Cuba
Salsa & fun in the heart of the Caribbean. 20 sizzling days

Tour dates: 12 February - 2 March, 2012

In March 2011 I took my first tour to Cuba. Having not been there myself I wasn't sure what to expect despite having wanted to go there for years. What a wonderful time we had - Cuba is fantastic.

It has everything going for it for visitors - relatively few tourists and welcoming locals; a tropical climate; an endlessly fascinating political situation; superb architecture; wonderful music and dance everywhere and fantastic cocktails. Add to that some beautiful rural landscapes and a backdrop of the Caribbean Sea and where, really, could you go wrong.

I struggle to name highlights as there were so many although balmy evenings on the terrrace of the Hotel Nacional in Havana (once a Mob hang-out), rumbing around the capital in old 50s cars, and dancing salsa in a Santiago de Cuba night club are right up there.

Click here find out more about this tour and request an information pack which has full details of our itinerary.

Tour price includes

• All airfares and taxes
• 1 night in Lima (Peru) on the way to Cuba
• One night in Lima on the way home
• Accommodation in 3-star, 4-star & 5-star hotels
• All breakfasts and dinners in Cuba
• Visa for Cuba
• Group tipping
• Services of English-speaking local guide

Highlights

• Be wowed by Havana’s stunning architecture, including the Museo de Revolucion, the San Cristobal cathedral and the Palace Capitanes Generales.
• Taste Cuba’s most famous rum at its Havana distillery.
• Explore the exotic and bizarre items for sale in the fascinating Callejon de Hammel.
• Stroll with the locals along Havana’s Malecon, its seaside promenade.
• Watch the Cuban art of hand-rolling cigars and visit a plantation that produces the tobacco itself.
• Take a boat ride through the caves that abound in the Vinales national park and admire Cuba’s largest collection of orchids.
• Make a pilgrimage to the home of Ernest Hemingway – it’s just as he left it and even includes his own pet cemetery!
• Visit Santa Clara with its close associations with legendary Che Guevara.
• Take in the mind-boggling architectural styles that abound on a former Batista-era casino in delightful Cienfuegos.
• Relish a guided tour of one of the largest botanical gardens in Latin America.
• Groove to the music in a traditional Trinidad music club and explore much more in this World Heritage-listed town.
• Dip at least your toes in the Caribbean Sea and feel the soft white sand underfoot.
• Board a steam train that chuffs its way through historic sugar plantations and ascend a tower once used to supervise the slaves that laboured among the crop.
• Taste a famous canchanchara cocktail in a Trinidad bar.
• Savour the neo-classical architecture of Camaguey.
• Visit Cuba’s most famous church, a basilica, almost buried in the jungle.
• Follow in the footsteps of Velasquez as we tour his home in Santiago de Cuba.
• Relive the battle of the Moncada Barracks, where Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries first came to prominence in their rebellion against Cuba’s dictatorship.
• Take in the array of masks and costumes in Santiago de Cuba’s carnival museum.
• Smell the coffee (or memories of it) in the UNESCO biosphere reserve, Parque Baconao and wander among the exotic plants in its tropical botanical garden.
• Relish the views along one of Cuba’s great scenic drives, La Farola, which will take us through the Sierra Maestra mountains.
• Relax beside the sea in Baracoa, Cuba’s oldest town at its easternmost-tip.
• Gaze out across the bay where once Columbus sailed.
• Cruise up the Rio Toa, Cuba’s largest river and savour lunch in a tropical fruit garden.
• Be blown away by the spectacle that is the Tropicana nightclub’s cabaret. Count the feathers on the dancers’ costumes – there’s not much else to them!
• Rumble through the streets of Havana in a classic American automobile.
• Shop for unique Cuban souvenirs in the atmospheric streets around Havana’s Plaza des Armas.
• And all along the way, listen to the music, sway those hips and sip those mojitos! We have plenty of opportunities to party!