If you’re new here, my husband and I went to Cuba for the first time in November 2025. We brought very few personal items (we each just brought a backpack) and packed the maximum amount of luggage so we could bring as much as possible in humanitarian aid and medical supplies. You can read about that first trip here pre-trip budget) and here (post-trip cost breakdown).
In the Spring of 2026 we returned with our six kids so that we could bring even more humanitarian aid and introduce our kids to our Cuban friends and their beautiful island and culture.
Today I’m sharing all of the details of our spending including flights, what we did for entertainment, accommodations, in-country travel, food, tips and giving (I recorded tips separately from the food, experiences, and services we paid for), and all of the miscellaneous costs that people often forget about. Not only do I give you all the details of our spending, but I’ll make a direct comparison with the amount that we budgeted to see where we overspent, where we underspent and how the total turned out.
We were eager to bring our kids with us not only to experience the wonderful land, people, and culture, but also because bringing more people meant more luggage we could fill with humanitarian aid. With two checked bags, a carry-on bag, and a personal item for each of us, our family of eight was able to bring over a thousand pounds of aid, including medical equipment, medicines, personal hygiene items, food, clothing. I even got certified to teach the Days for Girls women’s health class so we could distribute a hundred of their washable menstrual pad kits. Distributing these donations to various organizations and directly to the people, was the highlight of our trip!
I love planning trips for our family. Some people get overwhelmed by logistics and would rather outsource their trip planning, but not me! I love researching everything and, of course, budgeting everything. Making a smart and thorough budget before a trip helps me to relax on our trip.
I shared with you our plan and budget for taking our kids to Cuba before the trip.
I also sincerely love going through our spending after a trip. For some people this post-trip reckoning is fiercely dreaded, but since I work so hard to budget before our trip, going through our spending after the fact isn’t painful at all.
I will share a few of our photos here, but if you want to see a lot more (photos and videos), check out my YouTube video that goes through all of this same content.
I also want to note that this trip budget does not include what we spent gathering and purchasing donations. We set aside money from our family budget in the months leading up to our trip so that we could buy supplies. Thankfully we had LOTS of help from friends and family, including some of YOU!
Here is the complete cost breakdown, after the trip, of our two-week trip to Cuba with a family of eight.
Flights
Since the flights were the first part of planning, I knew the actual cost when making the budget, and it didn’t change. We had a Southwest Companion Pass for all of 2026, which means I can bring a companion on all of my flights for the entire year. For domestic flights, the Companion Pass covers the entire cost of the companion’s ticket except $11 for the 9/11 security fee.
For international flights there are additional costs that can’t be waived with the Companion Pass. For Cuba that includes customs and immigration fees, a Cuba airport fee, and Cuba health insurance (required for all international visitors). The additional fees for the companion pass add up to $80.
Flights for me and 6 kids: $488 x 7 = $3,418
Mike’s flight (companion pass):Â $80 (international taxes and fees)
Budgeted/Spent $3,498
We saved $408 on this trip by having the Southwest Companion Pass. If you’re interested in getting the Companion Pass (which allows a companion to have unlimited free flights with you all year), leave your details below and I will let you know when Southwest has another awesome Companion Pass promotion.
Experiences
We planned some activities similar to our first Cuba trip. We wanted our kids to experience snorkeling in the beautiful warm ocean, horseback riding out in the country, getting a tour from our friend who has a pineapple farm, and exploring some of the many caves on the island. Normally we aren’t big spenders on entertainment because we can always find awesome free things to do. For our family trip to Cuba, spending on entertainment was a primary goal because it put dollars into the hands of individuals who desperately needed them.
Here are some of the ways we spent our entertainment funds:
- We spent $736 for all 8 of us to snorkel in the Bay of Pigs. We had originally planned to go to Varadero and the beach where Mike and I snorkeled on our last visit to Cuba, but the weather on that side of the island was not good for snorkeling, so we changed our plans with the help of our guide. It was cool to get to know a new part of Cuba together. We even decided to stay an extra day in the area so we could have some more beach time. This cost included transportation from Havana to Playa Larga (and would have included the trip back if we had not decided to stay).
- We spent $10 for all of us to tour a fortress and lighthouse in Havana. We all counted the spiral stairs to the top of the lighthouse, but we all got different numbers.
- We spent $18 to visit some botanical gardens in Havana. We walked past them several times and some of the kids really wanted to go in. Sadly, the gardens were kind of overgrown and rundown. We saw more butterflies outside of the butterfly sanctuary than inside it.
- We spent $320 for several hours of horseback riding through the countryside. I was a little nervous about the younger kids on their own horses, but it was great, and everyone loved it.
- We spent $40 to explore some caves that we came across in our horseback ride.
- We spent $240 for the campesino tour from the pineapple farmer which also included a delicious lunch, sampling honey, learning the entire process of making coffee from start to finish, pressing sugar cane to get the juice out, and drinks made from pineapple, cane juice, honey, and fresh herbs.
- We spent $30 for a horse carriage ride in Havana. It wasn’t in the plans, but with tourism almost non-existent at the time, we let an persistent salesman convince us.
- We paid the equivalent of $2.40Â to visit the Jose Marti Memorial.
Budgeted $1,500
Spent $1,396
We spent $104 less than we anticipated on experiences in Cuba.
Accommodations
We stayed in private Airbnbs during our visit. One of the things that the US doesn’t allow its citizens to do is stay in most hotels or resorts, as these are all owned by the Cuban government. That’s perfect for us. We love staying at private Airbnbs because we get to meet and talk to our hosts, make new friends, and get a more authentic experience. Every place we stayed was unique. We were without electricity a large portion of the time, but thankfully we brought lanterns and power banks with us.
The first Airbnb consisted of two stories (the host lived above us in the next two stories) with four bedrooms. It didn’t have a lot of amenities (we had to go buy our own toilet paper) but it was at just the right location and had plenty of space to organize our donations to distribute. We stayed there for 5 nights and paid a total of $257.
Our next stay was in Playa Larga, near the Bay of Pigs. It was a beautiful place within sight of the beach. We spread ourselves out over three rooms. We stayed for two nights at a total cost of $137.
In Viñales, we returned to the same place we stayed during our first trip. There are two lovely rooms and a pool that the family constructed themselves. The accommodations were very inexpensive at three nights for a total of $72. The hosts, who are such lovely people, cooked all of our meals, so we paid far more for food than we did for the accommodations.
Finally we returned to stay in Havana with some friends we had stayed with on our first trip. Since they only had room for 6 of us, the older boys stayed in a room across the street. Pretty much every house has a room for rent. Each room was $15 per night, so with three rooms for three nights, we paid $135.
Budgeted $755
Spent $601
We spent $154 less than we had planned on accommodations.
In-Country Travel
We weren’t sure how the transportation would work out since the U.S. fuel blockade against Cuba had been in place for a few months. We checked with friends before coming and they assured us that we could get around, and that our help would more than make up for fuel we used. We made connections with several drivers who were happy for the work. We saw almost no other visitors while we were there, so anyone who worked in the tourism industry was hard up for work. Because fuel is scarce, it’s also expensive. Transportation costs were about double what they had been on our first trip.
I reserved a 20-passenger van/bus to take the 8 of us, 24 bags, and 8 backpacks from the airport to our first Airbnb for $92. I was a little skeptical because it sounded way too good to be true since one taxi will charge $50 for the same distance. We were shocked to have an actual tour bus with luggage storage underneath. All for less than $100! This leg of the journey was the trickiest because we had 1,200 pounds of luggage to transport and for half of our kids, their luggage weighed more than they did.
We paid $60 for a van to take us from Havana to Cotorro where we distributed lots of donations and went to church. The same van brought us back for another $60.
We paid $4 for all of us to ride the ferry across Havana harbor both ways.
We paid $220 to go from Playa Larga to Havana since we decided to stay two nights there instead of returning with our private snorkeling tour.
We paid $240 to take a taxi from Havana to Viñales.
The wonderful accommodations we had in Viñales is outside of the city, so we needed a taxi to take us to our horseback riding experience and back to the house. That was $100.
We paid another $240 to return to Havana from Viñales.
We paid $80 to have a taxi take us to and from the “Playas del Este” beach near Havana.
We paid $60 to get all of us to the airport when we left.
I had reserved a couple of Viazul buses to make the long drives to Viñales and Varadero, but both of those were either cancelled by them (not enough passengers) or by us (change of plans). The majority of the ticket cost was refunded, but not all, so that loss of $38 is factored in here.
We would have taken more local taxis or buses, but the scarcity of fuel due to the U.S. blockade had shut down most local public transportation and may private drivers had no fuel either. For trips up to about five miles, we walked, carrying or rolling our luggage along the streets as we traveled to several locations for donation distributions.
Budgeted $1,000
Spent $1,194
We spent $194 more than we budgeted on in-country travel.
Food
Food is always a big wild card. Even deciding on a budget for this one was tricky. I used two methods to get a ballpark amount (you can read about my estimation methods here under the food heading), then added some more budget for good measure. We wanted to make sure everyone had all they needed to eat.
We ate at many different places, including the homes of two of our Airbnb hosts. The meals we ate with our hosts were especially nice and there was always plenty to eat. We had delicious fruits and juices that the kids had never tried before. We had soups, rice, and lots of different meat dishes, including crocodile. We ate at small restaurants and even got pizza a few times.
One of our favorite places was an ice cream shop called Monte Freddo that we went to every chance we got. They have a large variety of fun new flavors and our whole family could get 2-3 scoops of ice cream for the equivalent of $15-18.
At cheaper restaurants, all 8 of us could eat for just $24-$40. Other places ranged from $50-$150 for all of us. When we ate at Airbnbs, the normal price was $8-10 per person for a dinner and $6-8 per person for breakfast. It really was so delicious. The food in the city is sometimes lackluster because there isn’t a whole lot available, and what there is isn’t always fresh, but in the rural areas where the food grown or caught, it is spectacular.
We did bring some freeze dried food and other quick snacks and meals from home. Our 16-year-old had his freak accident just days before our trip. With ten of his teeth broken or loose, he couldn’t eat solid foods at first, so we brought lots of applesauce pouches from home.
We were so thankful to have three of this backpacking water filter so that we didn’t need to buy bottled water at all (or create any trash from plastic bottles). I recommend it for any travel where the water might be suspect. Without being able to filter and fill our own water bottles every day, it would have been a very difficult trip.
Budgeted $2,000
Spent $1,059
We spent $941 less than we had planned on food.
Tips/Giving/ Souvenirs
On our first trip to Cuba we didn’t spend anything on souvenirs, so it’s not surprising that we didn’t spend anything on souvenirs this time either. Everything we spent in this category was either a tip to someone who served us (driver, host, guide, food) or a donation to someone in need.
Using a mix of foreign currency and home currency (sometimes paying in USD and sometimes in Cuban Pesos), but always paying in cash makes it tricky to track your spending. We were disappointed after our last trip to realize that we had underspent in this category. We had planned to tip well and thought we were, but we ended up with extra in this category. We were determined not to do this again.
Knowing that pretty much everyone in Cuba is struggling in a major way, we loved surprising people with unexpectedly large tips. We tipped every host, driver, guide, and server that we interacted with.
Budgeted $500
Spent $969
We spent $469 more than we originally planned. Going over this much in another category would have been frustrating, but it feels good to overspend in this category. It helps that we underspent nearly everywhere else.
Other Expenses
We tried to think through all of the miscellaneous costs of travel. These one-off expenses can add of quickly and will frustrate your budget if you don’t plan for them. It helped that Mike and I had travelled to Cuba less than six months before the trip with our kids, so we had a very good idea of the other random expenses we would have.
Cuban Visas: $203
Getting a Visa to visit Cuba really couldn’t be easier! You can purchase them online for $25 per person.
Travel Insurance: $274
I estimated our travel insurance cost to be a couple hundred dollars higher than it actually was! As with most insurance, we did not have to use it at all. Still, this cost was totally worth it for my peace of mind.
Extra Luggage: $315
With my Southwest credit card I get one free bag per person and with the Companion Pass my companion gets 2 free bags, but we wanted to maximize the luggage we were able to take so we paid for 7 additional checked bags at $45 each.
Airport Parking: $180
We parked at the Sacramento Airport for 15 days for $12 per day.
Cuban SIM Cards: $71
We purchased two Cuban SIM cards so that we would be able to connect to the internet
VPN: $17
We subscribed to NordVPN for a month. In Cuba, a VPN is absolutely necessary if you want to have access to all of the sites that you are accustomed to in the US, including things like Airbnb, if we need to contact our hosts.
Other Supplies: $335
Fortunately we had lots of the supplies we needed from our last trip to Cuba, these water filters, two single mosquito nets, a double mosquito net, and mosquito repellent. We got more mosquito nets so that everyone had one.
We used some of our backpacks that we bought for our Guatemala trip as our personal item on the plane (this is where we each packed our very limited personal clothes and supplies). We got some collapsible sand buckets so that our kids can play on the beach.
Blackouts are normal in Cuba so we needed to be prepared with flashlights and lanterns. We bought more of these which can be charged by either by plug or solar. Also for the power outages, we have a second power bank portable charger so that we each have one to charge our phones with when the power is out.
I got some inexpensive bags that easily fold up to bring home or could be left in Cuba. We bought a set of these and another set of these. They are meant more for storage and moving, not travel, but we decided to try them as luggage and were please that they worked really well! (Side note: our daughter is using some of the blue ones to pack for college!)
If you read about our 16-year-old’s freak dental accident that happened just days before our trip, you’ll understand why this full-face mask was a must-have for him. You can’t bite on a traditional snorkel when you just had dental trauma and can’t even eat solid foods!
See what I mean? All of these random trip expenses add up fast!
Budgeted $1,607
Spent $1,395
In our miscellaneous trip expenses, we spent $212 less than budgeted.
Total Cost for 2-Weeks in Cuba for 8 People
Some categories were over and some were under. Let’s see what the total looks like.
Total Budgeted: $10,860
Total Spent: $10,116
All in all, we spent $744 less than we had planned on our trip!
I like to break it down to a cost per person per day so I can easily compared across trips. For our trip to Cuba for our family of 8 for two weeks, we spent $90 per person per day.
We had an amazing experience. We are keeping in contact with many friends that we made and would love to return someday. In the meantime, we’re praying for everyone there, as they are enduring unthinkable hardships that have drastically increased even in the few months since we were there.
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