Cuba: Havana, Las Terrazas and Viñales

Arrive in Havana

José Martí International Airport to your casa particular in Havana

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Havana
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

If you land early, walk down to the Malecón, the long sea wall where the city comes out in the evening to talk, fish and watch the waves break. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing: how the six days are paced, what power cuts and shortages mean on the ground, what to pack for the river swim, and how to change money, since cash is what works here. Then we walk to a paladar, one of the privately run restaurants that have changed eating out in Cuba, for a welcome dinner of Cuban dishes. Menus depend on what the market has that day.

Compris

• Pick-up at José Martí International Airport (HAV)
• Welcome briefing with your guide, including how to change money
• Welcome dinner at a paladar

Old Havana on foot and a music evening

Old Havana's four squares, then a free afternoon and an evening of live son

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Havana

Après-midi

We start at 9 am on foot in Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982, before the midday heat. A licensed Havana guide joins your See Sight Tours guide to link the four old squares in the order the city grew: Plaza de Armas with its secondhand book stalls and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the baroque cathedral on Plaza de la Catedral, the restored merchants' houses around Plaza Vieja, and Plaza de San Francisco by the harbour. Along the way we step into a working cigar shop and a printmaking workshop where they are open.

Soir

Lunch is at a paladar in the old town, and the afternoon is free: the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, a siesta through the heat, or a rooftop at sunset. In the evening we meet for dinner, then walk to a music venue for live son, the Cuban music of guitar, tres, bass and percussion that grew into salsa. Seats and your first drink are booked; dance or just listen.

Compris

• Old Havana walking tour with a licensed Havana guide: Plaza de Armas, Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza Vieja and Plaza de San Francisco
• Lunch at a paladar in Old Havana
• Dinner at a paladar
• A live son music evening, with seats and a first drink

Activités en option

• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Cuban art)
• The 9 pm cañonazo cannon ceremony at La Cabaña fortress

A classic-car hour, then the hills of Las Terrazas

Havana by classic car along the Malecón to Plaza de la Revolución, then west to Las Terrazas

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Las Terrazas
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in the village. At about 3 pm a local guide walks us up to the ruins of the Buenavista coffee estate, worked by enslaved people in the 1800s, to see the drying floors and the view to the coast, and we taste coffee grown in these hills. The late afternoon is free by the lake.

Compris

• One-hour classic-car ride along the Malecón, through Vedado to Plaza de la Revolución
• Lunch in Las Terrazas
• The Buenavista coffee estate ruins with a local guide, and a coffee tasting

A river swim, then into Viñales

Las Terrazas to the San Juan river pools, then west via Pinar del Río to Viñales

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Viñales
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

Breakfast is unhurried. At 9 am we drive a few minutes to the Baños del San Juan, where the San Juan river drops over rock shelves into a chain of natural pools. Arriving early means quiet water before the day visitors from Havana come. Swim, sit in the shallows or watch from the bank.

Après-midi

We have an early lunch by the river at about 11:30, then drive about two and a half hours west, back onto the Autopista and through the tobacco and sugarcane country around Pinar del Río. Just before Viñales we stop at the Los Jazmines viewpoint, where the valley opens below you: red earth, royal palms and the round limestone hills called mogotes. We reach Viñales at about 3:30 pm. The Viñales Valley is a UNESCO cultural landscape, and the town is a long street of single-storey houses with porches lined with rocking chairs.

Soir

The rest of the day is free; the light is best on the edge of town just before sunset.

Compris

• Morning at the Baños del San Juan river pools, with entry
• Lunch by the river
• The Los Jazmines viewpoint over the Viñales Valley

The Viñales Valley on foot or on horseback

Viñales town across the valley to a family tobacco farm, then the Cueva del Indio

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Viñales
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

You choose the night before: walk, about 5 km at an easy pace, or ride one of the farm horses at a walk, with a handler beside the novices. Farming here is still done much as it was: oxen pull the ploughs and leaves are cured in tall palm-thatched drying barns. At a family tobacco farm the grower shows how the leaves are picked, hung, cured and fermented, explains how most of the crop goes to the state, and rolls a cigar in front of you; there is coffee grown on the farm and a glass of guayabita, the local guava liqueur. Lunch is a long farm meal of roast pork, rice and beans, root vegetables and salad. At about 2 pm the vehicle takes us 5 km north to the Cueva del Indio, a limestone cave where a short walk leads to a boat ride on the underground river inside. We are back in town by about 3:30 pm, and the rest of the day is yours: a rest on the porch or a salsa class.

Compris

• Valley morning with a local guide, on foot or on horseback
• Family tobacco farm visit with cigar rolling, coffee and guayabita
• Farm lunch
• The Cueva del Indio, with the boat ride on the underground river

Activités en option

• A salsa class in town
• A taxi to Cayo Jutías beach for a day on your own

Viñales to Havana and home

Viñales via Pinar del Río and the Autopista to José Martí International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 3 h de route

Compris

• Drive from Viñales to José Martí International Airport (HAV) with your guide