Cuba: getting around

4 March 2015

This is one of the big headaches for Cubans... The vast majority can't afford a car, so they fall back on shared transport, and it's a puzzle. There are two ways to approach it:

• You know exactly where you're going, you don't look like a tourist and you have national currency (CUP): pay at the end of the ride (or at the start on buses), don't try to work it out, and look like you know what you're doing.
• You know you're going to pay in CUC: ask the fare before you set off!

Advice for travelling between cities

Between two cities, besides the standard coach, it's worth asking at the "casas particulares" about private taxis that might be making the trip. If the taxi you find is full, the price works out the same as the bus, except the taxi drops you where you want rather than at the station. I used this system for the Viñales–Havana leg, among others.

Guaguas

These are the buses. I never worked out how to determine their destinations or their frequency. They're often packed to bursting and Cubans hate using them as a result, but when you have no choice.... Better to take them with Cubans, so you understand something and so you pay in CUP.

Camiones

Like the guaguas, except these are lorries converted into buses. Cubans like them even less, but I only ever saw them crammed full...

Official taxis:

A standard taxi car, yellow and black, with "taxi" written on it. They aren't necessarily cheap compared with the other shared options, and I didn't overuse them during my trip.

Unofficial taxis

Any car you see in the street — often the classic American ones. In Havana they have the particularity of running up and down a single street, so if you take one you need to know exactly where you are and where you want to go (well, all right, it's good to know that at all times :D ). They average 10 CUP a ride, which is not expensive at all.

Moto-taxis

Very common in Santiago de Cuba, and very handy because they're cheap... Reckon on 1 CUC a ride if you're a tourist. You need at least some appetite for thrills :-) .

Bicitaxis

No need for a photo, is there — they're everywhere. I mostly took them in Baracoa.

Pedestrians

Pedestrian, beware! You should know that pedestrians have no priority whatsoever in this country: cars don't slow down when you're in their path, they sound the horn and keep coming... Now, once you know that, you pay attention :).