Havana

Havana is great for a vacation, not for remote work. One of the best thing here is the atmosphere - it means people, music, fun, nightlife. BUT the situation with food is very complicated, is hard to find literally anything, there are queues everywhere. The internet is expensive (2.5 GB of LTE for 8 dollars) and very unstable. If you don't need so much internet to your work and if you are patient enough, you can enjoy Havana as it is really interesting and unique city.

I visited Havana during Thanksgiving in 2019, and I loved it! It has an amazing energy, and it's one of my favorite places ever to buy art (you can buy amazing paintings in the street for a great price!). It's also super interesting to learn about the culture and the history. My main tip is make sure you invest in a good tour guide (especially if not local - the foreigners feel more comfortable to talk about the local reality).

Having said that, it's a terrible place to work from if you need internet (like most people, right!?). Regardless where you are staying (hotels or "casa de familia", which is kind of an airbnb w/ a family, a great option to live the local culture), you need to buy a "pre-paid" internet card and find places where the internet connection actually works. It's usually better in hotels, but if you are in a different place, you will need to find a park or another public space with a strong reception. I was working on a project while there, and thankfully most of what I did was offline. Every time I needed to send an update of my project, I had to walk to a nearby park with my computer to get an "ok" reception (depending on the time of the day; in the evening, you see a lot of people in the park with their phones - forget about using the internet!)

Food is also a problem. Most of restaurants that look nice have a terrible food, and googling for options while you are walking around is impossible (internet is hard to connect, remember?). Do your homework beforehand, and always have a good map pinpointing restaurants and places to visit.

Still worth visiting. The history there is unique - I agree there are better cities in Latin America, but none is that singular. Also, the locals will try to get your money - but this is also the case in many other places in the world (and Havana is not worse than Bangkok, I promise!) You don't need to stay long, just a few days (3-4) is more than enough. Also, don't bother visiting the all inclusive resorts in the country - go somewhere else in the Caribbean (the views will as amazing as in Cuba + the food and drinks will be better)

I can't comprehend why Havana is rated so well here. I couldn't walk anywhere near the center of the city without being constantly hounded to buy something, go to a restaurant, or take a "taxi" in some random car or bicycle cab. The reason is that Cubans have no disposable income because they receive everything from the government, so they are desperate for money to travel or buy something unusual. I never interacted with a single local who wasn't hustling me for cash.

Definitely avoid this place if you're American. Your smartphone's internet and Google Maps don't work here, and Uber etc is nonexistent. American debit and credit cards are forbidden. Air pollution is quite bad due to all of the old cars and vehicles. It really is like stepping back to the 1950's, except in a developing country.

There are far better cities in Latin America. I liked even Santo Domingo far better than Havana. It at least had one or two clean neighborhoods with modern amenities, with far less people hassling you for money.