Havana Favorite Tips by Kindra

Cuban currencies: how to deal Money, Health and Safty info Review

Favorite thing: Cuba is on a two-tiered currency system and it can easily confuse people. One of my favourite moments in my friend Jovana paying for a round of drinks (at a bar where they charged in CUC, obviously) and mistakenly handing the bartender a 20- in nacionales (this is less than 1 CUC, much less than the bill the bartender wanted her to pay). She stood their impatiently, waiting for her change not realizing she had mixed up her currencies. It was funny.

Cuban convertibles are marked as CUC and are also referred to in Cuba as "divisa" or "fula". One CUC is a bit more than $1US and a bit less than 1 Euro. There are about 24-26 national pesos in 1 CUC. You can expect to pay for most things in CUC - anything from cover at bars, entrances at museums and national parks, tourist taxis, a night at a Casa Particular, basic groceries in a store, dinner at a paladar or a state-run-restaurant.

Pesos nacionales are generally used by Cubans in some of their every-day transactions and as a tourist, you will be limited to paying in nacionales: Cuban collective taxis, drinks in some Cuban bars, peso restaurant food and Coppelia's, some items in peso stores like t-shirts etc, fruit and vegetables at a market. You need to go to a Cadeca (change bureau all over Havana) to change from CUC to nacionales. Initially, you won't need much. Depending on your time in Cuba, $20 CUC into nacionales should be more than enough.

Fondest memory: Keep in mind that it can be VERY difficult to use bank and credit cards and travelers cheques in Cuba in general. If your card is American-issued, from an American bank or from a bank that has some ties to an American bank (as was the case with my Serbian friend), you will not be able to use it anywhere.

Canadians and most Western-Europeans should have no issues.

There are cash machines- even my Canadian credit card didn't work in them. NO MASTERCARD will work in a cash machine in Cuba. The Hotel Nacional has a change bureau in their basement near the pool that is open daily until 10 pm and you can take money out on your credit card there. They can use their computers to tell you whether your card will work in Cuba or not- cash machines (cajeros) are less reliable so I wouldn't bother. The advice: though its a bit sketchy, you should bring CASH with you to Cuba and make sure you have a good place to store it while you are staying in Havana. Canadian dollars and Euros are easily changeable in change shops, Cadecas and the bigger hotels (24 hours a day at the reception of the Hotel Habana Libre) but American dollars are either not changeable or you get a bad rate so DONT come to Cuba with US dollars.