This is a basic tour we offer to our clients, but we can do much more than this.

CubanJourneys.com has designed this tour for those interested in Cuban History, Architecture, Religion , national traditions like cigar manufacturing process as well as Cuban culture and life, in general . Along twelve days participants will be able to visit the most prominent cities and places where the above mentioned aspects can be better learned and enjoyed.

The tour starts in Havana with a walk in the Old Town, guided by a local qualified specialist. This way the group will appreciate the best Cuban architecture from the past.

Participants will see the oldest streets, squares, mansions and churches in the area and will also visit Spanish fortresses like 16th century La Fuerza and 17th century La Punta Castles. A special experience will be the enjoyment of the huge Morro and Cabaña Colonial military complex on the Bay's entrance channel. A visit to Partagás Cigar Factory is included.

A tour on Republican and Modern Havana, guided by a Cuban architect, will take the group to the most representative 20th century districts and landmarks. A whole afternoon will be spent visiting the recently restored National Fine Arts Museum, and both its Cuban and foreign collections. Religion will be also extensively focused in this tour, through visits and conferences given by experts on this topic, emphasizing the religious diversity in the Island throughout the time, beginning by Catholicism brought by the Spaniards , the further incorporation of African cults by the African slaves and other components like, in example, Jewish or Chinese beliefs.

After Havana, the group will head East to Cienfuegos City, and on the way there, will stop at Bay of Pigs where they will visit a farm for breeding crocodiles. In Cienfuegos, the 19th century town founded by Frenchmen on Jagua Bay, a panoramic tour in the historic areas will allow them to appreciate a refined mass of Neoclassical and Eclectic buildings, including a visit to the beautiful Terry Theater on Central Park.

After stopping in Cienfuegos, the group will arrive to the charming Colonial village of Trinidad, a World Heritage Site since 1988. The group will then visit the oldest and still pebbled streets and squares in town, guided by an architect. They will later arrive to the Manacas-Iznaga Plantation on the Valley of the Sugar Mills, thus appreciating the ruins of one of the ancient sugar factories and its former slaves ´ barracks.

Camaguey, another among the first towns founded here by the Spaniards, will be also visited in this tour, on the way to Santiago de Cuba. In Santiago, the most Caribbean of Cuban cities, the group will indeed enjoy its steeped and narrow streets from which the sea and the mountains can be always seen . The main old squares and gracious houses with wooden or iron balconies and verandas and the local quite interesting museums will also provide an excellent journey. Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, where national Hero José Martí and other patriots are buried, and the spectacular Morro Fortress built on a hill facing the Bay and the Sierra, will be also visited.
A day in the mountains which surround Santiago de Cuba, will allow participants to enjoy the lush of this Cuban countryside. The full day excursion includes La Isabelica , an old French-Haitian Coffee plantation, one of the many established by Frenchmen who escaped from the 18th Century Revolution in Haiti. On this unique place , part of a whole complex of archaeological landscapes inscribed as World Heritage in 2000 , a typical coffee will be tasted.
Ending the tour in Santiago the group will be taken to the Caridad del Cobre Sanctuary on a mountainous former copper mining area , where the Virgin of Charity, Patron of Cuba, is worshiped . Besides the beauty of the site , they will have the chance to see how thousands of devotees have left pious offerings to the Saint.

After visiting Santiago the group will fly to Havana and will continue the trip by bus from Havana Airport to Pinar del Río Province on the Western extreme of Cuba. In Pinar del Rio there will be a visit to "Las Terrazas", an experimental rural community on the mountains which is an outstanding example of sustainable and ecological development in Cuba. From there, the tour will continue to end up at Viñales Valley, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Then, a nature walk guided by a biologist from the Region and a visit to the "Jardín de Caridad", an exotic and vernacular private garden. A visit to a tobacco plantation is also included.

What would only rest from this tour, is a stop in Havana the day before departure, to say goodbye to the Cuban Capital by having a farewell dinner in "La Divina Pastora", a restaurant facing the main entrance of the Bay, between Morro and La Cabaña fortresses.

Tour Highlights

- Program oriented for professionals and others who might be interested on religious aspects but, at the same time, combining a bit of everything in Cuba, with some time to enjoy the beach.
- Duration: 8 days & 7 nights.
- Visits in Havana, Bay of Pigs in Matanzas province, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Varadero Beach.
- Accommodations in Hotel Nacional or Hotel Tryp Habana Libre in Havana, Hotel Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Hotel Internacional in Varadero Beach.
- All breakfasts and lunches are included. Dinners included for one night in Havana, Trinidad and Varadero. All of them at the best spots in each place.
- Air-conditioned buses for all transportations.
- Full- time English-speaking guide (or other language) to accompany the group.
- City tours, visits and lectures conducted by highly qualified and recognized Cuban professionals, professors and other specialists.
- Entrances to places mentioned in program are included.
- Transportation from Havana International Airport to Hotel in Havana upon arrival & transportation from Hotel in Havana to Havana International Airport upon departure.
- Price does not include international flight to Cuba, traveler insurance, Havana Airport departure tax ($20 CUC) and tourist visa ($ 15 - $ 20 CUC).

If you are interested in organizing a group of people interested in taking the above tour, or even you would like us to set something special for you, click here now to contact us.