Lonely Planet Cuba (Country Guide)

 (11 customer reviews)

Some Background:
My first trip off the continent and to a foreign speaking country was Cuba. I went with my girlfriend of two years plus in December of 2007. While most people on our flight were headed to Veradero on an all inclusive package, we were headed to Havana, Cuba's capital.

The Guide:
On the whole, one can't really go wrong purchasing this guide. It's small enough that it can be taken with you throughout the city, and cheap enough that one can afford to abuse it (or spill water on it, as my girlfriend did).

More specifically, the information presented about restaurants, banks, hotels, historic sites and the Cuban culture are usually spot on. Further, the section on Havana has superb maps that are easily intelligible and clear, and also included are two walking tours of Havana Vieja (Old Havana) and Centro Havana, which meant we could skip the tour companies and actually get our feet wet by exploring on our own. An amazing and valuable...Read more

I generally love the lonely planet series. In Vietnam it was our bible. This lonely planet was most disappointingly outdated, poorly researched and unprofessional. For example, It listed our hotel, the "hotel costa morena" as "very popular with cubans and the odd vacationing Canadian." The place was full of Canadians!

We would have missed one of the most amazing 20 minutes of a lifetime if we heeded it's advice on "Acquario Bacanao" that has "tacky" dolphin shows and "you can swim with the dolphins if you so desire". I've been to several dolphin shows and this one was among the most impressive. There was no cheezy storyline or tacky narration, just one difficult and visually amazing trick after another for about 40 minutes. Swimming with the dolphins is also nothing to take lightly. Not just a cheezy dip with the dolphins that many other north american aquariums charge for. The dolphins actually do a few tricks *with* you, including propelling you across the pool...Read more

I spent almost 3 weeks traveling from Havana down to Baracoa via bus and plane. I met a lot of other tourists doing the same itinerary and they found Lonely Planet to be by far most useful, containing practical information on bus schedules, reliable casa recommendations, etc. Needless to say there are inaccuracies in the information and everything needs to be double checked, and many tourists did not agree at all with the recommendation lists of Lonely Planet, but I would not recommend traveling especially backpacking style without this book. All in all it should be noted that Cuba is an expensive country to travel and it is challenging in many ways. It is really not a vacation and one comes to understand after a couple of weeks why there are all inclusive resorts.