Airports
The only international airport of Cuba is in Havana. Other
airports are in Santiago of Cuba, Camagüey, Cienfuegos,
Holguín, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas, Bayamo
and Varadero.
Airplane
Is the fastest way to move through the country, although
it is necessary to consider that most of the flies are
made in old airplanes that do not reunite all the desirable
comfort conditions. The prices are reasonable. From Havana
it’s possible to fly to different cities and to
the tourist centres. Some flights are regular and other
charter. The airline company Cubana
de Aviacion offers these internal flights.
Cars
The state of the Cuban roads is generally acceptable,
but many secondary roads had its asphalt pocketed. The
main road goes from Pinar del Rio to Guantánamo,
crossing longitudinally the island; it goes through most
of the province capitals. It has freeway rank from Pinar
del Rio through Havana and to near Jatibonico. Also a
small Freeway section out of Santiago de Cuba.
Rent:
the main tourist hotels of Havana, Playa del Este, Varadero
and Santiago de Cuba offer a car rental service, that
usually is rented with limitless kilometre. The fuel is
paid in dollars. The stations do not abound, reason why
it is necessary to try to travel with the possible fullest
deposit. The obligatory insurance is not included in the
price. The minimum age to rent a car is 21 years, and
in addition it’s demanded to have a minimum driver
experience of a year. A good alternative is to rent the
car with a driver, which avoids problems, in addition
to not being much more expensive.
Bus
Cuba has an acceptable interurban bus service, and although
they can be somewhat uncomfortable, is a good way to travel.
The tickets are sold directly in the bus terminals and
it is advised to purchase the passages in advance.
Train
Cuba has a 5,000 km public railroad network and almost
8,000 km more dedicated to the transport of the sugar
cane. Havana is communicated with the main cities, such
as Matanzas, Santa Clara, Ciego de Avila, Camagüey,
Victoria, Las Tunas, Bayamo, Holguín, Santiago
and Guantánamo.
The trains are divided in express -with air conditioned
- and regular -slower than the first and without air conditioned
-. The service schedules and frequency can be consulted
in the railway stations.
Taxi
The island has several types of taxi. The known as Panataxis
are for exclusive tourist use, and had to be contracted
for a precise service of hours or days; usually are in
the front of the hotels, restaurants, cabarets and nightclubs.
The same benefits have the Turistaxis, but they are more
expensive. The conventional taxis are taken in any place
but there are quite little.
Although they have a taximeter, it’s not usually
used, since they agree to the price of the service with
the client.
Also exist taxis for the locals, known as colectivos,
that in principle cannot take foreign passage but they
skip the rule generally to gain a few dollars. Finally
are the particular taxis, known as boteros. They are private
cars without license that offer themselves to the client
in strategic places of the city. The taxi stops are known
as piqueras. The important cities have a bike-taxi service,
offered as a tourist stroll but also is a good way to
move by the centre of the great cities. In Havana they
are of two passengers and in other cities, like in Baracoa,
of one. The price of this service is very economic.
Bicycle
There are no specific services for tourists.
Urban transport
Havana and Santiago have an acceptable guaguas network,
conventional buses that communicate downtown with the
outskirts. The frequency of guaguas is insufficient to
gather the users, reason why they overload at rush hours.
In the island there’s also another type of three
floors bus known as camellos.
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