Complete Cost Breakdown for our 10-day Trip to Cuba

Maybe this isn’t normal, but I really enjoy going through our spending after a trip and seeing how it compares to our plan (and yes, “plan” is just a nice word for “budget”!).

For some people this post-trip reckoning is the worst, most-stressful part of travel. “How much damage did we do?”

Because I plan meticulously before a trip, I’m not stressed about our spending during the trip. And since we set the money aside ahead of time, I don’t have to worry about what the credit card bill is going to look like in the month or two after the trip.

I already shared our budget for our Cuba trip, so now I’m going to go through each category to see how our actual spending compares.

Flights

The flights were actually the impetus for our whole trip, so I knew the exact cost before we even set out budget. Thanks to a $300 Southwest travel voucher (our luggage arrived late on the way home from our Miami trip) and the Southwest Companion Pass (which allowed Mike to only have to pay the taxes/fees associated with the international flight), we saved big on airfare. What would normally cost $1,070 only cost $315 total for both of us!

Budgeted: $315

Spent: $315

Experiences

We spent time in three different places: Varadero, Viñales, and Havana. Since our stated reason for going to Cuba (required by the US government) was “Support for the Cuban People” we planned to spend more freely on experiences than we normally would. We are really good at seeking out free or inexpensive experiences when we want to, but this trip was different. Our spending on these experiences was putting money directly into the hands of wonderful Cuban people who were supporting themselves and their families.

For the experiences, I will list the cost for the two of us, not including tips. We tipped, too, but I have a different category for tips. For some of these excursions, we knew the prices ahead of time. For others, we didn’t know until the opportunity presented itself.

Varadero

We went on a snorkeling experience found on Airbnb that included transportation from Havana to Varadero. We snorkeled in the ocean and in a cenote (cave) on our way to Varadero, then went to the beautiful white sands beach in Varadero. Cost: $190

Varadero is a long, skinny peninsula (13 miles long and no more than 3/4 of a mile at its widest). We were staying at an Airbnb close to the mainland but we wanted to see the rest of the peninsula. We took the Hop On, Hop Off Bus to the end of the peninsula and back, a trip of about an hour, so we could see everything. Cost: $10

Viñales

We loved going out to Viñales, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its traditional agriculture (fruit, vegetables, coffee, tobacco) and karst landscape (lots of limestone caves). We took an “authentic” tour (also found on Airbnb) that included transportation from Havana and took us to the homes/farms of three families. We learned all about how tobacco and coffee are grown, enjoyed a beautiful meal that was completely grown/raised on that land, rode horses, and met really wonderful people. The trip included free Cuban cigars and organic coffee beans grown on site too, but neither of us smoke or drink coffee so we let others enjoy those. Cost: $165

We didn’t go back to Havana with our tour, but stayed a few nights in Viñales instead. Our Airbnb host gave us some excursion options. He’s the community’s dentist, so he has lots of connections with people. Our first adventure was a “Campesino Tour” given by a pineapple farmer who farms full time, but does tours on the side when the opportunity arises. We rode in his ox cart and learned about farming, local fossils, life in the country generally, and in the area specifically. We participated in the process of making coffee from start to finish (which is funny since we didn’t then drink it). We pressed sugar cane and drank “cane juice” and ate a “country ice cream” which was a small pineapple carved upside down. Cost: $70

On another day in Viñales we went spent a half day on horseback riding across the beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. We explored an amazing, deep cave that has a torrential river through it half of the year but was more accessible during our visit. An authentic and delicious Cuban countryside lunch was included in our tour. Cost: $90

Since our Airbnb was only a mile or so away from the Cave of the Indian, one of the more touristy caves, we walked down to see it. Unlike the other caves we saw in Viñales, this cave is lit and has walkways and handrails to accommodate lots of tourist traffic. In addition to walking through the cave, there is a boat that takes you on a short ride through to see the various cave formations. Cost $6

Havana

We saw a lot of Havana on foot without a tour, but we did pay for the Hop On, Hop Off Bus in Havana. It allowed us to see areas that were too far away to walk to and also served as transportation to get to Fusterlandia. Cost: $20

Fusterlandia is the home of Jose Rodriguez Fuster who is an amazing mosaic artist. We toured the outside of his home and garden which is bright, colorful, and busy, as you’ll see below. In addition to his own home, he and his students have transformed his whole neighborhood with his mosaics on the walls, parks, roofs, and everywhere over 80 other properties. Cost $2

The Jose Marti Memorial is a museum dedicated to him, but also includes a 358 ft mirador where you can see the entire city. It reminded me of the Washington monument in DC. Yes, I still have hair, you just can’t tell from this picture! Cost: $2

Budgeted: $400

Spent: $555

We did a lot of exploring the cities and towns for free as well, but because a big part of our visit was to provide economic support for our new Cuban friends, we actually looked for opportunities to spread money around. This is not our usual travel concept, but we were so good at it that we exceeded our planned amount for activities.

Accommodations

US citizens are not permitted to stay in hotels because all of the hotels are owned by the Cuban government. We prefer staying in Airbnbs anyway, so this didn’t bother us at all. We stayed in Havana at the beginning and end of our trip with the same hosts. They even let us leave some of our things there during the week when we visited other places. We double booked our night in Varadero in case we decided to head back to Havana with our tour. That’s why the nights paid for add up to more nights than our trip.

Havana (3 nights) $62

Varadero (1 night) $34

Viñales (3 nights) $75

Havana (5 nights) $98

Budgeted: $244

Spent: $269

We spent $25 more on accommodations than we anticipated.

In-Country Travel

We knew that our in-country travel budget would need to be somewhat flexible. I am including just the base cost here, not including what we added in tips.

Taxi from the airport to Havana Airbnb: $30

We booked this ahead of time through a guide for one of our excursions. I think it’s normal to pay $25, but it was nice to have someone there waiting for us when we arrived and fun to ride in a classic car.

Taxi from Havana to Cotorro: $25

We used the LaNave app (kind of like Uber, but just for Havana) to get a driver. He was super helpful and patient when we couldn’t find the place we were looking for at first.

Taxi from Cotorro to Havana: $8

On the way back from Cotorro to Havana there were no cars nearby on LaNave and no taxis around, so we walked the first 10 km (we like walking) and got a ride for the final 9 km. We had budgeted $25 but it cost less because of our walk.

Bus from Varadero to Havana: $35

This was a bus trip I paid for ahead of time. We budgeted $40 for this, but it was actually charged on my credit card in Euros because the transaction went through Spain, a work-around that lets some companies that provide services in Cuba to still accept American credit cards.

Bus from Viñales to Havana: $37

Another bus trip that was prepaid but charged in Euros, so my $32 budgeted cost was a little off.

Other smaller rides: $40

We did a lot of walking, but there were a few other times we needed a taxi.

Taxi to airport: $15

Instead of taking a taxi, we took LaNave, which ended up being cheaper than the expected $25.

Budgeted: $217

Spent: $190

We spent $27 less on in-country travel than we anticipated.

Food

Food was definitely our biggest wild card. In order to set the budget, I took the low end cost from my research for each meal and let my spreadsheet do the math. Figuring $5 for breakfast, $7 for lunch, and $10 for dinner, I multiplied by 10 days and 2 people.

I took the low-end estimate because we are not into fine dining and we don’t drink alcohol. Still, I knew that even the low-end estimate would be more than we would actually spend. We don’t require breakfast and if we’re busy we can go without lunch too. Of course, this wouldn’t work if we had our kids with us, but the two of us are pretty low-maintenance when it comes to food. I also brought some instant oatmeal packets, instant mashed potatoes, and a few freeze-dried backpacking meals with us, which we ate on Sundays.

I included $80 for airport food, which we didn’t actually expect to spend. We’re both much too frugal to ever be able to pay airport prices for food. I brought some trail mix and granola bars with us from home and those kept us from needing any airport food.

Our best food was in Viñales where we paid our host for her home-cooked breakfast ($6 each) and dinner ($5-9 each). On their property they have a garden and all sorts of fruit trees. Even though they only have electricity for 3-4 hours a day, she cooked the most delicious meals using charcoal.

Food in Varadero and Havana was hit or miss. Some strange things and some good things.

We handled food much differently in Cuba than we do no most trips. We didn’t do any shopping. There was no going to the “store” (that really isn’t a thing in Cuba) to get food to prepare in our Airbnb. Anything we ate was prepared for us. Our plan going into this was that we would eat at private homes and restaurants to “support the Cuban people,” but it really was the only way to eat anyway!

We averaged two meals a day, though sometimes the meal was included in a tour or eaten at home with things we brought with us. Also, we didn’t need to buy water because we each brought this backpacking water filter with us.

Budgeted: $620

Spent: $172

We spent $448 less on food than we anticipated.

Souvenirs and Tips

We brought some of our remaining pesos in various denominations to show our kids. We brought lots of pictures, videos, and stories. We did not buy any normal “souvenirs” to bring home.

The tips that I’m including in this category are for tour guides, drivers, and hosts. We also tipped at every restaurant that we ate at, but I included those expenses with the cost of the food. Had I realized that we had extra money in this category we would have tipped even more. It felt like we were tipping a lot, but it’s tricky to keep track of everything on the go, especially when you’re managing a foreign currency, you have money stashed in multiple locations (so you’re not sure how much you actually still have), and you brought twice as much cash as budgeted in case of an emergency (there is no way to withdraw more cash or use credit cards in Cuba).

Budgeted: $400

Spent: $196

We spent $204 less on souvenirs and tips than we anticipated.

Other Expenses

These are the miscellaneous travel-related expenses that can add up quickly.

Cuba Visas: $50

Getting a visa for Cuba is easy and is done online for $25 per person.

Travel Insurance: $104

Mike doesn’t really think travel insurance is necessary because our own health insurance should cover us even when we’re traveling, but it gives me peace of mind, and that makes it worth if for me.

Extra Luggage: $45

With my Southwest credit card, everyone on my reservation gets one checked bag free, but we wanted to bring the maximum amount of donations, so we planned to each pay for an additional bag at $45 each. When we checked in four large suitcases, the agent said we only needed to pay for one bag. For some reason (which we couldn’t figure out even after asking the agent) both of Mike’s bags were free. What a blessing!

Airport Parking: $132

We left a car in the long-term parking lot at the Sacramento airport for $11/day for 12 days.

Supplies: $175

In addition to the supplies we bought and collected to donate in Cuba, we got some supplies that we knew we would need. Some of them we gave away afterwards.

Water filters— These were great because they made it so we didn’t need to buy bottled water, which is expensive and creates lots of trash.
Water purification tablets— We brought these as a backup just in case there was a problem with our filters.
Mosquito repellent— There is an outbreak of several mosquito-borne illnesses especially chikungunya and dengue, so we want to be prepared.
Single mosquito nets and a double mosquito net— When the power is out the AC and fans don’t work, you need to open the windows for air and none of the windows have screens. We weren’t sure which set-up would work best in each of the Airbnbs so we brought both single and double versions.
Lanterns— Blackouts are normal in Cuba so we want to be prepared. These can be charged by either by plug or solar.
Power bank— We wanted to be able to charge our phones even when the power is out.

Cuban tourist SIM cards: $70

I forgot to add this into our original budget, but it was definitely important. This was the cost for two 30-day SIM cards so that we could make calls and have internet (where available) while in Cuba.

VPN: $12

If you’re using the internet in Cuba, you need a VPN to access the websites and apps that you’re used to in the US, otherwise many of them will be blocked. We used a one-month subscription to NordVPN and then cancelled when we got back home.

Budgeted: $552

Spent: $588

We spent $36 more on other things than we anticipated.

Total Cost for 2 people for 11 Days in Cuba

	Budgeted	Spent
Flights	$315	$315
Experiences	$400	$555
Accommodations	$244	$269
In-Country Travel	$217	$190
Food	$620	$172
Souvenirs and Tips	$400	$196
Other Expenses	$552	$588
TOTAL	$2,748	$2,285

We spent $463 less than we anticipated for the two of us to spend 11 days in Cuba.

I always like to break it down by person and by day because it makes it easy to compare across trips.

Our trip to Cuba with everything included breaks down to $104 per person per day.

The Best Part

As we planned our trip, we started collecting gifts and donations to bring to support the Cuban people. I made Amazon and Walmart wish lists with the things we most wanted to bring. We told friends about our plan and they also gathered goods, bought from our wish lists, and donated money.

Here are some of the donations that we gathered to bring to Cuba:

It was an honor to share all of this with the people we met. They were so grateful and felt so loved.

Some of our donations went to church congregations, and each time, the ladies would help divide up the supplies we brought for people in their congregations.

We also gave things out to individuals that we met. In the picture below, Mike gave a package of fishing hooks to a man who was fishing without a pole (just a roll of fishing line) off the wall of the Malecon. He kissed it and gave great thanks.

We connected with so many wonderful people and really fell in love with the Cuban people!

We are planning to bring our kids this spring! That means we’ll be able to bring even MORE suitcases full of medicines, medical supplies, personal hygiene items, and food to help the struggling, yet resilient Cubans! We would love for you to join us in this endeavor!

If you want to help us support the Cuban people, we have an Amazon wish list here! Of course, being the frugal shopper that I am, I compared prices at different stores (Sam’s Club, Walmart, Dollar Store, etc) for all the things we hope to bring and only put the things that are the best price on Amazon on the Amazon list.

I have other lists for things that are the best price at other stores that people local to me can help get (for example Sam’s is the best place to get acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and hydrogen peroxide, while the liquid children’s medicines at the dollar store have the best price point and Walmart is best for lots of foods, vitamins, and other meds). So rest assured that you’re getting the best price for anything you donate via my Amazon wish list.