Eyewitness Cuba Tour
I hired Eyewitness Cuba to transport my group to Varadero where we would stay overnight. The tour is from 8:00 am-3:30 pm and it cost $140 CUC for 4 people. (It is to be noted that the prices have slightly gone up, check website for accurate pricing). While driving to Varadero, we stopped at various locations to see several different sights.
Bacaunayaga Bridge
Cubans consider Bacaunayaga Bridge one the sevens wonders of the world as it relates to Cuban civil engineering. Stop here to enjoy a refreshing drink in a pineapple, souvenir shopping, and great photo opportunities.
Bellamar Caves
Bellamar Caves entry fee is 5 CUC. The caves have stalactites, stalagmites, krastic chrystals, underground stream forms and more. When we arrived it was an hour wait and due to limited time, we decided not to wait.
Cueva de Saturno or Saturn Caves
The cave is a cenote filled with fresh clear water. You can swim and dive into the water although there is no actual diving board. It is a little rocky, I recommend water shoes. Watch your phone, unfortunately, my phone was damaged and I lost all my pictures that were on my phone.
Beach
Beach along the coast, but I do not recall the name of the beach but the clear blue water was breathtaking.
Lunch
Lunch was great and the music added a nice ambiance.
Varadero Beach
While walking to the beach we were stopped by an older Cuban lady named Maria. She talked to us about her life in Cuba and invited us over for tea and coffee. She asked us asked for clothes and other items. In that moment I regretted not bringing items to give away to the local people. Next trip, I will be sure to bring necessities such as shoes and personal hygiene items.
As we arrived on the beach, we met Daniel and his little 5-year-old sister Danielles. Daniel was cracking open a fresh coconut for his sister. He offered me and my student Renee a sip and we graciously accepted. They became our friends for the time we remained at the beach. The beach was beautiful: water was warm, sand was soft and the sun setting made for a picturesque background.
Airbnb
We stayed at beautiful Airbnb home with 3 bedroom and 3 bathrooms. It was a great location as it was only a 5-minute walk from the beach. We loved our host and enjoyed spending time with them. We enjoyed dinner that evening that was cooked by our host for an additional $20 CUC. We watched as she went step by step of how to prepare and cook the Cuban food. For dinner, we ate rice, beans, pork, plantain, cucumbers, tomatoes and flan for dessert. For 5 CUC we were provided with breakfast: mini pancakes, eggs, fruit, ham, cheese, bread and freshly squeezed juice.
Calle 62
After dinner, our friend Daniel from the beach came back and picked us up from our Airbnb. We went to Calle 62 to listen to live music and salsa dance. The great thing about this place that there was no entrance fee.
This looks a great vacation. I’ve always wanted to go to Cuba its a beautiful country.
Yes, you must visit one day!
Such a fun trip
I love the sleep picture lol and the beach and food pictures – yummy
Makes me wanna travel too!
Yes it was a great trip. Didn’t know Maria had taken the pics until I scrolled through her album. LOL Yes, travel. Once you start it will be hard to stop.
I love the island culture because it is so refreshing. Thank you for taking us along on your journey through Cuba.
My goal is to bring others along on my journey in hopes that they will travel or go to the destinations I mention. Thank you for coming along, hope you enjoyed.
I just want you to know that I don’t like you, because I’m super jealous of this trip. These pics are gorgeous! It really looks like you and yours had an awesome time!
LOL, I had to laugh out loud! Don’t be jealous, it just means you have to plan your next vacation to Cuba! I had so much fun and I loved this province due to the beach, lodging and the locals we met.
Omgoodness this trip looks amazing. I’m glad you got to go even though 45 is not into having the best US & Cuban relations.
I actually went like 2 weeks before he made his announcement. Yes I am so confused about 45 and his desire to not have a good relationship after Obama has started to make new relationships. I still plan to return despite his negativity.
Loved hearing about your adventures and seeing all the photos! Sounds like you had a great time. Cuba is in our bucket list, so I will have to keep these places and tips in mind!
Thank you so much for reading, glad you enjoyed. I had a really good time and would like to make a second trip back in the future. I will be writing more articles about Cuba.
Your trip looked amazing! We are planning to visit Cuba soon. I will definitely be bookmarking this post 🙂
Thank you! Let me know if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
This sounds like a fun trip. Maria seems like a fun person to be around. I would have taken the same shot of you all sleeping lol. The food shots make me want to visit Cuba even more. I also love your yellow bathing suit.
Thank you so much! Very observant, yes Maria is a good time and we were sad to have her leave early. Yes I really enjoyed the food and I’m pretty sure you would like it.
Looks like you had a good time. Were you surprised by anything about Cuba?
Yes I had a great time. Surprised about the cigarette smoking. They smoke any and everywhere and they start smoking young.
Varadero, Cuba sounds like a funky good time. I love making friends with a local, they can really show you a good time. The beach looks so relaxing and refreshing.
Yellow is a great color on you.
LOL funky good time makes me want to sing the song. Yes me to, I love being with the locals because I want to be less of tourist and know more about the culture.
Thank you!
That water looks AMAZING! I need to get back to Cuba soon to head to Varadero!
Yes that was my favorite beach! Did you enjoy Cuba when you went?
Wow! Looks like you had a fun time. Cuba is on my list of vacation spots. I can’t wait to go! Thanks for sharing your experience. I love your bathing suit and the water looks very inviting.
Thank you so much. The water temperature was perfect. My bathing suit came from Forever 21, my go to spots for bathing suits now. I think you would enjoy Cuba,
Looks like an amazing trip. The water is breathtaking!
Thank you the water felt so good, it was nice and warm.
This looks like fun! The food looks amazing as well. Cute swimsuit!!!
Thanks 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks like a phenomenal trip. The food looks so delicious. I just started traveling again and I went to Barbados. Cuba is definitely on my list of places to go.
Yes it was a wonderful trip. I went to Barbados on a cruise but it was my least favorite due to the harassment of men on the beach. Hope you had a better time in Barbados, then I did.
I love that you traveled to Cuba and explored more than just the most popular tourist destinations. I know this was an epic girls trip you will cherish forever.
I’m so glad we explored, some people prefer to relax but I most certainly like to see as much as I can while in any country.
You girls look like you had a blast! I would not be in that cave with the water though. Too scary for me.
We had a blast, the caves weren’t scary at all. Lots of people on there and someone even blasting music.
When I went to Cuba I actually didnt go to Havana I stayed solely in Varadero. I loved it and I should of did more tours but I didnt so I loved your review on it. Varadero had one of the prettiest beaches I even been on.
It was a great beach so glad we went. I’m surprised you didn’t visit Havana. Glad I could share info about Varadero, I def could have stayed longer, we were only here one day.
These are great pictures! The water is so beautiful!
Thank you 🙂
I did absolutely NOTHING in Varadero and loved it. lol Good to know there’s actual tours because I was beach bummin the whole time. I’ll definitely look into these activities next time I visit Cuba.
Can you believe we almost didn’t make it to the beach! I was tired after touring and I was bummed about my phone but I was like lets get up and go. It was only a 5 min. walk, we met cool people, water was warm and the views were great.
It seems you all had an amazing time. I love the picrures you took, makes me feel like im there except i would like to taste the food lol.
Thank you, I always want my readers feel like they are on vacation with me!
Nice pictures. Those caves look amazing, I would to visit.
Thank you 🙂