Havana eSIM — plans from ₹2,149.00

José Martí International Airport (HAV) handles international arrivals at Terminal 3, west of the city, and the experience is deliberately unhurried. Cuba has a single telecommunications operator, ETECSA, and local prepaid tourist lines are sold from its counters, which are not always open when a flight lands and can run out of stock. That is a very different situation from most destinations, and it is worth understanding before you travel rather than at the kerb.

There are no ride-hailing apps in Havana. You will take a state taxi from the airport rank, a private classic car, or a transfer arranged by your casa particular, and prices are agreed in conversation rather than in an app. Data on arrival is therefore less about booking a car and more about confirming your casa's address in Vedado or Habana Vieja, telling your host you have landed, and telling people at home the same thing.

An eSIM installed at home goes live at the first Cuban network connection. See Cuba plans.

ETECSA is the only mobile network, so there is no switching to a faster rival. Havana runs on 3G and 4G LTE; there is no 5G to plan around, and speeds are modest by regional standards, especially in the evening.

Coverage itself is reasonably broad across Habana Vieja, Centro Habana, Vedado and Miramar, and thick colonial walls are more of a problem than distance from a tower. Public squares that once served as Wi-Fi hotspots are still busy with people using their phones. Outside the city, the motorway west to Viñales and east to Varadero keeps signal near the towns and thins between them, and the Zapata swamp and the Viñales valley floor have real gaps.

Download everything before you arrive: offline maps for Havana and any province you visit, accommodation addresses and host phone numbers, translation packs and any documents you need. Assume you will not be able to look something up quickly.

Wi-Fi in hotels and some restaurants exists but is slow and often needs a card or account you cannot easily obtain as a visitor. Video calling and some voice-over-internet services can be unreliable here, so plan on text messages reaching home rather than long calls. Hotspot for a laptop works on most plans but do not expect to work a normal day online. Power cuts happen, so a charged power bank is genuinely useful. Keep expectations modest and Havana is a pleasure.