Americans in Cuba
Is travel to Cuba still allowed from the US?
I traveled to Cuba in May of 2017 which was luckily right before the new travel restrictions were put in place in June. You can still travel to Cuba but you won’t be able to do it under the “people to people” category or as a solo educational trip. Traveling for tourism is illegal but you can still travel under 12 other categories. The 12 categories of authorized travel to Cuba are:
- Family visits
- Official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations
- Journalistic activity
- Professional research and professional meetings
- Educational activities
- Religious activities
- Public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions
- Support for the Cuban people
- Humanitarian projects
- Activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes
- Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or informational materials
- Certain authorized export transactions
You can still visit via a group but solo travel is a lot more restrictive than when I went.
Obtaining a visa
If you’re flying from the US you can obtain a visa directly from your airline in advance or you can purchase it at the gate. If your flight connects through Miami and you can purchase a visa at a “Cuba Ready” Kiosk for $100.
Another popular option is to fly to Mexico first and then obtain a visa for $20 to enter Cuba. I flew directly from the US so I don’t have any personal experience with this but it is definitely an option. Another benefit of this would be that you could withdraw pesos from an ATM in Mexico to exchange to Cuban currency, which leads to my next point…
Currency
There are two types of currency in Cuba but the only one you will be allowed to use is the CUC (1 CUC= 1 USD). There is a 10% penalty (on top of the standard fees) for exchanging USD so if you have Euros or Pesos you would benefit from exchanging those instead.
Accommodations
The easiest option for finding places to stay would be to book through Airbnb. There are very few hotels that you can book directly and the new travel restrictions don’t allow Americans to book any services that benefit the military (which many hotels fall under.)
WiFi
The majority of my travel revolves around the fact that most cities have wi-fi available everywhere. This is not the case in Cuba! You will have to purchase a wi-fi card and trust me these are not easy to come by. You can typically purchase a 1 hour card for $2 from the major hotels there. We would typically walk over to the Presidente Hotel and use the wi-fi in the lobby.
