Escorted Tours 2022-23 2nd Edition

Trinidad P R I V A T E T O U R U P G R A D E S F R O M £549  Cienfuegos Varadero Viñales Havana < <     <    <   Coach Air South America Day 1: UK to Havana D Depart the UK on your scheduled flight to Havana, via Madrid. On arrival, you’ll be met and transferred to your hotel. Enjoy the afternoon at leisure to settle in and unwind, then re-join your group for tonight’s welcome dinner at a local restaurant. Day 2: Havana B/L/D Havana teems with iconic symbols of Cuban life - old Cadillacs rumble past colourful colonial-era buildings, live salsa music pours out of restaurants and cafés, locals lounge on balconies smoking the country’s famed cigars, and murals of Che Guevara adorn walls and T-shirts. Today starts with a walking tour through Old Havana, or Havana Vieja, an area of the city built during the 16th-century Spanish occupation. Wind your way along the cobbled network of streets, through wide squares and past the faded grandeur of old buildings. Stop at Floridita’s Bar, the famous hangout of Ernest Hemingway which boasts a life-size bronze statue of the writer seated at the bar. Enjoy one of the bar’s famed daiquiris before lunch at a local restaurant. Make your way to the city’s lively craft market and browse through the multitude of stalls hawking everything from linen shirts and cigars to paintings and percussion instruments. Continue on to Revolution Square where the towering Jose Marti memorial pays homage to this national hero, looked over by a huge steel casting of revolutionary Che Guevara. This evening, after a festive dinner at a local restaurant, witness the Nine Cannon Ceremony at Morro Fortress, where soldiers dressed in 18th- century military regalia fire a cannon over Havana Bay. Next, experience Cuba’s rich musical culture with a rhythmic live music performance at the Buena Vista Social Club Show before returning to your hotel for the night. Day 3: Havana to Viñales B/L/D Following breakfast, you’ll journey to the nearby fishing village of Cojimar, the inspiration behind Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”. Visit Finca Vigia, the writer’s former home which now serves as a dedicated museum, and delve into his life at this hilltop villa where many of his belongings are on display. Next, learn the secrets behind Cuba’s world-renowned drinks as you participate in an entertaining cocktail lesson before lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon, depart for Viñales, stopping en route at Las Barrigonas, a tobacco farm that grows some of the world’s finest tobacco using traditional farming methods that have existed in this valley for hundreds of years. Explore the tobacco plantation and farmhouse then travel onward to Viñales for your overnight stay. Tour highlights ✔ Explore the lively city of Havana on a walking tour ✔ Visit the iconic Revolution Square, Floridita’s Bar and the Hemingway Museum ✔ Wander along Trinidad’s pretty streets and plazas ✔ Enjoy a tour of Che Guevara’s mausoleum in Santa Clara ✔ Witness a cannon ceremony at La Cabaña Fortress ✔ Experience Cuba’s rich musical culture at the Buena Vista Social Club Show ✔ Watch a cannon ceremony at La Cabana Fortress ✔ Visit a tobacco plantation, ancient river cave and Cuban cigar factory Viva Cuba Take in classic Cadillacs, the faded grandeur of colonial-era buildings and the ever-present sounds of salsa as you tour Havana, explore the country’s revolutionary past in Santa Clara, experience rural Viñales and make your way to Caribbean shores in Cienfuegos, all on our tour of this unique island. 94 Visit our website or call 0800 954 9329 to book or for further details