Classic Cuba

Havana

You are met on arrival and transferred to your mid-range or upper range hotel in Old Havana.

Three days to explore Havana with a private city guide

Explore Havana with a private city guide

Explore Havana with a private city guide

Pinar del Rio

This morning your own private touring guide, with a comfortable vehicle, collects you at your hotel and you set off on your 6 day trip around western Cuba. Heading west you reach the truly stunning area north of Pinar del Río, a limestone landscape with dramatic mogotes rising above peaceful farmlands awash with hibiscus, bougainvillea and flame trees. You visit the famous Cueva de los Portales, the cave from where Ché Guevara directed military operations during the Cuban missile crisis. You also stop at Hacienda Cortina, an estate laid out in classical style, with imposing gates, sweeping drives, and landscaped gardens that deserve to be better maintained. You stay for 2 nights near the little town of Viñales, pretty as a postcard, where there are some notable paladares (family run restaurants) for dinner. Your driver is on hand if a lift is needed.

You walk round Viñales this morning, pausing at the Jardin Botanico de Caridad, an intriguing garden valiantly run by two sisters who carry on their family project of growing all of Cuba’s native garden plants and fruits. Another of Viñales’ quirks is its uniform factory on the main street. You can peer in as you walk by, and stop at the village shop for a packet of biscuits or some fruit, before leaving town to explore tobacco farming area of Vuelto Abajo–the cigar enthusiast’s equivalent of the Haut-Médoc. Here you visit the vega of Alejandro Robaina, one of the masters of Cuban tobacco. Any time remaining in the day is free with your guide and vehicle at your disposal.

A leisurely start for a morning at the beach. You drive out to Cayo Jutías–a coral island with a near-perfect long white sand beach facing clear turquoise waters sheltered by a reef. Facilities are simple: shade and loungers for rent, a small beach cafe for a sea-food lunch, and a dive shop that also rents snorkelling gear. If you head back to Viñales in the mid-afternoon there will be time to visit the extensive orchidarium at Soroa.

Cienfuegos

A morning or so’s drive to the colonial port of Cienfuegos (p13), founded by French settlers in the early 19th century. On arrival your guide takes you for a tour of the city’s highlights. The evening is free, your guide can recommend a restaurant.

Trinidad

In the morning you drive along the coast from Cienfuegos to Trinidad, a stunningly beautiful town dating from the 1500s. Its great wealth from sugar was short-lived, and the town became a backwater retaining its original character, cobbled streets and architecture to the present day, when it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your guide takes you on a walking tour of this delightful town including a visit to the Museo Romantico for insights of settlers, colonial life, slave and sugar trades. You can then explore the town at leisure in the company of your guide or independently if you prefer. The town is set back from a lovely beach, and you can either stay in the town itself (B&B or half-board)or by the beach, where there is a reasonable all-inclusive resort. This evening is free but your guide and driver are on hand for a lift to and from town.

Cuba's second mountain range, the Sierra del Escambray serves as a backdrop to the cities of Trinidad and Cienfuegos. Today you opt for either a delightful walk among waterfalls in the hills above Trinidad or a more sedate and less strenuous excursion to an old coffee plantation including lunch at the old hacienda and an easy stroll in the nearby forests with a naturalist guide from the hacienda.

Santa Clara and Ché

Today you leave Trinidad and return to Havana airport in time for your international flight home, stopping en route at Santa Clara to visit the wreck of the train ambushed by Ché, his mausoleum and the small museum in his honour Beach options Instead of returning to the airport from Trinidad you could stay on at the beach there, or be taken across the island via Santa Clara to the lovely beaches of the Northern Cays (Cayo Las Brujas or Cayo Santa Maria) or to Jibacoa.