Old Havana and the sea tour

Old Havana and the sea tour map

Day 1 • Monday • Hello Havana, fine dining, old cars

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Cubans love their beaches, and every summer day is a beach party.

Cubans love their beaches, and every summer day is a beach party. Three thousand five hundred seventy miles of coastal shoreline provide plenty of opportunities for seaside adventures. Photo Alex Mene.

• Arrive at Havana’s José Martí International airport (HAV).
• Enroute to your boutique accommodations savor the sights and sounds of one of the oldest and most stunning cities in the New World.
• At your lodging, enjoy a welcome cocktail, freshen up, and get comfortable.
• 1950s time travel. One in ten cars in Havana are pre-1959. And they’re all American: Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Mercury, Dodge, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. We’ll cruise the romantic Malecón in these lovingly maintained classics.
• Group welcome dinner with your guide and tourmates at the award-winning private five-star Restaurante Mojito Mojito. Ideally situated in Plaza Vieja, its friendly staff, quaint atmosphere, and delicious food rank it tops on TripAdvisor. The restaurant’s slogan, “A single mojito is not enough.” We agree.
• Evening entertainment suggestion. Shake your booty to the best Afrocuban jazz at Club La Zorra y El Cuervo [The Fox and the Raven] featuring astonishing performances by up and coming island ensembles. It’s a popular haunt for locals and foreign guests.

Day 2 • Tuesday • Matanzas, handmade books, Varadero

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An American visitor pets a Cuban ox at an organic farm.

An American visitor pets a Cuban ox at an organic farm. Known as Siboney de Cuba, this unique breed is a cross between Holsteins and African Zebus. They are ideally suited for hot climes and hard work. Oxen are the backbone of Cuban agriculture, often replacing tractors and other mechanized farm equipment. Photo Jack Kenny.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast at your boutique accommodations.
• Morning departure across Cuba’s northern coast to Matanzas and Varadero.
• Enroute we stop at Bacunayagua mirador [lookout], at the entrance of Bacunayagua bridge spanning a deep canyon above the beautiful Yumurí Valley. It’s the highest bridge in Cuba and divides the provinces of Mayabeque and Matanzas. The lookout hosts a roadhouse whose staff prepare delicious Piña Coladas. Yum!
• We’ll visit the provincial capital city, Matanzas, founded in 1693. It is known as the City of Bridges. Seventeen links traverse three rivers meandering through the town. Matanzas means massacres and many legends surround its macabre moniker. Matanzas had vast sugar plantations during the colonial era, and vast numbers of African slaves were imported to support the industry. Due to the high number of both slaves and free Afrocubans, many African traditions are especially strong in the city. In 1898, Matanzas was the location of the first action in the Spanish American War: it was bombarded by American Navy vessels on 25 April 1898. It is the birthplace of the Cuban national dance “Danzon” and the “Danzonete.”
• Matanzas’ Gutenbergs. In Cuba stuff we take for granted like paper, is rare. Enter Ediciones Vigía, an independent publishing collective, where artists craft paper and bind stunning books by hand. These artisans and authors seek to keep the written word alive. They work with recycled fibers and found materials to fabricate precious paper to print limited editions of classics. The results are labors of love and literature. These innovative logophiles also offer gorgeous notebooks and diaries – perfect gifts to remember your Cuba vacation.
• Hello Varadero. In the 18th century, Varadero was a tiny village of fishers and farmers. They lived in “bohíos” (dirt floor huts made of royal palm planks and fronds). In 1926 American millionaire Irénée du Pont came to Varadero and purchased most of the area. He constructed his residential architectural masterpiece called Xanadu in 1930, then rigorously promoted Varadero’s paradisiacal attributes as a global tourist destination. Varadero wins the hearts of all who visit. Its stunning blue waters inspired Christian Dior’s “Azul Varadero,” his defining color line in the 1950s. For more than 100 years, it’s been visited by kings, princesses, presidents, celebrities, poets, artists and writers. Varadero, with 51 luxury resort hotels, hosts more than a million foreign visitors annually.
• Lunch served at your beachside accommodations.
• Check-in with assistance from your guide. Enjoy a welcome cocktail. Time to settle in and freshen up.
• Dinner at your beachside accommodations. Taste, sample, and delight from a giant self-serve buffet of delectable fresh fruit and vegetable salads, exotic appetizers, entrees, and desserts. As well, chefs are on the spot to prepare any request you can imagine.
• Included this evening: Fabulous evening entertainment venues at your all-inclusive beach resort.

Day 3 • Wednesday • Countryside, organic farm, dance lessons

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TripAdvisor travelers rank Varadero beach as one of the world’s most beautiful.

In solitude or together with friends, Varadero’s 16 miles of sugar-white sand beaches and warm, clear water are a tropical paradise. In 2019 TripAdvisor travelers voted Varadero as the second most beautiful beach in the world. Photo Norlys Pérez Padrón.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast at your seaside accommodations.
• This morning we visit Finca la Coincidencia, a model organic farm in a hamlet called Guasimal del Toro. Sparked in the late 1990s by the Correa family of artisans and agriculturalists, Coincidencia has become a social and cultural project for members of an extended community. In addition to cultivating many species of tropical fruits, vegetables, and medicinal plants, it is home to a ceramic school and gallery, and a small cheese factory. Since 2002 Finca la Coincidencia hosts a global Arte del Fuego ceramics event.
• We’ll feast on a lunch made from fresh produce raised on Finca la Coincidencia and neighboring farms. Many describe this meal as their favorite in Cuba.
• Cuban dance lessons by performers. All great dance is globally inspired. Movements from other countries going back millenniums, refined and stylized, turned into something ethereal for our time. If any nation has contributed most to US dance, we think it is Cuba with its rich sensuous African, European, Asian and Indigenous mixes. Dance masters and choreographers of the funtastic Cuban floor shows will help you move with the grace of angels – very wild angels! You’ll learn all the best steps this afternoon from tutors who’ll turn you into a salsa, mambo, rumba, danzon, and cha cha chá whiz.
• Return to your beachside accommodations to freshen up.
• Dinner at your beachside accommodations. Taste, sample, and delight from a giant self-serve buffet of delectable fresh fruit and vegetable salads, exotic appetizers, entrees, and desserts. As well, chefs are on the spot to prepare any request you can imagine.
• Included this evening: Fabulous evening entertainment venues at your all-inclusive beach resort.

Day 4 • Thursday • Old Havana, architecture, history

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Tooling around the city in 1950s classic American convertibles.

One in ten cars in Cuba were manufactured before 1959. You’ll tool the city in 1950s classic American convertibles. Background: Cuba’s magnificent Capitol Building undergoes a ten-year restoration to be completed in November 2019 for the 500th birthday of the city of Havana. Photo Norlys Pérez Padrón.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast at your boutique accommodations.
• Early departure to the capital city of Cuba, La Habana!
• Walking tour of Old Havana. “In terms of beauty, only Venice and Paris surpassed Havana,” penned Ernest Hemingway. He was alluding to Havana’s incredible architecture, arts, and, of course, the joie de vivre of its engaging people. Old Havana’s four ancient plazas are full of color and personality, with a mix of palatial buildings, monuments, museums, galleries, churches, lively entertainment, restaurants, and bars. Together, the four plazas of Old Havana contain the most extensive collection of Spanish colonial-era architecture in Latin America. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, restoration and care of Old Havana’s majestic wonders is assigned to the Office of the Historian of Havana – the sponsor of Cuba Explorer.
• You’ll witness Cathedral Square, considered the most beautiful colonial plaza in Latin America, and a symbol of Havana. Its centerpiece is Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, erected in 1748 by the Jesuit order. The bones of Christopher Columbus were kept in the church until 1898.
• Next, we tour Plaza de Armas [Square of Arms], an ancient military parade ground for Spanish soldiers, surrounded by such impressive buildings as Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the former seat of colonial government. The stately edifice, dating from 1776, houses the Museum of the City.
• We continue onto San Francisco Square, one of the oldest in the historical quarter, and christened after the magnificent Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco de Asís. Its construction began in 1580. It features a 138-foot bell tower and contains the remains of Havana’s past elites.
• Finally, we visit Plaza Vieja, laid out in 1559, for public processions, bullfights, and executions. Later it became home to Havana’s colonial elites and is dominated by their opulent aristocratic 17th-century mansions. Today it is a hub of shops, cafés, beer gardens, music, and dance.
• Group welcome lunch at Le Petit Bar Restaurant. Located in Old Havana, Le Petit is the place where small details make great moments. They specialize in Cuban and international cuisines.
• We’ll visit the recently renovated Capitolio de La Habana, home to Cuba’s National Assembly. The imposing monument is reminiscent of the US Capitol but taller and less austere; chocked full of grand statuary, breathtaking ornamental details, and jaw-dropping art. The building supports the sixth-largest dome in the world – clad in 24 karat gold plated panels. You will learn all about this magnificent structure from staff who work at the Capitolio.
• Return to your boutique accommodations to freshen up.
• Farewell dinner at Havana’s most famous private restaurant La Guarida, where the 1997 Cuban blockbuster “Strawberry and Chocolate” was filmed.
• Time to explore Havana’s vibrant nightlife and make new Cuban friends. We’ll keep you posted on evening entertainment options.

Day 5 • Friday • Missing Cuba so much already

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Cuban schoolgirls relax after class. Education in Cuba is free and universal.

Cuban schoolgirls relax after class. Education in Cuba ranks tops in Latin American. It is free and universal, beginning with preschool through university. Youth illiteracy is close to zero, and high school graduation rates are near 98 percent. The University of Havana, founded in 1728, was the first institution of higher learning in the New World. Photo Trudi Unger.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast at your accommodations.
• Transfer to Havana’s José Martí International airport (HAV) for flights home.
• We’ll miss you and hope you will return soon. In Cuba, we say, “A true friend remembers the song in your heart when you have forgotten the lyrics.”
• Want to extend your Cuba stay? We’ll gladly assist. Just ask us!

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