Money for Cuba

Daisydaughter
Don't get your money at the airport, big rip off, same all over the world. We took it out at the bank.
We enjoyed Cuba but that was back in 2003 and things are a lot 'freeer' now as in where you can and can't go.
Lovely people.

We had a wonderful holiday in Cuba last January. I am sure you will enjoy it.
Most hotels there have money exchange facilities to CUC. Dont recall being able to exchange in the uk prior to departure.

Thank you both. Did you get money out using cards or did you take sterling and change that or a mixture of the two?

we took a mixture of the two. Might be good to take a card as well just in case as some of the hotels did take them. There are also exchange places and rare atms but be careful using these as our card was swallowed up and it was a performance sorting it all out. Ok in the end.
How about contacting the hotel direct, or your holiday company for advice. Have a great time. We did.

We exchanged sterling as we went along, try not to be left with too much cuc, and dont forget to change it or spend it before leaving cuba.

The Cuban currency is in two types. One is the tourist cuc and the other for residents. You can only buy the tourist currency and it is easily purchased at official bureaux in ports, etc. Don't buy too much as the exchange rate to sell back is atrocious, and buy it with sterling as there is an additional levy of 10% charge if you buy it with US dollars.

My experience is that Cubans want American dollars, so we used credit card for major expenses like the resort and U.S. dollars for everything else. No problemo.
Wonderful people, try and talk to locals or "befriend" one of the hotel staff into "inviting" you for dinner at a local home. This is often arranged, and you pay for your meal which will be fantastic, directly to the cook. Be sure to pay the way of your "friend" too and have them take you "home" after (we got slightly afraid on the way back with no lights in the area and just us and a old man with a horse drawn carriage).
Happy Travels.

Thanks for all your responses. In the end we took a mixture of cash and cards. There was an ATM on arrival at the airport which was coonfusing to use but in the end spewed out currency and gave us back our card. Banks did not really look like banks and could be tricky to find. In the end we mostly used ATMs and changed sterling to CUCs in one bank. One hotel would only accept euros or US$. So sterling not universally accepted.