Discover Cuba: Havana & Varadero – FULL! Call for Waitlist! 1-800-758-6877

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Day 1 – Home to Miami

Board our flight to Miami and after checking into our hotel, an informational briefing will be held about our flight to Havana and our Cuba experience. The remainder of the evening is at leisure.

Hotel: Marriott Miami Airport 

Day 2 – Miami to La Havana Cuba – Varadero

This morning depart the Miami Airport for your short flight to Havana, Cuba. Upon arrival at the Jose Marti International Airport, we’ll meet our local bilingual Cuban Guide. Your drive from the airport orients you with Cuba’s enigmatic capital city, whose nearly 500-year Old Havana is home to the largest collections of Spanish-Colonial architecture in the Americas. Make a photo stop and learn more about the Plaza of the Revolution, the center of Cuban political life and Havana’s largest plaza where huge rallies are held. Your Cuban guide speaks below the grandiose portraits of national heroes Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, and gives you time to reflect on the fact that you’re standing where millions of Cubans have stood while listening to speeches of Fidel Castro. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant in Havana. Depart Havana on a scenic drive that takes you past rural landscapes, small towns to the beautiful turquoise Caribbean Sea. Check into the Melia Varadero all inclusive resort located directly on a pristine white sand beach offering beautiful views of the Caribbean Sea and Varadero Peninsula. Unpack, relax or explore the resort before dinner this evening.

Included Meals: Lunch, Dinner 

Hotel: Melia Varadero (2 Nights) 

Day 3 – Varadero – Matanzas

This morning following breakfast we head to the town of Matanzas, founded in 1693 and known as the “Athens of Cuba.” Enjoy a brief walking tour of the town square and see the Sauto Theater (a national monument of Cuba and opened in 1863), the San Carlos Cathedral, the Pharmaceutical Museum and more. Next visit the Ediciones Vigia (book making shop) to see books being hand made and learn about this craft. Also meet with Lolo, a famous local Cuba artist and sculptor in his studio and art gallery. Visit the Matanzas School of Art, a high school for talented children from different provinces throughout Cuba. An opportunity to talk with and interact with the teachers and students to learn about their work and aspirations. Next visit an arts & crafts market with an opportunity to purchase local crafts and to meet & interact with local artists and craft workers. Lunch is included at a local restaurant before returning back to Varadero. A brief stop is made to visit and tour the famous DuPont Mansion and enjoy the incredible views of the crystal blue ocean. Later enjoy a fun filled Salsa Lesson Class with the locals. Salsa represents a mix of Latin musical genres, but its primary component is Cuban dance music. The roots of salsa originated in Eastern Cuba (Santiago de Cuba & Guantanamo) about 1920 and Afro-Cuban dance such as the Rumba. The rest of the afternoon and evening are free to enjoy the resort. Dinner is included this evening.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 4 – Varadero – Havana

After breakfast this morning we travel back to Havana. Religion has always played an important role in Cuban society that continues today, enjoy a walking tour with a local historian of the fascinating Colon Cemetery (Cemeterio de Cristobal Colon), founded in 1876 and named for Christopher Columbus. The cemetery is noted for its many elaborate sculpted memorials and contains more than 500 major mausoleums, chapels and family vaults and is considered by many to be the most ornate necropolis in the world and is the final resting place for noted Cubans including artists, writers, musicians and ballplayers. Next enjoy a performance by the amazing Habana Compas Dance Group. Interact with the students and teachers to learn more about the Cuban dance culture. Today lunch is included at the Nacional Hotel, once Havana’s flagship hotel that has hosted celebrities and world leaders during its heyday, such as Winston Churchill and Frank Sinatra, to name a few. Enjoy a tour of this historic property housing pictures and nostalgia from a by gone era. Meet a former famous professional Cuban baseball player and join in a discussion regarding the history and love of this game in Cuba and the U.S. Enjoy dinner this evening at a local Paladar (privately owned restaurant) with an opportunity to talk with the owners about the challenges of running a private business in Cuba.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Hotel: Melia Havana (4 Nights) 

Day 5 – Old Havana

This morning enjoy a guided walking tour of pedestrian only Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See the beautiful Cathedral de la Havana, built in baroque style in 1748 and learn about its preservation and continuous restoration. Visit the Marqueta Vieja Havana Museum that houses the scale model of the City of Havana and to meet with an expert on the city’s architecture and restoration efforts. Begin with a presentation and lecture from a local architect who discusses Havanas unique architecture, the current challenges of restoring the city’s historic buildings and the future of the city’s restoration effort. Following lunch in Old Havana we visit the famous Museum of the Revolution that displays documents and artifacts, weapons and planes from the revolution. See artifacts & learn more about the Bay of Pigs, the 1961 historic clash between the CIA trained Cuban exiles & rebel forces, the event that defined US-Cuba relations for decades. The museum is housed in the former Presidential Palace which was the home to Cuba’s leaders from the 1920’s until 1959. This building offers beautiful architecture as well as an interior that was designed by Tiffany’s. Next head to the charming fishing village of Jaimanitas to visit the incredible Home and Work Shop of world famous artist, painter and ceramicist Jose Fuster, often called the “Picasso of Cuba.” He has adorned a neighborhood with colorful ornate murals and domes. Here we spend time with the Fuster family and staff to discuss the influence of the artist’s work and their lives and community. Dinner is on your own this evening allowing you to explore the fine restaurants, cuisine and jazz clubs of Havana. Perhaps even take in the world famous Tropicana Cabaret Show on your own. The Tropicana Cabaret opened in 1939 and is an extravagant spectacle with a revue of glamour and nostalgia. Before the revolution, the Tropicana was a casino owned by gangsters and visited by the Rich and Famous. An evening of music and history that is not to be missed at this famous nightclub show that presents song-and-dance performances reminiscent of 1950’s Cuba.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch 

Day 6 – Havana – Vinales Valley – Havana

Today we travel out of Havana and into the rural Cuban countryside to the Vinales Valley located in the western most mountainous range in Cuba and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This region, the western province of Pinar del Rio is known for its stunning scenery, a landscape of prehistoric looking flat-top mountains or “mogotes”, tobacco plantations, caves and rivers. Stop at the Francisco Donatien Cigar Factory for a guided visit to learn about the manufacturing of fine Cuban cigars and interact with the factory workers about the history and process. The factory specializes in Cohiba & Monte Cristo cigars. Next, visit a traditional Tobacco Farm and Farmhouse to meet with the farmer to learn about tobacco cultivation, the drying process and experience a cigar rolling demonstration inside the drying hut. Enjoy a visit inside his farmhouse, meeting and interacting with his family while enjoying some Cuban coffee. A great opportunity to witness up close, how Cuban families live in a rural setting. Later stop at the Los Jasmines viewpoint on the way back to Havana for incredible panoramic views of the Vinales Valley and an opportunity to enjoy the spectacular scenery and take photos of this beautiful and unique region. Return to Havana and the evening is free to explore on your own.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch 

Day 7 – Havana

Next enter the world of Ernest Hemingway with a visit to Hemingway’s Farm, Finca La Vigia (meaning ‘lookout house’). This beautiful property hosts the house where the Nobel Prize winner lived with his wife Martha for 21 years. View the perfectly preserved home where many of the Hemingway personal belongings remain intact. View his yacht on display, the Pilar in which he used to patrol for Nazis in the Caribbean waters and featured in his novel “Islands in the Stream.” A photo stop is made at the Morro Castle, built in 1589, to protect the mouth of the Havana Harbor. “Morro” in Spanish means a rock which is very visible from the sea and therefore serves as a navigational landmark. Perched on the headland on the opposite side of the harbor from Old Havana it can be viewed from miles around as it dominates the port entrance. Next visit the San Jose Craft Market and Art Center or similar to meet and interact with the local artists to discuss and learn of the importance of their art in Cuban culture. Learn from the artists who share their experiences of pursuing the arts with limited access to materials and funding. Special transportation is planned to your Farewell Dinner at a local Paladar (a privately owned restaurant) as we cruise the streets of Havana in vintage cars. We’ll enjoy talking with the cars’ owners along the way.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Day 8 – Depart Havana to Home

Following breakfast, depart for the airport with grand memories of your Discover Cuba tour.

Included Meals: Breakfast 

Provided by R&J Tours and Operated by Chamber Explorations / Premier World Discovery.