Visa regulations
For all visitors to Cuba from the European Community it is mandatory to have a passport valid for 6 months and a tourist card. This tourist card can be purchased (price around 20 euro) at a Cuban embassy or consulate in your home country. Some air lines include the tourist card in their tariff or provide it at a cost. In the airport of departure it is possible the airline sells you the tourist card. The airline is supposed to check whether you have the tourist card on you before letting you board the aircraft. The tourist card is not sold in Cuba in the airports of arrival.
Visitors from other countries should check with their local embassy or consulate about the visa-regulations for their specific country of origin.
Before leaving the country there is a mandatory 25 CUC exit tax to be paid in the airport. Some charter airlines have this tax included in the ticket.
Money
The currency in Cuba at present is the Cuban Convertible Peso or CUC. This currency is only available in Cuba. The theoretical value of the CUC is linked on a fixed basis with 1.08 USD for 1 CUC. The CUC is obtained by changing foreign currency at official exchange booths called CADECA, bank outlets and hotel receptions. For most currencies an exchange commission is charged of 8 %. For exchanging the USD there is an exchange commision with penalty of 18 %.
It is possible to pay in shops and hotels with credit cards of VISA and Euro-Mastercard if they are not issued by American banks. The value on the sales voucher is in USD, not in CUC as it is not an international currency. The commission is 11.35 % : there is 8 % in value difference between the usd and the cuc and the rest (3,35 %) is commission.
We recommend to bring cash euros to Cuba or a visa or master-card credit card (not issued by an American bank).
The so called Moneda Nacional is a currency not available to foreign visitors as it is only for buying subsidized products and services.
In www.cubafortravel.com you find only prices in EURO for all our services. This is the easiest currency for foreign operations related to Cuba. We work with bank transfers to our Cuban or European accounts, with credit card payments to our Paypal account (info at www.paypal.com) and with payments on the spot in cash or by credit card (respecting the local commissions mentioned above). We can accept a prepayment of part of the services and the rest on arrival on the spot in cash or by credit card. The payment conditions are agreed between the client and our commercial staff through email communication.
In case of cancellations after having payed we reimburse the amount discounting
the bank fees.
Comunications
The land telecode of Cuba is 53. There is an almoast nation wide mobile network and possibly with connection to your local provider so don't be surprised your own mobile phone works here. The costs for an international call is on the other hand quite expensive.
In many hotels you find internet services at around 6 CUC per hour.
There are almoast no international newspapers or magazines available. There are a few Cuban state controlled newspapers available. Most news though travels still from mouth to mouth.
Safety and health
Most travel unsafety is of the soft kind. In the streets of the big cities pick pockets and small thievery are very common. In smaller laid back places this is less a problem. Properties that are left unattented disappear quite quickly, beware of this. Hotel rooms have secure deposit boxes and it is best to leave travel documents, money and valuables in there. Loosing a passport is a big hassle with police and embassy bureaucracy as a result.
Many thefts occur along the road with rental cars by taking along people hitching for a ride. www.cubafortravel.com advices against taking hikers at all times.
In general you will find Cubans very friendly and very social.
The Cuban health care system is renowned all over the world and medical tourism is one of the main sources of revenue of the country. In the major tourist places you will find special clinics for foreign visitors with state of the art infrastructure and very qualified english speaking personnel. The services are not for free and we strongly recommend to travel with a health insurance valid for Cuba. For our cycling tours health insurance is a prerequisite.
US-Visitors
At present citizens or residents of the United States of America who visit Cuba without special, and almoast unattainable, licenses, are violating the Law of their Country and can be fined up to 50,000 usd for doing so. This is part of the economic embargo that the USA is enforcing against Cuba since 1961.
We have to put a few things clear in this respect. Although www.cubafortravel.com and our partners do not agree with this policy of the US government, we will not try by any means to convince Americans to violate the Laws of their Country. Let it be also very clear that for the Cuban people and even the Cuban Government Americans are more then welcome to visit Cuba and they are violating no Cuban Law whatsoever by doing so. For this as an agency we will attend all American visitors of our site as any other, and if he or she likes our products, we will not retain from selling them.
In contrary to the law many Americans visit Cuba entering through third countries (Cancun, Jamaica, Bahamas) and all possible measures are taken to leave no trace of their visit as not to compromise their return.
INFORMATIVE LINKS
Here you can find a directory of informative links that can be a additional resource for the visitors of our site. Just click here.
