Cuba All Inclusive - spending money?

Cuba All Inclusive - spending money?

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Chucklehead

Original Poster:

2,729 posts

207 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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As it says, we're off for 2 weeks all inclusive. We'll want to do a couple tours / trips, so we'll expect about £3-400 on top of whatever we need for normal stuff.

I'm told it's not that easy to use cards or exchange out there, hence wanting to get it right.

thetrash

1,847 posts

205 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
quotequote all
I found it hard to spend money in Cuba, there's nothing to buy. Most of the holiday money went on tips, even then it's wasnt much

Chucklehead

Original Poster:

2,729 posts

207 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
quotequote all
I figured we'd want somewhere between 500-1000 total for both of us.. although the tour folk may take cards..

Wolff

413 posts

214 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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There are cash machines in Havana which work absolutely fine, although tell your bank you are going there first. Changing cash is easily done on arrival at the airport - one tip though, go upstairs to the departures area - MUCH less of a queue!!

As to how much - no idea what the hotels charge, or what/how many excursions you are wanting to do...? A few years ago I only spent about £500 over two weeks which had to cover some excursions, food & drink, souvenirs, taxi to airport, and two nights additional accommodation. Prices may have risen since then I guess, with Cubans able to buy/sell houses and cars..

If you want to buy real cigars, take more money! They're cheaper than here, but still cost a lot in comparison to everything else over there!

mike_e

584 posts

262 months

Monday 13th October 2014
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We took £500 and came back with £300, paid for excursions with a card. It's quite easy to use cards or exchange money. You can use cards to pay for excursions etc, just make sure the card issuer isn't affiliated to a US bank. Make sure any notes (Sterling or Euros) are not marked or torn and watch out for the old 1:1 exchange rate scam.

trickywoo

11,706 posts

229 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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I'd imagine your hotel will have a foreign exchange desk.

Tours are likely to be through a rep who will take cards - quite likely priced up in GBP.

I was there a couple of years ago and outside the hotel there isn't much to buy.

Rum is really cheap, even in the hotel. I paid something like £6 a bottle for 7 year old Havana Club.

Chucklehead

Original Poster:

2,729 posts

207 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
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Thanks for all the advice!

LuS1fer

41,086 posts

244 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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Unrelated to some degree but when I went to Zanzibar, I happily got fleeced by their trips.
They used to annoy the locals as the resort also got all the profit and therefore didn't help the local economy much.
One trip was to a monkey sanctuary and we missed the official one so they suggested they arrange a taxi to take us. we did and it cost about a quarter what they charged.
I was less wont to trust local tours so did the resort's sea tour but others were braver and gave glowing reports and they were again half the price.


Never been to Cuba so can't extrapolate to that scenario.

The Tea Boy

4,129 posts

234 months

Saturday 18th October 2014
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We too struggled to spend much money. Most was spent on rum and cigars!

Still reasonably to spend £200 on a few nice cigars to bring back biggrin

One of my main reasons for wanting to return is to replenish my cigar stocks biggrin

Matt