Anyone flown within Cuba

[simwells]

I’m looking at my next proper trip once we can again.

I’m looking at flying from Havana to Santiago de Cuba as I don’t really fancy the taxi, (would probably then do the journey back by car through a few towns). Anyone have any experience of flying within Cuba? Their site isn’t much use right now but I’m not sure if they’ve just cancelled flights due to coronavirus.


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[Hookmaker]

My paraglider buddies did that flight last year - no problemos 😎


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[simwells]

My paraglider buddies did that flight last year - no problemos 😎


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Do you know if they booked through cubana.cu or got a travel agent to arrange by any chance?


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[PeeJay]

Do Cubana planes still have outside toilets?

[Simon Bolivar]

There used to be a problem with with long internal flights because there could only carry the minimum amount of fuel to get there to prevent the pilot changing direction & heading to Miami. Several planes went down in the past due to delayed landing with weather ect & running out of fuel. One would hope this problem disappeared with Castro but maintainance & parts I imagine could be a problem so why not take the train, very good service; although to go from one end of the country to another can take up to 3 days I read somewhere.

[simwells]

There used to be a problem with with long internal flights because there could only carry the minimum amount of fuel to get there to prevent the pilot changing direction & heading to Miami. Several planes went down in the past due to delayed landing with weather ect & running out of fuel. One would hope this problem disappeared with Castro but maintainance & parts I imagine could be a problem so why not take the train, very good service; although to go from one end of the country to another can take up to 3 days I read somewhere.

Sounds eventful! Never realised they had a train network, appears they’re new trains too. Still a 16 hour journey which is probably 3-4 hours longer than car and I don’t think they’ll be sleeper cabins or anything. We may just have to accept with the distance theres no quick way of doing it, either worth another stop off part way along or leaving for this trip


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[PeeJay]

There's a great book about travelling across Cuba by train

[simwells]

There's a great book about travelling across Cuba by train

Slow train to Guantanamo?


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[PeeJay]

Slow train to Guantanamo?


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I think you may be right

[simwells]

I think you may be right

Cheers will pick up a copy, sounds like the trains have improved but that might not mean much


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[Hookmaker]

I think you may be right

Saw this Uk train guy series from all round the worlds different railways, and the one on Cuba. I wouldn’t bet on a ride on that train😎

Tip: track down Mike Pirnak on FB, he knows his way around Cuba and would know about the flight possibilities

[grumpybaldy]

My son took this flight some years back. Scared the sh1t out of him!

[Simon Bolivar]

My son took this flight some years back. Scared the sh1t out of him!

Ha, I can believe that. I found this site, some interesting options here:

https://www.trippy.com/distance/Havana-to-Santiago-de-Cuba-Cuba

Drive for about 1.5 hours, then stop in Matanzas and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 2.5 hours then stop in Villa Clara and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 2.5 hours then stop at Disco Azúcar. Stay overnight.

The next day, drive for about 2 hours, then stop in Las Tunas and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 1 hour then stop in Bayamo and stay for 1 hour.

Finally, drive for about 1 hour and arrive in Santiago de Cuba.

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To see all the details on this itinerary, including recommended restaurants, hotels, and things to do along the way, check out the full road trip planner:

Road trip from Havana to Santiago de Cuba




Havana to Santiago de Cuba airports and flights


In the quick calculation above, we assumed you had a private plane and just wanted to know the time in the air from city to city. But for most of us, we're going to be flying on a commercial airline (whether it's first class or coach). So that means we really need to account for all the extra travel time getting to the airport, waiting for our flight, and making it to the destination.

To give you a better estimate of real-life travel, we've put together a flight itinerary with actual airports. Eventually you'll be able to customize this plan, choosing your own airports and flights. But for now, here's an example we've selected to give you an idea of how traveling might work between airports.

Departure airport: José Martí International Airport (HAV)

Arrival airport: Antonio Maceo Airport (SCU)

With the airports selected, we can estimate the travel time to and from the airport, based on how far the airport is from downtown.

Getting to the airport: 30 minutes

Getting to your destination: 12 minutes

Now finally, let's look at an actual flight from HAV to SCU on Cubana and figure out how long it would take to fly including take-off and landing, and time to taxi on the runway.

Commercial flight time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

So now we can finally get an idea of the total travel time from Havana to Santiago de Cuba including time spent getting to/from the airports, an estimated wait time of 2 hours at the airport for TSA security lines and waiting at the gate, and the actual flight itself.

Total travel time: 4 hours

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To see the details on this flight plan, including recommended airports, airline, and route, check out the flight planner:

Havana to Santiago de Cuba flight time



Plan a trip to Santiago de Cuba


Trippy has a ton of information that can help you plan your trip to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Start by reading the Trippy page on where to stay in Santiago de Cuba. Click the button below to explore Santiago de Cuba in detail.

Find Q&A near Santiago de Cuba



How far is it the other way?


The distance is the same either way if you're flying a straight line (or driving the same roads back and forth). But for a real trip, there can be plenty of differences so go ahead and check the reverse directions to get the distance from Santiago de Cuba to Havana, or go to the main page to calculate the distance between cities.

If you happen to know Havana, don't forget to help other travelers and answer some questions about Havana!

View questions about Havana




At a Glance
without making any stops
total driving distance is 542 miles
driving time of 10 hours, 23 minutes
flight distance is 473 miles
flight time of 1 hour, 27 minutes
Santiago de Cuba is the same time as Havana
31 Havana travel answers
1 Santiago de Cuba travel answer






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[simwells]

Cheers for that Simon, think it might be not going that East unless I can fly. Not sure I’ll be able to convince on the idea of spending 10+ hours in a taxi. The taxi to Trinidad again might be all I can really persuade


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[ha_banos]

https://www.cubawelcome.com/ might have some info. Mike is an old friend of Mitch and he's been running that business for ages.