider tires require more effort.

There are different ways to transport bikes by air (hard boxes, cardboard boxes, plastic bags) and we opted for the plastic bag method. We had an "open jaw' air-ticket (in Veradero, out Holguin) so we sure didn't want to get involved in a hard case or even cardboard. We did carry a pair of extra plastic bike bags with us the entire 5 weeks. As for transport on the Viazul (Cuban tourist buses), we did it twice. There is a surcharge for the bikes and a maximum number of bikes that they can carry. In both cases, we had to take the front wheels off, and in one case we had to drop the seat heights. When the buses are full, luggage space is tight, but it all seemed to work out.

Note that CanbiCuba does rent out excellent touring bikes. We met someone who had rented one, including panniers and tools, for a very reasonable amount ($20/day). For short trips (2 weeks or less), it would be more economic to rent one of their bikes than to pay for the baggage fees on most airlines!

FOOD

Resort people sometimes moan about the poor Cuban food quality, but as cyclists, we thought that the food was pretty good (and filling!) in Cuba. Breakfasts and dinners are straightforward. Cuban lunches while cycling were not a strong point but we never went hungry.

We ate most of our breakfasts at the Casa's and they almost always included fresh fruit juice, fruit, eggs, bread, sometimes "tostada" (toast/dry bread), jam, butter and often cheese and ham. Coffee and tea is also available. Cubans often brew coffee strong and dilute it with milk. If you take your coffee black, you may want to ask for hot water instead of milk. We skipped a few Casa breakfasts and instead, ate fruit or kiosk food along the way. Some cyclists pack some of the breakfast food up for lunch.

On the road, small towns and villages have limited eating options so we often stopped at "kiosks" to refuel. The fruit drinks were fabulous and cheap (sometimes with water and other times with milk). Ham or cheese sandwiches are the lunch mainstay but pizza is also widely available. It isn't fine dining, but it's fun and does the trick. Don't be shy! If you see fruit for sale, STOP and get some; it won't break the bank. Note that prices are normally posted in front of kiosks, so there are no surprises.

As for dinners, the Cuban restaurant scene is improving, so eating out in most cities is a very good dinner option. Most Casa's offer dinners and in smaller places, this would be your one and only option (unless you ate at another Casa). We had some really very good dinners in paladars (restaurants) in the larger centres (Havana, Viñales, Trinidad, Bayamo, Santiago, Holguin).

We did not have any tummy problems during our stay.

DRINKING WATER

Ask your Casa owner about drinking water. In some areas, you can drink the tap water. In other places, the Casas filtered the water. In other places, we found Casas that bought bulk filtered water. We sometimes bought 5L bottles of water. Gas stations were good places to find bottled water, though in Eastern Cuba bottled water was hard to find, so we relied on the Casas or at a last resort used purification tablets. We always drank the water served in Casas or restaurants without issue. Casas often sell small bottles of drinking water for 1 CUC each in the "mini bars" (fridge in room).

MAP & GUIDE BOOK

There is a decent map book (Guia de Carreteras) available (sometimes sold at tourist shops) but we borrowed a friend's and took colour photocopies with us. We bought a current Lonely Planet Cuba guidebook and that was quite good and surprisingly comprehensive. There are Cuba cycle guidebooks available and we borrowed both of them from friends and took a few photocopies of relevant pages: "Bicycling Cuba" and "Cycling Cuba". I preferred the "Cycling Cuba" book (Lonely Planet by Rosa Jordon). They are both about 10 years out of date but the routes are still valid. There are not really a lot of roads in Cuba so navigation is not that difficult. GPS and maps on smart phones is another option and we saw it used successfully by another cyclist. I later came across another guidebook, aptly named "Cuba by Bike" by Cassandra Brooklyn (published in 2020) and it looks like a winner with more up-to-date information.

ROADS

The roads weren't as bad as we had heard, although some in the East were worse. With some notable exceptions, there is a relationship between quality of road surface with traffic levels. That means, the quieter the road, the poorer the road surface. This is the "fly in the ointment"; cycling in Cuba is good but it is far from perfect!

Note that Cuban drivers are on the whole very courteous towards cyclists; they are used to bicycles and slower moving vehicles (such as horse carts) and we were never forced off the road. Having said that, I'd still avoid busier roads. Additionally, some of the four lane Autopistas have light traffic and room for cyclists, but cycling on divided highways is not what cycle-touring is all about.

WHEN TO GO

The conventional thinking is November to April. As I understand it, you might encounter more precipitation in November (tail end of the wet season). On our first day, at the end of March, the temperature was 35C. We rode in April; it was unusually warm that year, but with the warming of the planet, I would hesitate to go in April. It was too hot. There is enough accommodation, so that going in a busier month wouldn't be a big deal.

SUPPLEMENTARY TRANSPORT (BUSES, TAXIS)

There are two viable transport methods to use if you want to get somewhere faster than cycling; buses and taxis. I would only consider the train if you were seeking a "travel experience", and I don't know anything of transporting bikes on domestic Cuban flights.

Viazul runs an excellent, quality bus service all across Cuba. The buses are very comfortable and they run to a well defined schedule. Bikes are permitted, though they do attract an additional fee (something in the 20% of the fare range). We took Viazul buses twice. In one instance, we reserved seats ahead of time at the bus station and the other time, we were told they weren't required (the bus turned out to be less than half full). The bikes go in the luggage compartment "as is" (except you will need to take the front wheel off, and sometimes lower the seat post). In one instance, there were already 3 bicycles in the hold, but they managed to squeeze (literally) ours in. You can determine both fares and schedules on the Viazul website. The buses do make a fair number of stops (but do not stop between stations) and generally allow sufficient time for passengers to use the toilets and grab a quick bite at station stops. They seemed to stop at highway restaurants at meal times. We had no complaints.

Long distance taxis are another option. You can ask your Casa Particular to assist you, or you can talk with the drivers at a taxi rank. Naturally, fares would be higher from a beach resort or from a more tourist visited place, but would not be unreasonable. We used a taxi to make a 125km day into a 55 km day, by chartering a cab for 70km; it cost us 25CUC (USD). It is a good opportunity to go in a car from the 1950's and get somewhere quickly.

LANGUAGE & CUSTOMS

The ability to speak Spanish is an asset (I do), but you'll manage with a limited vocabulary. Everyone is happy to do business with you no matter what language you use. Don't be afraid to go up to a kiosk or in a shop to see what is for sale. Cubans do it all the time, as it is a land of shortages. Cubans are laid back and don't get excited about much. As cyclists, we did not encounter many touts ("jineteros"). It is a different scene when you step off a Viazul bus because many Casa representatives are there to meet possible clients.

OTHER STUFF

Keen sandals were good for riding (ventilated, but still a fairly stiff sole). Don't even think about wearing socks. We brought some electrolytes ( Gatorade, or other) and that was useful at key moments. Sunscreen was good to bring because it is hard to find there (other than at beach resort shops).

There were a few things that we brought that we should have gone without. We didn't use raincoats. We brought some protein bars. Not needed! There is plenty of food in Cuba. We also brought some stuff for kids, but we didn't meet many kids!

We did bring some extra bike stuff such as used tires and parts and brought them to Canbicuba (Varadero, Havana) so that they could be passed onto Cuban bike clubs.

We wish that we had brought the electric mosquito plug-ins that you find in South East Asia. We had a couple of rooms that had some mosquitoes in them and insect spray is not available in Cuba.

Basic toiletries such as soap and toothpaste is widely available. Well-meaning people who have stayed in all-inclusive resorts advise that "nothing" is available in Cuba. That just isn't true.

FORMALITIES

As Canadians, we are fortunate that Cuba grants 3 month stays on arrival and we didn't have to deal with a visa extension for our 5 week trip. All visitors are supposed to have travel insurance but we weren't asked for proof on arrival. We did however have to show our outbound air e-tickets to immigration. On the way out, we did change excess CUC's for Canadian dollars.