The +53 country code is for Cuba. An island nation of about 11 million people sitting 90 miles south of Florida, Cuba has one of the most unusual telecom situations in the Western Hemisphere. For decades, calling Cuba was expensive, unreliable, and tangled up in US sanctions. That's changed -- mobile phones arrived late but spread fast, and internet access exists now where it didn't a few years ago -- but calling Cuba still has quirks you won't find anywhere else in the region.

Quick answer: The country code +53 is for Cuba. Cuban mobile numbers are 8 digits after +53 and always start with 5. A typical mobile looks like +53 5XXX XXXX. Havana landlines use area code 7: +53 7 XXX XXXX.

How to call Cuba: quick reference

Cuba uses a domestic trunk prefix of 0 for landlines. Drop it when dialing from abroad. Mobile numbers don't use the trunk prefix domestically -- you dial 5XXX XXXX directly within Cuba.

Calling from Dialing format
US/Canada mobile +53 [number]
US/Canada landline 011-53-[number]
United Kingdom (UK) 00-53-[number]
Spain 00-53-[number]
Mexico 00-53-[number]
Italy 00-53-[number]

Spain and Mexico are listed because they're historically the two countries (after the US) with the strongest ties to Cuba. Spain is the colonial connection -- over a million Cubans have claimed or are eligible for Spanish citizenship. Mexico has close diplomatic ties and direct flights.

Can Americans call Cuba?

Yes. US sanctions against Cuba are complicated, but personal telecommunications have been explicitly permitted for a long time. You can call a +53 number from any US phone. You can use VoIP services. This is not the kind of activity that gets you in trouble with OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control).

What has changed over the years is pricing and availability. Before the Obama-era thaw (2014-2016), calling Cuba from the US was expensive -- $1-$2+ per minute through carriers, with limited competition. Rates have dropped since then, though they're still higher than calls to most other Caribbean countries. The Trump-era rollbacks tightened some Cuba-related restrictions but didn't affect phone calls.

The practical reality: millions of Cuban-Americans call +53 numbers every week. It's routine. The main constraint is cost, not legality.

Understanding Cuban phone numbers

Cuban numbers are 8 digits after +53. The structure depends on whether you're calling a mobile or a landline.

Mobile numbers

All Cuban mobile numbers start with 5. There's only one mobile carrier: ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A.), the state-owned telecom monopoly. No competition, no choice, no number portability -- because there's only one network to port to.

  • Format: 5XXX XXXX (8 digits total after +53).
  • Example: +53 5123 4567.

ETECSA launched mobile service in 2008, initially at prices that most Cubans couldn't afford. A SIM card cost around $120 CUC at launch -- in a country where the average monthly salary was about $20. Prices have dropped significantly since then, and mobile ownership has grown fast. By the mid-2020s, over 7 million Cubans have mobile lines, out of a population of 11 million.

SIM cards are now tied to Cuban national ID (carnet de identidad). Tourists can buy a temporary SIM at ETECSA offices, but it takes paperwork and patience.

Landline numbers

Cuban landlines use area codes of varying lengths:

  • Havana: Area code 7, followed by a 7-digit local number.
  • Santiago de Cuba: Area code 22, followed by a 6-digit local number.
  • Other cities: Area codes range from 2 digits (e.g., 22, 24, 32) to 2 digits, with 5-6 digit local numbers.
  • Trunk prefix: Drop the leading 0 when dialing from abroad.

Landlines are more common in Cuba than in most developing countries. The mobile revolution came late, and many households still rely on a fixed-line phone. In Havana, landlines are everywhere. In smaller cities and rural areas, some families share a neighbour's landline or use a public phone.

Cuba area codes reference table

Havana (area code 7) dominates international call traffic. Santiago de Cuba (22) is the second city. Everything else is much smaller.

City Area code International format
Havana 7 +53 7 XXX XXXX
Santiago de Cuba 22 +53 22 XXX XXX
Holguín 24 +53 24 XXX XXX
Camagüey 32 +53 32 XXX XXX
Santa Clara 42 +53 42 XXX XXX
Cienfuegos 43 +53 43 XXX XXX
Matanzas 45 +53 45 XXX XXX
Pinar del Río 48 +53 48 XXX XXX
Guantánamo 21 +53 21 XXX XXX
Trinidad 41 +53 41 XXX XXX

Don't confuse +53 with +56

Cuba is +53. Chile is +56. They're not adjacent numbers, but the 5X block for the Americas means people occasionally mistype. If you hear "bueno" or "aló" in a distinctly South American accent when you expected Caribbean Spanish, check your number.

Code Country Region
+53 Cuba Caribbean
+56 Chile South America

A more common confusion: people sometimes try to call Cuba using a +1 area code, thinking it's part of the North American Numbering Plan like other Caribbean islands (Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico all use +1). Cuba is not in the NANP. It has its own country code, +53.

Time zone: same as US Eastern

Cuba is on Cuba Standard Time (UTC-5) in winter and Cuba Daylight Time (UTC-4) in summer. This is the same as US Eastern Time, which is convenient for the huge Cuban-American community in Miami and the rest of Florida.

Your location Time difference Call Cuba 9 AM - 9 PM
US East Coast (EST/EDT) Same time 9 AM - 9 PM
US West Coast (PST) Cuba is 3 hours ahead 6 AM - 6 PM PST
US West Coast (PDT) Cuba is 3 hours ahead 6 AM - 6 PM PDT
UK (GMT) Cuba is 5 hours behind 2 PM - 2 AM GMT
UK (BST) Cuba is 4 hours behind 1 PM - 1 AM BST
Spain (CET) Cuba is 6 hours behind 3 PM - 3 AM CET
Spain (CEST) Cuba is 5 hours behind 2 PM - 2 AM CEST
Mexico City (CST) Cuba is 1 hour ahead 8 AM - 8 PM CST

Tip: If you're in Miami, you and Cuba are on the same clock. No time zone math needed. Evening calls work perfectly -- 8 PM in Miami is 8 PM in Havana.

ETECSA: the only carrier

Cuba has one telecom company: ETECSA. State-owned, government-controlled, no competition. ETECSA runs the mobile network, the landline network, the internet, and the public wifi hotspots. Every phone in Cuba connects through ETECSA.

This means:

  • No carrier choice: Everyone is on the same network. There's no "which carrier are you on?" question in Cuba.
  • Pricing is set by the government: Call rates, data packages, and SIM card prices are fixed. They've come down over the years but remain high relative to Cuban salaries.
  • Service quality varies: Urban areas (Havana, Santiago) have decent coverage. Rural areas can be patchy. The network gets congested during peak hours, especially in densely populated areas of Havana.
  • Number changes are rare: Because there's no porting between carriers (there's only one), people tend to keep the same number for a long time. If someone gives you a Cuban number, it's probably still the same number years later.

Internet in Cuba: late but growing

Cuba was one of the last countries in the Western Hemisphere to get widespread internet access. The timeline tells the story:

  • Before 2013: Almost no internet access for ordinary Cubans. Some government employees and foreign journalists had access. Everyone else used sneakernet -- USB drives with downloaded content passed hand to hand, called el paquete semanal (the weekly package).
  • 2015: ETECSA launched public wifi hotspots in parks and plazas across Cuba. You'd buy a scratch card from an ETECSA office (or from resellers at a markup) to get an hour of wifi. People sitting in parks staring at their phones became a common sight overnight.
  • 2018: ETECSA launched mobile data (3G). For the first time, Cubans could go online from their phones without sitting in a park. Data was expensive but the uptake was enormous.
  • 2021-present: 4G/LTE available in major cities. Data prices have dropped but are still high by Caribbean standards. Wifi hotspots still exist and are used by people who can't afford mobile data.

The practical impact for callers: your contact in Cuba might be on WhatsApp, especially if they're in Havana or another city. But "on WhatsApp" doesn't mean "always connected." Data costs mean people go online in bursts -- they'll check messages, reply, then go offline to save their data balance. A regular voice call to their +53 number is still the most reliable way to reach someone.

El paquete and the information economy

Before widespread internet access, Cubans created their own offline content distribution system: el paquete semanal. Every week, someone would compile a terabyte or so of content -- TV shows, movies, apps, classified ads, even offline copies of websites -- onto a hard drive. Copies would spread through a network of distributors, and for a few pesos you could get the week's paquete copied to your USB drive.

The paquete still exists even though internet access has improved. Data is too expensive for streaming video, so many Cubans still get their entertainment offline. This matters for calling because it tells you something about connectivity patterns: even people with smartphones may not have reliable internet access. Don't assume that a Cuban contact who doesn't reply on WhatsApp is ignoring you -- they might simply be offline.

The diaspora connection

The Cuban diaspora is one of the most concentrated in the world. Over 2 million Cuban-Americans live in the US, and the community is overwhelmingly clustered in one place:

  • Miami / South Florida: This is the centre of the Cuban-American universe. Hialeah is majority Cuban. Little Havana is a tourist attraction now, but the broader Miami-Dade County remains deeply Cuban. Calle Ocho, Versailles restaurant, Radio Mambí -- the cultural infrastructure is enormous. Daily calls to +53 numbers are woven into life here.
  • New York / New Jersey: The second-largest Cuban-American community. Union City, New Jersey was once called "Havana on the Hudson."
  • Tampa, Florida: Historic Cuban community dating to the cigar industry. Ybor City was built by Cuban immigrants in the 1880s.
  • Spain: Over 100,000 Cubans live in Spain, mostly in Madrid and Barcelona. Many hold Spanish passports through the Law of Historical Memory, which grants citizenship to descendants of Spanish citizens.
  • Mexico: A smaller but significant community, concentrated in Mexico City and Cancún. Mexico has maintained unbroken diplomatic relations with Cuba since the revolution.
  • Other: Smaller communities in Canada (Toronto, Montreal), Italy (especially Cubans married to Italians from the tourism industry), Venezuela (though many have left), and throughout Latin America.

Phone calls between Miami and Havana are as routine as calls between any other pair of cities 200 miles apart. The political situation adds a layer of complexity -- remittances, care packages, and phone calls are how Cuban-Americans support family on the island -- but the act of calling itself is straightforward.

Remittances and calling: inseparable

For many Cuban-American families, the phone call and the money transfer are the same conversation. "How is everyone? Does the house need anything? I'm sending $200 this week." Remittances to Cuba are estimated at $3-4 billion per year, making them the island's largest source of foreign currency.

The channels for sending money have changed repeatedly depending on US policy:

  • Western Union: Operated in Cuba until 2020, when the Trump administration restricted remittances through Fincimex (the Cuban military-linked financial entity that processed transfers). Service has been intermittent since then.
  • Informal channels: "Mulas" -- people who physically carry cash and goods to Cuba -- have always been part of the system and became more important when formal channels were restricted.
  • Digital transfers: Various apps and services now offer Cuba remittances, though availability changes with the sanctions landscape.

The phone call to discuss what money is needed and confirm it arrived is a core part of this cycle.

Mobile vs. landline: how to tell the difference

You can tell by the first digit after +53:

  • Starts with 5: A mobile number.
  • Starts with 7 (Havana) or 2, 3, 4 (other cities): A landline number.

Unlike most countries in this article series, landlines are still widely used in Cuba. Don't be surprised if your contact gives you a landline number. Many Cuban households share a single landline and don't have a mobile phone at all, or have a mobile that's frequently out of credit.

Dialing examples

Here are practical examples for calling different types of Cuban numbers:

Example 1: Calling a Cuban mobile from the US

  • Cuban number: 5123 4567
  • From a US mobile: +53 5123 4567
  • From a US landline: 011 53 5123 4567

Example 2: Calling a Havana landline from the US

  • Cuban number (domestic): 7 234 5678
  • From a US mobile: +53 7 234 5678
  • From a US landline: 011 53 7 234 5678

Example 3: Calling from Spain

  • Cuban mobile: 5987 6543
  • From Spain: 00 53 5987 6543

Example 4: Calling Santiago de Cuba from Mexico

  • Santiago landline (domestic): 22 XXX XXX
  • From Mexico: 00 53 22 XXX XXX

Common mistakes to avoid

Here are the most common mistakes when dialing the +53 country code:

  • Using +1 instead of +53: Cuba is NOT part of the North American Numbering Plan (+1). Unlike Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico, Cuba has its own country code. Dial +53, not +1.
  • Adding a trunk prefix to mobiles: Cuban mobile numbers don't use a leading 0 domestically. They're just 5XXX XXXX. Don't add a 0 before the 5.
  • Expecting voicemail: Voicemail isn't standard in Cuba the way it is in North America. If no one answers, the phone just rings and rings. Try again later.
  • Calling during peak hours: ETECSA's network gets congested, especially in Havana. Early morning (7-9 AM) and late evening (8-10 PM) tend to have clearer connections than midday.
  • Assuming internet availability: Just because someone has WhatsApp doesn't mean they're online right now. Data is expensive. If your WhatsApp message shows one check mark (sent but not delivered) for hours, try a regular voice call.

Cheapest ways to call +53 numbers

Calling Cuba has historically been expensive. Rates from US carriers run $1-$3 per minute, which adds up fast for a 20-minute family call. Ways to bring the cost down:

  • VoIP services: Services like CallSky.io offer competitive per-minute rates to Cuban mobile and landline numbers. Check our international calling rates.
  • WhatsApp/Messenger: Free when both sides have data. The cheapest option, but unreliable because the Cuban side may not be online. Works best when you schedule a time for both people to be connected.
  • Nauta Hogar (home internet): Some Cuban households now have fixed broadband through ETECSA's Nauta Hogar service. If your contact has this, WhatsApp video calls become much more practical.
  • Calling cards: Still widely sold in Miami and other Cuban-American communities. Available at grocery stores, pharmacies, and speciality shops in Hialeah and Little Havana. Check our guide to the best apps for WiFi calling.

For reaching someone who doesn't have regular internet access -- which is still many Cubans, especially outside Havana -- a voice call to their +53 number is the only option.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What country has the +53 country code?

The +53 country code is for Cuba.

How many digits is a Cuban phone number?

Cuban mobile numbers are 8 digits after +53 and always start with 5. Havana landlines are area code 7 plus 7 digits. Other cities use 2-digit area codes plus 5-6 digit local numbers.

What is the area code for Havana?

The area code for Havana is 7. Internationally, dial +53 7 followed by the 7-digit local number.

Can I call Cuba from the US?

Yes. Personal telecommunications to Cuba are permitted under US sanctions. From a mobile, dial +53 followed by the Cuban number. From a landline, dial 011-53 then the number.

What time zone is Cuba in?

Cuba uses Cuba Standard Time (UTC-5) in winter and Cuba Daylight Time (UTC-4) in summer. This matches US Eastern Time.

Does WhatsApp work in Cuba?

Yes, WhatsApp works in Cuba and is the most popular messaging app. However, mobile data is expensive, so people go online intermittently. A regular voice call to a +53 number is more reliable for reaching someone immediately.

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