Havana is the only realistic base in Cuba for working a month. Vedado, the leafy grid neighborhood between the Malecón and the university, is calm by the city’s standards, easy to walk and has paladares, parks and electric tricycle routes a few cuadras (blocks) away. For dictating on foot there’s the Malecón, the seafront promenade, a short walk away.
The workday here is built around power and connection: deep work while the house has electricity, calls in the hours that usually hold and a plan B nearby. That’s why the host and their house matter more than the neighborhood, and it pays to arrive with everything sorted from abroad.
The most comfortable neighborhoods for a first month, with prices for a one-bedroom casa negotiated by the month:
Leafy, walkable and calmer than the historic center, with big houses, hotels and the Malecón close by. The best balance of calm, services and street life, and the default choice for working.
Residential, spacious and green, with embassies and houses more likely to have a generator. Very quiet for calls, but you need a ride for almost everything. Usually at the top of the range or above. Map · Airbnb monthly
The cheapest of the central areas and intensely lively, but also the most run-down and the noisiest. It is the densest part of the city, although with the crisis there are fewer people about than there used to be. For tight budgets and street life, not for a month of calls.
The historic quarter: the most beautiful and the most tiring, with narrow streets, tourists, hustlers and fragile buildings. Better for a week than for a month of work.
The Cuba guide filter applies street by street, because outages vary from one power circuit to the next:
No eSIM works well in Cuba: the base is the Cubacel Tur tourist SIM (how to buy and top it up, and which VPN to use, is in the Cuba guide). In Vedado, Centro Habana and Miramar, 4G is enough for messaging, voice and syncing; video calls are a stretch and get worse in the evening and during blackouts.
At home, the thing to look for is Nauta Hogar, ETECSA’s ADSL, with speeds of about 2 to 10 Mbps depending on the line. If the host already has the service, the unlimited Nauta Hogar Plus plan is paid in dollars from abroad (
The modem dies and nearby towers often go down too. In 2026 the whole city has lost power several times: after the March 4 blackout, authorities estimated at least 72 hours to restore service. A battery station that keeps the modem, laptop and phone alive is part of the work kit; ask whether the house has one.
The Tur line lasts at most 90 days with top-ups: after that, a regular Cubacel line. For long stays, negotiate for Nauta Hogar Plus to be included or paid by you.
Havana has no café-and-laptop culture: most cafeterías and paladares have no wifi and nobody expects you to settle in to work. With a caveat: you do see people with a laptop in the odd ice cream parlour or paladar that does have wifi, and nobody stops them. Checking the wifi networks on your phone as you walk in tells you whether the place will do. These are the options:
If the house has backup power and Nauta Hogar, it’s your main office, and better still with air conditioning: electricity is not what makes a month here expensive, when there is any. Plan the day around it: deep work while there’s power and connection, and calls in the time slots that usually hold.
Lobbies, terraces and business centers at hotels such as the Hotel Nacional in Vedado, those on the Paseo del Prado or in Miramar have generators, air conditioning and wifi with access cards. They’re the most reliable place for a call when the house loses power.
Always keep a setup ready for stretches without power or network: repositories pulled, dependencies cached, docs downloaded and voice notes to transcribe later.
They’re the default way to get around. Some run fixed shared routes and save you real money; others act as direct taxis and charge more. You’ll find them on almost any busy central street; if you’re somewhere quiet, walking a few blocks to a busier street is usually enough. As a reference, Vedado to Old Havana costs about
Almendrones are classic American cars working as shared taxis on fixed routes: cheap, but they run like a bus line with no stops and no signs. You wave them down in the middle of the street and you have to know the route, which is close to impossible for a foreigner on their own, so the first time go with someone local or ask your host which line serves you. Taxis are agreed before getting in and charge in dollars or pesos.
City buses cost very little, but they’re packed and running reduced schedules because of the fuel shortage. Don’t count on them to make a call on time.
Vedado and Old Havana are easy to walk, with shade on Vedado’s tree-lined streets. Avoid midday in summer and carry a torch if you walk back at night during a blackout.
From José Martí airport to Vedado takes about 30–40 minutes: a Viazul transfer for
Havana’s great route for voice sessions: about 8 km of seawall from Old Havana to the edge of Miramar, flat, open and full of life. Map
Avoid midday from May to October. At dusk the promenades fill with people and feel fine, but during blackouts the streets go dark: head back earlier or carry a torch, and don’t take your phone out on empty stretches.
Playas del Este is about half an hour east by car: a long sandy coast where Habaneros go on weekends. Check the signal before planning a live session there.
Monthly budget for one person, depending on where you live:
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Houses with a generator, solar panels or batteries ask more, and in Miramar you add transport. Map · Airbnb monthly
The cheapest option: stalls and house windows selling pizza, bocaditos (sandwiches), croquetas, juices and coffee in pesos, all over Vedado and Centro Habana. It’s what people eat at midday.
For a long stay, a host who cooks breakfast and dinner for an agreed fee is the most reliable meal plan in the city, especially on blackout days, when cooking gets complicated.
The widest choice is in Vedado and Old Havana, from the criollo plate of congrí, pork and salad to places doing tacos or pasta. The trendy ones charge in dollars; ask your host for the neighborhood ones. In 2026, with the crisis, plenty are closed and the ones open don’t always have the whole menu: expect an ingredient to be missing and go with some flexibility, or message them on WhatsApp before crossing the city.
Keep bottled water and some snacks for outage days: with the crisis, bottled water also runs short at times.
Errands and walks early, work through the middle hours if the house has power, and evenings outdoors, when the Malecón and Vedado’s street corners fill with people. Hosts usually do laundry for an agreed price.
International flights arrive at Terminal 3. At immigration they ask for your passport (the e-visa is linked to it) and the D’Viajeros QR, and may ask for your insurance and return ticket; they don’t stamp your passport.