Most Inspirational Moment
The people, it was great to travel to a country where its citizens are focused on the immediate, the here and now. While we saw many a face buried in a cell phone, we also saw many people who seemed open to the notion that every day is a new adventure. The lack of reliable power, internet, cell service and the like forces Cubans to interact with one another face to face, and we found the people more approachable as a result.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our Group Leader Carlos is a very experienced guide, having been in the industry for over 15 years. He has personally witnessed the changes to the Exodus itinerary, and the impacts these changes have had on the groups experience of Cuba. He was very knowledgeable about Cuba, even showing a CBS documentary about Fidel Casto during the bus trip. He had a good command of English and went out of his way to ensure we all had safe transportation to the airports after the tour was over.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Thoughts on EXODUS Hotels Versus Casa Particulars
I have to warn people that in respect of Exodus’s approach to Cuba, they have much to answer for. Doing some research using the WayBack archive. I confirmed that prior to the pandemic, tour participants were provided with HOTEL ACCOMMODATION. Since the pandemic, Exodus has relied exclusively on casa particulars for accommodation. There is a sharp contrast between the two:
1. Price – I don’t know what Exodus previously paid for a single night’s accommodation in a hotel, but I can tell you that the casa particulars only get 20.00 US per night with an additional 5.00 if they provide breakfast and a boxed lunch. The bottom line – Exodus has drastically reduced the quality of the accommodation but has kept the price paid by each client comparable to the price previously paid for hotels. (source: Wayback Archive).
2. Treatment of Tour Guide – Exodus should budget for the tour guide and the bike mechanic to eat with the group during evening meals, even when the meal is not part of the itinerary. Many times, a tour group won’t be fluent in Spanish and having the tour guide eat with the group can really help the group have an enjoyable stay. The tour guide works hard enough already, and in our case the guide, on nights where he wasn’t allowed to eat with us, escorted us to the restaurant, explained the menu, then left, returning after the meal to guide us back to the casa. This makes for a long day and needlessly makes the tour guides life harder than it already is. [ Of course, the opposite may be true, and a few hours away from the group may afford the guide a much-needed break.] The bottom line – The guide should be allowed to choose whether to stay or not by being provided with a more flexible budget.
3. Comfort – Cuba is a hot country with many biting bugs. Cuba also has very little reliable power. In a hotel, you are guaranteed a good night’s sleep, because they have generators capable of powering their air conditioning. In a casa, you have very little chance of having any air conditioning, as the state run power is almost non-existent, and if the casa has a generator, it will only be capable of providing lights. The bottom line – We suffered from non-existent air conditioning, inability to run our medically required CPAP devices, and due to having to expose ourselves to the exterior environment for some relief from the heat, got bitten to death by no see ums, mosquitos and in some cases bed bugs.
4. Food – In a hotel, access to food is reliable, although rarely if ever luxurious. In a casa, this isn’t the case, food choice is limited, and the supply of boxed lunches by them was universally abysmal. (I also am mindful of the comments from 2017 reproduced below which suggest that relying on hotels for food carries with it a higher risk of poor hygiene in the preparation of same. So, I recognize each choice carries its own set of drawbacks). We also paid for a snack kitty to augment the boxed lunches provided, but our only choices for snacks were bananas and peanut fudge. There were many days when the drivers couldn’t find ripe bananas and as a result, we went hungry. The bottom line – We weren’t fed enough to sustain the level of activity this tour requires. A tiny bread bun with a single 2x2 inch square of cheese cut thin enough to see through and a banana are not enough to supply the necessary calories needed to cycle 92 kms.
5. Gas Shortages – The tour bus we were provided was newish and in good condition, unfortunately the lack of gas negatively impacted our tour. On one day the bus driver had to go through a byzantine amount of bureaucracy for a mere 80 liters of gas. A tour that was supposed to start at 9 am didn’t commence till noon due to this issue, which resulted in fewer kms cycled. We also missed out on riding to the ocean on another day because of fuel concerns. The bottom line - the fuel issue should be addressed by Exodus.
6. Failure to Address Prior Complaints – I have attached a review from 2017 below, and unfortunately much of the negative commentary contained in this review remain unaddressed in 2025. The most poignant being: “It sometimes felt like cycling for the sake of it”. The cycling itinerary was not designed to provide cyclists with amazing vistas and insight into quaint aspects of Cuban life. Most of the routes were simply designed to “get in the miles”. Bottom line - we expected and deserved better. The cycling routes for the 15-day tour should offer more scenery, local colour, and if they don’t, I would recommend against taking the full 15 day tour and opt for the shorter 8 day highlights tour instead.
7. Currency Advice – Prior to the pandemic, when Exodus used hotels, travellers could pay for their purchases at the hotels with their credit cards. Due to monetary restrictions and wholesale lack of power, casa particulars do not take credit cards, nor do any privately run restaurants, tiendas, etc. as they are prohibited from having the machines necessary to use them. The ATMs are nearly nonexistent and lack of power makes the few that exist unreliable as a source of cash. So don’t rely on being able to use your credit cards or debit cards on this trip, and this is another reason why we feel the decision to transition from hotels to casas was ill advised. We should also like to mention that despite advice to the contrary regarding the acceptability of the Canadian dollar, we ran out of money during the trip and had to rely on the kindness of one of our tour group to bridge the gap. Canadians travelling to Cuba should not expect their currency to be accepted for anything other than tips at all-inclusive resorts. While the Cuban government publicly announced that as of July 1, 2024, Canadian currency would be accepted for purchases, the Cuban retailers have not been convinced of this, and they all refused to take our dollars in exchange for any goods or services. Bottom line – bring more US dollars or Euros than you expect to need, as it is better to have too much than not enough.
8. Souvenir Advice – One of the lunches in Havana organized by Exodus included a trip to a local man’s house/restaurant. There was a presentation about coffee, rum and cigars, with an exclusive “offer” to buy “Santiago de Cuba” rum. DON’T. We all paid 45 US for an 8-year-old bottle and later found the same rum in the hard currency stores at half the price.
9. Roads – The condition of the roads was far from ideal. While they do meet the definition of being tarmac, the condition of the tarmac was bad, with riders having to slow down to avoid potholes and the vibrations caused by uneven surfaces. So don’t expect to ride your personal best elapsed times or become a King of the Mountain on any of the rides. 92 kms on uneven, if flat roads is still a challenge when the roads are so bad.
10. Après Cycling Activities – The one positive thing I can say about Exodus, is that their itineraries included a great number of Après and or Pre-Cycling activities in the price of the tour. I had always wanted to try my hand at using a pottery wheel to make a pot and was grateful for the opportunity to do so on this trip on a visit to a ceramics factory. The number of site-seeing and extra-curricular activities by Exodus was extensive, and I really enjoyed them, but be warned, some people may not appreciate “being dragged around” every day, nor did some warm to the repetitive “revolution” content of many of the stops, so those of you who tire easily or wilt in the sun may choose to skip some days’ activities.
Suggestions
My suggestion to travellers is to demand a reduction in the price of the tour, as the tour as provided by Exodus in 2025 is not good value for money. Substituting casa particulars for hotels without addressing the inherent limitations this choice forces clients to face, is, to my mind unconscionable. The casas can’t supply reliable power, air conditioning or food for lunches. The casas don’t have elevators, so you have better pack light as we had to climb four stories to our room in Havana twice. Casas are also frequently located in less than salubrious areas of town which forces everyone to keep together as a group, for safety reason. I can’t get the image of an elderly man, eating street garbage right in front of my casa from my mind, not a memory I wanted to take away from this trip!
I also recommend that travellers avoid consuming any beverage that uses tap water, such as roadside coffee bars that use un-boiled water to mix with powdered milk to make a latte or cappuccino. A UVC water sterilizer is a good thing to bring, such as a Crazy Cap or Steri-Pen. Travellers must take a camping headlight and spare batteries, due to the horrendous lack of reliable power in the casas and on the streets. Take a mosquito net to hang over your beds in the casas (or very light hostel sheet that is enclosed like a sleeping bag), take protein bars, electrolyte tablets and supplements, diarrhea medication, bug spray, anti-itch medication, sun screen, padded cycling shorts, chamois butter, sun sleeves, hat and leggings if you hate sunscreen, your own supply of inner tubes for the bikes ( we had someone with a flat nearly every day and Cubans can’t always get access to new tubes, relying on multiple patches instead), ear plugs, battery powered CPAP machines, solar powered batteries/power banks. If you intend to use your Garmin, Kobo, Audible, Amazon accounts, you had better install and pay for a VPN BEFORE you get to Cuba as all US based websites block Cuba from their services, so you won’t be able to download a new book/music or update your ride onto Garmin Connect/Strava without a VPN.
Finally, I would suggest that you should be prepared to leave some of your equipment and clothing behind, as imported goods are difficult for the average Cuban to acquire. One of our group, who was from Puerto Rico, selflessly brought soap, pens, shirts, spare pairs of shoes and sanitary items to give to people she met along the way. We could all learn from her example.
"Simon Tomlinson
Reviewed February 2017
Cycling Cuba
Having wanted to visit Cuba for many years I’m convinced this was a great way to do it. It is a fascinating country with a turbulent history. The people and their ability to ‘make do’ when they have so little is inspirational.
Never having been on a guided, group cycling tour before I was unsure what to expect and it took a few days to settle into the format. Apart from the opportunity to see and learn about the country the other great aspect of the trip was the other people on it. They were a lovely group of people each with an interesting life story to tell and cycling presents a great way to chat to people during those hours in the saddle.
Most Inspirational Moment
The people. Cuba is a country with many problems including a broken economy and yet its people manage somehow to get by no doubt helped by the music, the dancing and the rum (one of the few "foods" that's neither rationed nor expensive)!
Thoughts on Group Leader
Lismar was great. Very knowledgeable about Cuba and its history, careful in the management of expectations (some of its Russian built hotels are not in great shape), and all presented with good humour. I always felt he tried to go the extra mile, arranging extra tours and visits in addition to what was described and finding interesting Restaurants where possible.
Advice for Potential Travellers
They say you shouldn't go to Cuba for the food and its true. Its bland, overcooked and with very limited choice - fried chicken, fried pork, fried fish with rice and beans just about sums it up. More to the point though most of our group had stomach upsets, some more than once. Its hard to know what the cause was but hygiene in the government run hotels and restaurants (which is most of them) is probably not great. The privately run restaurants and Casas are probably safer and definitely better quality. Be prepared to spend a long time in the coach. Cuba is a surprisingly large country with generally poor roads so getting about takes time. If you plan to take up the Cayo Levisa extension be aware that its quite a long way from Havana and none of the activities (the main reason we went) run on a Sunday (the only full day we had there). It is a beautiful island though and the food quality is an improvement on any of the other state run places we stayed.
Suggestions
The cycling itself on this tour was a bit of a mixed bag. In the first week we seemed to spend quite a bit of time on flatish, straight roads with quite a bit of traffic. The worst part was the decrepit cars and trucks belching out thick clouds of black smoke - I feel like I had a lifetime's worth of exposure to diesel particulates on this holiday. Some of the days were also not well planned in that we would take the coach somewhere, get out and cycle for a bit and then get back on the coach. One of the off road sections in the first week didn't happen as apparently the track is impassible. It sometimes felt like cycling for the sake of it. In the second week it got more interesting. The best day was one where we actually cycled from one hotel to the next giving a much greater sense of having achieved something."
