I've gone via Mexico before, but I'm wanting to do it the right way this time so that I'm not sweating bullets coming through customs.

Can someone explain the visa/tourist card situation in clear terms? The more I read/research, the more confused I get.

My best friends sister went for 2 weeks about 4 months ago... after 4 days they bailed and came home (Houston ). They are world travelers and are fixing to move to Nicaragua ... please do lotsa research. Apparently Cuba isn't ready for visitors yet!???

Friend and his wife went two months ago. They travel a lot and said it was terrible. Their supposedly nice hotel was a dump and as was stated earlier, the place is not yet set up to handle tourists

Airlines are reducing capacity to Cuba left and right. Sounds like the anticipated demand never materialized; probably for the reasons mentioned above.

I have buddies that go regularly and love it. They also have insane money and one has a girlfriend there now. They usually AirBnB it. They are mainly going there for cigars and women.

ORAggieFan said:

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I have buddies that go regularly and love it. They also have insane money and one has a girlfriend there now. They usually AirBnB it. They are mainly going there for cigars and women.

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I have a buddy that does the same but to Medellin. He has lots of GFs there.

I have never been but know several people that have. I think you will either love it or hate it. One of my coworkers went last fall and she described it as the only place she has traveled in the world where she truly felt like she was out of her comfort zone and in a totally different place....obviously no American chain restaurants and things like that.

Oh no! There are no all inclusives!!!

One of my employees went a couple of months ago. I asked her to give me a brief write-up and voila:

We had a direct flight from ATL to Havana; if possible DON'T check a bag. I had an extra suitcase of small items to hand out like toiletries, t shirts, food and toys which I checked but we had to wait over 2 Hrs in the hot airport for our bags!
You need to secure Visas to enter Cuba and there is a form you fill out (at the gate) with 12 categories for reason of visit. We chose cultural/educational.
We used a website HomeStay to stay with a local Cuban family. They spoke little to no English and accommodations were VERY MODEST. There really is a shortage of toilet paper so take some with you especially if you travel outside Havana.
We did not want the traditional hotel/resort vacation; our sons are 19 and 22 yr old. We typically avoid tourist traps and go for adventures!
The vintage cars were phenomenal; we rented a 1956 Convertible with a local driver for the entire day and he drove us to Vinyales, about 3 Hrs from Havana (A World Heritage Site)and toured a tobacco plantation.
Take a taxi to a community where the artist Gaudi works in mosaic, it's amazing!
Tourist places worth it: El Floridita and Original Sloppy Joes
Book your deep sea fishing beforehand, we couldn't arrange it.
Smoke the Cuban Cigars, have a drink at the Hotel National!
We met University Students who were so proud and happy to speak with US Citizens.
We walked a lot and sidewalks are very uneven and crumbling so be careful!
My husband has an international phone but the boys and I didn't even take ours.
Definitely check out the Paladares, in home restaurants. We used The Lonely Planet guide book for Cuba.
Hope this helps, we were thrilled to experience Cuba and immerse ourselves in its culture

BMX Bandit said:

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I'd think people with insane money would know you can get better cigars & girls elsewhere

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Maybe girls, but not cigars.

MAROON said:

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the place is not yet set up to handle tourists

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Tourists or american tourists?

queso1 said:

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Oh no! There are no all inclusives!!!

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Yes there are - they are all in Varadero. It was built exclusively to attract European resorts. That said, if you want Havana, where most of us prolly want to go, AirBNB is likely your best bet at this point.

Winston Wolf said:

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I've gone via Mexico before, but I'm wanting to do it the right way this time so that I'm not sweating bullets coming through customs.

Can someone explain the visa/tourist card situation in clear terms? The more I read/research, the more confused I get.

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I just went this past weekend and it was surprisingly a breeze getting in/out.

We took Southwest through Ft. Lauderdale, where you will pick up your visa. What happens is, when you purchase your ticket, you have to declare what type of visa you want. The choices that seemed to best fit were either 'peer-to-peer' ( but you have to find someone down there to hang out with, I guess ) or 'Educational Activities'. This seemed pretty generic, so we went with that.

Once you purchase your ticket, Southwest sends you an email with a link to purchase your visa for 50 bucks. When you get to the gate at Ft Lauderdale, they give it to you. That simple.

Believe me, we were as worried about if they were actually going to let us in/out as you are, but no problems.

Good luck!

Fred and kool, were you asked about your visas when you came back through customs on the US side? Did they care?

She said absolutely zero issues with it

So, the visas are just a little paper split down the middle, with the same information on both sides. You have to fill out both sides yourself, which we did on the plane down there. (The Southwest agent told us to be careful filling it out properly, because the months and days of the birthdate were reversed from how we do it. )

When you arrive in Cuba, they take half of your visa and leave you the other half - make sure to keep that other half for the trip back! ( I think you have to pay another 50 bucks or something if you lose it )

Then, when arriving back in the US, you just give the second half of the visa along with your passport to the agent.

And no, not a single question on either side about anything. I think the customs agent asked to also see my driver's license, but that was it.

It was surprising at just how easy it was.

Oh, and Cuban TSA >>>>> our TSA. All female, all wearing skirts and half wearing fish-net stockings.

I spoke to her about it again today. She said Delta took care of her visas, for an extra charge of $50. She brought home tons of cigars and other things from Cuba (gave me one ). Customs officials in ATL gave her and her family no issues whatsoever, I guess they're used to it.

Thank y'all. Leaving March 18 with a girlfriend and going for a week with a stop off at Isla Mujeres on the way back for a vacation from vacation. Looking forward to being back around Cuba.


Care to hear an interesting story?


I was there for a week and a half two years ago. One day, I walked across town to meet a colleague to discuss our professions when I stopped at the Jose Marti museum. Rain came pouring down and I was stuck in this museum waiting it out as the time was ticking for the meet up. I finally said screw it and took my shoes off, rolled up my pant's leg and took off into the rain during a break. I was under some palm trees when it started pouring again. I took refuge while trying to hail a cab. No cabs. I was there for about 20 minutes when an old man came walking by with an umbrella. In rough Spanish I asked him where to find a taxi. He asked me to come with him.


He walked me across the street and into a loading dock beneath an overhang on a building. There were a few men and a motorcycle down there. He walked into the building and I never saw him again. Out came two guys, not in uniform, asking me for my name, my passport, what's in my bag, why am I shoeless, where am I going, how do you know her, what is her phone number. I ask the men what I've done and they can't tell me. I'm beginning to fantasize about running out of there barefoot and was trying to work up the courage when a uniformed man with an assault rifle walks down and join us. He has more of the same for me. Mind you, this is all in broken spanish, with terrible use of conjugation.


They ask me to have a seat and wait. I'm freaking out. I've been there an hour and a half, way past my meeting time with the Cuban. And they motion for me to follow them up these stairs. My heart is racing. The guy in the uniform is behind me. We reach the top of the stairs and a car pulls up. A driver and a uniformed man. The man in the uniform stepped out and his chest was covered in pins and regalia. Higher up in the ranks. He starts asking the same questions I've been answering. I tell him I've done nothing. He opens the back door of the car and says "Get in."

There are times in life when you have very little control of what happens next. This was one of those times. These experiences are exhilarating for me. I don't seek them out, but I do enjoy them when they happen.

He climbed in the front and thank God he said "Take me to your passport." I was staying at a hostel and the house mom was incredible. I wanted her to be involved. It was still raining. I felt like I was in a movie sitting in the back of this government car getting stared at by nearly everyone in the streets in Centro Havana. We got to the hostel and I walked them to my room where my backpack was. While searching for it, the house mom had approached the official and and was questioning him. The man was telling her it that is illegal for me walk around without a passport in my possession. She thought it was ridiculous that a person should have to carry a passport around with them everywhere. He took down my name and passport number and told me not to leave the hostel without it.

I caught a covered bike taxi in the rain and made it all the way back to that meet up. The lady told me that the government officials had called her. It turns out that the building across the road was the Minister of Interior Defense. I was a young, male, American standing out in front of it.