WESTERN CUBA 7 DAYS 6 NIGHTS

Day 1 – Arrival in Havana

• Arrival in Havana including assistance at Airport and Transfer In to 5-star National hotel
• The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic Spanish eclectic style hotel in Havana (art deco more prevalent), Cuba, which opened in 1930. Located on the sea front of the Vedado district, it stands on Taganana Hill, offering commanding views of the sea and the city. This hotel was the cradle of the Cuban and the American Mafia in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
• Welcome Dinner at Paladar La Guarida or similar choice, La Guarida began to acquire its lofty reputation in the 1990s, when it was used as a location for the Oscar-nominated Fresa y chocolate. Regularly refined in the years since, the food is still up there with Havana’s best, with the restaurant’s pioneering brand of nueva cocina cubana driving both classic dishes (ropa vieja; shredded beef) and those that are unusual for Cuba (lamb tikka masala).
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Accommodation, transportation, English-speaking tour guide and Welcome Dinner

Day 2 – Get to know Havana city

• City tour of Old Havana. Founded in 1519 under the name of Villa de San Cristobal de La Habana, Old Havana is the historical center of the Cuban capital of Havana. … Much of Havana Vieja was constructed during the Spanish colonial time period which is apparent in the city’s baroque and neoclassical architecture.
• Lunch at local Paladar. (Paladar is a term that in Spanish translates literally to «palate» and used with that meaning in the Spanish speaking world, however in Cuba is used exclusively to refer to restaurants run by self-employers. Mostly family-run businesses, paladares are fundamentally directed to serve as a counterpart to state-run restaurants for tourists seeking a more vivid interaction with Cuban reality, and looking for homemade Cuban food).
• Afternoon tour of New Havana (bus with driver and English-speaking tour guide included).
• Old and Center Havana grew up to the end of the 1800’s, New Havana will cover architecture and history after Cuba became an independent Republic in 1902.
• Drive back to hotel, rest of evening at leisure
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Accommodation with breakfast, guided tour of Old and New Havana, and lunch.

Day 3 Havana city, insight about life in the city 

• The guide will pick you up at 9:45 and take you to Museo de la Revolucion( Visit to Revolution Museum The Museum of the Revolution’s exhibits are largely devoted to the period of the revolutionary war of the 1950s and to the country’s post-1959 history but it spans from Cuba’s discovery by Christopher Clumbus in 1942 to present times), afterwards visit to Fine Arts museum (The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana -Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana- in Havana, Cuba is a museum of Fine Arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations)
• Lunch at local Paladar
• Afternoon visits to Havana’s La Cabaña Fortress, biggest one built by the Spanish Crown during the colonial times in Latin America. Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, colloquially known as La Cabaña, is an 18th-century fortress complex located on the elevated eastern side of the harbor entrance in Havana, Cuba. The fort rises above the 200-foot (60 m) hilltop, along with Morro. Castle
• On the way back to hotel, stop at a flea market where souvenirs and other Memorabilia can be bought.
• Drive back to hotel and rest of evening at leisure
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Visits to Museum of Revolution and Museum of Fine Arts, transportation, English-speaking tour guide, Lunch and Visit to La Cabana Fortress

Day 4 – Excursion to Viñales Valley

• Excursion to Viñales Valley – 2 and a half hours away from Havana (Oldest Geological region in Cuba dating back to Jurassic Period- stop at lookout point, visit Indian Cave, Mural de la Prehistoria, Tobacco Farm, Viñales Town). Lunch at Finca Paraiso. Back to Havana the same day at the end of the day. This will include Transportation, Tour Guide service.
• The Viñales Valley in the Sierra de los Organos near the western end of the island of Cuba is an outstanding karst landscape encircled by mountains and dotted with spectacular dome-like limestone outcrops (mogotes) that rise as high as 300 m.
• Tobacco and other crops are cultivated on the bottom of the valley, mostly by traditional agricultural techniques. Many caves dot the surrounding hills faces (Cueva del Indio is one example of them).
• The conspicuous limestone cliffs rising like islands from the bottom of the valley are called Mogotes. They can be up to 300m tall.
• Viñales is a major tourist destination offering mainly Hiking and rock climbing. The local climbing scene has started to take off in the last few years with many new routes being discovered resulting in an increase in local tourism.
• Drive back to hotel and rest of evening at leisure
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Accommodation with breakfast. Full-day excursion to Viñales valley with Lunch. Entrance Fees to places

Day 5 – Visit Hemingway’s former Estate (now a museum) and local private Art Galleries 

• The guide will pick you up at 9:45 and take you to visit Ernest Hemningway’s Museum. Hemingway became a fixture of Havana, and stayed in the country longer than many Americans chose to after relations between Cuba and the United States began to deteriorate. He fished extensively aboard his boat, Pilar, and enjoyed the island lifestyle, hanging out in Havana, and entertaining guests at the Finca.
• Continue drive to Cojimar, a fishing town where Hemingway kept his Boat
• Cojímar is a small fishing town located seven kilometers to the east of Havana. This town is famous for being the setting of Hemingway’s most famous novel: “The Old Man and the Sea,” which allowed him to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.
• Enjoy Mojitos at Las Terrazas. Drive back to Havana to visit a local Gallery
• Lunch at a local Paladar
• Afternoon visits to local Art Galleries.
• Drive back to hotel and rest of evening at leisure
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Accommodation with breakfast, transportation and tour guide service, Ernest Hemningway’s Museum, Cojimar, Mojitos, Lunch

Day 6 – Opportunity to mingle with the locals, souvenir shops

• Morning drive to a souvenir shop for Cuban Cigars, rum and many more. Numerous gift shops and street markets all over the city are teeming with locally-produced handicrafts. Their most popular merchandise includes woodcarvings and statues, papier-mâché masks and religious figurines, as well as simple jewelry made from shells and seeds.
• You will have the opportunity to wander around the city after the morning souvenir trip.
• At 7:00 p.m. the guide will pick you up for Farewell Dinner at local Paladar San Cristobal, San Cristóbal Paladar is an environment full of reminiscences that point to our culture and our heritage. The Havana of the 50s stalks us in every corner, in the meticulous composition of each dish. San Cristóbal transports those who visit it to the lost universes that still remain in the works of Lezama
• Former President Barack Obama dined here upon his visit to Havana
• Recommendations for the evenings include world-famous Tropicana cabaret (the Moulin Rouge of Cuba), Casa de la Musica (there are a few salsa venues in town), Cabaret Parisien, La Zorra y el Cuervo (Jazz), among many others, reservations can be made through your tour-guide or at the hotel sales bureau in the lobby.

Included: Accommodation with breakfast, transportation, tour guide service and Farewell Dinner

Day 7 – Departure Day

• Your driver and tour guide will take you (3 hours before your flight time) to Havana’s International Airport for Outbound Flight.

Included: Accommodation with breakfast, transportation and guide services