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Cuba Libre

This two week Cuba holiday offers you the chance to experience all the classic cultural highlights a Cuba holiday should include. You'll start this two week Cuba holiday in style as we'll collect you from Havana airport in a classic American vintage car, and transfer you to your hotel in Cuba's vivacious capital city, Havana.

Next up is the tobacco town of Vinales and after that the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Las Terrazas. Then you'll stay the beautiful colonial town of Santa Clara, and see the monument dedicated to Cuba's famed national icon, Che Guevara. We'll arrange for you to stay at a Cuban homestay (casa particular) in Trinidad, which is one of biggest highlights for many of our clients. Via the labyrinth like street of Camaguey you'll continue onto Santiago, the premier city of sun and salsa music.

If you would like to select this itinerary, please complete the Quote Request form. Alternatively if you would like to speak to one of our friendly Cuba Travel Specialists, then just call us on 01273 322 059. We can always tweak this Cuba holiday itinerary to suit your personal needs.

Duration	15 days - 14 nights Departs daily* *Please note the Che Guevara museum in Santa Clara is closed on Mondays	Accommodation	Accommodation with breakfast in charming, comfortable hotels. Comfort Level 3 (see accommodation)
Price	Transfers - £1055 per person or Car Hire - £985 per person Both based on 2 people sharing	Includes	14 nights accommodation with breakfast, excursions as described in daily itinerary and Cuban visa (tourist card). Transfers between major cities as described, or 6 days economy car hire with air-con and roadmap.
Transport	Private & group transfers or Rental car	Excludes	International flights, travel insurance, other meals, tips, excursions and entrance fees. Car insurance (payable locally from 15 CUC per day), optional car hire extras.

Day 1: Arrival in Havana

Once you've landed in Havana, a representative will be waiting to take you by classic American vintage car to Latin America's largest colonial city centre, where your Cuba holiday will begin. The classic cars, an abundance of music in the air and bustling plazas will make it feel as if you've stepped back into the 1950's.

Your accommodation on the first night of this Cuba holiday is located near the city's most beautiful and vivacious district, Habana Vieja. Most of the hotels here were built before the 50's and have tremendous ambience and flair. During your first night in the city we recommend dining at El Patio on the Plaza de la Cathedral. As you look out from your table on the balcony of this historic colonial building you'll see the lights being turned on across the plaza. Enjoy your first Mojito or Cuba libre and let the city's nostalgic atmosphere sink in.

Day 2: Havana

The schedule of your Cuba holiday is free from any planned activities today. This way you can explore the different parts of Havana at your own pace. The parks, cathedrals, museums, shop-lined streets, markets, monuments, fortresses and the bar made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway, 'Bodeguita del Medio', will keep you pleasantly occupied during the day. Don't forget to check out the Capitolio and the Gran Theater and go for a walk through the mafia neighbourhood, Vedado, and visit the Plaza de la Revolucion where former president Fidel Castro once held his famous speeches.

Option excursion:
We can arrange a Havana city tour this morning for you. This tour of the city in another classic American '50s car will give you a good overview of the entire city and all its neighbourhoods. Our guide will pick you up from your hotel around 9:00 for a 3-hour tour of the city. The price of this tour is around £40 per person; just let us know if you'd like to add it to your Travel Plan.

Day 3: Havana - Viñales

Group Transfer Time - 4 hours (approx)
Rental Car Driving Time - 3 hours (approx)

This morning you'll travel to the tobacco town of Viñales. The journey takes you through one of Cuba's most beautiful provinces. If you are self driving there's very little traffic in this area, making the drive even more pleasant as you pass by lakes and tropical forests. When you reach the province's capital, Piñar del Rio, you'll leave the highway and for the last 45 minutes you'll travel through undulating green landscape. After a while the red blunt mountains typical of this region will start to pop up. These 'mojotes' or karst mountains are the result of centuries of erosion. Scattered between the mojotes lie plantations where the tobacco for the famed Cuban cigars is cultivated.

You'll spend the night in a bungalow tucked away amongst tropical gardens. The resort has a swimming pool (perfect for cooling off) and is situated on the outskirts of the small town of Viñales.

Day 4: Viñales

On day four of your Cuba holiday you can choose to either go hiking or horseback riding through the local tobacco fields. You'll see how horses are just as much a part of Cuba's heritage as tobacco is; you really can't do without them in this region. If you decide to saddle up, you'll ride one of the smaller Cuban working horses. A guide will lead you across winding paths through fields of tobacco. The tobacco plants grow from October until March. You'll pass through small farms with chickens pecking at the dirt and pigs foraging around in the mud. Your guide will show you how tobacco leaves are laid out to dry under slanted roofs throughout the landscape. The local farmers who grow the tobacco will try and sell you cigars to make a little extra money.

The rest of the day is free to spend as you wish. We recommend heading to Hotel Jazmines for the sweeping panoramic view of the Viñales Valley.

Day 5: Viñales - Las Terrazas

Private Transfer Time - 1 hour
Rental Car Driving Time - 1 hour

After breakfast you'll set off on your journey to Las Terrazas. Because of the mild climate, high humidity and frequent rainfall, this area is known as 'Cuba's rainbow'. It's a very tropical environment and a natural greenhouse of ferns, orchids, begonias and other flowers. Back in the 70s these hills were filled with dusty yellow and brown scrub due to extreme deforestation. Luckily the government started a reforestation programme and built an ecological hotel on a hill top near town to attract eco tourists.

The hotel's unique reception area is built around a large tree, which grows through the roof. The hotel also has its own swimming pool, restaurant and an open-air bar, and your air conditioned room looks out across the town and lake. If you wonder into town you'll find a few paladares - small Cuban restaurants.

Day 6: Las Terrazas

This morning a guide will hike with you through the UNESCO biosphere of Sierra del Rosario. Farmers from neighbouring areas came to work here years ago, and knowing the area better than anyone else, have now become trained tourist guides of the area.

Thanks to the mild climate and high humidity, this area is known as Cuba's rainbow. The entire area is bathed in every imaginable shade of green and during your hike you'll see ferns, orchids, begonias and other flowering plants. There are no activities planned for this afternoon on your Cuba holiday, however you could visit the scenic viewpoint at Mirador and then cool off at the San Juan River waterfall (don't forget your mosquito repellent).

Day 7: Las Terrazas - Santa Clara

Private Transfer Time - 4.5 hours (approx)
Rental Car Driving Time - 4.5 hours (approx)

Today you'll make your way from the lush surroundings of Las Terraces and journey onto Santa Clara, the town famous for it's links to Che Guevara.

If you are self driving it will take you about an hour to get back to Havana and from there you'll take the A4 and A1 for another 3.5-hour drive along a straight road to Santa Clara. It's not really convenient to stop in Havana for lunch, so you may want to bring along some sandwiches to eat on the way.

You'll spend tonight night in a bungalow on the outskirts of Santa Clara. It was in this city that Che Guevara won the 1958 battle against General Batista, giving communism its firm grip on the country. Che's mausoleum (closed Mondays), is a museum featuring his clothing, guns and a statue honouring this national hero is a lasting reminder of this victory. As you get close to the museum you'll start to hear marching band music flowing from crackling speakers as a part of history comes to life.

Day 8: Santa Clara - Trinidad

Private Transfer Time - 4 hours
Rental Car Driving Time - 4 hours

This morning is free time, so take a stroll through the tree-filled parks of Santa Clara this morning and enjoy the peace and quiet before you head to Trinidad this afternoon. If you're travelling by hire care you could take the picturesque route through the Escambray Mountains and drive through the protected Topes de Collantes nature reserve. Plan your day so that you arrive into Trinidad around mid afternoon, as your Cuban host family will be expecting you at around 4pm.

Cuban families have started opening their own bed and breakfast known as casa particulars. The casas offer a very welcome addition to their income and it offers you a first-hand look into the Cuban way of life. You'll have your own key to the house and your own room with a shower, toilet, warm water and electricity. The casas are generally very modest, as although the Cubans are very warm and welcoming people, they aren't very affluent.

Day 9: Trinidad

Trinidad was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 and like many of our clients, it's likely to be a real highlight of your Cuba holiday. As soon as you see the pastel-coloured houses in its historic hub, you'll understand why. The city is an open-air museum of cobbled streets, small houses with red tiled roofs, vintage cars, donkeys, horse drawn carriages, art shops and friendly bodegas (small grocery stores).

There are plenty of interesting sights to see near the palm tree-lined promenades of Plaza Mayor. For instance, you can visit the citys iconic yellow San Francisco Monastery and the bell tower. Also one of Trinidad's best museums is the beautifully renovated Museo Romántico which overlooks the main square (closed Mondays, entrance fee 1 CUC). The colonial mansion that it's housed within was once owned by a wealthy family of Spanish sugarcane plantation owners. The museum will give you a good idea of what it was like to live in the days of the sugar barons.

Day 10: Trinidad

Although not renowed as a beach resort, there is a nice beach in Trinidad if you feel like a day on the sea.

By late afternoon, around 16:00, the tourist day-trippers will start to return to their beach resorts on the coast and live bands will start to play on the terraces, plazas, bodegas and streets of Trinidad. In the evening, try climbing the stairs leading up to the Plaza Mayor and then stroll on over to Casa de la Musica. There's a very good chance that you'll never actually make it there and that you'll stop off and listen to some of the great music along the way. The stairs are always laden with fun-loving people having a chat and drinking a canchanchara, a tasty local concoction of lime juice, honey and white rum. Before you know it a band will have started playing and everyone will be dancing in the streets. Music and dancing are in the blood of Cuban people and this is your chance to be a part of a spontaneous celebration on your Cuba holiday.

Day 11: Trinidad - Camaguey

Private Transfer Time -
Rental Car Driving Time -

Today you'll leave Trinidad and head to Camaguey. On the outskirts of Trinidad lies the Valle de los Ingenios, a valley was once filled with slaves harvesting sugarcane to make rum. If you're travelling by hire car you could stop off at hacienda Mancada Iznaga to see first hand how the sugar barons once lived. As you near Camaguey, the scenery will become more and more like something out of a classic western movie as you pass by ranches, cowboys and grazing cattle.

You'll spend the night in a comfortable colonial hotel in the city centre. Camaguey is famous for it's labyrinth like streets and the best was to see these is to take a guided bicycle rickshaw ride. They're very cheap and an hour long tour of the windy streets will cost you approx 4 CUC.

Cuba self drive itinerary - Santiago de Cuba

Day 12: Camaguey - Santiago

Group Transfer Time - 5 hours (approx), via Holguin
Rental Car Driving Time - 5 hours

After breakfast you'll travel further eastwards as you continue your Cuba holiday. You'll travel to Santiago, Cuba's second largest city and birthplace of the Cuban rumba, son and salsa music. Of course you wouldn't want to miss out on all of the fun, so we've selected a hotel near a popular square in the historic city centre, all the rooms are air conditioned.

If you want to get into the Cuban swing of things, there are plenty of bars nearby where you can enjoy live Cuban music. If you plan on spending a weekend here, don't miss a visit to Casa de la Trova, where the latest and greatest bands come to perform. Tourists who try to dance to the Cuban beat can usually expect a few appreciative glances and nods from the locals.

Day 13: Santiago

There are no planned activities during your stay in Santiago, there is so much to see and do you won't need any assistance. After you've had a nice, relaxing morning you can easily walk into the city. There are several museums near your hotel as well as the Moncada barracks where Castro led his guerrilla fighters in an ill-fated attack against General Batista in 1953 and was captured.

There are also a number of other interesting attractions just outside the city that you can visit on your Cuba holiday. The Ifigenia cemetery (entrance fee 5 CUC), where national hero José Marti, Cuba's first president and 'Mr Bacardi' are buried, is only a 15-minute taxi from the city centre. On the other side of the city you'll find the Santiago Bay, where you can take the ferry over to Isla Granma for a day trip, or visit Morro Castle (entrance fee 5 CUC). This Spanish built defensive fortress is high up on the rocks and is very impressive.

Day 14: Santiago - Havana

Flying time - 1.5 hours

After an engrossing time in Santiago you're nearing the end of your Cuba holiday. We'll arrange a private driver to collect you from your hotel in Santiago and transfer you to the airport, where you'll catch a flight back to Havana. After you've collected your bags and entered into the arrivals hall, our representative will be waiting to transfer you back to the same hotel in Havana that you stayed in at the beggining of your trip.

Day 15: Havana - UK

Unfortunately today is the last day of your holiday. We'll arrange a private driver to collect you from your hotel and transfer you to the airport, all in good time to catch your international flights home.

A peek at your accommodation (Click to enlarge)

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