Cuba travel guide – 4 recommendations.

Which is the best Cuba travel guide? A travel guide is basically indispensable on this somewhat different Caribbean island, not only for individual travelers. In the following we present 4 recommendable travel guides, which proved to be extremely useful during our round trip through Cuba.

Travel guide Cuba for package travelers

As package tourists traveling within a tour group with a German-speaking guide, we initially wanted a geographical orientation on our route. Where are we and where are we going? In which cardinal direction is California actually located? In addition, of course, we wanted a good description of all the stops on our trip – all the sights and destinations we wanted to go to in our free hours.

Travel guide Cuba for individual travelers

Individual travelers who want to explore Cuba on their own, on the other hand, need a completely differently conceived travel guide. Here is a detailed and comprehensive reference guide with all the important Cuban specifics on lodging and food, money and prices, routes and transportation, internet and telephone, ambulance, and law and order. And of course helpful country and road maps.

Travel guide Cuba – Our recommendations

We bought several travel guides for our trip. The Merian (with a large map) was provided to us by the travel agency. Others, such as e.g. the travel guides by Stefan Loose, we bought them because of the many positive reviews on the internet.

Culture shock Cuba – a must have

I read this small jewel under the Cuba travel guides before the vacation journey at the domestic beach in two afternoons through, and would like to recommend the book of Jens Sobisch to everyone, which would like to experience over Cuba and the Cubans somewhat more, instead of only as only the way to the most beautiful trip goals and whitest beaches.

Jens Sobisch is a trained lawyer and passionate Cuba traveler. It portrays the beauty and absurdities of everyday Cuban life with a great mix of background information, empathy and humor.

Brief overview

• Rules of conduct& Manners
• Dance, flirtation and passion
• Holidays and Carnival
• History and Culture
• painting and art
• State structure and religion
• Partnership& Family
• Living, work and leisure
• Not a “real” travel guide”
• Does not contain any maps, except for a small map of Cuba

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Sobisch repeatedly refers to older and more recent Cuban history in his observations. He describes in detail the culture and mentality of the Cubans: their joie de vivre and passion for dance, their views on politics, family and sex. He tells us the most popular Cuban jokes and explains why you have to ask at least 5 people for directions and why you might still get 5 wrong answers.

Light and shadow in Cuba

In addition, Sobisch also describes the darker sides of this sunny paradise. The lack of supply with almost all elementary goods of daily life. A subliminal racism, which the dark-skinned Cubans have to fight against.

The repression of a corrupt Cuban bureaucracy. This is how Cubans e.g. almost impossible to travel to other countries or to put own ideas into practice.

I liked very much that in Kulturschock Kuba two Cubans themselves speak quite extensively: the older and experienced Orlando and the young student Adriana. In this way, one learns how a Cuban student lives, loves and works. Orlando represents the older generation who experienced the changing times from the revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The latter drew an unprecedented review in the 90s. An essential reason that today’s tourism has become possible at all.

CONCLUSION: A recommendation for all Cuba travelers

Among the most impressive parts of the book are the passages that show how Cubans manage their deprived daily lives through an incredible talent for improvisation. A characteristic, by the way, that most Cuba vacationers will get to know at some point, when unforeseen difficulties arise on the trip. And this is what happens! &

In short, a must-have – but please don’t forget to buy a “real” travel guide as well.

MERIAN Cuba travel guide – the basic version

The Cuba travel guide by Merian was recommended and also provided to us by our travel agent. It is excellent for package travelers and, in our opinion, is more successful than the alternatives from ADAC and Marco Polo.

The author of this compact travel guide is Beate Schumann, a travel journalist specializing in Latin America, who has turned her experience from several trips to Cuba into a highly recommended Cuba guide.

Brief overview

• 10 well selected sights
• Tips for traveling with children
• Places and cities from Havana to Santiago de Chile
• Basics accommodation, food& Shopping
• 4 classic routes incl. Hemmingway route
• Practical travel tips
• Maps and plans (incl. large fold-out road map)
• Not for individual travelers
• For Havana you need a better city map

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CONCLUSION: Compact, clear and solid

We liked the clear, intuitive structure, with a total of 6 large sections organized by topic, and the large fold-out map of Cuba, which proved particularly useful for preparing for the trip. For those who are still completely unfamiliar with Cuba, here is a good first overview.

Criticism: The map of Havana: Cuba’s main city (more precisely the airport Varadero) is for most vacationers the starting point of their trip and especially for round trips one of the first destinations. Those who plan to explore the impressive city away from the tour group (and the obligatory sightseeing tour) will in any case need a better map with many supplementary hints.

Here is recommended e.g. the map in Lonely Planet.

Cuba travel guide for individual travelers by Lonely Planet

The travel guide for Cuba by Lonely Planet is not for nothing one of the most popular travel guides for individual travelers. 614 pages of condensed information on all topics of interest to Cuba travelers, all of which are impossible to list here. Included among other things are some itineraries with descriptions and timing, insider tips from the authors, walks and excursions. 72 maps including a detachable, very nice map for Havana and surroundings.

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Very extensive and elaborately researched

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Cuba travel guide for individual travelers by Stefan Loose

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