Self Drive Cuba: West Traveller Reviews

My wife and I had an 18 day holiday in Cuba including a 10 day self drive tour of the west of the Island. Cuba is a country where it seems that the clocks stopped. It has a wealth of colonial style buildings and is a must for lovers of 1950s American cars (and you will learn to love them even if you don't now!). Every city has its own character and atmosphere with old Havana and Trinidad of particular note for fine buildings and lively music. To the west of Havana, Vinales and Las Terrazas are in lovely countryside with lots of birds and other wild life. After 10 days travelling, we had 3 nights of all-inclusive luxury at Varadero, a great place for a rest. If you speak Spanish, self drive is good but you are likely to need to ask people for directions. All accommodation and a range of local guides were arranged for us.

The itinerary put together by the tour operator was good and tweaked to fit our requirements.

Journey Latin America organised the ground arrangements for this trip including all accommodation, car hire and some excursions. Journey Latin America were excellent at sorting this out efficiently especially since we had left it to the last moment and Cuba is relatively full of tourists all trying to see the country before more major changes and the Americans start to arrive. the local support from Latin America Travel was excellent and we had some great tour guides. We stayed in excellent casas and OK hotels (the beach resort at the end looked a little sad). Driving was sometimes a bit too exciting (the roads are bad and horses and carts come at you all directions) but it meant we got right off the beaten track. Overriding memories of the music, dancing, old American cars and friendly people.

Journey Latin America were excellent at sorting out all our ground arrangements efficiently especially since we had left it to the last moment and Cuba is relatively full of tourists all trying to see the country before more major changes and the Americans start to arrive. The local support from Latin America Travel was excellent and we had some great tour guides. The cases were all excellent too.

Trip to Cuba starting in Havana and then hiring a car and travelling to Playa Largo, Trinidad, Varadero and returning to Havana to fly home.

Knowledgeable, informative and helpful. Components of the trip and the charges involved were clear and easy to follow.

We gave JLA a brief to work on and they came up with a tour of Cuba which was exactly what we wanted. Their knowledge of the country was second to none. We toured in a car for 12 days and covered 1540 km without mishap. We had professional salsa lessons which were excellent and tailored to our standard. We walked and birdwatched. We met lots of local people and were met always with courtesy and genuine friendliness. Nowhere were we hassled. The cuisine was nowhere as boring as we had been led to believe by the guidebooks and the music everywhere seemed to be for the locals' enjoyment rather than put on for the tourists. A knowledge of Spanish is essential outside La Habana.

JLA is a specialist company arranging tours in central and south america. They have unlimited experience and knowledge and could not have been more helpful and supportive.

Got to know Cuba and the cubanos in some depth. Drove over 1000 km without incident. Few dining Moments of note as expected. Had a really great time By getting off the beaten track away from tourist places.

Have used them before and performed as expected