Cuba - Lonely Planet [185]
Banco de Ahorro Popular (Map; Calle 36 btwn Av 1 & Autopista Sur; 8:30am-4pm Mon-Fri) Probably the slowest option.
Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Map; 66-70-02; cnr Av 1 & Calle 36; 9am-1:30pm & 3-5pm Mon-Fri) Changes traveler’s checks; expect queues.
Banco Financiero Internacional Av 1 (Map; 66-70-02; cnr Av 1 & Calle 32; 9am-3pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat & Sun); Plaza América (Map; 66-82-72; Plaza América, cnr Av Las Américas & Calle 61; 9am-noon & 1-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Traveler’s checks and cash advances on Visa and MasterCard.
Cadeca (Map; 66-78-59; cnr Av de la Playa & Calle 41; 8:30am-6pm Mon-Sat, 8:30am-noon Sun)
POST
Many of the larger hotels have branch post offices in the reception area.
DHL (Map; 66-44-51; Av 1 btwn Calles 39 & 40; 8am-noon & 1-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-noon Sat)
Post office (Map; cnr Av 1 & Calle 36; 8am-6pm Mon-Sat)
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Almost every hotel has a tourism desk where staff will book adventure tours, skydiving, scuba diving, whatever. It’s almost always cheaper, however, to go directly to the tour agency or outfit.
Cubamar (Map; 66-88-55; Av 1 btwn Calles 14 & 15) Office on ground floor of Aparthotel Varazul. Arranges trips to Río Canímar.
Cubana (Map; 61-18-23; Av 1 btwn 54 & 55)
Cubatur (Map; 66-72-16; cnr Av 1 & Calle 33; 8:30am-6pm) Reserves hotel rooms nationally; organizes Varadero excursions and bus transfers to Havana hotels.
Gaviota (Map; 61-18-44; cnr Calle 56 & Playa)
Havanatur (Map; 66-70-27; Av 3 btwn Calles 33 & 34; 8am-6pm)
Infotur ( 66-29-66; cnr Av 1 & Calle 13) Next to Hotel Acuazul.
Dangers & Annoyances
Crime-wise Varadero’s dangers are minimal. Aside from getting drunk at the all-inclusive bar and tripping over your bath mat on the way to the toilet, you haven’t got too much to worry about. Watch out for mismatched electrical outlets in hotels. In some rooms, a 110V socket might sit right next to a 220V one. They should be labeled, but aren’t always.
Out on the beach, a red flag means no swimming allowed due to the undertow or some other danger. A blue jellyfish known as the Portuguese man-of-war can produce a bad reaction if you come in contact with its long tentacles. Wash the stung area with sea water and seek medical help if the pain becomes intense or you have difficulty breathing. They’re most common in summer when you’ll see them washed up on the beach; tread carefully. Theft of unguarded shoes, sunglasses and towels is routine along this beach.
Sights
If it’s art and history you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place. Varadero is no Havana. Nevertheless, there are a few sights worth pondering over if the beach life starts to bore you.
Varadero’s Parque Central and Parque de las 8000 Taquillas stand side by side between Avs 44 and 46. Once the center of the town’s social life, the area was neglected in the 1990s and early 2000s as bigger resorts sprouted up further east. Lifted out of its slumber, Parque de las 8000 Taquillas was recently redeveloped and now sports a brand new shopping center beneath the ever-popular Coppelia ice-cream parlor. Just east is tiny colonial-style Iglesia de Santa Elvira (Map; cnr Av 1 & Calle 47), which resembles a displaced alpine chapel.
Working up the beach from Hotel Acuazul, you’ll see many typical wooden beach houses with elegant wraparound porches. The most attractive of the bunch has been turned into the Museo Municipal de Varadero (Map; Calle 57; admission CUC$1; 10am-7pm), which displays period furniture and a snapshot of Varadero’s relatively short history. There’s a fine beach view from the balcony upstairs.
Parque Josone (Map; cnr Av 1 & Calle 58; admission free; 9am-midnight) is a green oasis that’s more enclosed and much prettier than Parque Central. The gardens date back to 1940, when the owner of the Arrechabala rum distillery in nearby Cárdenas built a neoclassical mansion here, the Retiro Josone (now a restaurant). Expropriated after the Revolution, the mansion became a guest house for visiting foreign dignitaries. Now a public space – Cuban girls celebrate