2 months in Cuba my trip plans..any suggestions

I would try to find a way to work in Vinales (most people prefer it to Pinar del rio).

Hello to everyone...
Thanks for all of you who actually gave me real advice and tip and just not made fun of my trip.I will revise my itinerary to include alot but maybe move less..Im someone who gets bored easily so the idea of staying in some small town for more than 2 days bores me..but I definatly like to visit them.the reason Im doing so much is because I want to see cuba from all angles...from the tourist to the cuban life...but I dont want to nesesaraly immerse..I want a little taste of everything so on my following trip I can go dirrectly to those places I truly like..anyways thanks for all you folks who didnt make fun and were helpful to the little old canadian gal :-)
Keep you posted

I'm not making fun, but an awful lot of what you think is going to be variety is going to end up looking pretty much the same when your trip is over. For example, I don't know if I have ever seen anyone include Sancti Spiritus, Las Tunas, Holguin, Camanguey, Ciego de Avila, Santa Clara and Mantanzas on a single trip itinerary. That is provincial capital overkill in my opinion. You could eliminate Manzanillo, Sancti Spritus, Las Tunas, Camanguey and Ciego and you will have missed very little.

Take a look at these places and see if you can fit them into your plan. Remedios, Sierra del Escambray, Las Terrazas, and Soroa. Also if you are not a diver then Maria de la Gorda is not worth the drive. Cayo Levisa offers much the same for a non-diver and is closer to other places. I assume you are including Vinales as part of your four days in Pinar del Rio. If not then you should rethink that part of your itinerary.

As usual, I have to disagree with Altahabana (no offence). I find that every city has its own personality. Sancti Espiritus for example is quite unique in that it has so nice architecture and almost no tourists and the locals win the award for the friendliest and jinetero-free population on the island. Camaguey has so much to offer to the traveler and I love the nightlife, too. Ciego is a bit out of a western movie, somewhat dilapitated and it serves more as a base to explore el campo. But I do see his point and it is greatly a question of taste. Since you say you get bored easily, you probably want to move around.

I agree with Altahabana on that Remedios is a highlight (great ice-cream on the central square, unmissable) and I assume too that Terrazas, Soroa and Vinales are in your plans (3 days in Pinar del rio means zero days in the city of Pinar to me).

Actually Yorgos we usually disagree---to varying degrees--on politically related matters. I still think the OP's itinerary looks exhausting and seems like background for writing a guide book. But I suppose any place in Cuba has something--however small---that is charming.

CYRRUS69: Given that you have two months, I see no problem with you doing all those places, and you will see for yourself that some of them are not worth as much time as you've given them, while others might be worth more. Here are a few suggestions which I think would make your trip more interesting.

1. Start in Santiago. If you're flying into Havana, then fly immediately on to Santiago. THERE rent your car (at the airport), and do a loop of the entire eastern end of the island, like this: drive west along the coast to Pilon, Cabo Cruz, Niquero, Manzanillo (overnight here), around to SANTO DOMINGO. Oernight here, up in the Sierra Maestra and not on your list, but only 2 hours from Manzanillo, and really, really a must for this end of the island. From there it's two hours on to Bayamo. Overnight there. From Bayamo, continue north to BARACOA (about a 5-hour drive), and plan on close to a week there if you like beaches, mountain hikes, national parks, and nature in general. Then back along the coast to Guantanamo (good for an overnight), and Santiago (for however long it holds your interest.) All of this can be done, leisurely, in two or three weeks.

Back in Santiago, turn in your rental car and bus to Trinidad--but not straight through. Stop over at each of the provincial capitals which have nice beaches not too far away. For example, Holguin, which itself is not worth more than a night, but from there it's just an hour by taxi to Guaradalavaca. Ditto Camaguey, which has Playa Santa Lucia no more than two hours away (again by taxi--no regular bus service that I know of). Skip Cayo Coco; go instead to Santa Clara, and from there NORTH for an hour, to Cayos Las Brujas (The Witches Island) and Cayo Santa Maria. Again you'd take a taxi from the bus station to the cayos--whichever one you choose to stay on--or a rental car, because getting there any other way becomes too complicated. Remedios is on the way, a pleasant town with casas licenced to rent rooms to foreigners. When you've done the cayos and Remedios, taxi back to Santa Clara. FROM SANTA CLARA--take a taxi SOUTH over the Escambray Mountains to Trinidad (less than 3 hours). Arrange to have the driver stop in Topes de Collantes and wait while you hike in the cloud forest down to the Saltos (waterfalls) de Caburni.

Stay in Trinidad until you get bored, taking a taxi out to the beach (Playa Ancon) in the mornings and back to town in the afternoon where you'll be walking distance to whatever it is you like to do in the evening. If there are too many tourists around for your taste, you can always get a room in a licenced casa on the waterfront in nearby La Boca, which is just as close to the beaches of Playa Ancon. When you're done with Trinidad, take the Viazul bus 1 hour to Cienfuegos. When you're done with Cienfuegos, take the bus on to Havana (4 hours.)

In Havana, perhaps rent a car again to do western Cuba: driving first to Las Terrazas/Sorora for an overnight or several, then on to Maria la Gorda (5 or 6 hours), then back to Pinar del Rio, up to Vinales (less than an hour from Pinar). And return to Havana (only 3 hours from Vinales).

Back in Havana, turn in your rental car again and get around by taxi. Even Varadero you'd want to do by Viazul bus, since it's only two hours from Havana. I'd say take an early morning bus there, wander around, check out the beach, and if you like Varadero's tourist ghetto atmospehre, then check into a nice hotel and stay till you're tired of it. Then return to Havana. If you want to see something of Matanzas, maybe stop in there on your way back to Havana; you could get off the morning Viazul bus in Matanzas, and catch a later one on to the city. Like most of Cuba's provincial capitals, there's not much there to hold a casual visitor. To really enjoy those places you've usually got to give them more time, which is to say, time to get to know locals who are happy to hang out with you.

Patty, excuse me, but...Manzanillo a "dirty industrial town?" What may I ask is the industry? I am personally fond of Manzanillo, consider it one of the undiscovered jewels of Cuba, for those who truly want "off the beaten path." Well, maybe "jewel" is too fancy a word, but that lovely square, with its Andulusian architecture all around? The little organ grinder guys? Las Perlas (The Perals) islands out in the bay? The funky train station (a great way to get a slow ride through lovely countryside all the way to Bayamo--for my money a much more scenic train trip than the much-touted Hershey train! And what about the two-block-long street-turned-into-memorial for Celia Sanchez, surely the most unusual (and lovliest) memorial in all of Cuba? And the charming licenced casa (maybe the only one in town) right there on the corner of that same street? Hey--I'd trade Manzanillo for any six of those provincial capitals along the Carretera Central!

My suggestion would be to skip Veradero unless you really want experience the full on tourist experience....even then 3 days is too much. Playa Ancon area near Trinidad is the same only smaller.

I get tired looking at the itinerary - you have some great stops, just don't make a schedule - if you are enjoying, stay another day or 2, wing it - if you don't get it all in, and have enjoyed, return another time

that's 1 pile of travel - I've been 20+ times to Cuba, and have barely dented the eastern end - have had a week or 3 at Trinidad / Ancon, Varadero, but have never had more than a night in Habana.

lots of great scenerey / experiences out there

after many years of planning to go to Baracoa, finally made it this year - had to extend our 4 days into 5 just to see that area - it's beautiful - lots to see & do within 20 km's of Baracoa, and the little city is fun
and pretty. 8am on the malecon, beach or hiking rivers in the day, and music in the eve. tasting raw chocolate not as nice as raw oysters