Viazul buses in Cuba

We booked several bus trips on Viazul’s website. One presents the confirmation email at the station in exchange for real tickets.

Unlike what older guidebooks suggests, station staff are familiar with the internet confirmations and will happily exchange the confirmation for tickets.

However, in my view, the internet booking is simply a payment mechanism ... so treat your confirmation as a prepaid travel voucher with no real reservation being held anywhere.

This isn’t as bad as it sounds ... some stations don’t allow walk-in (or any form of) reservation until the day of travel anyway (or the day before). Just be sure to turn up at the station early to put your name on the passenger reservation list.

In general, the actual bus services were good:

- Buses were generally late departing, but get you to the destination about ten minutes behind the scheduled time.
- All buses were fairly clean and comfortable. Some were brand-new.
- Staff were courteous and helpful ... not much English is spoken but they try their best to help.