Vinales (pronounced Viniales) is in the Central-West of Cuba on a plateau surrounded by picturesque hills and valleys where tourists flock to get that authentic rural experience. The result is more like a faux-alpine apres-ski atmosphere which comes alive in the evening when the temperature dives from a beer drinking 24 celsius in the day to a cocktail guzzling 19 in the evening. Read more
After a week in Havana we set of for a trip around the central part of Cuba. Taxis (private or shared) and busses are the main transport options. There are trains however most routes only run every 2 days and their reputation is such that we only met one traveller who had tried (unsuccessfully) to travel by train. We left on the five hour journey to Trinidad de Cuba in an old Chevy colectivo (shared taxi) with 3 Belgians and the Cuban wife of one of them. Read more
A visit to Havana would fall short without stepping back in time at “Hotel Nacional” in Vedado, the newer part of town. Money here doesn’t seem as scarce as in central Havana, it was once the playground of many wealthy Americans who came to drink Champagne and smoke cigars in the days before the revolution. Read more
It’s like the whole place came to a stop and then went backwards after the Cuban “revolucion” in 1959 and the evidence is there for everyone to see and dare-I-say enjoy, because Cuba’s is about music, salsa dancing, awesome cars ‘n cigars and a crumbling world that’s trapped in its communist era ideology. Read more
