Best ways to deal with money in Cuba.
Hi
We're off to Cuba shortly and have heard different things about the cash situation there.
Can you use UK cash cards in the atm's?
Are there plenty of atm's about?
Has there been recent changes regarding the dollar?
Any other advice \ info would be gratefully received.
Thank you
Reply to this Hi, even its some time ago I have been travelling to Cuba, I can suggest that you take some small amount in cash in US Dollars.
Its also very helpfull to bring some stuff with you, which you can exchange into goods, e.g. Pens, solar calculators etc. things you do not get there.
I was travelling with a rental car, and all the petrol station were closed or had not petrol, till I cam into a small village and ask about some petrol. They said they have nothing. I showed them then a solar calculator, which I have bought for 1 £ here and there came back with a tracktor and a hose and we sucked some petrol out of the tracktor in exchange for the calcualtor.
I guess also some cheap football shirts, Manu, Arsenal etc. will be a huge help in some situation. It depends if you are travelling on your on or staying just in a resort.
But if you intend to travel, some of those things can be more helpfull then money.
Have a nice trip.
Reply to this ATM's are about in the big cities like Habana, but smaller places like Trinidad did not have one ATM machine, nor could you get cash out at the banks - BUT you coud got to the local Cadeca (money change) and withdraw using visa. You get charged a certain percentage for this, it's not cheap and can be a hassle. Do not take US dollars, you also get charged for exchaing those- I would suggest GBP or EURO and change is as you go, much easier than trying to withdraw cash - debit carsd dont work either.
Reply to this Here's the deal:
Do NOT, and I repeat, NOT bring US dollars to Cuba. The only thing they are maybe good for will be small tips to people in tourism. And they will likely prefer Euros or Convertible Pesos.
You DO NOT want to try to change the US dollar in Cuba. It is penalized 20 percent. NOT a good deal. Bring Euros or £. A lot of people don't know that the US dollar is penalized as it is, but for 4 years or so the government has been trying to remove it from circulation (it was the preferred currency for a while) and replaced it with the Convertible Peso, which is tied to the Euro.
Please also know that there are 2 kinds of currency in Cuba: the Cuban Peso and the Convertible Peso (CUC). As a tourist you may use exclusively the Convertible Peso, which is worth 23 or 24 Cuban Pesos. The Cuban Peso is for the Cuban Economy; the Covertible Peso is for the tourist economy. If you want to know more about using Cuban pesos, you can e-mail me...for now just be warned that anyone trying to sell you an old-looking bill with a picture of Che Guevara, Jose Marti, or any of the other founding fathers/national heroes is trying to rip you off. They will probably try to sell you a 3 Cuban Peso bill for 1 Convertible peso. Not quite a fair deal.
This information was current as of December, the end of my 13-week stay in Havana. I'm from the U.S., so I'm afraid I can't tell you much about UK card-accepting ATMs, or ATMs at all, for that matter (since none will accept US bank cards I brought all my money in Euros, cash). I hope you have a wonderful time in Cuba. Do let me know if you need any more info.
Reply to this What about cashing euro traveller cheques ? I dont like to take 3 weeks worth of money on me ! Is it hard for uk bank cards with cirrus and visa symbol there ?
Thanks, the more people who know and share info the better.
Reply to this Hello DC and Angela 😊
Dont take credit cards from US banks and be careful to have travellers cheques from a non American company.
You will be able to use neither of these in Cuba.
In the event that you are having cash wired to you in Cuba, have it wired in any major currenty except US dollars. The US are still boycotting Cuba?? as far as I know and may stop the transaction if it is US dollars.
Mel
PS Even if your credit card was issued outside the US it might still be from a US bank.
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