No McDonald's in Cuba 2026
McDonald’s has never opened a public restaurant in Cuba; the only one on the island is inside the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, which ordinary Cubans cannot enter.
Why Cuba has no Big Mac price
The US trade embargo against Cuba, in force since 1960, bars American companies from operating commercial businesses on the island. McDonald’s has never opened a public-facing restaurant there.
There is one exception, and it is a legal curiosity rather than a market. A McDonald’s has operated inside the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay since 1986, on roughly 116 km² of southeastern Cuban coastline the United States has leased since the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty — a lease granting “complete jurisdiction and control” over the area. It is run by the Department of the Navy and open only to base-authorised personnel. Ordinary Cubans cannot enter, and the Cuban government does not recognise it as operating in Cuba.
The everyday substitute is El Rápido, a state-run chain launched in 1991 selling hamburgers, hot dogs and fries at prices set in Cuban pesos, explicitly to keep convenience food within reach of local salaries. Since 2011 privately run paladares have competed alongside it in tourist-heavy areas.
Cuba is hard to fit into a Big Mac framework on three layers at once. There is no accessible McDonald’s product to price. Multiple parallel exchange rates mean any single dollar conversion is contested — the official peso rate is set by the government, while the informal rate can differ by an order of magnitude. And El Rápido’s prices reflect a planned-economy accessibility goal rather than a market-clearing input cost, which is exactly the premise the index depends on.
So Cuba carries no price on this site, and it is not tracked in the Economist’s index either.
Read the full story
This page is the short version. The full write-up goes through the timeline, the sources and the numbers that do exist.
Why there's no McDonald's in Cuba — full articleStatus at a glance
| McDonald's restaurants | None |
|---|---|
| Status | Never opened to the public — one restaurant exists only inside the US naval base |
| Big Mac Index coverage | Not tracked — there is no Big Mac to price |
| Region | Americas |
| Sources | Wikipedia — US embargo against Cuba |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a McDonald’s in Cuba?
Not one the public can use. The only McDonald’s on Cuban soil has operated since 1986 inside the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay and is restricted to base-authorised personnel. There is no public-facing McDonald’s anywhere else in Cuba.
Why is there no McDonald’s in Cuba?
The US trade embargo, in force since 1960, prohibits American companies from operating commercial businesses on the island. The Guantánamo restaurant is possible only because the 1903 lease gives the United States complete jurisdiction over the base.
What do Cubans eat instead of McDonald’s?
El Rápido, a state-run fast-food chain launched in 1991, sells hamburgers, hot dogs and fries at prices set in Cuban pesos. Since 2011 privately run paladares have competed alongside it, especially in tourist areas.
Why isn't Cuba in the Big Mac Index?
The Big Mac Index compares the price of one identical product across countries. Cuba has no McDonald's restaurant, so there is no Big Mac to price and The Economist publishes no row for it. We list Cuba with an editorial note explaining the absence instead of a number — see our methodology.
Dig deeper
- See all 76 countries on the interactive map
- Full 2026 country-by-country breakdown
- Limits of the Big Mac Index
- How I get this data (methodology)
- Know something this page gets wrong, or has a McDonald's opened since? Email me — corrections are credited inline.