Havana 6 Day Itinerary (Plus Cuba Trips)
Six days, four trips out of the city
Six days builds on the 5 day plan by adding Las Terrazas, an easy 1 to 1.5 hour trip that’s nothing like the beach days elsewhere on this list. The spine stays the same: arrival, an overnight in Vinales, then Playas del Este, Varadero and now Las Terrazas as single-day trips. A seventh day adds Zapata and the Bay of Pigs in the 7 day itinerary .
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Havana |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrival, cash, Havana basecamp | 0 (in the city) |
| Day 2 | Travel to Vinales, afternoon in the valley, overnight | 2.5 to 3 hours each way by car, closer to 4 by Viazul bus |
| Day 3 | Morning in Vinales, return to Havana | Same as above, return leg |
| Day 4 | Playas del Este beach | 20 to 30 minutes each way |
| Day 5 | Varadero day trip | 2 hours each way by car, 2.5 by Viazul |
| Day 6 | Las Terrazas day trip | 1 to 1.5 hours each way |
Book these before you go:
- A casa particular in Vinales on Booking.com for the overnight, since valley rooms fill up ahead of tobacco-season weekends.
- A Varadero day trip on Viator if you’d rather not manage the Viazul timetable yourself.
- A casa particular or hotel room in Havana on Booking.com for the nights either side of Vinales.
Day 1: Arrival and Havana basecamp
Land at Jose Marti International, agree a fixed cash taxi fare before getting in (roughly $25 to $35 to central Havana; the meters are decorative), and check into a casa particular or hotel in Habana Vieja or Vedado. Sort cash first: change what you need for the whole trip through your casa host, a paladar, or a hotel desk, not a street changer, at the informal rate, which was past 670 CUP to the dollar in mid-2026 and still sliding. Cards will not bail you out: Cuba suspended all Visa and Mastercard processing islandwide as of June 2026, verify current status but plan on cash regardless. Check the current US travel advisory for Cuba too, since the power and fuel situation it flags affects every one of the four trips below. An easy afternoon in the plazas of Habana Vieja and dinner at a paladar closes out the day.
Day 2: Travel to Vinales and an overnight in the valley
Travel out on day 2’s morning to the UNESCO-listed valley (2.5 to 3 hours by car or guided tour, closer to four by the Friday/Saturday/Sunday-only Viazul bus; check the current schedule before locking in a date), spend the afternoon at a tobacco farm watching a grower hand-roll a cigar from leaf to finished product, and stay overnight in a Vinales casa particular.
Day 3: Morning in Vinales, return to Havana
Day 3’s morning light over the mogotes, the limestone hills that shape the valley, is the reason to stay over rather than race the round trip; there’s time for horseback riding before the afternoon drive back to Havana.
Day 4: Playas del Este beach
Havana’s own beach, 20 to 30 minutes east: Santa Maria del Mar for the developed stretch, Guanabo for something quieter. Bring cash for beach vendors, since card payments are dead islandwide as of mid-2026.
Day 5: Varadero day trip
Cuba’s flagship resort beach, about 140 to 150 km east: 2 hours by car, 2.5 by Viazul, which runs four times daily for $14 to $20 one way. It’s a straightforward beach day, prettier and more built-up than Playas del Este, and it works as a single day trip in a way Vinales technically can but shouldn’t.
Day 6: Las Terrazas day trip
Close the trip inside the Sierra del Rosario UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, about 75 km west on the Havana-Pinar del Rio road, 1 to 1.5 hours each way. This is a planned eco-village with hiking trails, old coffee-plantation ruins, and zip-lining, and it is not the same place as Playas del Este; some guides conflate the two because both sit “close to Havana,” but one is a mountain village and the other is a beach, in opposite directions from the city.
Is Las Terrazas the same as Playas del Este?
No. Las Terrazas is a mountain eco-village inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve, about 75 km west of Havana. Playas del Este is a beach 20 to 30 minutes east. Confusing the two means booking the wrong kind of day entirely, since one is hiking and coffee ruins and the other is sand and swimming.
Six days out of Havana means four separate transfers on top of your arrival, so build slack into each one. Cuba’s 2026 fuel shortages have made bus and taxi frequency less reliable than the timetable promises; a route that should take ninety minutes can run longer with no warning.