How expensive?

Also you have to avoid making friends with cubans and socializing
with them. They expect you to pay for everything even if they are
too shy to ask. Don't make them spend what little money they have.

You just need to find the restaurants/paladars frequented mostely
by cubans, whatever the currency they accept.
Whether you pay in pesos or CUC, the price is often the same and calculated
at 24 pesos to 1CUC. Sometimes you will find a pesoCUP only restaurant and
the prices are comparable to the former.
CUC only establishments are more expensive.

You can also live off street vendors very cheaply but a little risky.
Pork sandwitches are great if you don't mind the flies.

2# my friend, just forget about relying on the 'dual currency' on your first visit.. even tourists who have visited Cuba many many times never quite grasp CUP.. and I would forget about Jinetero's taking you around Peso Cubano bars and restaurants, youll end up paying the same as if you would have if youd gone to a tourist bar or restaurant (after theyve taken their cut) if your gonna hang around with 'frens' just go anywhere and enjoy, dont become preoccupied with finding CUP prices, because youll be wasting your time.. you will end up spending alot of in Cuba even with just a beach and a close friend.. as for the standard of CUP food, you probably wont become ill by eating it.. but the hassle of finding it, queuing for it, avoiding being ripped off in the price (youll need good spanish) and then being able to actually stomach it.. could become quite an issue, infact you could spend hours and hours a day doing all of this.. on a first visit, maybe you wanna think twice and just concentrate on actually having a good time and enjoying cuba!

4# 'believe me cuba is not cheap as a matter of fact travel prices have risen at least 70% over last year at this time to cuba' - just to echo yorgos really, a 70% rise in travel prices, frankly.. thats just not true!! for us British; Cuba is becoming cheaper not more expensive

A tourist can have a good time in Cuba on a reasonably low budget, but not on a first visit.. and nor would a first time visitor want to do it on a low budget! With contacts, perseverance, a sense of humour and alot of time.. yes, Cuba can be done reasonably cheaply..

Mr Beall, sure, it is possible to be a homeless bum in Cuba and spend almost no money.

Let's see, you can buy eggs on the street and pay 2 pesos each, six eggs a day for about half a dollar. And if you go to a neighborhood where there no tourists, because no tourists want to be there, like Alomar, you can probably find a Cuban who will cook you a pot of rice for another half dollar, so a dollar a day for food.

Possibly this family in Alomar or La Lisa will let you hide in a hallway for a few dollars a night. Since there are no tourists there are usually no police looking for illegal casas. Or you can sleep a t the train station.

Even if you squeeze yourself down to $5 a day, that is still about 10 times what the average Cuban has to spend, so I'm sure you can squeeze yourself a little further. Instead of rice and eggs, you can eat fongo that you steal on night foraging trips to the countryside.

Or, another idea, since you speak English, you can get ahead of the Cubans and beg other tourists for money! I believe that a good English speaking beggar should be able to beg food, and then you could sleep at night in Lenin Park.

As to the cost of living, ignore that! There are homeless bums in Tokyo, New York, and every expensive place in the world, so certainly you can find a way in Cuba

Please don't listen to the people that say this is impossible! Have a great trip!

PS- with a Cuban family, no hotel bills, all my food cooked for me, I can almost get my expenses down to about a thousand dollars a month, provided I don't travel much or take anyone out to dinner, even at the peso places. Of course I would be a cheap bastard if I didn't also spend some money fixing the broken refrigerator, buying light bulbs or shoes for the nephew that doesn't have any shoes. I hope this puts things in context for you.

JessieBlank: In recent years, my travels have frequently led to me traveling first in Central or South America, then immediately thereafter, in Cuba. Here are some basic differences in terms of what things cost:

In South and Central American countries, I typically pay US $15 to $25 for a room in the capital city. However, if I am willing to accept dorm accomodations, no security for stuff, bathroom-down-the-hall, etc., it is possible to find a place for as little as $5. Not so in Cuba. In Cuba, because of it being flatly illegal to stay anyplace that is not licenced to lodge foreigners, you will pay more like US$30 to $40 for a room (unless you share with a friend, in which case it would be only half as much). It is possible to find a room in Havana for US$20, and elsewhere on the island for a little less. But that's normally only if you agree to spend a week or longer in the same casa and pay in advance. Or have a close friendship with a Cuban casa owner, which you have established on previous visits.

STREET FOOD in Cuba costs about the same as you would pay in a South or Central American country. Cuban street food is safer but more monotonos, and not half as tasty as what you would get in most Central or South American countries. Cuban tap water is MUCH safer than what you will find from Mexico south. But that does not mean it's 100% safe. For a variety of reasons, Cuban water safety has deteriorated in recent years, and if you opt to drink tap water there, you should carry a good supply of meds to deal with any bugs you acquire. You might not; then again, you might. No guarantees.

TRANSPORTATION. In all Central and South American countries it is possible to travel long distances by bus for little money--or to hitchhike. Hitchhiking is not easy in Cuba because as with lodging, it is flatly illegal for a vehicle not licenced to transport foreigners to pick you up. Plus, there are thousands of Cubans hitchhiking already, and anyone (including tourists in rental cars) inclined to pick up a hitchhiker will normally chose Cuban hitchers (like women and children) over a foreigner. There is an inexpensive bus system in Cuba, but these buses tend to run infrequently and are always crowded. Sometimes a foreigner will be allowed on for the same pennies (moneda nacional, or CUP) paid by a Cuban. But more and more they are being required to pay in pesos convertibles (CUC). This is because Cuban fares are subsidized by the government in some small attempt to compensate for the very low wages Cubans receive. There is no reason for the Cuban government to subsidize a foreigner. So when you look at getting from place to place, you really don't know until you buy your ticket whether you will be charged a regular rate or the special discounted rate given to Cubans. If you pay the going rate for foreigners, it will be more than what you would pay to travel the same distance by bus in Central or South America--but less than what you would pay in your own country. Just about all the Cuba regulars on this branch would recommend, for those who don't want to pop for a rental car, to get around on the VIAZUL bus line. It is reasonably priced, comfortable, and uncrowded--and will not leave you spending hours of your vacation time cooling your heels in a grungy bus station or hanging on the side of the highway in blazing sun trying to hitch a ride from cars which are not allowed to transport foreigners.

CAMPING is possible but facilities are limited. Of the 100 or so campismos (Cuban version of a campground) scattered around the island, only some accept foreigners. And of those which do, only some will give you a low rate of, say, US $7. Many now charge foreigners 15 CUC (which is more than that in US or Canadian dollars). The real difficulties in using campismos as a cheap place to stay on the beach is that:

(1) it's hard to get to them, as there are normally zero public transportation going to those places. (Cubans get there on buses from their school, club or place of work--not an option for foreigners).
(2) you don't know till you arrive whether you will be allowed to stay at all, and if you are, what it will cost.
(3) these campgrounds are FOR CUBANS, repleat with round the clock music blasting from huge outdoor speakers, thus creating an atmosphere not pleasing to many foreign campers who might otherwise tolerate the ultra-basic conditions.

The following quote, from Poster #11: pretty much nails it:

"A tourist can have a good time in Cuba on a reasonably low budget, but not on a first visit.. and nor would a first time visitor want to do it on a low budget! With contacts, perseverance, a sense of humour and alot of time.. yes, Cuba can be done reasonably cheaply."

Lurker > WHAT A YOKE .....jejeje

This may not be entirely relevant but my experience has been that Havana at the top end tends to be cheaper than cities elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Hotel Nacional de Cuba, generally considered one of the "top" hotels in Havana, is definitely less expensive than the equivalent "top" hotel in Mexico City, Santiago (Chile), Sao Paulo or Buenos Aires.

La Guarida, one of the "top" paladars in Havana, at around CUC20 per person for dinner is a little more pricey than equivalent restaurants in the cities listed above (though not necessarily the "top" restaurants in those cities).

Transportation is definitely more expensive in Havana given how cheap taxis are in many (but not all) of the above cities but is definitely cheaper than, say, Jamaica.

Rum and cigars are definitely cheaper in Havana but other items such as t-shirts tend to be the same or more expensive than the above cities in Latin America.

Count me in as another agreeing with what #3 Rickie says (hey, there's a first time for everything). I just got back from my first trip and counting 5 days in a CP, 3 days in a medium priced hotel, and food, drinking, and a moderate amount of being hit up for anything and everything, I spent about $1250-US/$1400-Cdn. And I would describe myself as being somewhere between "cheap" and "prudent" with my money-- so it's not like I was blowing through money like sh*t through a goose. I.E., being sort of careful, but not being cheapskate with your Cuban hosts.

I think you need about $200-US a day to be safe. Or more, if you want to spend without thinking about it too much, or if you'll be doing partying with Cuban friends. It sums it up pretty well, that joke that goes "Do they have ATMs in Cuba?" Yes, they're called "tourists"!

I echo the agreement of all the others experienced in traveling to Cuba have already said, #2. I stay for a month or more and rent a private house and the cheapest rental car I can find. Even knowing lots of people and having been there many times, the house and car alone cost about $80CUC/day. I don't go to clubs much and we cook at home 90% of the time so we can include the "family" as much as possible. We take excursions about once a week and save our money for things like clothing and refrigerators and food and such. It still comes out to about $140-180CUC/day.

To shave that back to even $100CUC/day would have me not wanting to go. That I admire the Cubans for their resilience in the face of the struggle that is la vida in Cuba does not mean I want to immerse myself into it with them.

That I admire the Cubans for their resilience in the face of the struggle that is la vida in Cuba does not mean I want to immerse myself into it with them.

Absolutely. Plus, if all we're going to do is suffer with them--- how happy would they be to see any of us? It's a lot more fun to hang around with partying people than to have people suffer with you!

To all great dissenters... haha

In my post I never meant to give any sort of expert advice... I'll be the first to admit of my ignorance that I must face this upcoming July. I do appreciate all of your advice, and your dissent... it all will come together to really shed light on a lot of what I have to expect.

I still am however, confident this can be done... with at least a "below average" budget... surely under 100 usd/day? Above I didn't really include the viazul buses within the budget (although I had factored it in elsewhere) so that right of the bat is going to jack up the daily prices. Another thing I wanted to make clear, is that i do not intend to depend on the cuban peso ENTIRELY. In fact, I don't plan on depending on it at all... rather taking advantage of it here and there, wherever I can save a couple of bucks.

Me and the guy traveling with me are very young... 19 year old students, to be exact. Although my Spanish is very minimal, his is quite fluent... and I do assume this will help us time to time? At the same time, the Cuban we will meet up with on the island is actually the director of psychology studies at some university outside of Holguin... and he is from a sort of "travelers to travelers" message board... thats target audience is really more young and broke travelers. I have e-mailed a lot of other members of the website who have traveled to Cuba and met him... (most from Europe, none from the US) and they all have only positive things to say about him. He understands that when we go, we want to experience the "real cuba"... socialism... everyday life... and the cuba that is not found in high price touristy places (I'm taking up creative writing/journalism, and this kind of experience is exactly the kind of thing I desire to write about). His philosophy is that because he is not allowed to travel by law... by having people from a variety of cultures and nationalities come visit him... it's almost like he gets to travel as well.

Now, could this all be a crock of shit, and could he be just "sealing the deal" in order to have us come down and spend a lot of money on him? Possibly... But he's doing a damn good job at it... and after talking to the guy for about a year now, (and the travelers who have met him there), I have to admit I have sort of grown to trust him.

Also, he will not be with me the entire trip. I'm meeting him about halfway through in Holguin, and he's only spending about a week with me in Holguin and Santiago (where he has people HE can stay with, rather than with us in the CP). Although he is finding me the Casas in these cities, as well as in Havana... and could very well be getting a cut in it... he knows we're on a tight budget and the prices he's quoted me have been very "doable."

Somebody above mentioned that the reason peso bars, clubs, etc are not worth it... is because of the time issue. And with only two weeks on the island, I definitely wish to take advantage of all the time I can. After thinking about it... I think my best bet will be to spend a little bit more money in Havana and Trinidad... and then go cheap once I meet up with my "fren", since he already has talked about the peso bars the locals go to? What do you guys think? Also, this is going to be a complete 100% "bum cuba" sort of trip. We are considering swiming with the dolphins in Guardelavaca (sp?), and going to the Tropicana in Santiago. Both of these I have invited my Cuban friend. I figure splitting his price with my American friend, will make the extra cost not all that terrible... at least worth the trouble that I'll be saved on my Eastern half of the island.

I guess when I get back on August 10th... you guys will have to look for a post and see if I made it or not... haha. Once again, thank you all for the advice.