New tourist bus makes Havana sightseeing easy

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I'm a walker. I love exploring Havana on foot. After all, I can't research my Moon Cuba from the back of a bus. In any event, Havana's crowded and uncomfortable public buses, or guaguas (pronounced WAH-wahs), have traditionally been for stoics. Now here's the good news...

Since May 2008, Havana now has a double-decker tourist bus service, the "HabananBusTour," perfect for first-time visitors who want to get their bearings and catch the main sights of Havana. Even old-timers like me can get a thrill to riding up top in the open-air, with all the highlights laid out below. Just like sightseeing in London... except warmer! Although there are three routes, the red-and-blue, Chinese-made double-deckers only serve one route. The other two routes are by minibus, which takes away the fun.

It's a good bargain, too. For just $5 convertible pesos (about $6), you can hop on and off the buses as many times as you wish in a day at any of the 44 stops, currently served by a fleet of 12 buses (three are double-deckers) covering 95 miles of route, daily 9am-9pm.

The T1 route (double-decker) begins on the west side of Parque Central and does a kind of figure eight around the perimeter of Habana Vieja, and then through the 20th-century Vedado district as far as Plaza de la Revolucion via the Hotel Habana Libre. At Plaza de la Revolucion you can hop aboard the T2 minibus for a sightseeing tour of Nuevo Vedado and Miramar and as far afield as Marina Hemingway, on the western fringe of the city. The T3 (minibus) is a great way to get out to the Playas del Este beaches.

Hopefully this service, operated by Transtur, will fare better than the similar but short-lived Vaiven bus service, introduced in 2004.