You may be reading this description and your mind may be flowing like, there is no way this is a 6-day itinerary to Cuba for under $900. What’s even crazier is you can absolutely do it less than that. Continue to read and I will show you how.

“Wouldn’t Cuba be such a cool place to go? Yes, let’s look up flights. Oh wow there are ones for $380. Great, let’s book.”

The conversation my boyfriend and I had one night when thinking of our next vacation. It was after we booked our flights that I decided to do some research on the country. I ended up finding a lot of negative news about our government recommending Americans not to go. Crap. Should we cancel our trip?

I quickly talked myself out of that as I knew the news is forever sharing negative stories about anything and everything. I turned to the experts of other travel bloggers to see what they had to say. After about an hour of reading, I couldn’t find a single negative thing about Cuba, so we kept our tickets.

Let me start this off by saying that I can confirm that Cuba is a lot like how people say it is – frozen in time. One of my dreams was to be able to go back into the future to see how life was. Well, I felt pretty damn close to it. The cars, the buildings, the lifestyle. I felt I was able to live in the moment more than I ever had in any of my travels before. So let the journey begin…

Cost of our 6 day trip to Cuba:

Let’s start with how much this 6-day trip costed us. Below chart is the total for both of us (so just $850 each including everything). This can obviously fluctuate, but if you’re smart, can barter and don’t need expensive meals, you can definitely get the total lower. I have been looking at flights to Havana for the next few months and they go as low as $280 from Boston. Book the flight! It’s an affordable trip that you will have memories to last you forever.

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Day 1 in Cuba: Travel day – Havana to Viñales

How to get there: We flew into Havana from Boston at around 2pm and our darling taxi driver was right outside waiting for us, sign in hand. I booked a taxi ahead of time. That way I was confident we had a ride to Viñales straight from the airport. I booked through Taxi Viñales which may be a bit on the pricier side (around $90), but it was worth it in my eyes. The ride to Viñales from Havana airport is about 2.5 hours – but it does go by pretty quickly.

I originally planned for us to go to Trinidad, but the more I researched, the more I fell in love with the thought of Viñales. The moment we drove down the hill overlooking the beauty of the mountains, I knew it was the right decision.

To learn more about what to know before your trip, visit my guide on how to prepare your trip to Cuba here.

Where to stay in Viñales: Our Airbnb was run by the sweetest Cuban family – Juan, Alina y Yaidel (their son). Thankfully with any free time I had I was practicing my Spanish with Duolingo because they don’t speak any english. Please don’t look at this as a problem. All of them were extremely patient and it gives you a true authentic travel experience to embrace the Cuban culture. Their casa was awesome – but the best part about it was their roof with the most beautiful view you could ask for.

Day 2 in Cuba: Cayo Jutias

Being in the New England winter, we knew we wanted to get some sun – fast. Therefore, our first full day was dedicated to the beach. Cayo Jutias is no joke. This beach is BEAUTIFUL. It is about an hour and a half away with a scenic route, but at the end of the drive it does get very bumpy as the roads leading to the beach are in very bad condition. You can take a taxi, but double check what this means. We assumed we were paying $20 each to get our own personal cab (there and back). However, a truck showed up with seats fitting over 15 other people. It was crammed, hot and uncomfortable. If you don’t mind this, I would highly recommend trying to lower the cost to at the most $15 per person.

Once you arrive to the beach, there is an area where most of the people stay as it is close to the food and drinks. If you go left and walk for about 10 minutes, there are a bunch of areas tucked away to easily have your own private beach area. Definitely worth going to find!

That night, we decided to have dinner at our Airbnb. For just a small fee ($10 each), they make an authentic cuban meal depending on what type of meat you prefer. As I mentioned, Juan & Alinas casa has the best view, so we asked them if we could do dinner up there for sunset. It couldn’t get better than that.

Day 3 in Cuba: Horseback riding, bikes, dog fights & bailando

One thing we knew we wanted to do was see the countryside by horseback. Juan (who is incredible might I add), has three horses and does private tours for his guests. While you can go into town and get a cheaper tour, we knew we wanted to support their family. With the tour, you get to visit a tobacco farm, a panoramic view, an organic coffee farm and a natural lake. In total, it takes about 3-4 hours.

Afterwards, we rented bikes for the rest of the day ($5 each – which I also think you can get lower). We biked towards Cueva Del Indio, but ended up at El Palenque, which is a dance club in a cave.

Let’s be real – we had no idea where we were.

We decided before our trip that we would stick to not using our phones – something that is foreign to many nowadays. Sunburnt, sweaty, tired and lost – we decided to turn around and head back to the casa. We later found out that if we rode just a few minutes more from Palenque, we would have made it to Cueva Del Indio – BUMMER. So, if you are up for the bike ride, biking from the city to Cueva Del Indio is definitely doable and can save you some money.

It was Saturday so we figured we should put on our dancing shoes and head into town for the night. To our surprise, there was a street festival going on with cuban food, drinks and people filling up the main street. This happens every Saturday – these people know how to live! We got delicious sandwiches and mojitos and people watched for hours. Actually, we did more dog watching than anything. There are an enormous amount of stray dogs there, which meant dog fights and well, fighting over the ladies if ya know what I mean. It was actually really sad so, let’s move on.

Throughout the entire night, there is a DJ with music playing and the park fills with people dancing the night away. This is a night you cannot miss!

TIP: Truly consider going without internet. I’ve never done more people watching in my life and was awesome living in the moment.

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Day 4 in Cuba: Livin’ like a local

What I love about traveling is I get to experience completely different things than I do when I’m in my every day routine back here in Boston. I get to step out of my comfort zone and embrace all that the world wants to throw at me.

We woke up at 10am on Sunday and immediately felt rushed and frustrated because we never sleep in that late. However, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.

As we are figuring out what we want to do, Yaidel says to us (in Spanish), “look, our whole family are going to a river for my cousins birthday, do you two want to join us”. We immediately said yes.

I’m pretty sure our face hurt from smiling and laughing the entire day. We spent the day at this beautiful river with all local Cubans who knew zero english. We were the only two tourists but we still consider it the best day we had in the country. The simplicity of life on this day was something I’ll never forget. No one had their phones out. Instead they were living in the moment – enjoying their precious time with the friends and family they loved.

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Day 5 in Cuba: Havana

How to get from Viñales to Havana: What a sad morning this was leaving our familia in Viñales to head to the capital of Havana. We ended up taking the same driver we had bring us to Viñales to bring us back, however you can definitely get a cheaper ride back (we just didn’t know when he offered to bring us back).

Where to stay in Havana: We stayed at another awesome Airbnb in a good location about 10 minutes walking distance from Havana Vieja. When we arrived, we wanted to walk around and explore a bit. Having focused solely on the research of Viñales, we quickly realized that we had no idea what to do in Havana. It was also way too hot to be as anxious as we were. So we turned around and opted for a convertible tour to get a better idea of the city.

We got an hour tour for $35 in the cutest pink old convertible. Our driver was awesome and gave us some background of the areas of Havana, some recommendations and took fabulous pictures. If interested in booking, you can reach the owner Maykel at +53 5 4027714. Afterwards, he dropped us off in the middle of Vieja, which is old Havana and one of the more popular areas to wander in. We stopped to grab some food, listened to a local band and headed to El Nacional for a mojito at sunset.

NOTE: We also stumbled upon Callejon de Hamel, which is a cool hidden art area. I read that it’s best to go on Sundays as there is a live band and a lot happening. Be prepared to be bombarded asking for “donations”. Just say no and walk away.

TIP: Havana, in my opinion, isn’t like Paris or Amsterdam. No, here you don’t exactly want to wander and get lost to find hidden gems. I wish I had done more research on where to go so you can wander while having a destination.

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Day 6 in Cuba: Ice cream & travel home

The last days of a trip are obviously always my least favorite part, but have to make the most of it! Our tour guide told us that the locals LOVE this ice cream spot called Copelia which is in Vedado (new Havana). The ice cream was .40 cents. I can’t even joke about that price. It was delicious. In the Cuban heat, you have to put Copelia on your list!

TIP: Vedado is an awesome area to take the time to explore. This is the more residential area and where the locals mostly go (they tend to stay away from Vieja because of the tourists). There’s a lot of beautiful homes here because it was the area where the rich people lived before the revolution. Definitely a spot to wander around in!

Other Havana gems that we missed: we got some awesome recommendations from friends that we didn’t get to, so here are a couple that you can add to your list…

• Fusterlandia – This was recommended to us by a couple from the UK we met in our Airbnb. The area was created by a Cuban artist who was inspired by Gaudi’s work.
• Walk along the Malecon – While we walked beside it across the street, you can definitely walk along for sunset. That would be gorgeous.
• Grab a drink at El Floridita and La Bodequita – they really play up the whole Hemmingway experience here.
• Eat at:
  • El Cocinero – will need a reservation. Inside an old factory.
  • La Guarida – will need a reservation. Nice rooftop view.
  • Dona Eutimia – great for lunch in Havana Vieja.

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What it comes down to is that I could have easily listened to the news and canceled our flights. That’s always the easy way out. Sometimes you have to take risks to get an experience you can take with you forever.

Cuba is an experience like no other, but in a good way. The country has so much to offer. In just 6 days, we got the beach, the mountains and the city. I got to completely disconnect and clear my mind. I was able to take everything in going on around me and fully embrace the Cuban culture. While I hope Cuba doesn’t change much, I still feel now is the time to go. Don’t stall – just buy the plane ticket!

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