Daniel was amazing! He was very friendly, patient, and kept up great spirits on a very long drive. He knew where to stop when we needed bathroom and snacks breaks, and was kind and generous in all our interactions. He was very open to answering any and all questions we had about Cuba. He was even helpful before and after we drove with him, asking our flight number to make sure he was waiting for us at the airport at the correct time and helping us find places to exchange money, even when we were in a different city. We loved him so much we contacted him later in our trip to drive us again, and even though he was not available he connected us with his friend, who was wonderful as well. Would definitely recommend Daniel and you should try booking him for your entire trip if possible, we would have loved to have him as our only driver the entire time.
I contacted Victor the month prior to our trip to Cuba. I wanted to contract a car and driver for a 16-day non-touristy road trip "for the good of the cuban people" around the island (think 1955 US Route 66). We were two women traveling alone. We also brought two large suitcases full of school supplies, kitchen/bath products, and clothings/shoes for organizations in the rural communities to give to people that needed them - which Alex and Victor helped us deliver along the way.
I wanted to say one thing about the one negative review posted about Victor on this site. The first thing I asked in email was for his side of the story because we were also two women traveling alone and I wanted to make sure our trip was awesome. The woman that posted this review treated Alex and Victor like slaves - bossing them around, making impossible demands, and calling them names. Despite her continuous verbal abuse and anger, the guys completed the trip and remained professional. (I would have left her on the side of the road.) So ignore that review unless you are a princess or prima donna - at which point you should not be traveling around Cuba - go to Cayo Coco or an all-inclusive and get lost in the average. Our trip was not average in any way - Victor does everything in his power to make you happy and for us it was exceptional and enough in every way!
More about our trip: Victor is an excellent and prompt communicator which made the whole process so much easier. I had been emailing various car services and couldn't get anyone to respond or if they did it wasn't easy to communicate or they weren't flexible with where they would take us. Victor's customer service and business focus was very appreciated and we were able to start building a relationship via email which made me feel comfortable about booking with him.
I sent a concept of the itinerary which was ambitious - with Victor's recommencations, we adjusted some things out, and reoriented the direction of the trip. Here is the itinerary we planned and completed: we left Havana headed SE through Playa Largo, along the southern route to Cienfuegos then along the southern route to Trinidad, onward to Camaguay via Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila, and then to Manzanillo via Las Tunas, then take the southern route to Santiago de Cuba, then onward to Baracoa via Guantanamo, then up around the northern route to Gibara, then drop down to Holguin and bust it out to Santa Maria in a long day, and then back to Havana, then the last day drop down the Western route to Soroa and Las Terrazas and back to Habana. Phew! (Plus we had 3 days in Habana on our own)
If you got all of that, our trip was flawless from start to finish because of Victor and his father-in-law Alex (who was our taxi driver in his nice 2002 Toyota sedan). Both men are exceedingly kind, friendly and polite and go above and beyond to make sure your trip in Cuba is the best it can be. Victor acted as guide, navigator, travel agent, and planner.
Questions that I had that may help you: neither men smoke, the car is clean and well maintained, four of us traveled comfortably and they were masters at fitting luggage and all our other treasures in the trunk! We are pretty independent and used to taking care of ourselves, so to be pampered by these two assisting us with luggage, buying tickets to events, or any other ideas I came up with was such a luxury. They truly spoiled us!
Things go wrong in life - they had a death in their immediately family the second day into our trip, Alex returned to Habana for several days and we had substitute drivers/taxis until he was able to join us in Trinidad - both of those drivers were also wonderful with nice vehicles. We were so impressed with Victor and Alex's professionalism and how concerned they were about not allowing the circumstances to impact our trip, yet, making the adjustments necessary to meet their needs also. There were several days where there was no fuel and we later found up they were up late into the night negotiating with officials to obtain fuel - again none of this impacted our travel or timelines.
You get to know people quite well when you spend substantial time together. Our personalities all meshed very well and we genuinely liked each other. When we weren't too tired from the day, we often all played dominoes or mexican train at night. Alex is a lethal opponent, although we are all pretty good!
We became friends, we shared lots of personal stories, we learned so much about Cuba, its people, how resourceful, hardworking, clean, organized, loving, caring and family-oriented the Cuban people are.
We stayed in many wonderful casa particulars and ate in dozens of delicious paladars as well. I am particular but also reasonable - we had no trouble finding nice accommodations or good food. We tried a little street food, bought produce at open markets, and bought roasted peanuts, coconut, sugar cane juice and other items from roadside stands along the way. We all took 1,000 pictures.
We had free time to walk, shop, visit sites within all the cities we traveled through, we saw things that no tourist would ever see (like farmers spreading their rice on side roads to dry and then sweeping up and load the rice into trucks by hand). We saw 10,000 goats, 2,000 mules, 7,000 brahma-ish looking cows, 100,000 cats (particularly in Havana), 4,000 dogs, at least 25,000 horses. We saw mountains, rivers, beaches, the ocean, farmlands, rice paddies, cities, towns, factories, private enterprises. We visited, private homes, gardens, bird-watched (we even saw the Cuban tocororo/trogan, zunzuncitos, emerald hummingbirds, and many others), snorkeled, laid on the beaches, many of which we had to ourselves. There are so many other things we did and saw! Too much to list in one review. Cuba was such a wonderful and fascinating country but SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE because of Victor and Alex.
We came home healthy, happy, and truly enriched from the time we spent with these guys, both of whom made our trip exceptional with their humor, kindness, and Cuban pride. In an imperfect world, Victor made it all perfect. We were exceedingly pleased in every way with our trip. Thank you Alex and Victor from the depth of our hearts for the million memories we all made together!
5 STAR TRAVEL GUIDE
CAN’T GET BETTER ????
Victor was so professional in working out our itinerary of 11 days. He had a can do attitude and spoke excellent English. I felt at easy from our first conversation.
Phil and I had a fantastic time in Cuba as a direct result of Victor and Alex, the driver.
We feel so grateful for the amazing memories that Victor and Alex created in this beautiful country.
We encourage our American and Australian friends to experience Cuba with Victor and Alex because they took care of every detail and made a personalised holiday for us.
Every day they crafted interesting, exciting, and fun times. The very best tour guide we have ever had in traveling the world.
I truely felt so sad saying goodbye as they made us feel like family and created the best time for us in every way! ????
Thanks Victor for the memories in November 2019, we will always be grateful.??
Riding with Daniel was a great experience. Very knowledgeable of all the locations i needed to go to and was very helpful with advice on things that I needed when I arrived in Havana, Cuba. In the future I will be contacting Daniel for all my taxi needs.
We had a great time in Cuba. We met Daniel and Alexis at the airport as we had arranged. We had planned several transfers for our trip which Daniel organised for us. We found their service to be very reliable and Alexis, who was our driver, was an excellent safe driver and also shared his knowledge of the beautiful country. Daniel was very quick to respond to any message and flexible in helping us with ad hoc requests in organising activities in Havana. We would certainly contact them again on our next trip.
We had booked a 14 days trip with Daniel. At the last minute we end up travelling with Alexis under the same conditions agreed with Daniel. We had a great time with Alexis. He was really professional,punctual and helpful. He dropped us everywhere we wanted ( even if the road to go there was terrible). He often droped our luggage into our accommodation while we were enjoying ourself elsewhere and make everything possible to help us. He made all the necessary efforts to understand our approximate Spanish and to share with us his knowledge of the country . He has excellent driving skills and a good car (Toyota) with air conditioning and enough space for our massive suitcases. We fully recommend Alexis to spend a nice and safe trip in Cuba.
Greeting from France
Chloé, Faustine and Medhi
Hace unos minutos le envié el contacto de Daniel a un amigo que viajara a Cuba, y me comenta sobre una muy mala opinión, por lo cual me dispongo a relatar mi experiencia porque creo que ha sido algo injusto, yo lo conocí mientras ya estaba en Cuba, y me llevo por dos noches a Trinidad, del 9/12 al 11/12.
Dejamos la Habana sobre las 8am, nos llevó a visitar el criadero de cocodrilos en Guama y la Laguna del Tesoro, hermosa experiencia. Seguido estuvimos realizando buceo en La cueva de los peces (que decía que costaba 30 cuc por persona) pero Daniel conocía al guía y solo nos cobró 20 cuc por persona. También terminamos la tarde un restaurante intricado que de seguro nosotros no lo encontraríamos y comimos una muy buena comida (Daniel nos pidió que no dijéramos lo que comimos), pero fue espectacular, llegamos en la noche a Trinidad, aquí salimos a caminar con Daniel y terminamos en un restaurante maravilloso (Oshun y Yamaya), la mejor langosta que he comido en Cuba. Al día siguiente nos llevó a Topes de Collantes, sus cascadas son preciosas y también almorzamos en un restaurante local (que tampoco podemos decir que. haha). Al día siguiente fuimos bien temprano a la playa 8am por Daniel nos advirtió sobre la cantidad de Turistas que hay, así q disfrutamos de una playa privada hasta las 10AM. El conocimiento de Daniel en la Isla es de mucha ayuda para cualquier turista que quiera ir a visitarlos, le recomiendo que viajen con el para disfrutar de una verdadera experiencia de Cuba…
Nota: Definitivamente le aconsejaría este chofer a todos los que visitan Cuba
Unfortunately we had a very bad 14 days tour with Daniel (actually 13 days, because the last day he did not show up after he received his money...)
His behaviour toward us - two women, not accompanied by a man which would have probably made a difference - was inappropriate, unprofessional and very offending. He did not stop making personal offences about our personality, although we asked him to stop that at the very beginning. He even shouted at us. He clearly did not like us nor respected us - but as a professional working in the service and tourist sector, you have to behave appropriate whether you like your customers or not.
We booked a guide for a photo tour from sunrise to sunset and paid extra money for that. But all we got was a driver. He never did any guiding, told us anything about country, culture, traditions etc, he simply dropped us off somewhere and picked us up again - sometimes hours, sometimes even two days later. He never suggested a location to stop, we had to do all the research which wasn't always easy due to limited internet in Cuba. And for sure we missed a lot of nice places which we could have visited with a guide with local knowledge. We definitely paid way too much money for what we got.
He did not take good care of us while driving, so we always had to make sure ourselves to get a lunch break, a loo stop, water etc. He did not help us. Neither did he support us when we were obviously ripped off at two of our accommodations. Instead of helping us he simply offended us again and that we should shut up, because that is the way things work in Cuba (when we had to pay 100 US Dollar for a room without a proper window which costs usually 10 - 16 USD for example). A guide should be the safe harbour in a foreign country - but it felt that we had to fight and defend ourselves constantly.
When we had a break down with the car, he let us wait for more than 2 hours in the boiling sun, instead of showing us the nearby restaurant and offering us something to drink.
But the worst - he asked for the last part of the payment before the tour ended, because he needed the money he said. Although we did not feel good about it - we paid. And we never saw him again. He sent a taxi instead and the driver had the order to simply drop us off at a beach for the whole day, so we could not do our last part of the photo tour which was booked and paid.
Because of my job I am a frequent traveller and had so many guides already around the world. Never before I made such a bad experience. What a shame. The country you visit you will remember as good or as bad as the guide was. Unfortunately we could not enjoy Cuba as we should have been. Definitely not a recommendable guide.
I appreciate that you have taken your precious time to leave your comment, although it is not the best review I have received, I recognize that you give me a unique opportunity to improve my customer service management as it deserves, so it is a benefit for my future clients. In a way I am happy because I know that you achieved very good photos thanks to the teamwork we made, in the search you made thanks to the cell phone line that I gave you at no cost and my knowledge about the Island. I understand your bad experience especially with accommodation, something that I offered to organize and you insisted on doing it by your means, it is also true that car broke down, but that I quickly resolved another car to continue the trip in less than 1 hour and 18 min ( exact) Although we were quite far from anywhere, you may not remember why I was very upset, but in trinity when I arrived at your accommodation and had your problem I offered to solve it quickly with other accommodation and later you decide to stay, I I told the owner of the house to give her free breakfast to reduce the tendency. I am very sorry that your opinion not only about me, but about Cuba is so negative, but I also know, that we can be better thanks to these warnings from the client.
Thank you very much for your time
Good English and quick responses via WhatsApp
Offers rides everywhere in Cuba at a competitive price
Thanks Daniel!
The initial plan was that Daniel only picked up at the airport take us to Havana and after that the Viñales. But as his service was excellent (waiting for us at the airport after quite some delay and Daniel knew a lot of Cuba) he arranged the whole tour for us. Daniel has also a travel company so he was able to take us to all the nice spots in Las Terrazas, and Trinidad. Especially the trip from Las Terrazas to Trinidad was remarkable due the all wonderful things we did and saw under way: diving in the sea, boat trip, swimming, bay of pigs and so on.
Next to that he is trustworthy, perfectly on time for pick-ups and has a good car with airco; all reasonable priced. We would definitely recommend Daniel to you when go to Cuba.
Thank you very much for your positive review????, I just do my job (although I must admit, that in many occasions I enjoy good company????), we strive for you to spend the best of your vacations, It has been an immense pleasure to meet you and make trips like the one from Las Terrazas to Trinidad.
Ha sido un viaje con Daniel excepcional, no ha sido nuestro chofer, ha sido nuestro amigo!!! Nos ha acompañado en nuestro viaje haciendo que haya sido una experiencia inolvidable, hemos compartido con el muy buenos momentos y ha sabido llevarnos, enseñarnos y explicarnos como nadie Cuba. Mil gracias Daniel, volveremos a Cuba y por supuesto contigo.
Para mi no fue en lo absoluto trabajo, fue todo una experiencia conocerlos a ustedes y compartir alegres momentos, sobre todo conocer a la preciosa Erin. Muchas gracias por permitirme ser parte de sus vacaciones.
Daniel was a great driver. Very knowledgeable about Cuba. He was very friendly, down to earth, and welcoming. He made my trip to Viñales with my 2 friends one to remember bringing us to the best tourist spots and giving us an authentic Cuban experience. His rate is very reasonable and he even ended up bringing my friends and I to the airport for departure a few days after our initial trip. He is very trustworthy and a hard worker. I would recommend him to others and look forward to working with him again in the future!
Daniel was great, he picked me up from the airport and drove me around for the entire day. He took me to every spot i wanted to go, and even walked me through the streets of Old Havana.
I would highly recommend
Had an amazing tour with Daniel. We covered 2500km from Varadeo to Gardulavaca. Daniel arranged for us to stay in local family run casa's.Which gave us an insight into the real Cuban life.
We did a 16 day tour: Havana, Vinales, Cienfuego, Trinidad, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba, Baracoa.
Daniel is a lovely friendly guy that will go out of his way to please.
The country itself is very interesting and diverse. The people are friendly and always have a smile to welcome you. Away from Havana the scenery is ever changing. We swam in rivers. Chilled off in waterfalls. Went horse riding. Hired bikes and cycled 25km. Even had a picnic on a lake. All arranged by Daniel.
Had an amazing time and learnt a lot about the country, that is lost if you just stay in an all inclusive at a big resort.
We are a couple in our 60s and had an amazing adventure.
Thank you Daniel
Excelente servicio y trato, indudablemente lo contactaré en mi regreso a Cuba.
Daniel was excellent. He helped us find all the places we wanted to go and had great recommendations. His service was above and beyond expectations.
Daniel nos ha dado un servicio excelente y personalizado. Ha estado al tanto de nuestro itinerario y necesidades de transporte en cada momento, y nos ha hecho recomendaciones oportunas de la ciudad. Daniel es un chofer responsable, amable y dispuesto siempre a ayudar. Conoce perfectamente la ciudad y por supuesto la cultura local. Nuestra experiencia fue excelente con su servicio y se los recomendamos a todos. Cuando regresemos a Cuba, contaremos nuevamente con el!
Estas Navidades hemos contratado los servicios de Daniel para hacer un recorrido por Viñales y Habana, sólo a sido un día y medio,pero lo suficiente para darnos cuenta de que es un buen profesional y buena persona. Tengo clarísimo que tengo que volver a Cuba(muchos más dias) y que por supuesto volvere a contratarlo para que me organice una ruta por toda la isla. Gracias por todo y que te vaya todo muy bien.
Viajamos con Alexis y fue una gran experiencia. Buen coche (un Toyota), buenas rutas elegidas por ellos, puntualidad, buena atención, asesoramiento...
Aunque Víctor no pudo atendernos, muy amablemente nos mandó a su suegro, Alexis. Un chofer muy atento, quien nos dio un tour por La Haban previo a llevarnos a Varadero. Lo recomiendo altamente, de verdad, una persona con quien la plática fluyó desde el primer minuto y cuya guía fue precisa en todo momento.
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Carlos González
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Yoslandy Rodríguez
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YoTeLlevo is a community of private taxi drivers in Cuba. You contact them before arriving in the island and they give you prices for your trips in Cuba.
We are also the creators of PickoCar.com, a shared taxi service in Cuba.
