Cuba has long been the forbidden fruit for American tourists. Just A 30-minute flight from Florida, it already draws enough people from Canada and Europe to make it the Caribbean’s third-most-popular tourism destination, just trailing behind Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Cuba gets about 3 million visitors a year—just 90,000 of them from the U.S. but this last figure is set to soar over the coming months with real expectations of over 300,000 American visitors in Cuba for 2015.

With Americans now searching the internet for information concerning Cuba in record numbers we´ve decided to create the Cuba 101 list of best websites and online booking centers.

Where should an American Visit?

Obviously Cuba’s capital Havana is a big hit with our fellow Americans but, there are so many colonial cities begging to be discovered. Worldwide Online Digital Media Giant Travelucion released another barrage of free digital Cuba travel guides at the Havana FITUR Travel faire in 2014. These websites are proving to be the Holy Grail for Americans thinking of visiting Cuba and include rare glimpses into Havana’s Capital Building or the infamous Havana Malecon Esplanade. Since 2014 they´ve released the rest of their free virtual Cuba Guide Service totaling no less than 84 Cuban city focused websites, all with interactive booking of everything from Casa Particulares (home stays similar to AirBNB offerings) to flights, Cuba car rental, bus services, hotels, Mobile Phone offices and even dolphin park tickets.

Booking Travel from USA to Cuba directly?

Choosing the right operator is essential and Havanatur has been at the Cuba Travel game for over 20 years. While most of the sales are carried out online, their offices and call centers in Europe and the Americas are a convenient advantage. Booking through their online chat also proved to be painless and quick. Havanatur offers everything, Flights, Hotels, Car Rentals & tours but doesn’t provide information on private businesses like Casas or Paladar Restaurants yet.

Cuban Road trip for Americans?

Many of us are looking for the type of trip to Cuba that includes numerous historic cities and the only viable way to do this is by renting a car in Cuba. You can´t rent an Old American Classic Car for this type of trip because these are only chauffer driven and generally used as taxis but, Cuba’s Transtur Rent A Car offers a myriad of options from SUVs to Luxury BMW & Audi Cars. Once again, due to the low volume of vehicles (for now…) in Cuba, Americans are urged to book in advance if visiting Cuba on four wheels is the plan.

Booking Hotels in Cuba?

If you’re looking for a hotel stay Hotel-Cuba.com is Cuba’s largest room consolidator with over 300 hotels and a further 400 private homes available for instant online reservation. Offering USD payments along with another 26 currencies, the selection and sheer volume of Cuban Hotels available is mind blowing.

Cuban Cultural Information?

Cuba has a unique and quirky culture which can be difficult to get to grip with. Cuban Culture.com and the myriad of linked websites is probably the best starting places for a Cuba newbie. As central point to Cuba’s Tourism Ministry offers, it also acts as an online hub to literally hundreds of websites, official and privately owned covering every feasible aspect of Cuba. Another popular website is WikiCuba.com which is currently linking to AllAboutCuba.com due to its massive overhaul, presumably due to the increased interest in Cuba.

We´ll continue to update this section as and when new websites become available.