Best Homestays In Cuba

Forget about the stuffy, government-run hotels. It is preferable to stay in a privately managed bed & breakfast if you want to figure out the perplexing mysteries of contemporary Cuba. Let’s check out some of the best homestays in Cuba.

These real family houses, which are safe, tidy, and beautifully retro, show Cuba as the Cubans view it—a fascinatingly contradictory place where vintage Chevrolets run on Ladas and the country’s physicians are paid less than Varadero waiters who collect tips. Cuban bed and breakfasts, sometimes referred to as Casas particularly locally, range from opulent colonial homes in Trinidad to modest clapboard seaside bungalows in Baracoa. However, despite the fact that no two Casas are precisely similar, they all provide something that no hotel can ever match: a clear and vivid portrait of ordinary life in Cuba, unprotected and unfiltered, with all of its humor, flaws, and charm.

Best homestays in Cuba

La Palma’ – Enrique Interián Salermo

The resolute royal palm that keeps watch outside Enrique Salermo’s neo-colonial Holgun mansion hasn’t moved an inch after taking a beating from Hurricane Ike in September 2008 (which obliterated much of the garden). The house’s interior has been preserved and serves as a haven for off-the-beaten-path tourists, with cosy bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, and a living area decorated with the imaginative artwork of Enrique’s son. The centrepiece is a terracotta bust of Che, which is flanked by a life-size replica of da Vinci’s The Last Supper, in which the disciple John is portrayed as a woman.

Casa Colonial Maruchi

Are you interested in discovering the secrets of Santera, the mix Afro-Caribbean religion of Cuba? the Casa Colonial Maruchi next. Santiago’s religious brotherhoods have established a reputation for converging at this impeccably kept 19th-century home. Here, you’ll run into a variety of intriguing people, including aspiring percussionists, knowledgeable santeros (priests), and the occasional PhD candidate studying Afro-Cuban deities. The proprietors of Maruchi provide traditional drumming lessons and are eager to impart their deep knowledge of Cuba’s religious customs. They can also lead you to a number of the city’s folklórico dancing groups.

Santa Clara

The Florida hides nothing behind its worn-out facade, even though it is located on a classic Santa Clara street lined with smog-filled Buicks and elderly guys knocking dominoes down. But once you go past the worn-out facade, you enter a another world. This colonial-style mansion, which was built in 1876, belonged to Angel Martnez, whose determination to preserve 135 years of family history resulted in one of the most spectacular private residences in all of Cuba. The first conundrum is: Should I select the luxurious Art Deco suite or the hip colonial accommodations? The second is what to eat for dinner because Angel is a skilled cook in addition to having a keen eye for antiques.

The pièce de la résistance, however, is found in the centre patio’s plant-adorned area after dark, when glittering lighting expose local orchids, rustling fruit trees (today’s breakfast), and bird cages with twittering birds.

Villa Los Reyes

Yoan Reyes is the owner of Villa Los Reyes, a tranquil small-town getaway in the tobacco-growing region of Viales, where he spends his free time tinkering with his 1951 Plymouth. Yoan has turned his Villa, which has two cosy bedrooms and a luxurious shared patio, into a flourishing company that provides everything from dancing courses to Spanish lessons. The great outdoors, though, is the main attraction at a home that is close to one of Cuba’s most beautiful national parks. Fortunately, Yoan’s father owns a traditional finca (farmhouse) close by that is tucked away among the untamed hills that resemble haystacks. Reyes Senior grows mangoes, pineapples, coffee, sugar cane, and sugar cane in addition to tobacco, and you’re allowed to taste the entire exotic array while sipping throat-burning rum.

Hostal Casa Muñoz

Trinidad’s Casa Muoz is an architectural standout in a city that is not short in opulent B&Bs (400 at the last count). This charming colonial home, which is decorated with antiques and is close to Trinidad’s cobbled heart, is owned by the talented photographer Julio Muoz, whose work has appeared in several journals and books. Julio organises frequent photo workshops in a town where the ageless street sceneries and ethereal evening light offer lots of emotive “only in Cuba” moments. Julio is eager to share both his historical and photographic expertise. A famous horse whisperer, Julio would gladly mount you for a memorable ride through Trinidad’s lush rural interior.

Villa Lagarto

You approach the peaceful Villa Lagarto and are greeted with a welcome mojito as you enter a shaded terrace that views out over the serene Bay of Cienfuegos. Your kind hostess, Maylin, welcomes you to your first-floor room where a sizable king-sized bed has been made up with fluffy towels and fragrant soaps while a crimson sun is sinking over Cuba’s port city. While down below on the patio, adjacent to a sparkling private swimming pool, several family members are putting together an impromptu fish dinner, a hammock sways invitingly in the evening air outside. You pinch yourself and make an effort to pinpoint your location. Cuba? Castro, Fidel Rationing, and draconian socialism? Another mojito must be in order at this point. It is one of the best homestays in Cuba.

Los Vitrales’ – Emma Barreto & Rafael Requejo

A quick glance around Rafael Requejo’s magnificent Camagüey house is all it takes to understand that this gifted architect-turned-casa-owner has a keen sense of style. Requejo has taken a former Camagüey convent and turned it into a mini-museum that boldly honours the city’s rich colonial heritage, defying the conventional rip-it-up-and-start-again approach to modern house remodelling. Look up at the tall oak ceilings and wide, curving arches that dominate the main chamber or see the vibrant vitrales (stained glass) and exquisite mosaics that cover the inner patio’s walls. When Rafael himself is on breakfast duty, providing wise reinterpretations of Camagüey’s swashbuckling past while his lovely madre (mom) makes scrambled eggs over an old coal-fired stove in the kitchen, guests experience the very best of Los Vitrales’ hospitality (an original, of course).

Conclusion

The Cuban tourist industry has been stretched to its limits over the past two years as a result of the recent softening of ties with the US. Despite the record-breaking number of guests, there hasn’t been much of an increase in hotel rooms. Because there is a command economy in existence, all conventional hotels are owned by the government, and the construction of new hotels is a laborious process. This led to the rise of homestays in Cuba. This article shows you some of the best homestays in Cuba. If you are planning to visit Turkey check our article on the best homestays in Turkey.