Just got back from Cuba (2 days in Veradero flying there on SW Airlines and 4 days in Havana flying out from there on SW Airlines). All the advice on this forum was extremely helpful, so I thought I would share some thoughts on things that we experienced (couple traveling independently without any tour group). .
Overall pros---(a) Compared to other Central American and Caribbean places not a lot of begging and panhandling (given the poor country), (b) felt very safe given all the poverty (compared to other places we have been to around the world in similar circumstances), (c) no issues with food or water (or at least we didn’t eat or drink at the wrong places ourselves).
If smoking and/or smog from cars or in every taxi bothers you, be prepared (it is everywhere).
Southwest Airlines—no reason to get to any Cuba flights in or out more than say 2 hours before your flight. We got there a bit over 3 hours, and nobody is there at that gate and you can’t even check in. Check in was very quick. 2 hours for either Varadero or Havana would seem more than enough. Our flight into Varadero was almost empty. On landing in Varadero, was very easy and quick through customs. Can’t speak to what happens on any other airlines.
Varadero—We stayed in Melia Varadero. It was pretty good. Pretty nice beach. Relatively clean and organized. Food was nothing special. We booked “The Level” and it was nicer than the rest. WiFi worked no problem there and was faster than many other places I’ve been. For the price, if you are looking to go to an “all inclusive” Carribean/Mexico beach type place, I think you can find much better deals than in Cuba. We just spent 1.5 days there basically to see it and get our feet on the ground in Cuba. If you need a good transport from Varadero to Havana, we used Blexie (he arranged a classic car ride with a tour along the way and for about 3 hours around Havana for 130 CUC). He was great, perfect English and nice guy. Contact is blexie100588@gmail.com.
Havana—was great. Food much better in Havana than Veradero. For a guide (2 different days for different parts of Havana) we used Nosotros Cubanos (Juan Carlos was great—great English and very nice guy and knowledgeable). Contact for them is geikis@nauta.cu and cost for 2 with private guide was 40 CUC a day, for 9-4pm so seemed like a great deal for how much we got. We stayed in Hotel National. Not the greatest price for what you get, but very cool place and so historic so would definitely recommend.
Tips—(a) seems like US dollars are pretty easily accepted many places, so no “rush” to change money at the airport. Taxi from airport to and from, we gave them US dollars with no problem. You need CUCs generally, but if there was some long line to convert, I wouldn’t bother and our hotels all did the conversion. Also interestingly on leaving Havanna, stood in line for cash exchange, and an “official” looking guy standing outside the booth quickly asked me if I wanted to exchange 1 for 1 (without the US dollars penalty or any conversion cost, so basically saving 13%), so I said sure and it was very easy. Seemed to be guys like that standing around most of the exchange places, so be on the lookout for. (b) AT&T phone worked fine everywhere. For wifi in Havana, I just turned on my wireless hotspot on my cell phone and it worked great, if you don’t want the hassle with buying the cards and logging in and all the other stuff you have to do. Yes there is the cost of phone calls and data charges (I had it for work and just had to stay somewhat connected). So other than the cost, in terms of it working well and easy to get the signal, the wireless hotspot was simple for me. (c) Maps.me worked worked great so definitely get that app and download maps there. Very easy to use for offline maps (d) tips are already included in many of the places we went to eat (tourist places mostly) so check the bill before you think about tipping