The best fashion and gift stores Cuba

Timetable

In Havana, as in the rest of the country, stores and boutiques are generally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., or even 7:00 p.m. every day, except on Sunday.

Budget & Tips

Good deals are rarely made in the tourist centers in Cuba. To get good prices, especially in terms of handicrafts, it is best to go to the villages of the country. For classic souvenir shopping in Havana, we recommend a visit to the San José craft market (in the southeast of Habana Vieja). For anything related to musical instruments, you will have to cross the country to Santiago to make good deals!

Because of Communism, there is no culture of bargaining in Cuba. But you can still bargain in stores, large tourist centers or craft markets, if the prices seem excessive.

Good to know: in Europe, you are allowed to bring back 50 cigars and two bottles of rum per person maximum. You should also know that the prices of cigars (as well as rum) are the same in all the stores in the country, because they are fixed by the State; so don't waste your time comparing prices from one store to another.

What's very local

Cuba's star products? Rum, tobacco, music (instruments and CDs), some gourmet products such as coffee and honey, but also works of art (paintings and sculptures in particular) and handicrafts (clothing, jewelry and decorative objects)

Tourist traps

In the capital, as in other tourist cities of the country, we recommend that you pay attention to the "guides" who offer to assist you in your purchases, as they charge a commission if they take you to certain handicraft stores, a commission that is directly reflected in the price of your purchases

The black market(mercado negro), which was set up to compensate for the lack of an official market, offers just about anything you want, at prices lower than those of the tiendas or shoppings where everything is paid for in MLC (i.e. euros, dollars or pounds). Cubans can find illicit products such as beef or lobsters. Now well established in Cuban society at all levels, the black market has created a real parallel economy. Many products are offered to tourists in this way: lobsters, cigars, ETECSA Wifi cards... Without forgetting the counterfeits which abound

However, it is not advisable to buy them because, when leaving the country, the customs may ask you to present receipts for the purchase of items such as cigars and art objects and may confiscate the goods if you do not have these invoices. As for the unbeatable cigars, when they are not simply fake, they may have been stolen from one of the tobacco factories on the island, and may not have passed all the required quality controls