Wheelchair Accessible Cuba
by Hans & Ilja Hoen © 2008

Hans and Ilja Hoen flew from the Netherlands to Cuba. They rented a vintage car and toured the island for three weeks.

"We were able to travel wherever we wanted," said Hans. "There are no rental cars in Cuba for disabled people to drive."

Our trip itinerary:

Havana – Vinales
Vinales – Maria la Gord
Maria la Gorda – Havana
Havana – Playa Giron
Playa Giron – Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos – Trinidad
Trinidad – Havana

Havana  is very nice. The people are so kind and always want to help you. We took our handbike with us, which made things easier.

Havana		Hans on his handbike with Ilja.		Hans and local boys at at Place la Revolucion.
The Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba.		Hans & Ilja enjoy a Cuban meal.		Hans & Ilja toured Cuba  in a vintage car.
Hans & Ilja enjoy swimming with dolphins.

We stayed in Havana's Hotel Nacional Cuba, http://www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com/en/home.asp
Every Cuban knows this hotel. It has one accessible room for people who use a wheelchairs. It has a shower chair and bars at the toilet.

In Havana, there are a lot of high curbs, but there are some curb cuts. We often just stayed in the road. In the centre of the city, there are no cars, but the road is bumpy.

Vinales is known as the place for Cuban cigars. There were no stairs in our hotel, but the bathroom was not accessible. We had to remove the bathroom door (everybody liked to help us; nothing is a problem). We took a portable shower/toilet chair with us. So if there are no stairs, we can rent almost any room.  

Hans & Ilja relax at Maria la Gorda.

Maria la Gorda: Just for relaxing. There was a room for disabled people, but it did not have grab bars or a shower chair. So, again we where glad we took our own chair. We went swimming a lot and snorkelling.

 

 

 

 

Playa Giron: we took a boat to the swamp and visited a crocodile farm. The room again was the same as in Maria la Gorda.

Cienfuegos:  It is also a nice place to swim. We had a good accessible room with bars at the toilet and a chair under the shower.

The top of our vacation: was swimming with dolphins. It was not accessible, but the people helped us a lot.

Trinidad: The accommodation had a good accessible room, but the village is not easy in a wheelchair.