Classic Cuba  -  8 Days / 7 Nights

Havana / Vinales / Guama / Cienfuegos / Trinidad / Cayo Las Brujas / Havana

Cubans are some of the most welcoming and enigmatic people in the world.   

This holiday allows you to get an insight into Cuba at a relaxed pace. There’s plenty of time in the vibrant capital, Havana, giving it the attention it deserves, and a day trip to Viñales for a taste of rural Cuba before exploring the colonial gem of Trinidad. 

If you want to see the real Cuba all you need to do is drive into the countryside, whose landscape is extremely beautiful and surprisingly varied. There are huge sugar cane plantations and cattle ranches, towering royal palms, impressive mountain ranges covered in thick tropical vegetation and rich, fertile fields still ploughed by oxen. You trundle through picturesque old colonial towns avoiding livestock, horse and carts, old Russian cars and of course classic American cars. The Cuban people are everywhere, hoping for a lift, selling tropical fruit and cheese or going about the serious business of playing dominoes with the ever-present bottle of rum.

Itinerary

Day 1 :  Arrival Havana
Meet and greet at Havana Airport by your English speaking Cuban guide and transfer to your hotel in Old Havana.
Overnight with breakfast at the Colonial Hotel (4*) located in Old Havana.

 Day 2 :  Havana Colonial & The Flair of the Fifties
The morning starts with a walking tour through colonial Old Havana  including the  most important sites : Capitolio, Obispo Street, Cathedral Square, Hemingway's ,Bodeguita and his room at the Hotel Ambos Mundos, Plaza de Armas with Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales, Castillo de La Fuerza Real and El Templete, Plaza Vieja etc.  Lunch  with Live-music at the patio or terrace of restaurant “La Mina”, Plaza de  Armas . In the afternoon by  American vintage car  through  the Havana  of the 1950s  including Revolution Square,  Macon, the Legendary  Hotel Nacional and the former upper class residential area of Miramarfeaturing beautiful manors along the Havanas "Fifth Avenue" (5ta Avenida).
Overnight with breakfast.

Day 3 :  Havana & Hemingway
The day starts with a visit of one of the famous brand name tobacco factories, e.g. H. Upmann, La Corona, Romeo & Julieta or Partagas. (*)   See the art and the skillful hands of the "torcedores"  rolling the best cigars of the world. Later by bus to San Francisco de  Paula, where  you  will  visit  Hemingways  former  residence  Finca  Villa Vigia.  Further  on  to  the fishermans village Cojimar, background for Hemingway's Nobel prize winning novel ,The Old Man and the Sea”. Enjoy one of his cocktail creations - "Don Gregorio" - before you go to the  fortress  "El Morro".  Finally back to Old Havana  where  you  will try the "Papa" Hemingway's famous Daiquiri Creation at his favourite haunt "La Floridita" before you return by foot to your nearby hotel.

At 19:00 transfer to an dinner at the private restaurant "La Guarida".  Well known from the Cuban movie "Strawberry and Chocolate" and ”the hardest table to get in Havana.
Overnight with breakfast.

N.B.: (*) Tobacco factories are closed on Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays and also during the companies holidays and the Cigar Festival. They can also be cLosed on other days without prior notification. Therefore we cannot guaranty that the factories are always open. In case they are closed we will try to offer an alternative programme.

Day 4 :  Havana - Pinar Del Rio - Vinales - Havana
Early in the morning along the "Tobacco  Route" to Pinar del Rio. Followed by a scenic drive through the Mogote valley with its famous Limestone rocks and to the picturesque village of Viñales. Lunch  "crillo" at  the  "Palenque". Visit to the house of a "Veguero" (tobacco farmer) and further on to the impressive ,Prehistoric  Wall rock paintings. On a fascinating boat tour you will discover the Indian Cave ,Cueva del Indio” before the tour continues to the Sierra del Rosario.
Overnight with breakfast. 

Day 5 :  Havana - Guama - “Bay of Pigs” - Cienfuegos
On our drive towards the central regions of Cuba we stop in Guamá on the  peninsula  of Zapata. Crossing the mangroves and swamps in a boat, we reach the ”Taino- Village” at the Laguna  del Tesoro.  Later  along the  historic  ”Bay  of  Pigs”  to  Cienfuegos.  Enjoy  French colonial flair on a stroll to Plaza Mayor with the Teatro Terry where once Caruso performed and continue to the peninsula of Punta Gorda with the Moorish-style Palacio del Valle and typical wooden villas. Dinner in the Yacht club.
Overnight with breakfast: Hotel La Union (4*) near the main square or Hotel Jagua (4*) by the sea. 

Day 6 :  Cienfuegos - Sugarmill Valley - Trinidad
Scenic drive along the coast to Trinidad - a town with unique colonial architecture declared a UNESCO world heritage site. City tour to Plaza Mayor, surrounded by splendid manors. Visit the ethnic Canchancharra  (honey Liquor bar) and the Romantic Museum.  In the afternoon, we drive to the “Valley of the Sugarcane Mills”  and visit the Hacienda of the sugar barons Iznaga with its “Slave Tower”.  Experience the  romantic  night life on an evening walking tour with live-music and dance,  e.g. at Casa de La Musica or Casa de La Trova.
Overnight  with  breakfast: Hotel Las Cuevas (3*) in a panoramic  Location over looking  the town. Or at Hotel Finca Maria DoLores (3*), surrounded by nature near the banks of a river.

Day 7 :  Trinidad - Santa Clara - Cayo Las Brujas
In the morning either via Sancti Spiritus or the Topes Collantes crossing the Sierra Escambray to the historic city of Santa Clara where Che Guevara celebrated his  greatest victory and found his last rest.  Visit of the Che-Guevara Monument*  and  continuing  along a  57-km causeway  over  the  sea  to  the  natural island paradise  of  Cayo  Las  Brujas.  In  the late afternoon time for sun and beach.
Overnight with dinner and breakfast:  Bungalow resort Las Brujas (3*), high above the  sea, surrounded by nature and with a beautiful white sand beach just nearby.

*On Mondays the museum and mausoleum behind the monument is closed. It can also be closed on other days without prior notice. 

Day 8 :  Cayo Las Brujas - Havana
In the morning via the nearby Cayo Santa Maria or Cayo Ensenachos drive to the mainland and the colonial town of Remedios. Walk across  the  idyllic Plaza Mayor  with  the  church  of San  Juan  Bautista  (with its 16th-century mahogany altar) and further on to Varadero and the airport of Havana for departure.

End of services.

1. LOW SEASON:  1 to 18 Dec'09 / 1 May to 11 July '10 / 1 Sept to 31 Oct '10 - R21,590 per person in share twin room
2. MEDIUM SEASON:  1 to 30 April 2010 - R22,165 per person in share twin room
3. HIGH SEASON:  3 Jan to 31 Mar '10 / 21 Jul to 31 Aug'10 - R22,500 per person in share twin room
4. PEAK SEASON:  19 Dec '09 to 02 Jan ' 10 - R23,590 per person in share twin room
5. For single travellers or travellers requiring single room supplements please ask us for details.
6. These prices are given as a guideline and are subject to ruling rates of exchange at time of quotation and payment.

Included in your holiday:

• Transportation in modern air-conditioned vehicle with driver
• Transfer airport to hotel and back to the airport in Havana
• Excursions, visits and entrance fees according to the programme
• English speaking, Cuban guide during the round trip (day 1 to day 8)
• 7 nights in the above mentioned hotels (Subject to availability)
• 7 breakfasts / 2 Lunches / 4 dinners

Not Included in your holiday:

• Meals and drinks not mentioned in the programme as included
• Tropicana Show with transfers (see supplements)
• Items of a personal nature
• Tips for porters
• Tips for waiters and Live-music during the meals
• Tips for guide and driver
• Airport tax of CUC 25.- (USD 27.-) (June 2009, to be paid on departure from Havana)