TRAVELS TO CUBA
We plan to travel to Cuba in April/May 2018. Are there agents in South Africa who specialise in Cuba? And are there any “don’ts” that you know of ? — Anita Keevy
Cuba has traditionally been a difficult and expensive place to visit. From South Africa, the cheapest and quickest route usually meant flying to Havana via Europe on an airline such as Iberia. Forget any ideas that it will be cheaper to fly via South America — the cheapest fare I could find using
skyscanner.net was R21 045 with LATAM Airlines — a 30-hour, two-stop marathon via São Paulo and Panama City.
TAAG (taag.com), the Angolan national airline, offers competitive fares to Europe and Central America, including Havana. It currently has a special on its website of KZ146 020 (about R12 380) from Luanda to Havana return, a very good offer indeed.
You will, of course, need to factor in the cost of a return flight from Joburg to Luanda — about R6 150 on SAA and R6 800 on TAAG.
A colleague of mine flew with them recently and has nothing but praise for the airline.
It will, of course, be easier to do all your travel bookings through a local operator. My quest turned up Rufaro (rufaro.com), a UKbased operator with lots of experience in Cuba — and an office in South Africa (e-mail Kitty Snyman at res@rufaro.co.za).
Rufaro currently has a seven-night “Pearl of the Caribbean” tour for £1 012 (about R18 800), excluding flights. It includes two nights in Havana followed by a round trip to Santa Clara — the final resting place of Che Guevara — and Trinidad, a World Heritage Site, before you head to Cienfuegos and the Vinales Valley, where the tobacco for Cuba’s famous cigars is grown. Accommodation is mostly in casa particulares (private homes).
The most important “dos and don’ts” concern money and medical insurance.
Check with your bank before you go that your debit, credit and ATM cards will work there. If the bank is uncertain, take enough cash — euros or pounds as US dollars are not accepted — which you will exchange for Cuban convertible pesos, the currency used by foreign visitors.
You need 25 Cuban convertible pesos for the airport tax. This should be included in your air ticket but check with your airline.
Finally, make sure you have good travel insurance. Medical evacuations are extremely expensive and hospital stays in Cuba are charged in hard currency — you will need to pay up before you leave.