How to go from Havana to Varadero

How to go from Havana to Varadero? Obama opened a new stage in relations between the United States and Cuba, but it remains to be seen what will happen now with Donald Trump as president. It is difficult to speculate, but luckily those of us who are not Americans can continue traveling to the island without problems.

I consider that Cuba is one of the best destinations in the Caribbean because it not only has a beautiful nature but also a very rich history and culture. There are two cities that usually concentrate the bulk of tourism: Havana and Varadero. Are they far from each other? How to go from Havana to Varadero or vice versa? Write down this practical information:

Havana and Varadero, on the same route

Havana is the national capital but Until the appearance of the keys on the tourist map, Varadero used to be the most popular resort.

Varadero is in the municipality of Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas and only 130 kilometers from Havana. The town was born in the XNUMXth century when the wealthy people of Cárdenas took their eyes to the white beaches and the turquoise sea.

But we are talking about a tropical area so the site is infected with mosquitoes and gnats, as well as the occasional hurricane from time to time. But luckily there were persistent people so towards the end of the century an urban center with a square, houses, park, church and market was born.

The first hotel was built in the 20s of the new century and from then on came dollars and travelers from the neighboring country, rich people, the vast majority. One of the most famous was the chemical industry billionaire, DuPont, the builder of a house that is now an icon of Varadero, the Xanadú Mansion.

Today its beaches retain all their beauty and also adds the charm that it has become a spa town with a multitude of hotels and offers to have fun. It has lost its wild nature forever and that is why if what you are looking for is something more unspoilt you have to go to the keys and, not all, but the question today is, How to go from Havana to Varadero or the other way around?

Transportation between Varadero and Havana

The distance is not much, 130 kilometers, and a car trip takes no more than two and a half hours, tops. You can hire a taxi or go by bus or in your own rented car. Or on an excursion.

How to go from Havana to Varadero by bus

The national bus company is Víazul and from Havana it has very frequent services, from 6 in the morning. The other way around the service starts at noon. The first bus leaves at 12 and arrives in the capital at 3:15 pm.

According to the official website of Viazul these are the schedules and rates, so you have an example:

• Varadero: leaves at 12, arrives at 3:15 pm. The price is just under 10 euros.
• Varadero: departs at 4 pm and arrives at 7:15 pm. 10 euros.
• Varadero: departs at 7:35 pm, arrives at 10:50 pm. 10 euros.

This service is direct. There is another that has an earlier schedule, at 8 am, but does the Viñales route so it arrives in Havana at 11:20 am. The cost of the ticket is the same. You can take even another service that does the Trinidad route, ending in Havana and passing through Varadero at 2 pm. It arrives in the capital at 5:15 a.m.

In Varadero, the Víazul offices are on the corner of Calle 36 and Autopista, in the Bus Terminal. If you are staying in the central area of ​​Varadero you are just a few steps away, but from other corners of the resort a taxi can cost between 3 CUC (2 euros) and 70 CUC (5 euros).

As I said before the reverse route, from Havana to Varadero, has more schedules, from 6 am to 5:30 pm with the same rates. If you have doubts, you can always visit the official website of Vía Azul, super complete with prices, routes, location of offices and destinations.

In taxi

Another option to figure out how to go from Havana to Varadero is to directly hire a taxi and ask for a private trip. Maybe you travel more comfortably and privately and the rate can be arranged beforehand. You can pay a place in a shared taxi between 20 and 25 CUC (between 18 and 22 euros). You have to know how to negotiate. If you are staying in a private house for tourist rental, the owners can help you with that issue.

It will be necessary because taxis in Cuba are controlled And yes, for example, you are going from Havana to Varadero in a private taxi, you may be stopped at a control since in Varadero they only allow official taxis or private cars to circulate. Advice: find out at the hotel or house where you are going to stay.

Of course, taxi fares are not cheap. You must calculate that an official taxi is around 90 CUC, just under 90 euros, against about 50 or 60 for a private taxi that still, and you should know, costs more if the trip is at night.

Car rental

How to go from Havana to Varadero without depending on public transport or third parties? Is renting a car a viable option? If you like to drive and want to walk your way, yes. But the rental of a midsize car is around 40 or 0 euros a day plus fuel and insurance, just over ten dollars extra.

There are many car rental agencies, but the hotel can take care of that for you. Today renting a economy model car (a Skoda Fabia Hatchback 1.4, for example), is priced from 37 euros per day. A Hyundai Atos or a Peugeot 206, the same.

Excursion

We leave until last the ideal option for the most comfortable tourist who is looking for how to go from Havana to Varadero with the least number of complications possible: the organized excursion. It is coordinated with a tourism agency, either from your home or in Cuba itself, and you can choose to last a few hours or a few days. Includes the bus trip to and from Havana and a tour of the old town of the capital.

Rates start at 120 CUC per person for a day trip or from 200 CUC per person if you stay overnight in Varadero. Are you going to stay at a resort in Varadero and what you want to do is walk the other way around? Well, the same, or you sign up for an excursion or you join both destinations by bus or taxi, depending on your budget.

As you can see there are some options for go from Varadero to Havana or vice versa. You have to think about which of them best suits your type of trip. We hope that with this information that we have given you, you will already have a clearer idea of ​​how to go from Havana to Varadero or vice versa. If you also know of any alternative to the ones we have mentioned in this post, tell us about it in a comment.