Hey there! Avid traveller here, lots of experience flying solo - would like to do about 5 days in Havana mostly to take photos and experience the music but the cheapest option seems to be a 7-day all-inclusive. I'm not sure I wanna do that as I'm only looking to stay about 4-5 days - does anyone know of a cheaper easier option?
Thanks!
Where did you get the idea that cheapest would be AI?
Where are travelling from and which hotel and what price were you looking at for the package?
Have you read a guidebook or looked at FAQ's here for other accommodation options?
does anyone know of a cheaper easier option?
Your question is meaningless when you give zero clue whatsoever about where you're flying from, etc.
Cheers,
Terry
The west coast of Canada is one departure point where an all-inclusive package is (almost) always cheaper than flight-only simply because you have so few choices in airlines and so many of them transit via another city so the flight-only cost is even more expensive.
In any case making 4 long flights just to get to/from Cuba for 4 - 5 days doesn't really make sense. That's a long, long trip for such a short visit.
That said I'm seeing Vancouver to Varadero (via Toronto) arriving Feb. 7 and departing Feb. 12 (so 6 days) for less than $400 CAD all in, that sounds amazingly cheap to me.
You need to hit up a decent Travel Agent.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Terry
Did you intend to ask for comments on your thread title (Travelling solo as a mature (ahem) woman...) or just on flight logistics?
As someone who falls into much the same category and with the same interests you stated, I would recommend an introductory short-ish trip to Cuba, but as mentioned above, stay for a slightly longer period than you stated, maybe a full week or so. If that flight to Varadero is indeed as cheap as mentioned, you could spend a couple of days there in a casa particular near the beach to rest up from the long flights, and then take the (3 hour) comfortable, air-conditioned Viazul bus trip to Havana that passes through some pretty countryside and small towns. Adjust your expectations regarding comfort level in casas particulares though. (Most are 25-30 CUC, so pretty cheap.) Brush up on your Spanish so that you can socialize with Cubans, the best part of the trip IMO.