Trinidad vs. la boca vs. playa ancon:

I get asked about which of these three locations is best to stay in a lot.  Here’s my opinion:

From Trinidad it’s about 10 minutes to La Boca and 15 minutes to Playa Ancon by car. I was not very impressed by Playa Ancon. I had no desire to stay at a hotel anyway, but that decision was confirmed when I saw the tired, concrete hotels that lined Ancon. In general I am not a fan of all-inclusive resorts so that already got a “no” from me. But if that is what you are looking for, I can’t say that any of these resorts seemed charming from the outside.  I’ve heard Veradero might be more interesting if you are looking for an all-inclusive experience.  Overall I would say, visit if you want to but can’t recommend staying there and I think there are better beaches in the area (I expand on that below).

Now it’s down to staying in La Boca and Trinidad. La Boca is a very small, quiet town with no restaurants or nightlife. I don’t mean a few little spots, I mean zero. We ate dinner at our casa and spent our nights reading on the porch with a glass of Havana Club. We actually enjoyed the quiet in La Boca so much that we stayed for an extra night. But we’d already gotten plenty of nightlife in Havana and Trinidad 😉 It is very quick to get between the two spots. So one night we took a cab from La Boca into Trinidad to eat dinner and see some music. It is not easy to catch a cab in La Boca though so if you’re looking for a little more excitement: restaurants, salsa dancing, etc. I’d definitely recommend staying in Trinidad.

As far as the beaches go, my favorite were the small beaches that line the road between La Boca and Playa Ancon on the road, Carr a Ancon.  La Boca itself is on an inlet and doesn’t have much of a beach, but a short bike or car ride down the road is plenty of crystal blue water and white sand beach. We biked one day from our casa, but the bikes were old and rusty, the roads were rough, it was hot…. not the romantic bike ride along the coast I had in mind haha. The next day we had a cab take us there and our driver offered to come back and pick us up, which ended up being the best option for a relaxing day.  For about 2 cuc you can use the beach and use a chair and palapa. Someone will come up to you when you arrive to ask for money, this isn’t a scam (which I thought it might be at first.) It was only a few pesos. There was little, government run bar at most of the beaches we stopped at where you could order a beer or mojito and a meal. One of the stops, La Batea, rented snorkel stuff.  Playa Caribe and Playa Maria Aguilar were our favorite spots.

Long story short, I would suggest staying Trinidad and taking a cab to Playa Caribe or Playa Maria Aguilar for a beach day. Unless you want a very quiet spot, then go for La Boca.