Having done no research what-so-ever, I very much fumbled my way through my very first visit to Cuba. I rocked up without so much as an idea as to what the currency was, very late at night with nowhere to stay. Talk about stupidity! In retrospect, here are all the things I wish I'd known about traveling to Cuba. My next visit will be much more organized safe to say.
Currency
There are two currencies in Cuba and if you wish to obtain best value for money, you should acquire both.
CUP – Cuban pesos is the official currency of the country and what the citizens use in their daily trading. Anything a local will require such as cheap food & drink, market foods, local buses and collectivo taxis will be sold in pesos
CUC – Cuban ‘cook’ is the tourist currency. It has a value of 1:1 with the American dollar. Tourist restaurants, hotels & accommodation and intercity buses will all be sold in CUC
During my visit in late April the conversion rate stood at 24 pesos per 1 CUC. Given that the average cost of items in pesos is around 10-20 you do not require large amounts of pesos. I suggest changing over a small amount such as 10 CUC (equivalent to 10USD) to begin with. Any leftover pesos cannot be changed back into CUC or USD. You will be stuck with them – so change over wisely!
If you are an American citizen, your financial institution may not yet be…show more content… They are either a hotel or a casa (homestay). While hotels can be very easily booked online in advance, due to the lack of internet availability in Cuba it is much harder to organize a homestay in advance in this manner. To organize a homestay you will need to find an area you like within Havana or wander the streets of the smaller cities if outside Havana and look for a little blue anchor sign/plaque above the front door. This indicates that this is a homestay casa available to tourists. The red anchor indicates it is for Cubans visitors
