Report - Driving on Cuba

Report - Driving on Cuba

I read and was told a lot of things about roads and traffic on Cuba. The roads were supposed to be bad and full of potholes, highways are crossed by railways without ramps, there are no road signs. I was told that roads are used by pedestrians, bikes, horses, tractors, old trucks etc. all alike, that people are drying corn on the highway, ...
I was told that where there is significant traffic it is chaotic.
On the good side the traffic was supposed to be light.

All except light traffic turned out to be overexaggerated.

Here is how I experienced driving on Cuba.

Getting all those warnings made me somewhat concerned.
I decided no to rent the car right away but to have a look on the traffic and learn a bit about local ways by being driven around for a few days. I would rent a car several days after we arrive.

After two days in Havana I started to have doubts.
The traffic really is light. Good.
Some places had significant traffic but I saw no chaos. Drivers and pedestrians respect traffic regulations (even more than in my country, he, he). If you want chaotic traffic go to Cairo, Egypt.

After the bus trip to Vinales the initial concerns were gone.
The highway ("autopista") is EMPTY by all standards. A few trucks and busses, very few cars, occasional bicycle.
OK, it is highway only because it is three-lane wide in each direction separated by some grass or bushes - no markings on the asphalt, no fences.
There ARE road signs. Not as many as we are used to but there IS a road sign before EACH exit telling where it goes.
The road from the highway to Pinar del Rio goes trough the hills and is a very winding road, narrow by western standards (but not unusual for my country) but the asphalt is in a very good shape (seems to be fairly new). It goes trough the woods in some parts and it would be very interesting to drive on it (at least to me). Of course, almost no traffic.

After the trip to Santa Clara by Viazul and to Cienfuegos by taxi, I was convinced that I could have easily rented the car for all the trips we made and were about to make.
The speed limit on highways is 100 km/h and most vehicles drive less than that, even new cars. Except Viazul busses. They are the fastest vehicles on the road!
The road from Santa Clara to Cienfuegos goes trough the plains and is mostly strait, asphalt is in good condition, no potholes. When passing trough the villages and small towns there are some cars, bicycles, horse wagons and similar, but nothing dangerous, chaotic or anything like that. It is the same as driving trough any other village where people are not used to too much traffic.

The streets in Cienfuegos are OK, there are some holes and cracks but nothing serious. The traffic is light, many streets in old center are one way (look for a small rectangular white-on-blue arrow-sign on the house).

We took taxi from Cienfuegos to Trinidad. Couldn't find any ourselfs in the old city center so we asked our casa owner to call one for us. I guess he took a commission so it cost us 40 CUC (it should have been 30 to 35).
The road was good, traffic light, asphalt in good condition, no potholes.

Streets in Trinidad are narrow but two cars can pass each other without problems. In old part of the city pavement is made with cobblestones so driving is a bit shaky, ha, ha.
The street that goes south toward Ancon is pretty busy one with all the vehicle types you can imagine!
We rented a car in Trinidad and were staying in a casa near the old center. The parking was in another house' yard behind the corner, behind a locked gate. There were 3 to 4 cars parked over night. It was 2 CUC per night. (The casa is great, with 2 rooms on the upper floor, two beautiful terraces, excellent food, nice non-intrusive hosts Sandra and Victor, sandra.trinidadphoto.com)

We drove to Topes de Collantes.
The road goes up hills so it is winding but mainly in a good condition. On some steep parts the heavy traffic kind of wrinkled the asphalt so it is a bit "wavy" but there are no potholes. We parked in the parking lot in front of a restaurant behind the toll gate for Salto de Caburni.

We also drove to Valle de los Ingenios, i.e. Manaca Iznaga and further to Condado.
The road to Manaca Iznaga (road to Sancti Spiritus) is in the same condition as from Cienfuegos to Trinidad, good asphalt, no potholes.
To actually get to the Iznaga tower you have to get off the main road to Sancti Spiritus and drive the local road few hundred meters to cross the unfenced (of course) railroad. Further on toward Condado, the road is not so good - in several places the asphalt is simply destroyed by traffic. Right after Iznaga tower, a piece of road of cca 50m is destroyed. There are few other shorter patches of destroyed road before Condado but they are clearly visible from afar. Otherwise the asphalt is OK.

In the end we drove from Trinidad via Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avilla and Moron all the way to the Cayo Guillermo. The roads up to the Cayo Coco are OK, the same as other main roads I described above. There ARE road signs in the right places.
As we got used to the fairly good roads on the rest of Cuba we were really surprised when good asphalt on Cayo Coco on the road to Cayo Guillermo suddenly filled with potholes. And not just a pothole here and there, literally it was full of them! I had to drive slalom to avoid them! Some of them were almost a meter wide and 20cm deep!
After a while I noticed a pattern in the potholes which allowed driving at cca 60 km/h. But it was kind of like a video game - full concentration on the road in front of the car and my girlfriend watching for big holes further ahead. :)

The next day we drove the same road back across Cayo Guillermo to the light house on the Cayo Paredon. The road to the east after the roundabout on Cayo Coco is also not much better and it gets worse as you cross to the other cayo. At one point the bridge is being reconstructed and there is an improvised bypass that looks like it is going to collapse if anything tries to cross it. But it didn't. :)
The rest of the road to the light house is driveable with occasional potholes easily spotted ahead by the grass growing from it. You can drive more than 80 km/h without problems. No traffic at all. Not a single vehicle.

The road from the hotels on Cayo Guillermo to the Pilar beach is dusty, mostly missing the thin layer of old asphalt but has much less potholes on it. The traffic consist of occasional taxi driving turists to the beac or back and every hour or so the turist tractor-train doing the same thing. On a rare occasion you can spot a bicycle or two driven by nutty tourists who want to be able to say they drove a bicycle to the Pilar beach (that's the two of us :) ).
The Pilar beach is a must. Go early to avoid tourists that start cmoming in bigger numbers after 11 am.

Conclusion:
Most important thing - traffic is extremely light, in places almost nonexistent.
Main roads ("carretera central" and other roads connecting cities) are OK. Asphalt is in good condition without potholes. The road signs do exist (speed limits and directions) but you have to pay attention not to miss them since there would be usually only one.
Divided highways ("autopista") are simply 3-lane wide main roads with separated directions of traffic. Only grass (no barrier) between directions, no fences to keep animals off the road, no restrictions on type of traffic. Road signs also only one before or at the exit.
Less important roads and local roads are not so good, there are some potholes, but keeping that in mind, definitely driveable. Usually no road signs except village and town names, mostly very faded.
All roads are wide by European standards (i.e. cca 6m or more) except few minor dead-end roads leading to a ranch or similar. I guess that by American or Canadian standards these roads can appear narrow.

The roads on Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo are the only bad roads we drove on Cuba.

This is it. If anyone wants more details feel free to ask.

One remark for the end:
When a person is giving his/hers opinion about driving it is good to know something about the driver. Here is how I see myself as a driver.
I think I am a good driver with a lot of experience on not-so-good roads. I like driving on demanding roads with lot of curves. I find strait, highway-like roads boring - I always avoid highways unless I'm in a hurry.
I think I belong to the group of "aggressive drivers" - I'll overtake on every opportunity, I leave other cars behind me at traffic lights, I drive fast trough the curves, I almost always look for the best parking spot frist, ...
On the other side I am not a reckless driver, I respect the speed limits (in my country this means you drive few km/h above the limit, he, he), I respect the traffic regulations, I always use the seat belt, I always give the turn signal, I always respect the right of way, etc.
I do like to drive a lot and I like to drive aggressively but I do know my limits and always drive with a safety margin.

Note: We were in Cuba last week of April and first week of May - it might matter since it is a beginning of low season and the end of a dry period.