I couldn’t tell you anything about your first question, but as for the time to go, if you go durring the hottest part of the year (june, july, begining of august) it is much less busy, but very hot, which I found quite nice. When you go closer to the winter season the temperatures are a bit easier to handle, but the beaches can be fairly crowded. I would recommend going sometime from late late June to mid July.

Hopefully that helped a little!

i don’t know anything about the first question either. i went for two weeks (end of june/beginning of july.) it was extremely hot and humid outside, but the heat just made the coppelia ice cream, hatuey beer, and mojitos more refreshing. :)

Consequences are heavy fines up to 10,000 dollars and jail terms (rumor is up to 10 years) upon return to the states (if they find out.) I know that when I went they did not stamp my passport they stamped my visa. One way people have gone down to Cuba before is through Canada and through Mexic. You can get travel visas through them, but the State department has stepped up its vigilence. So travel without visa at your own risk. If you do go bring Canadian money. US dollars pay an extra tax now as well as suffer from a bad exchange (in all you can lose 25% of your money as you convert US dollars to Cuban convertibles.)

The summer is also extremely hot and the sun is killer, I went in June and it was murder.

Hope that helps.

HM

yeah i am canadian so do not know about us visa rules. most of the americans we met had come from mexico. and yes it is best to use cdn $$$ because of the tax on US $$$.

i went in february and the weather was amazing – sunny breezy sunny breezy sunny – 25-30 degrees (celsius) in the day and warm enough for patios but cool enough for sound sleeping in the evening.

Bizquik, did you finally end up going?