Trinidad absolutely stole my heart. When I return to Cuba I will bypass Havana altogether and head straight to Trinidad— it was that amazing! It’s a beautiful colonial town in the Center of Cuba. The bright colored streets and loud Salsa playing from every home gave an authentic experience. The most refreshing part of Trinidad is that it’s not inundated by tourists or Cuban tour guides selling you things every five minutes. Trinidad in one word: peaceful.
GETTING THERE
You can get to Trinidad by way of tour bus or private taxi. We chose a taxi our AirBnB host scheduled for us. It was $40 each for one-way, which is extremely cheap compared to the $100+ other taxis and tour buses were offering us.
We spent 3 days in Trinidad at this casa particular. It’s owned by a sweet elderly woman and her daughter. They lived in the front of the house, while the back of the house as well as the upstairs was reserved for tourists. For $5-$10 a meal she prepares you breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I got a lobster dinner for $10! The only downside to this AirBnB location was that it was a 15-minute cab ride from the center of Trinidad where Plaza Major is. It turned out being perfectly fine for us as it also put us in close proximity to the beach and we enjoyed the quietness after the hustle and bustle of Havana city life.
PLAZA MAYOR
Our first day in Trinidad we decided to wander around Plaza Major and all of downtown Trinidad. It was a lot of walking, as is everything in Cuba but it’s a great way to stop and talk to locals. I’m still so in awe of how beautiful Trinidad was. We then sat in the center of Plaza where they have live Salsa bands during the day and night.
NIGHTLIFE IN TRINIDAD
That evening, we headed back to our AirBnB for dinner and quickly got dressed to check out the party scene. We first went back to Plaza Mayor to listen to the Salsa band and drink piña coladas and mojitos. There’s a bar there and serves running around taking orders. I was pulled to dance plenty times. It was a perfect pre-game. There were locals and tourists alike.
We then hiked to Disco Ayala. A club in a cave. We didn’t know we weren’t able to take a cab all the way up, so we were left to hike up a steep hill/mountain in heels. Not fun, but made for hilarious memories. Ladies: please bring proper shoes for this. Or wear sandals to the club! We had so much fun, met so many Europeans and danced the night away! They played Spanish and American music. We got home around 3am but the club was still going when we left.
BEACH NEAR TRINIDAD
On day two, we decided to head to the beach. That morning we met some Belguim girls staying upstairs for us in their early 20s and decided to spend the day with them. Our host set up a cab for us and we took off to Playa Ancon in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, a 20-minute drive from our AirBnB. It was a beautiful, quiet beach with beach chairs available for $2 and a fully stocked bar. We soaked in the sun rays for a few hours and drank coconut water straight from a coconut before deciding to go snorkeling. There will be few people walking up and down the beach offering snorekling and freshly caught lobster. We said yes to both. The snorkeling cost us $10 per person along with the lobster.
Snorkeling was so much fun! Nothing beats that beautiful Caribbean water. We met some more tourists on the catamaran from Europe and had fun swimming and getting to know them.
Due to exhaustion and an early wake-up call the next day, we decided to stay in that evening. It was a great decision as we chilled on the rooftop talking to other AirBnB guests staying upstairs. This time we met an older very well-traveled Australian couple. They had fascinating stories about their travels and life experiences, it was lovely! We then smoked a Cuban cigar with the younger Belgium girls we had met and went to sleep.
COUNTRYSIDE OF TRINIDAD
The following morning we got up early— around 8am and had breakfast. We had planned to book a horseback riding trip through the Trinidad mountains via AirBnB but our host had a good friend that also did the tour and so we decided to book through him. For $40/person we spent the entire day with him and our horses riding through the countryside of Cuba. I highly recommend you book this excursion, it was so much fun! If your host doesn’t have a recommendation you can book through on AirBnB Experiences here. This tour is slightly different from our experience since we didn’t go to a sugar cane plantation or dinner.
We rode our horses all throughout the mountains until we reached the most beautiful waterfall in the middle of the mountain. I could barely believe my eyes when we got to the waterfall— I wasn’t expecting to see so much beauty secretly tucked away. We jumped off the cliff and swam there for hours until we were ready to leave. Our tour guide patiently waited on the outskirts of the waterfall until we were ready to leave taking care of the horses. There were plenty of people at the waterfall but it wasn’t overcrowded, which was perfect for swimming!
On our way down, we stopped at a farmers house where he harvested honey, coffee, and rolled his own Cuban cigars. He prepared the coffee right in front of us by crushing the coffee beans with a mortar and pestle. It was cool too watch and even better to taste! The coffee was soooo good. I was skeptical to try black coffee but he mixed it with honey and it was a game changer! He then hand rolled a few cigars for us and showed us how to prepare them to smoke. We lit one up and enjoyed our coffee in real Cuban fashion. I bought coffee and cigars from the farmer to put some money in his pocket and give them to my family and friends as souvenirs.
After nearly 7 ours together, our tour guide dropped us off, with the horses, in downtown Trinidad. It was our last day there so we decided to shop around for souvenirs and have dinner in the town. We did that until sundown then headed back to our AirBnB to pack up and rest since we had an early drive back Havana.
Many people typically do day trips to Varadero and Viñales from Havana via Viazul tour buses, as they’re closer to Havana. Varadero is a beach resort town and Viñales a countryside full of mountains and tobacco plantations. We decided to bypass these places altogether and get further away from Havana and tourists. I am so glad we opted to do this. Trinidad was worth the 4 hour trek and if you have the time in your itinerary, I highly suggest spending time there and experiencing it for yourself.
To read about my time in Havana, Cuba, see this post. To read 6 things you must know before going to Cuba, see this post.
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