About Travel to Cuba

Legal Travel to Cuba | Travel Requirements | When to Go | What to Pack
Currency | Health and Safety | Learn More | Travel Affidavit

Legal Travel to Cuba

Insight Cuba has been working closely with The Department of Treasury for over four years in creating programs to legally send U.S. Citizens to Cuba. If you are traveling on an already licensed program with Insight Cuba, we will provide you with all of the necessary documentation which will allow you to travel to Cuba and return to the United States legally! This documentation will also allow you to take a direct flight from the U.S. mainland direct to Cuba without having to go through a third country.

Please note that travel to Cuba is severely restricted under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations. Under these regulations, spending money relating to Cuban travel is prohibited unless the traveler is licensed. The restrictions include spending money (in any currency) whether travelers go directly to Cuba or via a third country and providing services of any kind to Cuba or a Cuban national. Any foreign person in the United States, is subject to these restrictions while physically present in the United States. Criminal Penalties for violating the Regulations, which are enforced by the Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), can be severe.

Who Can Go?

Travelers that wish to travel to Cuba under one of our regularly scheduled licensed programs can simply register for the program by calling us at 800-935-CUBA or register online. For those individuals who wish to attend a specific Conference or Congress in Cuba you may qualify under the following three provisions. Please contact us for further information.

1. Full-time professionals whose travel transactions are directly related to non-comercial, academic research in their professional areas and whose research will comprise a full work schedule in Cuba and have a substantial likelihood of dissemination.
2. Full time professionals whose travel transactions are directly related to attendance professional meetings or conferences in Cuba organized by an international professional organization, institution, or association that regularly sponsors such meetings or conferences in other countries. The organization, institution, or association sponsoring the meeting or conference may not be headquartered in the United States unless it is specifically licensed to sponsor the meeting. The purpose of the meeting or conference cannot be the promotion of tourism in Cuba or other commercial activities involving Cuba, or to foster production of any biotechnological products.
3. Amateur or semi-professional athletes or teams traveling to Cuba to participate in an athletic competition held under the auspices of the relevant international sports federation. The athletes must have been selected for the competition by the relevant U.S. sports federation, and the competition must be one that is open for attendance, and in relevant situations, participation, by the Cuban public.

Click here for Travel Affidavit: Word PDF

Travel Requirements

The five main documents absolutely necessary for travel to Cuba which we will provide with the exception of your passport are as follows:

• Current passport (Must not expire before six (6) months prior to departure)
• Plane ticket
• Cuban Visa
• Copy of license or Travel Affidavit

What to Pack

Bring good walking shoes (Havana is definitely a walking city) and a fold-up umbrella for those warm season downpours.

Medicines and toiletries are in short supply and can be very expensive. It is recommended that you bring the following items:

• Insect repellant
• Sunglasses, sun hat, and sunscreen – all are vital! Do not underestimate the tropical sun
• A basic first aid kit containing aspirin, antacids, antihistamines, antiseptic lotions and band aids
• An extra pair of prescription glasses (not just the prescription, as you will not be able to get it filled)
• Pocket packs of tissues (as many of the public facilities are lacking in toilet paper)
• All film and photographic equipment you may need (these items are very expensive)

Currency

Health and Safety

Although Cuba is a generally a very safe country, petty theft can be a problem in the larger cities. Let common sense be your guide. Cross-Cultural Solutions takes great care to ensure the safety of our program participants by:

• Maintaining a toll-free, 24-hour hotline in the US for friends and family to reach Cross-Cultural Solutions staff in case of emergency
• Daily monitoring of breaking US State Department Travel Warnings, Consular Information sheets, and Public Announcements. Should Cuba be placed on the Travel Warnings list, we will follow US government instructions for evacuation and suspend programs there until it has been removed from the list.

Learn More

Web Sites

• Up-to-date weather reports are available at Weather.com and at CNN Weather
• The Cuban Interest Section in Washington D.C. is similar to an embassy

Books

• Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee’s Travel Through Castro’s Cuba by Tom Miller
  A book that captures the Cuban spirit, Cuban pride and the need for change in Cuba.
• Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
  A personal and political memoir of this Cuban writer’s life.
• The Cuban Way: Capitalism, Communism, and Confrontation by Julia Jatar-Hausman
  An analysis of economic and social policies of the Cuban revolution and the effect on the daily life of the country.
• Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom by Hugh Thomas
  The history of Cuba from 1762 to the present
• Natural Cuba by Alfonso Silva Lee
  An illustrated overview of animals, plants, and other wildlife in Cuba
• Dreaming in Cuba by Cristina Garcia
  A novel of three generations of Cuban women, the relationship between those who emigrated to the US and those who remained in Cuba.
• The Reader’s Companion to Cuba by Alan Ryan
  An anthology of travel writing on Cuba
• Photography, Art and Architecture, Cuba 400 Years of Architectural Hertiage by Rachel Carley and Andrea Brizzi
  A chronological survey of Cuba’s architecture with lots of photography

Audio

• Language/30 Spanish from Educational Services Corporation
  A primer on the Spanish language

Videos/DVDs

• Buena Vista Social Club
  A documentary based on the famous soundtrack of Cuban Music
• Fidel
  A documentary focusing on the political impact that the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, has had on the world
• Fresca y Chocolat (Strawberry and Chocolate)
  A film set in Cuba, about an unlikely friendship between two neighbors, one conservative and the other flamboyant
• Before Night Falls
  This film tells the story of the Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas, and his life in Cuba and the United States

Maps

• www.cubatravel.cu
  The Cuban portal for travel