Havana + ??

[Deleted]

H and I have an opportunity to (legally) go to Havana soon. We're contemplating doing it at the end of March 2015- early April 2015. Maybe like 10-12 days total, including travel. 

The thought was that we could be in Havana for 4-5 days then go somewhere else in that vicinity for another 4-5 days, just not the US. 

We can fly direct from London to Havana, take a small plane to the second place and then (ideally) fly direct back to London. 

We were thinking about adding on the Dominican Republic, but I'm not sure if there's a better place to go. We're going to Jamaica this year and we'd prefer to go somewhere new. 

Any thoughts on where the second place should be? Thanks so much! 

[alleinesein]

Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. You can then hire a car to Palenque and explore the archaeological site at Palenque. You can also spend a day visiting Misol Ha, Agua Clara and Las cascadas de Agua Azul. Villahermosa has Museo Parque La Venta with a few of the giant Olmec heads.

[emilyinchile]

Do you want to go somewhere outside of Cuba? I was going to say Trinidad for a few days as well when I read the title and assumed you were looking for another Cuban city.

My Havana experiences and DR experiences were TOTAL opposites, but that could be nice. In Cuba we traveled independently, stayed in casas particulares, ate in the casas and at paladares, etc. It was great, and personally I don't know that I would want to do a package tour or AI in Cuba just because I so enjoyed that style of travel there. When we went to the DR, we stayed at the Excellence Punta Cana because we just wanted to sit on a beach. If we'd had more time we would have done a day trip to Santo Domingo, or you could do a night or two there and then the rest of your nights in Punta Cana.

[Deleted]

The visa that we get to visit Cuba won't let us visit anywhere outside of Havana, as much as I would love to.  We would have to go to another place outside of Cuba for our second location. 

I've never actually done an AI before. It's like a cruise where all of the food, drinks, etc... are included and you just hang out?

[emilyinchile]

Ahh ok, I thought maybe you had a UK passport and were just not telling the US about your Cuba travels, didn't realize you were on a special visa.

I've never been on a cruise, but basically an AI had always sounded like my worst nightmare until the end of last year where I was burnout on planning trips (mostly for work) and wanted some downtime with my husband (and a tan). We chose somewhere that's supposed to be one of the more higher end places in Punta Cana primarily to ensure decent food and avoid the worst of the fanny pack-wearing crowds. It worked - the food ranged from decent to good, and while many of the people we talked to there primarily travel to AIs and weren't really interested in doing more exploratory/independent travel, they also didn't automatically fall into my "this is why people hate America" category. I would go back to an AI for a similar chill out vacation, but I still primarily prefer to travel the way we always have.

I think alleinesein's idea sounds great!