Cuba Discovery Tour

Cuba Discovery Tour tour map

• Depart to Havana via your own arranged flights.

  You should plan to arrive in Havana by mid-afternoon. It will take you some time to clear Cuban Immigration, get your bag and go through Customs. You will be met in the arrival hall, after clearing Customs, by our Cuban representative holding a ‘Cuba Explorer’ sign to take you to your hotel. They will have your name and will be monitoring your flight arrival in case there is a delay. Your first tour activity will be the welcome dinner and your guide will finalize details with you on arrival at your hotel.

• On arrival at Havana’s José Martí International Airport proceed through Immigration. There is a combined Immigration, Customs and Healthcare form which needs to be filled out on-line and your airline will send you a link to it. Your carry-on will once again be scanned.
• Collect your bags and go through Customs.

• You will be welcomed at the airport exterior lobby after you exit Cuban Customs. Look for the person holding signage of ‘Cuba Explorer.’

  Tour participants’ arrival times may vary throughout the day. Individualized Airport transfers will be arranged.

  Quote from Lonely Planet: “No one could have invented Havana. It’s too audacious, too contradictory and – despite 60 years of withering neglect – too damned beautiful. How it does it is anyone’s guess. Maybe it’s the swashbuckling history still almost perceptible in atmospheric colonial streets; the survivalist spirit of a populace scarred by two independence wars, a revolution, and a US trade embargo; or the indefatigable salsa energy that ricochets off walls and emanates most emphatically from the people. Don’t come here with a long list of questions. Just arrive with an open mind and prepare for a long, slow seduction.”

• Private transfer to your hotel for check-in.
• Free time to settle in and get oriented with your hotel.
• Welcome Dinner at La Petit Paladar, a small private restaurant in Old Havana. (Included)

• Breakfast at your hotel. (Included)
• Walking tour of Old Havana (it will be leisurely and have rest stops), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains the largest collection of remaining colonial-era architecture in the Americas. Meet the private street vendors selling souvenirs out of their homes. This is a private tour led by your Cuban guide. (Included)

• Cathedral Square, the most beautiful 18th century colonial plaza on the island. Named after Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana which was built by the Jesuit order. Christopher Columbus’ remains were kept in the cathedral between 1796 and 1898 before they were taken to Seville Cathedral, Spain.

  The Cathedral of Havana, showcasing two unequal towers, celebrates mass on Sundays at 10:30 am and 6:00 pm on Thursdays.

• Suggested by past Global Relations travelers (Optional):

  Refreshments on the rooftop of Ambos Mundos, in Old Havana. Live music, great view, and Hemingway historic it is close to Plaza de Armas. Ernest Hemingway stayed in room 511 of the hotel in the 1930s, before moving to Finca Vigia. It was in Ambos Mundos that he finished his book “Death in the Afternoon” (1932) and started his novels “New Green Hills of Africa” (1935) and “To have and have not” (1937). The room where the Nobel Prize winner in Literature stayed is now a small museum treasuring several of his belongings.

• Square of Arms (Plaza de Armas), a military parade ground for Spanish soldiers, surrounded by impressive colonial buildings.
• San Francisco Square, one of the oldest plazas in the historical quarter. The square is named after the former Church and Covenant of San Francisco de Asís dating from the 1500s. The basilica is a striking example of Cuban baroque architecture.
• Plaza Vieja, the only civic square of colonial times. Absent are churches and government buildings and is in contrast surrounded by opulent aristocratic 17th century residences. With its small cafes it is a buzz for nightlife.
• As you stroll the historic cobblestone streets of Old Havana you will experience the sensations Ernest Hemingway felt amongst centuries old architecture.
• Lunch at Mojito Mojito private restaurant, great Cuban food and just off Plaza Vieja in Old Havana. You will enjoy a wonderful meal, live music, and friendly staff. (Included)

• Caravan in iconic 1950’s Vintage American cars, a fascinating experience of nostalgia. You will cruise the Malecon (a broad esplanade, roadway, and seawall) and stop for photos. (Included)

  Time available to visit the Museum of Rum, Hotel Nacional, Museum of the Revolution, or the Art Museum.

  Opportunity to shop for souvenirs at Centro Cultural Antiguos Almacenes de  Depósito San José, a large crafts market housed in renovated maritime warehouse. Offerings are garish-colored paintings by local artists, guayaberas (short-sleeve, open-neck Cuban shirts), sculptures, leather goods, jewelry and various trinkets & gadgets bearing the image of Che Guevara. The metal-framed structure is retro and Art Deco. (Included, Optional)

• Return to hotel. Independent Time.
• Dinner (Not included). This is a perfect evening to explore Cuba’s famed paladares or visit one of the many cafes within easy walking distance of your hotel.
• Attend El Canonazo with Cubans, a Havana tradition which first started hundreds of years ago. At 9 o’clock, a cannon was fired from the ancient Fortress of San Carlos de Cabana to indicate the gates of the Old City were about to close. A large chain was then raised from the water and put across the entrance to the Harbor to keep pirates from sailing in. You will go to the fort for the ceremony where the tradition continues, other than the chain which is no longer used. (Included)
• Your guide can help arrange tickets to a Buena Vista Social Club type entertainment if you like. (Optional)

• Breakfast at your hotel. (Included)
• Hotel check-out.
• Morning departure to the western agricultural province of Pinar del Río.
• In route you will have a discussion with your Cuban guide about the distribution of food to restaurants, the slaughter of the cattle and the food ration book for Cuban citizens.
• Brief stop at Las Barrigonas, a clean, staff friendly rest stop with fresh squeezed fruit juices, one of the best Pina Coladas around, a snack grill and gift shop.
• You will drive through the Vinales National Park. Many consider this the most beautiful nature spot on the island.
• Lunch at private restaurant Balcón del Valle (Balcony of the Valley) and you will see why when you get there, one of the most spectacular views of the entire trip. You will have the opportunity to visit the kitchen, chat with the cooks preparing the food over a charcoal fire; it is rustic and wonderful. (Included)
• Check into your casa particular, located on the edge of the small town, overlooking the mogotes.
• Settle into your casa and enjoy the view.
• Visit and shop on main street Vinales.
• Enjoy a wonderful dinner at one of the boutique paladares with ingredients from the organic gardens in the Valley. (Not included)

• Paladares suggested by past Global Relations travelers:

  3J Bar de Tapas
  Calle Salvador Cisneros # 45, Viñales

  Cubar
  Calle Salvador Cisneros #55, Viñales

  El Olivo
  Calle Salvador Cisneros #89, Viñales

• Group transport back to casa. (Included)

• Breakfast at your casa. (Included)
• Morning horseback ride or horse drawn cart ride in the valley of the National Park. Have a discussion on rum, coffee, and tobacco. (Included)
• Lunch in the National Park. (Included)
• Return to your casa to freshen & relax.
• Tour the Vinales Valley in your motor coach and see the mogotes. They are irregularly shaped steep-sided hills that can rise as high as 985 feet and have bases as much as a mile in length. The mogotes were once underwater and during the Jurassic Age, about 200 million years ago, they were the first formations to emerge from the Atlantic Ocean during the creation of Cuba. (Included)
• Dinner at El Campesino paladar, located on the edge of an agriculture field with the mogotes as a backdrop. You will enjoy a wonderful meal of Cuban country-style cooking from the kitchen supervised by the mother, Nino. (Included)

• Breakfast at your casa. (Included)
• Drop by the open-air craft market as you depart Vinales.
• A stop at Las Barrigonas to stretch your legs, and shop for souvenirs, organic honey, or Cuban rum. Lunch: the rest stop has snacks and a grill for sandwiches. (Not included)
• Check into your hotel.
• Dinner at Paladar Ivan Chef Justo, a wonderful private restaurant that has hosted the likes of Mick Jagger and Chef Guy Fieri. (Included)
• OPTIONAL EXCURSION: The Tropicana Cabaret is a Cuban international icon. Built in 1939, on a tropical six-acre garden estate, it helped spread Cuban culture globally and the Tropicana showgirls created the showgirl-era. The lavish costumes and vibrant performance styles quickly spread from Cuba to Las Vegas, New York, and Paris. A full orchestra, loud colors, sultry rhythms, and a stunning production with more than 200 singers and dancers will entertain you for the evening show. (This is an optional excursion and details on booking will be sent to you.)
• Plan for a late night.

• Breakfast at your hotel. (Included)

• Travel to Cojimar, a small fishing village east of Havana. It was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite fishing port in Cuba and the basis for Old Man and the Sea. This is the harbor where Hemingway’s boat Pilar was moored and where Papa and Gregorio would depart to marlin fish or hunt German Submarines. On water’s edge see Hemingway’s bust made from metal, donated by the local fishermen, and get photos in front of the 17^th century Spanish Lookout Fort. (Included)

  Much of the inspiration for The Old Man and the Sea came from Hemingway's time in Cojimar. La Terraza, is a fisherman’s bar on the Bay of Cojimar where Hemingway docked his boat, Pilar. The bar is where he spent many an afternoon drinking with the fishermen, one being Gregorio Fuentes, the Captain of Pilar. Many believe him to be the model for the character Santiago—the old man of the sea. Some say the young boy in the story, Manolo, was based on the young son of the owner of La Terraza, Manolito.

• Visit the small organic garden of brothers Jesus and Julio where they show you how herbs, vegetables and fruits are raised for the private restaurant where you will be cooking later. See up close mangos, bananas, plantains, squash, avocado, coffee and maybe even the Cuban Bee Hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world, endemic to Cuba. Observe how an organic garden in a residential neighborhood produces private income and supplies a local business. (Included)
• TOUR HIGHLIGHT: Cooking & mojito making lesson at paladar (private restaurant) El Ajiaco followed by lunch, which you helped prepare. This is a unique experience; in the kitchen, with the chef and staff preparing multiple dishes (seafood, ropa vieja & el ajiaco soup) and then at the bar learning how to properly prepare a Cuban mojito. It is a humble paladar visited by food networks from around the world and several notable celebrities such as Kevin Bacon and Sigourney Weaver. (Included)
• Visit Finca Vigía, home and farm of Ernest Hemingway, southeast of Havana in the small town of San Francisco de Paula. He lived longer in his Cuba residence than any of his other homes, almost twenty years. It was here he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and wrote portions of A Moveable Feast, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Islands in the Stream and much of The Old Man and the Sea.  Now a museum, you will meet the docents and curators who affectionately maintain his library, manuscripts, and personal belongings. His boat Pilar (made famous, in part, from Papa’s Marlin fishing and hunting German submarines off the northern coast of the island) and the graves of some of his dogs are all on the grounds. (Included)
• Return to hotel.
• Dinner (Not included). With all the great food you have experienced, this is your chance to visit a privately owned restaurant you may have heard about. Your guide will be of assistance.
• Optional: Enjoy the evening at Fabrica de Arte Cubano (Cuban Art Factory), a former cooking oil plant is one of Havana’s finest nightclubs and art galleries. Note, Fabrica De Arte Cubano is open Thursday – Sunday, 8:00 PM – 3:00 AM.
• Your last night in Cuba; enjoy!

• Breakfast at your hotel. (Included)
• Transfer to José Martí International Airport in Havana for flight home. (Included)
• Airlines recommend you be at your departure airport 3 hours before takeoff. Please prepare accordingly. Your guide or driver will meet you in the lobby of your hotel.
• After you clear Cuban Immigration, you will be screened and your carry on will be scanned. In the departure hall there is a duty-free shop, places to buy snacks and drinks, as well as souvenirs.
• When arriving to your U.S. entry airport you will need to clear U.S. Immigration and U.S. Customs. If asked by an Immigration Officer about your trip to Cuba, note that you were on a sanctioned Support of the Cuban People tour. If asked what you did, tell the truth, and explain it was an opportunity to directly engage and support the Cuban people, learn about their life and country. To be clear: You were not on a vacation.
• Memories of a wonderful visit to the Pearl of the Antilles: Cuba! (Included)

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