One of the best features of Guanabo is the nightlife. It is of course much, much different than other major tourist destinations such as Varadero or Cayo Coco or other Caribbean All Inclusive locations in Mexico or the Dominican Republic. And

Generally main street Guanabo (5th avenue) is fairly quiet and quite safe and very well monitored by lots of policeman. Most of 5th avenue is also very well lit by streetlights and while traffic is fairly low, there are plenty of taxis, coaches and buses that zip along. The side streets are equally quiet but a bit darker as there are very few streetlights, but there is generally light emanating from the houses that line the street.

Restaurants described earlier are open to at least 11 PM with what I would assume is a last seating or ordering around 10PM. In terms of plain pub/patios there are at least three of these where you can just sit down and chat and people watch on main street. These are generally open until midnight.

Now should you be interested in cranking it up thereafter you can step out to the two main night clubs which only really start to get going around 11 PM and shut down around 3PM. These two clubs are usually open on alternating nights which means that these is a club open every night of the week, but they are never open on the same night. Both of these are quite similar in that:

• Both are walled in but have an open sky roof (i.e. no roof) so if it rains they are closed for the night (but it hardly happens as it rarely rains in Guanabo for more than 30 minutes)

• You tend to see the same people (Cubans and the few tourists) at both

• If pressed to guess, I would say that on average there might be 150 people per night (but that can easily go up to 300) and likely more from January to March.

• Cover charge is similar:

  • $3 on normal weekday night which means DJs and dancers

  • $5 when there is a full out band

Everybody is very friendly and it’s a great place to meet a lot of relaxed and friendly Cubans. They are usually all open minded and curious and having a great time if you show any interest and wish to chat.

Just a little tip, if you buy a bottle of rum for about $10 with coke and a bit of a tip, they usually find you a chair and table and treat you a bit better and you also avoid the line up at the bar for drink..

Of course another easy and viable option is to jump in a collectivo taxi for a $1 and go to Havana (about 20 minute drive) and party in the dozens of bars there. Another bit of advice is go with a Cuban from Guanabo in order to avoid tourist trap, bet better deals and avoid being too harassed on Old Havana as well as be guided and introduced to a number of people.

In any event it’s all al lot of fun and everyone has a great time dancing and carrying on laughing and being real friendly. And most importantly you are not completely surrounded by other tourists as would be the case in other tourist parts of Cuba.