Cuba is, arguably, the most unspoilt location in the Caribbean, due in part to the US embargo since 1959 on trade and diplomatic links, which have only just been lifted. Over the coming years, no doubt this will begin to change as modernisation bears down on the island’s infrastructure and business activities.

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When to go there

If you are considering a holiday in Cuba, try to avoid September-November, as this is the peak of the hurricane season. Furthermore, if you don’t like the heat, it’s advisable to wait until December, as temperatures climb from June, remaining high to November, typically reaching 30+ deg centigrade during the daytime. However, just now - end of May through June - Cuba holiday package prices are at their best value.

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Things to do

Whether you’re a beach lover or history freak, Cuba offers plenty. Even car lovers are well catered for, with an array of vintage Buicks, Oldsmobiles and assorted 50’s beauties burbling around the generous city boulevards. The colonial architecture of Havana, Santiago, Cienfuegos and Trinidad, much of it converted to hotels, is glorious to behold. Then you have the fantastic beaches on the mainland and outlying islands and lovely scenery, in particular the beautiful area of Pinar del Rio.

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Food and drink

When it comes to food, another Cuban revolution is quietly underway. Until recently, Cuban cuisine was generally considered to be somewhat bland, based mainly around chicken, pork, rice and beans, and of varying quality. Now, new Italian-style ice-cream parlours, pizza and even Sushi restaurants are becoming established. Street vendors offer all kinds of fast snacks, sold from stands, windows, wheelbarrows and baskets. Paper cones filled with peanuts are a common sight at the doors of movie theatres, fairs, festivals and parks.

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Street stalls offer a mixed selection of foods, including Cuban cheese and tomato pizza, ham sandwiches or bocadito de jam’n, made of cured ham stuffed with bacon plus a dab of mustard, ketchup or mayonnaise; natural juices; small guava pastry pies; and ice-cream. There’s a wide assortment of fritters; churros (deep-fried dough cut into finger-size strips); chicharitas de pl’tano (paper-thin slices of plantain fried in oil); frituras de malanga (grated taro mixed with egg and crushed garlic and deep-fried); tostones (fried flattened pieces of plantain, crusty on the outside and tender on the inside) and pan con lech’n, a roast pork sandwich sprinkled with the juices of the roast. And, of course, the bars offer an abundant choice of beers and rum-based cocktails to put it all in perspective.

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