A Cuban woman visited Playa La Herradura in the municipality of Jesús Menéndez, province of Las Tunas, this Monday, and documented in a video the prices she found at this popular summer destination, warning her followers to sit down before seeing them "because they will be left speechless."
The TikToker @bellas_Diame posted the walk-through on Monday, and within a few hours, it garnered over 53,400 views and 935 shares, indicating that the prices she showcased struck a nerve among Cubans.
Among the most striking data from the video: renting a private cabin on the beach costs 3,000 pesos, a chair costs 300 pesos, and a beer ranges from 550 to 600 pesos. A pound of grapes costs 1,400 pesos —“when my dad asked how much the grapes cost, he was shocked,” recounted the author— and apples are sold for 600 pesos.
A piña colada served in a disposable cup costs 900 pesos, a bottle of water 800 pesos, and a crate of beers amounts to 11,400 pesos.
The sign at a stall also listed boiled condensed milk for 1,000 pesos, 400 grams of powdered milk for 2,000 pesos, and one kilogram for 4,000 pesos.
The author clarified that the state-run beach stalls—where ice cream, oysters, fried fish, and spaghetti are sold—offer prices that are "supposedly a bit more economical," although they are still not affordable: a pizza costs 300 pesos and a soft drink or malt costs 500 pesos.
"We went to spend the afternoon, we didn't go to paladares or eat out or anything like that," explained @bellas_Diame, emphasizing that the video reflects the cost of an ordinary family outing to the beach.
The impact of these prices is better understood when compared to the actual income of Cubans. The average salary in Cuba was 7,074 pesos in April 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), and the minimum wage is 3,210 pesos. This means that a single box of beer at the beach exceeds the entire monthly salary of an average worker.
The phenomenon is not exclusive to Las Tunas. Renting a shade in Boca Ciega, Havana, exceeds 9,000 pesos, and in Guardalavaca, beach meals reached 2,100 pesos last summer. In the province of Las Tunas itself, the fare for the boat to Playa La Boca increased from 20 to 50 pesos in July, sparking outrage on social media.
All of this is happening in the context of the worst economic crisis in Cuba in decades: the economy has experienced a decline of 15% since 2020 and plunged an additional 5% in 2025, accompanied by prolonged blackouts, fuel shortages, and a real inflation estimated by independent economists to be close to 70% annually, far exceeding the official rate of 14.07%.
As the author of the video herself summarized: "Even going to a simple beach in Cuba for an afternoon has become a luxury that is too expensive!"
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