Active Transportation - Vacations, Elsewhere
My wife and I took a MacQueen's tour in 2001 - our first time to Cuba. They still offer a wide range of bike tours in Cuba as well as PEI and Sicily. We took the Western tour that leaves from Havana and ends at Pinar del Rio.
The tour provides a bus and leader/interpreter/guide. You will get a top quality, well-maintained bike and stay in resorts that are not offered to travel agents. This is a good thing if you want to see Cuba as Cubans see it. (Or at least those who are well off enough to use two star hotels.) Biking with a bus following allows you to hitch a ride if you find the terrain too rigorous. It also means you don't have to bike all the way from Havana to Pinar del Rio because mid-afternoon they pick you up and leapfrog to the next overnight.
For the more adventuresome it is possible to bicycle on your own in Cuba. We have not done it ourselves, but have spoken with cyclists on our many trips to Cuban resorts. We met a couple of youthful Europeans who were cycling out of Havana and had come to our resort at Jibacoa looking for a room for the night. They had no success because many resorts will not book by the night. At a resort outside of Trinidad we met a man travelling alone and a couple from Canada who brought in their own bikes and were taking day trips from the resort along the spectacular coast. They were quite pleased with the cycling but reported that the roads were rough and better suited to bikes with wider tires than racers. In fact Kevlar linings would be a good idea judging from the number of flat tires we had on the Chinese made resort bikes. It is a long walk home when the tire goes flat. But the resorts have an advantage for bicyclists who want to bring their own equipment. You have a meal plan and a place to stay every night. Getting food and potable water in a country like Cuba is a major consideration for tourist who wants to leave the pampered enclave of the resort. It is safe but undeveloped around many of the resorts, which are set where there is a good beach but perhaps only a few fishermen in a small town.
If you want to travel to see the country keep in mind that the Cuban officials who greet you when coming into the country from their Soviet era kiosks will want to know where you are planning to stay. They have the power to turn you away. They will probably be curious about what you are going to be doing with your bicycle. Are you planning to leave it behind? Illegal importation of goods is a problem in Cuba, which is short of just about everything.
Cuba is geared to resort tourism but it is possible to travel an itinerary of casas particulares (bed and breakfasts) arranged beforehand. We met a man who managed to do that on our last trip to a resort. He reported that sometimes he had trouble finding food and water, but he was willing to try it again. He even managed to stay at one of the Cuban camping areas set aside for workers on vacation. He was probably lucky that the police or a security guard didn¹t come upon him.
When you are out on a bicycle in Cuba you will be in a realm of aromas and sounds that are unfamiliar. Oxbells and the wind in palms are more likely to catch your attention than the whiz of traffic. The smell of rain on the pavement will be mixed with the smell of the flowers on the side of the road. It is biking unlike anywhere you could go here on PEI.
