Tourism is Cuba's number-one source of hard currency, and the government is actively involved in promoting tourism internationally. As a result, there's a network of tourism boards and agencies in major cities around the world; some are better than others. Some offices are run by the Ministry of Tourism, others by one of the major state-run agencies like Cubanacán, Havanatur, or Cubatur. No matter the bureau, the focus is almost entirely on organized tours, but they can also give you some basic information. Agencies to contact include Cuba Tourist Board Canada, 1200 Bay St., Suite 305, Toronto M5R 2A5 (tel. 416/362-0700; www.gocuba.ca), or 2075, rue University, Bureau 460, Montreal H3A 2L1 (tel. 514/848-0668); Cuba Tourist Board Great Britain, 154 Shaftesbury Ave., 1st Floor, London WC2H 8HL (tel. 0207/240-6655; tourism@cubasi.info); and, in the United States, the Cuban Interests Section (tel. 202/797-8518; http://embacu.cubaminrex.cu).
A host of other information is available online. The Latin America Network Information Center (http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba) is hands down the best one-stop shop for helpful links to a wide range of travel and general information sites.
The Cuban government sponsors a number of websites, including Cuba Travel (www.cubatravel.cu), CubaSi (www.cubasi.cu), and Directorio Turístico de Cuba (www.dtcuba.com). All provide a fair amount of travel-related information and links. State-run tourism agency websites -- including Cubanacán (www.cubanacan.cu) and Cubatur (www.cubatur.cu) -- are also good places to check for hotels, transportation, and package deals.
Infotur (www.infotur.cu), based in Cuba, also provides fairly detailed information on the country's provinces through a series of portable document files (PDFs).
To read travelogues about Cuba, try the forum section at www.cubamania.com. You can search for other blogs about Cuba at Travelblog.com or post your own travelogue at Travelblog.org. For blogs that cover general travel news and highlight various destinations, try Writtenroad.com or Gawker Media's snarky Gridskipper.com. For more literary travel essays, try Worldhum.com, which has an extensive list of other travel-related journals, blogs, online communities, newspaper coverage, and bookstores.
The best road map to Cuba is the Guía de Carreteras published by Limusa; it can be bought at El Navegante, Calle Mercaderes 115 between Obispo and Obrapía, La Habana Vieja.
