It was because of your videos I went to Varadero, Cuba for my first time and I'm making my 4th trip within 10 months this weekend! I really wanted that tall beer. Anywhere come up that had anything similar? Loved that park too and it's pronounced Ho-so-nay jajaja...look I'm Cuban already. Tell me more places to go I'm loving it!!
We are so glad you are loving Cuba and that watching our videos inspired you to go. That makes us feel great. It sounds like you have found a slice of paradise. 🏝️ As far as the big beer after doing some research they have a 3 litre beer tower for $7 US at "Centro Todo En Uno" which is a small amusement park around Calle 54. So that is on my updated bucket list now lol. As far as off resort, we would have liked to try Paladar Nonna Tina (Italian) as we kept hearing good thing about it throughout the week and it has a strong rating over many reviews. We also would have liked to see the House of Rum if we had a little more time. We are almost done with the Cuba series and will be moving on to Puerto Vallarta Mexico next. Hope you follow us there. Nice to hear from you again! Cheers!
Great video, thank you! Actually heading there in the not too distant future to meet up with some friends from Havana. Great suggestions that we are sure to try. FYI, the going rate on the street is 300/usd.I exchanged a large amount in Havana two months ago and got 350/usd from the Airbnb host. Obviously, Canadian would be different, but still much more than the 70 you mentioned in the video. I love the fact that you guys travel and make videos together. Thanks again and safe travels. 😊
Thanks Mike! We were there right before the exchange went up drastically. Looks like you did very very well on your exchange. Hoping to be back in Varadero within the next year and looking forward to a much better exchange rate. Thanks for watching!
Have been to Waco's many times, excellent food!!. Another great place is "La Fiesta Del Carbon", a short cab ride to Santa Marta!! Red snapper was bigger than the plate!!. I like the atmosphere and the Pina Colada's at Calle 62 snack bar.. great place to sit, dance, smoke a stogie..
@Blair19 Waco was one of the best meals we had there that week for sure. Loved the ambiance on the second floor patio. Also loved the vibe at Calle 62. A must for people who have never been there. Thanks for watching! Cheers!
@TheCelticRocker that's great to hear. We were more than happy with our experiences in Cuba and hope to return. Less than a month to go for you are on your way! Are you staying in Varadero?
@@beachbumbling I went once back in 2012, so it's been a while! But my partner has never been and she's keen on going! It's her big Christmas present this year ;) and thanks for emphasizing the point of getting off the resort! My first time there I never once left the resort (a big regret), but you two seemed to have some amazing adventures, which I'm hoping to duplicate in some fashion :)
@mattyheub you may want to check out some of the other videos including the first timers guide as there are some good tips in there.. Cheers! Thanks for watching!
@@beachbumbling We haven't gone yet, Eric and Karen :) Departure date for Varadero is April. 17th... I've already told my girlfriend that we're totally going for pizza past the lion head and killer crabs ;)
@kandoo1316 we think we saw it when we walked over to get a Pina colada 🥥. We both like Italian so we will have to check it out next time. Thank you for sharing with us and thanks for watching! Cheers
We loved the location and the beach! When we were there we didn't notice any food shortages like we have seen mentioned at other places but that just may have been good luck. The hotel was about 50% tourists and 50% locals. It really depends on what you like. We are pretty laid back and didnt expect a great experience but we were pleasantly surprised. You could do worse. The rooms could use a little TLC. We have a couple videos specific to the resort you could check out. If you get it cheap it would be worth it. Lol
Thanks for some great info....we will be first timers to Varadero in March, staying at the Royalton. Just wondering how much cdn or usd we should exchange to the cuban peso. Don't want to get more than what we need :)
@nesi2480 - thanks! that's a tricky question as it will depend on how much activity you are going to do off your resort. The exchange rate has changed quite a bit. People are getting between 120 and 150 pesos per cdn now which is better than when we were there but things also cost a bit more. From our experience we had many people offering to exchange our money so we only exchanged $200 at first then did more later in the week as we didn't want to have any leftover. We also used our credit card there at a couple of places for meals off resort and we paid our jeep tour on our credit card. Looking at the location of your resort you may want to bring some US $5 bills to ride the hop on hop off bus as they do take bills now I was told by another viewer. I mean you can get cabs too but to get into town from there we aren't sure what it would cost as we were staying closer to the action in town. Thanks for watching al if you have any ore questions let us know. Cheers!
Thanks for great suggestions. We tried the Tacos, good change from resort food. We might have got fried crapes instead of Taco, very delicious. Pina Colada at Bar 1920 is excellent. They also do great Mojito and Rum punch. Prices have gone up, inflation must be hard here. Pina Colada is 300 Cuban Peso, but then we got 120 Cuban Peso to 1 CAD.
@@ronaldmarcks1842 Go through the bellboy or a taxi driver or somebody at the market. Sounds like it's even higher now @ianafraser is putting out daily videos from Varadero now if you want to see how the prices are of late. Thanks for watching. Cheers!
@TheCelticRocker we used my work phone that had an international plan on it, but I found this information on TripAdvisor today. Varadero Airport You can pick up the Cubatur SIM card at the CubaTur office. The service at the airport is open 8am to 8pm. Varadero You can also collect a Cubatur SIM at: Infotur: Ave: 33 y 1ra. Ave., Varadero. Infotur: Calle 13 (tourist information center) Address: Avenida 1 corner of Calle 13, Varadero (below Hotel Acuazul). Preorder on the Cubatur website. I hope that helps. If you don't want to do that, you can always call your provider and ask for a room like home package. Enjoy your trip! Let us know how you liked it. Cheers!
Hello , I am soon to go to Varadero with my wife , could you please point me to the best place to exchange money once we land there? Another question here , if you don't mind. Which currency do taxi drivers prefer? We also Dont plan on staying on resort all day! Thank you.
@mactavish771 we did pretty good with the bell boy at the hotel for exchange and we were offered good rates at the market. Friends of ours recently got 180 to 1 cdn in Varadero Taxi drivers will take any currency and some will also offer to exchange money. We paid sometimes in Cuban Pesos and sometimes Canadian. we did find that prices were generally better in US it wasn't worth it for us to take a hit on the exchange converting Cad to Usd at the time. Thanks for watching! We have more from Cuba on the channel you can check out if you'd like. Let us know how you liked it! Cheers!
@beachbumbling I might bring USD and some CDN , exchange pesos for little things whenever I need to. Thank you so much for your resourcefulness! You've gained a Sub!
@@mactavish771 we used pesos for most day trips and meals off resort.. it was good having someone at the hotel we were able to get pesos from whenever we wanted. the last thing you want to do is have some left over. thanks for subscribing and enjoy yourselves!
180 CUP for a pina colada comes out to be $10 Canadian dollars. We used to get one a day and it was $3 USD 🤕 We could only have one since they're so sweet.
@souris101111 We agree. They were delicious but tasted more like a desert than a cocktail. A tasty drink but not one we would want to drink all afternoon. thanks for watching! cheers!
@@beachbumbling Thanks! It's too bad because that Pina Colada was such a great ice-breaker for me at our resort. We stay at the Palma Real which is Calle 64 by the Beatles Bar and Josone Park. I'd always ask people if it's their first time in Varadero, and when they said 'yes' I would always treat them to the best Pina Colada you've ever had. Made quite a few aquaintances that way! I won't be doing that if I have to spend $40 CDN instead of $12 CDN though :(
@souris101111 the mistake we made was not having Cuban pesos on us... it was our last day on the trip and had just spent the last of our Cuban money. It was on our bucket list so we just figured we would pay in CDN but they really gouge you there on the exchange at that bar. the big takeaway for us was pay everything in the local currency. That's one hell of an icebreaker though! Cheers
@@beachbumbling There's a government bank pretty much right behind Josone Park which you can probably see at Calle 62 nightclub. That's where I always exchanged money. Never had a problem but I haven't been there since 2019 and I hear a lot has changed. I'm just hoping to enjoy the beach, the sun, and the good people we always seem to meet there! January 13 can't arrive fast enough!
@@souris101111 a guy we met was golfing a lot and had also rented a scooter - he was going to the bank every other day - when we told him what we had gotten for exchange from our bell boy he said it was almost double what he got from the bank. he never went back to the bank after that. We have some friends that have been there multiple time recently and the exchange has improved quite a bit (over 100 not at a bank)
Hi Tony. Thanks for watching. We were there a while ago so that has gone up since. We got 70 to 1 and I believe at the time the USD conversion was around 95 to 1(we didn't exchange to USD). Cheers
@Shannonkellett-ks5qn that's much more convenient that's for sure! We had heard the same but the driver wouldn't accept cash when we were there. Thanks for the update and for watching! Cheers
@@beachbumbling My son and daughter in law went to Cuba and I recommended Varadero, so they went. It was recommended to me by a friend who spent world war two in Cuba, as an eleven year old boy.
What do the Beatles have to do with Cuba? Everything you did, you could have done in Florida. It's awful you called Cuban food looking like cat food. It was shredded beef with rice. So you go all the way to Cuba to eat the same food you eat at home: pizza, tacos, etc??? You went and only stayed in Veradero???? You still basically stayed at the resort. Unbelievable.
It looked like cat food. Tasted good. It was chicken not beef. Honest opinion. And actually we were off the resort every single day in town and spent most of our time off resort so I don't know where you are coming from on that. Thanks for your opinion though.
