Best of 2001: Best Travel Agencies If You're Flying To Cuba

Viajes Cuauhtli

8160 7th (Galeana) Street, between Revolución and Constitución, Tijuana

(011-52-66) 85-33-10

Taino Tours

9330, Ignacio Comonfort Street,

next to the ball-shaped Cultural Center, behind the McDonald's

(011-52-66) 84-96-34

Flights to Cuba are becoming popular out of Tijuana. An AeroMexico MD88 charter flight leaves every Saturday for Havana via Monterrey. The Viajes Cuauhtli package includes round-trip, ground transportation, visa, insurance, and seven nights at Havana's Neptuno Hotel with breakfast buffet. Cuauhtli (better known as Rubi's) charges you $680. That's for shared room, plus $20 arrival tax upon entering Havana and $20 departure. Save more by going direct to Taino Tours, which organizes the packages. Taino's basic price for a week (staying at the Colina Hotel in downtown Havana, in front of the university) is $630. Neptuno ($644), Riviera ($751), or the Nacional ($964) are alternative hotels. The flight costs $600. Depart Tijuana at 7:00 p.m. Saturday; arrive back following Sunday morning around 9:00 a.m. You have to work out whether U.S. government travel restrictions apply to you, but the Cubans oblige by stamping a loose separate sheaf of paper, rather than your passport.