Welcome to Havana, Cuba!
Your tour guide will be waiting for you outside the airport doors. They will help you with your bags as you board your Private Coach.
Get acquainted with the city with an orientation tour with your knowledgeable guide en route to the Morro Fortress.
At the fortress, you will have a spectacular view of Havana while eating lunch at La Divina Pastora with live music and entertainment.
After lunch, check in at your hotel or B&B.
Have a rooftop dinner at Atelier, one of the best paladares (privately owned restaurants) in Havana.
Atelier is an elegant Mediterranean home with a great ambience and a spacious outdoor rooftop patio. We will meet with the owner, Niuris, who was invited to the United States twice to talk about Cuban women developing their own businesses.
Start the morning with a walk through the cobblestone streets of the four plazas of Old Havana (a UNESCO World Heritage site): Plaza de Armas, Plaza San Francisco de Asis, Plaza Vieja, and Plaza de la Catedral
Your guide will explain the history of the area as well as the recent developments and preservation efforts of this UNESCO World Heritage site.
At the plazas, we will visit cultural sites including Fototeca de Cuba (Photography Gallery of Cuba) and the Taller de Grafica Experimental (Printmaking Workshop with Cuban artists).
Enjoy live jazz music at Cafe del Oriente in Old Havana while eating lunch.
After lunch, visit Callejón de Hamel to join a celebration of Afro-Cuban music and dance.
Return to Hotel
Special reception at private residence of Art Curator, Milagros Borges. We will discuss Cuban art and the artists she represents.
Enjoy dinner at rooftop paladar, El Cocinero
Visit the FABRICA DE ARTE CUBANO (FAC), a culturally progressive non-governmental art collective and music venue, FAC is a must-do. Host of the CNN show Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain, calls it the “hottest place in Havana”. Engage in open discussions with musicians, artists, dancers, and writers and enjoy a live music performance by local and international acts.
Meet with Miguel Coyula, expert in architecture, urban planning, and social services. This is a great time to ask questions!
Visit the Hemingway Museum – Finca Vigia is located in the small, working-class town of San Francisco de Paula. Situated on a hilltop, the Hemingway House was first purchased by Ernest Hemingway in 1940.
Visit Cojímar, the fishing community where Hemingway celebrated his Pulitzer prize in 1953 with his fishermen friends and Gregorio Fuentes, captain of his yacht Pilar, and main character of his book, The Old Man and the Sea.
Lunch at Paladar, El Litoral
Visit San Jose Craft Market and meet with vendors and artisans selling their crafts. You will most certainly see something you want to take
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner
Dinner at the quaint and stylish paladar on the water, RioMar
Meet with MalPaso Dance Company at the Sephardic Jewish Community Center where they rehearse. They will perform the piece that they are working on for you to see. Following the performance, we will have a Q&A with the dancers and directors, Osnel Delgado and Daile Carrazana and manager of the company, Fernando Saez.
MalPaso has collaborated with Grammy-winner Arturo O’Farrill and traveled internationally receiving rave reviews everywhere they go!
Visit Decorative Arts Museum, former home of Countess Maria Luisa Gomez Mena. This guided tour will give you an inside look as to how the wealthy lived in Cuba in the early 1950s.
Lunch at El Aljibe known for their traditional Cuban food and garlic chicken
Art Gallery – The Merger is an art collective formed by the Cuban artists Alain Pino, Niels Moleiro, and Mario Miguel Gonzalez (Mayito). Pino was formally trained in Cuba from the Basic Fine Arts School to the Academy of Plastic Arts at the University; Niels and Mayito are self-taught. The Merger work the sculpture as their main course, and they have experimented with different materials such as black steel, stainless steel, bronze, aluminum, fiberglass, translucent silicone, murano glass, marble, and wood.
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner
Dinner at Paladar, La Guarida – once an old apartment building that housed several families, it is now a paladar that was featured in the famous film Strawberry and Chocolate. The food is exquisite!
Enjoy an eventful evening of music and dance with the locals!
Take a trip through Cuba’s history through the arts at the National Museum of Fine Arts. From past to present, your expert guide will show you the most notable pieces in the museum and explain their significance.
Lunch at Paladar, Mediterraneo Havana
Meet with Andres Correoso at Colon Cemetery to discuss the endless sea of poignant memorials, architectural jewels, human interest stories, and cremation and burial rituals. (This elaborate necropolis covers nearly 8% of the City of Havana)
Spend the afternoon meeting with different artists at their private homes and studios.
1 hour panoramic tour of Havana in a vintage car
Roll up to paladar, La Fontana, in style – This 1950s home in Miramar is a favorite amongst Cuban artists.
Visit Superior Institute of Art (ISA) – Cuba’s prestigious university for painters and sculptors, architectural wonder, and subject of the film, Unfinished Spaces.
One of the few major architectural projects completed in Cuba in the early 1960s, this remarkable post-revolution campus is the premier school in Cuba for students studying music, visual arts and performing arts. You will have time to interact with students and professors about their work at the school.
Visit the art enclave and community project of Jose Fuster known as Fusterlandia – and discuss the projects with the artist’s son Alex Fuster. Jose Fuster made a major contribution to the fishing town of Jaimanitas just outside of Havana by creating an art wonderland for people to come visit. This provided work for the locals who helped build this now well-known public art attraction. There are over 80 houses in this neighborhood that are decorated with colorful ornate murals by Fuster and the community. Fuster is warmly regarded as the Picasso of the Caribbean.
Visit the Guanabacoa Museum to learn about the Afro-Cuban religion and engage in an interactive performance of music and dance at this cultural community project.
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner.
Dinner at Paladar, Vistamar, a seafront duplex house from the 1950’s in the Miramar neighborhood. This wonderful house has one of the first infinity pools built in Havana. The view from the paladar offers beautiful sunsets.
Depart to Las Terrazas eco community. We will meet with the locals and discuss the eco-community re-forestation project. Meet with artist Lester Campa to discuss the importance of depicting – through art – the benefits of re-forestation and sustainable rural communities.
Lunch at the traditional Cuban Restaurant Casa del Campesino
Enjoy a coffee at MOKA overlooking the Coffee Plantation
Return to hotel in Havana
Farewell Dinner at Le Chansonnier – This paladar was voted Top Ten Best Paladars of Havana in the New York Times. It stands out for its excellent design and stylish interior decoration. The food is as remarkable as the dishes they are served on.
Live music entertainment
For afternoon and evening flights, enjoy a day of leisure before heading to the airport.
For early morning flights, transfer directly to the airport for return flights home.
