Haggling Prices in Cuba

Agreements, disagreements, all about communication, taking pictures, support from hosts, honest and truthful Cuban's and supporting the locals

Usually we could count on Cubans to hold their words when making out prices for taxi rides and other things. Often times the people selling you a ride are not the same as the drivers, for that reason always make sure to get a card or some kind of paper with the agreed price on it. Or at least take a picture of the note they made. 📸

Depending the distance, a ride costs about CUC 25 per person. That's for a car ride of about 2-3 hours. Shared taxis, called Colectivo, are usually less expensive but that of course also varies of the distance. For long distance rides this is more or less the average. You can always try to go a bit lower than that, usually they're grateful for every ride they make, it's all about communication.

However, be aware that in certain cities like Cienfuegos there are fixed prices for taxi rides. There's not much or no room at all to haggle those prices. Either inform yourself beforehand online or the best option is to always ask your host about organising one because they often have contacts and can offer some lower prices.

Our host in Cienfuegos would have been able to do that for us but unfortunately his contact was already booked for that day. From previous experiences I was positive I would find a driver in the streets somewhere so I walked around for a bit. I did end up finding one and made out a price with him. I knew the distance wasn't that big as other rides we've had so I was surprised that he wanted the same price for a 1.5 hour ride as we paid for 3-4 hour rides. I did manage to get him down.

Unfortunately, that guy had either no idea what he was doing or he was trying to scam us. In the end, the taxi driver came but was expecting way more. The other guy who sold me the ride of course was denying anything we agreed upon. That's when I learned to take pictures of their notes. 💡

To cut it short, there was a huge fight and in the end our host was so kind to help us out. Under normal circumstances the rule of "you stick to what you agreed upon" applies, always. Even between locals. I guess those men there weren't that truthful then? 🤔

There are other means of transport like bikes, tuk tuk's, carriages, etc. It's always good to ask your hosts about local prices so you know more or less if the other party offering you a ride is being fair or not.

One other recommendation I have is to always specify the prices. Whether they offer you CUC 20 for one or two bikes is a huge difference! 🚲

Always remember though, no Cuban ever wants to find themselves in a situation with tourists or foreigners and the police. One guy once bluffed and "called" the police because we didn't want to pay him the amount he wanted. He was being very rude and even threw the money away we agreed upon before for the ride. I then tried to get help of an employee of the restaurant we went to because my Spanish could only get me so far. The guy saw trouble coming and quickly took the money and went his way. He knew that if the police truly would get involved, it would be him that they would question, not us.

On the other hand, markets are a different story. Usually you find more or less the same or similar products on every market. This makes it actually quite easy to find out prices and compare them with others.

If you have the possibility to buy several things from one stall, do so. For one, you can deal on the price a bit more but you're also supporting the locals and they're very happy and grateful to have you as their customer. There's also always a chance for great conversations like this. 🙂

All in all, Cuban's are honest and truthful. The few that tried to do differently are not really worth mentioning. Stuff like this happens everywhere, not just in Cuba and I guess it's all about learning and figuring out who is trying to pull you over and who's genuinely interested in "doing business" with you.

Sabbu ❤️