I'm a big fan of lonely planet guides and use them religiously whenever I travel outside Europe. Great books. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with the Lonely Planet Cuba by Connor Gorry, and it’s the worst I’ve used. My advice if you intend to travel round Cuba, and you're the kind of person who finds guide books indispensable, is to buy another guide book.
I travelled round Cuba in December 2005 / January 2006 and bought the Lonely Planet Cuba before I went. On reading the book prior to the trip, I found the author to be really contradictory. In the intro, she raved about Cuba, and all the fabulous places to go, but then she didn't have a good word to say about the same places later in the book! In fact, the author seemed to always focus on the negatives, rather than the positives. Or, if there was a compliment, then this would always be followed by a negative. This was quite frustrating especially when trying to plan my route.
Also, there are quite a few mistakes throughout the book - especially where buses are concerned which is quite critical in trying to get round the country! Distances, costs, bus times, and frequency are often incorrect, so it’s definitely worth checking on the Viazul web site.
Then there was the ferry! According to the book, there is only one boat crossing a day from the mainland to Cayo Levisa - at 9am I think? After a few days spent in Maria la Gorda (fab!), I'd already booked a beach bungalow on the lovely cayo levisa, so, using the book, I basically got a taxi at 4am to get to the dock in time. After a mental journey, I got there and there's a boat which will take you across for 10CUC's per person anytime, so wasn’t best pleased!
The maps are terrible! I got lost trying to find a restaurant in Trinidad and ended up wandering around for an hour! I never did find it! The Havana maps are poor too.
Disregard anything to do with costs in the book - despite the fact they're in dollars - they're all way out and there’s one price for locals and a much higher one for tourists!
I was planning on visiting the Che Memorial in Santa Clara, but got chatting to someone who got a taxi all the way there from Cienfuegos, and it was basically closed when they got there! There was nothing else to do there apparently, so best to make sure it’s open before you go. No mention of opening times in the book.
Food next! The book is generally pretty scathing about the food in Cuba, but I rarely had a bad meal – and the seafood was superb in places. The worst meal I had was at one of the Chinese restaurants the book recommended in Havana – we’re talking inedible! Avoid it!
Be wary of the opening times in the book too – especially in Havana. I went to the Havana Club shop / museum place, and the opening times were completely different to the book. Also, the open-air market was open on each of the 4 days I spent in Havana, whereas the book stated it was only there twice a week I think.
After 3 weeks of using this guide book, you’ll be cursing the author and that eye patch will really wind you up!!
