Cuba - Lonely Planet [389]
Many of the popular tourist areas now have ‘bus tours,’ hop-on/hop-off buses that link all the main sights in a given area and charge CUC$5 for an all-day ticket. The services are run by government transport agency Transtur ( 7-831-7333). Havana and Varadero both have open-topped double-decker buses. Smaller minibuses are used in Viñales, Trinidad, Cayo Coco, Guardalavaca and Baracoa (seasonal).
Cubans travel over shorter distances in provincial buses. These buses sell tickets in pesos and are a lot less comfortable or reliable than Víazul. They leave from the provincial bus stations in each province. Schedules and prices are usually chalked up on a board inside the terminal.
Reservations
Reservations with Víazul aren’t always necessary, though it’s advisable to check during peak travel periods (June to August, Christmas and Easter) and on popular routes (Havana–Trinidad, Trinidad–Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba–Baracoa). Víazul out of Baracoa is almost always booked, so reserve an advance seat on this service when you arrive. It is now possible to make reservations online at www.viazul.com.
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CAR
Renting a car in Cuba is easy but, once you’ve factored in gas, insurance, hire fees etc, it isn’t cheap. Bank on paying CUC$70 per day minimum, even for a small car. It’s actually cheaper to hire a taxi for distances of under 150km.
Driver’s License
Your home license is sufficient to rent and drive a car in Cuba.
Fuel & Spare Parts
Gas sold in Convertibles (as opposed to peso gas) is widely available in stations all over the country (the north coast west of Havana being the notable exception). Gas stations are often open 24 hours and may have a small parts store on site. Gas is sold by the liter and comes in regular (CUC$0.95 per liter) and especial (CUC$1.15 per liter) varieties. Rental cars are advised to use especial. All gas stations have efficient pump attendants, usually in the form of trabajadores sociales (students in the process of studying for a degree).
While you cannot count on spare parts per se to be available, Cubans have decades of experience keeping old wrecks on the road without factory parts and you’ll see them do amazing things with cardboard, string, rubber and clothes hangers to keep a car mobile.
If you need air in your tires or you have a puncture, use a gas station or visit the local ponchero. They often don’t have measures so make sure they don’t overfill them.
Insurance
Rental cars come with an optional CUC$10 per day insurance, which covers everything but theft of the radio (which you’ll need to put in the trunk of the car at night). You can choose to decline the insurance, but then the refundable deposit you must leave upon renting the car (in cash if you don’t have a credit card issued by a non-US bank) soars from CUC$200 to CUC$500. If you do have an accident, you must get a copy of the denuncia (police report) to be eligible for the insurance coverage, a process which can take all day. If the police determine that you are the party responsible for the accident, say adiós to your deposit.
Rental
Renting a car in Cuba is very straightforward and you can usually be signed up and fitted out in well under an hour. You’ll need your passport, driver’s license and refundable CUC$200 deposit (in cash or non-US credit card). You can rent a car in one city and drop it off in another for a reasonable fee, which is handy. If you’re on a tight budget, ask about diesel cars – some agencies stock a few and you’ll save bundles in gas money considering a liter of non-diesel is CUC$1.15 while a liter of petróleo (diesel) is CUC$0.65. Note that there are very few rental cars with automatic