On December 24th 2015 I traveled to Cuba. Actually, this is not as complicated as you might think. Basically, my dog passport must be in order, and I must be vaccinated against rabies. This was also the only vaccination the veterinarian at the airport in Havana was interested in.
First of all, it had to be mentioned by my owners at the time of booking that I would be on the trip too for the airline to check if there aren’t to much dogs in the cabin. Therefore it is only possible to book the tickets by phone (in this case Air France).
(EDIT: Air France recently advised me to first book a flight throughout their website, and then to call immediately after the reservation was made the reservation service by phone to confirm the dog (the pet). This may result in a better price for the flight. If there is no place for the pet, the flight can be cancelled and refunded and another flight can be booked).
I am small enough to travel in the cabin. I need to have enough space in my travel bag to get up, turn around and lie down. It is worth mentioning that Air France charges 400 € per round trip (200 € for one way). Considering the formalities to enter Cuba, as I said, the dog passport and a certificate from the Cuban Embassy in your country that Mr. X. will enter Cuba on day Y. with a dog is enough. To get the certificate you need a certificate from your vet that your pet is able to travel. It’s a kind of a dog visa … issued by the consular section of the Cuban embassy (from Brussels in my case). You can also apply for this form by post. The rabies antibody test is also important, so that there will be no problems later to re-enter the EU.
On our departure to Cuba my pet passport was checked and my owner had to pay 200 € for me to the airline. But that was all considering formalities. I also did the 12-13 hours trip without problems. The veterinarian said I should not drink from about 20:00 (8:00pm) the evening before (the flight started at 7:55 am). But only to start drinking some water already on the plane during the flight. That’s what I did and everything was fine (there were no “pee” problems). The veterinarian also gave me a sedative but I never needed it.
Arriving in Cuba my owner went to the passport checking. No one was interested in me. Before we could get our bags, my master and I went to the airport veterinarian. Although I was a bit queasy, the whole thing turned out to be a pure formality issue. He looked at me briefly, then filled out a form which definitely allowed me to enter Cuba. This form must also be brought to the return flight (very important !!!).
If you stay longer than 14 days in Cuba, if the trip takes more than 2 weeks, you have to renew that form by a vet from the “Instituto de medecina veterinaria de Cuba”. It’s at
On our flight home, nobody was interested in my papers at the airport in Paris. I passed all the controls without any problem (passport and security controls). It is important to mention that you officially need a rabies antibody titer test to reenter the EU. This test has to be done once and is valid as long as you respect the rabies vaccination dates.
This is for the travel formalities. In Cuba, tourists with dogs are quite rare on the island, not to say there are any at all. So it is not surprising that almost no hotel allows dogs. As my owners have their own home in Cuba, this was no problem for us. However, if you plan to travel with your dog, not everyone renting private rooms accepts dogs, so it is very important to check this before departure.
Surprisingly, I was often accepted without problems in the lobbies of some hotels. These were the Memories Occidental and the 5ta Avenida in Havana. I also entered the hotel Nacional. Maybe there are some hotels that accepts pets if you check it with them by phone, although almost all Cuban hotels on their website indicate that pets are not allowed.
I have also tolerated the heat relatively well. It is worth to mention that December / January is winter season in Cuba and they have an average temperature of 24-28 degrees (and even a bit cooler in the evening), but but there may be higher temperatures.
As for mosquitoes and other plagues, my owner applied a Spot-On on me (Advantix) a few days before departure which always works relatively well with me. I had only one time a small tick between the toes on the front paw, which had not even “indented” to bite. My owner checked my paws after every walk and probably discovered it on time. We brought food from here (dry food) and I occasionally got boiled chicken breast to eat. I only drunk bottled water.
As I said, there might be problems with accommodation, but if you look for a suitable private accommodation in time, and take your time to comply with all the formalities to enter Cuba, you will probably have a pleasant trip to Cuba with your pet!
Chico de Lux 