Discover Cuba

Today you board your flight to Havana the capital of Cuba where you check in to your hotel and have a free afternoon. You may wish to explore the cobblestone streets and alley ways of the old city which was founded in 1591 on the Bay of Havana and built in baroque and neo classical styles.

Discover street after street of grand facades, colourfully painted facades and unique Spanish colonial architecture. Dinner is arranged for you this evening. (Overnight Havana)

Step back in time as your walking tour of old Havana takes you to the first of Cuba’s seven UNESCO world heritage sites, San Francisco de Asis Plaza. You visit the old town square, the Rum Museum and the Ambos Mundos Hotel where Ernest Hemmingway resided. Hemmingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 and his novel mentioned in the citation for the prize was set in Cuba (the citation read for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in “Old Man and the Sea”).

You also visit the Tobacco Museum in the historical centre and see historic Plaza de Armas and Cathedral Square. Take a scenic drive to see Central Park, Havana’s Grand Theatre and the National capitol before arriving in modern Havana and Revolution Square and University Hill. Including entrance fee to Museo de la Revolución and Tropicana show. (Overnight Havana)

After breakfast you tour the picturesque Vinales Valley where the landscape features valleys of Royal Palms, Cuba’s national tree. The valley is in Pinar del Rio, the western province of Cuba where the best tobacco in the world is purportedly cultivated.

You tour a tobacco factory and visit a finca where you experience the hospitality and simple lifestyle and culture of local tobacco growers. You also visit the Cueva del Indio- limestone caves, take a boat ride there on a subterranean river and explore prehistoric murals pained on ancient valley stone.

As well as a good wine is defined by its vineyard, the character of a Habano is closely related to the soil where the tobacco is grown.

Depart Havana early this morning and travel to Cienfuegos, stopping enroute at the Fiesta Campesina farm and the Guama crocodile hatchery. Follow the south coast via Cienaga de Zapata, the scene of fighting against the US troops where they landed in 1961.

Tour Cienfuegos which is the only Cuban city founded by the French and is situated on a stunning bay protected by the Castillo de Jagua. Continue to Trinidad where you check in to your hotel for the next two nights and have dinner together. (Overnight Trinidad)

After breakfast you have a panoramic tour of Trinidad one of Cuba’s greatest attractions. This 500 year old tiny city founded by the Spanish is one of the best preserved in the Carribbean. It has been yet another inclusion in UNESCO’s world cultural heritage list since 1988 and is noted for its lovely cobblestone streets, pastel coloured houses with elaborate wrought iron grills and majestic palaces and plazas.

Your tour includes the Mayor Parish Church of the Holy Trinity with its spectacular 300 year old altar, Mayor Plaza, the City Museum and Potter Chichis house of the Santander family. There is some free time in the afternoon before meeting for dinner. (Overnight Santiago de Cuba)

The white sands at Ancón Beach, makes a perfect place to spend the day just chilling out in the sand and swimming in the Caribbean.

After breakfast drive across the island to Camaguey, passing cattle ranches and citrus and sugar plantations along the way and stopping in Tinajones.

Camaguey originally on the coast was relocated to protect it from marauding pirates. Enjoy walking through its small streets and squares, originally laid out to confuse attackers and which now delight visitors. Tour the Church of Our Lady of La Merced and the Plaza del Carmen. (Overnight Camaguey)

This morning you set out for Santiago de Cuba on the island’s eastern coast, stopping in the historical centre of Bayamo along the way. Santiago de Cuba’s first mayor was Hernan Cortés, the future conqueror of Mexico.

Visit the Sanctuary of the revered Virgin Cupper, considered the patroness of Cuba and check in to your hotel for dinner and a free evening. Music fans will love the Caribbean flavour of Cuba’s second largest and most colourful city and the vibrant music and dance scene. (Overnight Santiago de Cuba)

Son, a forerunner of the salsa traces its roots to Santiago de Cuba whose inhabitants are descended from French and Haitian settlers.

Tour lively Santiago de Cuba today with sights including the necropolis of Santa Iphigenia where Jose Marti, Cuba’s patriot and national literary hero rests, Plaza Antonio Maceo, the 26th July Museum.

A walking tour in the historic centre takes you to Céspedes Park, the cathedral, the House of Diego Velasquez, Plaza Dolores and along Padre Pico and Heredia Streets.

You also visit El Morro fortress which guards the bay and is also on UNESCO’s world heritage list. (Overnight Santiago de Cuba)

Depart for Baracoa today stopping enroute in the town of Guantanamo where you visit French Tumba and Changui House. In Baracoa you check in to your hotel and take an evening panoramic tour in to the historic city centre which was the first village built by the Spanish in the Americas and original capital of the island of Cuba.

See the Church of Our Lady of Conception and the vine cross which was brought to here by Christopher Columbus and is considered the oldest symbol of Christianity in Cuba. (Overnight Baracoa)

In “Casa de la Trova” you will find a musical frenzy of “salsa” and Cuban “son” along of mojitos and lots of dancing.

Your excursion today takes you to Rancho TOA which displays the life of local farmers, their homes, customs, modes of transport and agricultural produce such as cocoa and coconut. You can taste traditional Chorote and a Creole lunch before taking a boat ride on the Rio TOA, Cuba’s largest river.

You return to your hotel in Baracoa and have dinner. (Overnight Baracoa)

After an early breakfast you depart Baracoa on your flight to Havana.

You arrive late morning and check in to your hotel. You have a free afternoon in Havana to relax or for last minute shopping and exploring this surprising city.

Enjoy your last day in La Havana!