Cuba
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and the first thing that recalibrates your expectations is the light — wide and flat over the Malecón at dusk, cutting hard shadows between colonial colonnades in Old Havana. The country has been largely sealed off from global consumer culture for decades, which means the architecture hasn't been renovated into blandness, the streets aren't lined with international chains, and the pace of daily life runs on a different clock entirely.
Come prepared for contradictions. Power cuts lasting up to twelve hours are a daily reality since late 2024, Wi-Fi is slow and patchy, and the gap between what exists on paper and what works in practice is wide. None of that is a reason to stay away — it's simply the texture of being here.
Popular regions in Cuba
Experiences you don't want to miss
Deals in Cuba
Book directly at the provider
How Cuba came to be
The Taíno and Guanahatabey peoples lived on the island long before Columbus arrived in 1492. Spain moved quickly: Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar founded Baracoa in 1511, and the settlement that became Havana was established in 1514. Morro Castle went up in 1589 to guard the harbour; the British still managed to occupy the city briefly in 1762, returning it to Spain the following year in exchange for Florida.
The push for independence came in waves. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes declared it in 1868, igniting the Ten Years' War. José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party and led the 1895 uprising, dying in battle that April. Spain abolished slavery in 1886, and after the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898 and the U.S. entered the Spanish-American War, Cuba gained formal independence on May 20, 1902. Fidel Castro's forces entered Havana on January 8, 1959, after Batista fled — a moment that shaped everything that followed.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
See Cuba in motion
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
Cuba has a tropical climate with a dry season roughly November through April and a wet, humid season from May through October, when hurricanes are also possible. The dry months bring cooler evenings and clearer skies, making them the most comfortable time to move around the island.
Right now
↡ Regions
No places match these filters.
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.