A worthy place on any travellers bucket-list.

Be prepared for your trip to Cuba with my top tips for your visit. From currency to transportation, plan a successful trip to this eccentric Caribbean island without all the unnecessary (and sometimes testing) surprises.

1. Get to grips with Cuba's History

Cuba is a single-government communist state that outlaws political pluralism and severely restricts freedom of speech, press and media.

The Cuban government acknowledges disagreements over human rights issues, but has traditionally pointed to state guarantees of free education, health care, housing and pensions as justification. Under the two Castro's, these things were free and remain free.

Although a high level of literacy and life expectancy can be boasted amongst the Cuban people, their issues lie in material scarcity. The countries economy is still tightly governed by the state. Read about Cuba's history and it's people before you even book your flight so that you are prepared for your visit.

Cuban Politics — **2. Don't discuss politics with the Cubans or openly chastise their government.**

Some believe Fidel Castro is a reflection of the Cuban dream. Some, still idolise Che Guevera and Fidel Castro as can be seen by the numerous memorials, posters and museum artefacts across Cuba.
I really wanted to understand and ask questions about the regime, culture and society but at times it was obvious that this isn't accepted.

Cuba is a state-sanctioned obligation to inform the government if you hear your anyone discussing politics openly. For this reason, many don't feel comfortable discussing the regime, never mind being honest or openly critical about it.

3. **Book your accommodation in advance**

Have all your accommodation booked well in advance of your visit. Do not rely on chance, especially if you are short on time. A mix of AirBnB's and Hotels was the perfect way to see Cuba. You do get what you pay for in most cases and the best Casa Particulares (homestays and the most popular way to reside in Cuba) will sell out at least three months in advance.
We only stayed at a Casa Particulares in Viñales. Look out for my article "When in Cuba" for more insight on the specifics of exploring Cuba.

4. Cash is King.

Most places you will visit won't accept a card payment. When we could use cash we had to pay a 3% transaction fee which is like giving away something for nothing. Most banks will close at 3.30pm and some cash machines won't accept foreign cards. Although a risk to carry huge sums of money, it is especially important if you are visiting more rural parts of the country where you will find it virutally impossible to locate cash withdrawal services.

5. WiFi is not readily available.

WiFi will cost you between 1.50CUC and 2CUC for one hour and you will need to queue to purchase a Nauta or ETESCA WiFi card at an ETECSA telecommunications centre unless you are at a hotel. Most high-end hotels will have WiFi within their properties. Carry your passport and Visa, as these will be needed to purchase internet cards.

Access to the internet in Cuba is restricted and controlled by the government – remember this when you log on. Click here for a full list of internet hotspots.

Carry some sort of guidebook or plan and don't rely on the internet to help you along your travels. It's way too stressful.

In a Taxi Collectivo — **6. Transportation**

Unless you have pre-booked transfers as part of a tour, you will have to organise transport as you go. Pre-booked transfers, booked at the same time as your holiday are great but tend to be very restrictive for obvious reasons. There are three main ways to get around in Cuba.

Taxi Collectivos: Simply put this is a taxi shared with others and our preferred method of getting around Cuba. Contrary to some of the negative reviews we read, being time restricted, this was the perfect option. Only slightly pricier than the Viazul, we saved a lot of time because we got where we needed to go, usually with no stops and as this was in essence a private car.

A Taxi Collectivo from Viñales to Trinidad cost us 30CUC each compared to a Viazul which would have been around 18CUC each. We likely also saved more than 2 hours of precious time.

Drivers will be waiting at key tourist spots around each town. We even asked a bar man we were friendly with to help organise one in Trinidad. I would advise getting this organised a day in advance of everytime you need to travel.

Viazul: Air conditioned Viazul buses that are run exclusively for tourists wishing to get up and down the country. Make sure you book your journeys in advance at a Viazul office. Leave time on the day the bus leaves to queue again as you will need to trade in your receipt for a ticket. There are a lot of stops in between, so be warned re: travel time. Many routes are also oversubscribed. If your travel plans aren’t fixed, turn up early at the station and join the queue.

Transtur: an affordable option that offers some but not all, of the same routes that the Viazul runs. As it doesn't stop as often on route, you can usually get places much quicker. Your hotel and most tourist hubs will have a Cubanacan office where you can book a Transtur or a Cubatur alternative. We used the Transtur to get from Varadero at the end of our trip back to Havana Airport. It cost us $20CUC each and was direct back to the airport. It was a no-brainer since there were no stops and a private taxi was over $100CUC.

7. Don't follow your Lonely Planet word for word, but have a plan and download Map.Me

There were some bad suggestions made by the Lonely Planet. Formulated places filled with tourists, as far away from the real Cuba as you can imagine - but hey what was I expecting?

Before you get too engrossed in making it to every place in the Lonely Planet, think about why you are visiting Cuba, what you will enjoy (rather then what is recommended) and go with it.

View from Hotel in Trinidad in Cuba — Have a plan because it's difficult to plan without the internet, but do go with the flow, wander the streets and take in the culture for what it is.

MAP.ME is a game-changing app that offers free and detailed offline maps that will also navigate you around the area even without a WiFi connection. We just searched for places of interest and MAP.ME contained every place we were looking for because this application uses OpenStreetMap data.

8. Money exchange can be a long process.

And Cubans like to queue. You cannot exchange money before you reach Cuba. If you haven't paid for transfers in advance, you will end up queuing at the airport to exchange money since you won't have any CUC's ready to pay for anything.

When you get to Havana Airport, check the queue at the Departures money exchange as this tends to be shorter. Only carry Euros or GBP if you're from Europe. If you exchange USD's, there is a 10% penalty. What this means is that 10% of your Dollars will be taken away from you before exchange and the exchange will be calculated on the remaining amount.

If someone you know is visiting Cuba before you, ask them to bring back a small amount of currency so that you are equipped on arrival and not stuck lining up with hundreds of others (for up to two hours)! And if you do exchange, be generous. Exchange a significant amount to avoid having to stand in a queue further along your trip. Some areas such as Viñales, don't have proper money exchange points.

Cigars Cuba — **9. Purchase cigars from registered outlets.**

Always purchase cigars from a licensed cigar shop if you want to guarantee that they are authentic and fresh. Street vendors will seemingly offer you more for less but you can never be sure of the quality and the origin.
If you are caught at the airpot, fakes will also be confiscated as there will not be an authentic hologram seal on your box nor will you be able to produce a receipt.

10. CUC's vs CUP's

You won't really require CUP's if you are going to the main tourism hotspots. The CUP is the national currency that the Cuban people get paid in and use daily. As tourists, we didn't get the option to pay in CUP's ever.

Paying in convertibles and getting change in nationals is the most popular trick in the book and there are a few spin-off scams along similar lines. Always check that the change you receive is in Cuban Convertibles.

For your information the Cuban Peso is 24 to 1 Cuban Convertible.

Street vendors don't always sell you counterfeit cigars but unless you're some sort of cigar connoisseur (which I am not), sometimes even with lots of research, it would be difficult to differentiate. Counterfeit cigars don't tend to be tightly packed and are usually made from scrap tobacco. This is because the government-regulated cigar trade is allocated the top 90% from each tobacco farm in the country to make the likes of Cohiba, Monte Cristo etc etc.