From past to present, we will explore Cuba’s most influential works of art and iconic works of architecture.
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 lunch.
Enjoy live jazz music at Cafe del Oriente in Old Havana while eating lunch.
After lunch, check in at your hotel or B&B.
Have dinner at Starbien, a local favorite paladar (privately owned restaurant) in Havana.
After dinner, enjoy a live music performance or special event.
Spend the morning exploring Havana’s deco treasures with an architecture specialist. We will meet with the people who work at the buildings and discuss their historic value.
Some highlights include:
Hotel Nacional, Casa DECO, Casa de Cine, Casa de la Amistad – DECO Mansion.
Catalina Laza y Pedro Baro, Casa de las Américas
Artists’ renditions of old film posters available for sale.
Have lunch at El Litoral, a paladar located right on the malecón (seawall).
After lunch, take 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).
Return to Hotel and get ready for dinner.
Take a small elevator up a residential building to have dinner at Café Laurent, one of the New York Times top 9 must-visit paladars.
Start the morning with an Architectural discussion with Dr. Maria Elena Martín Zequeira, a senior professor at the University of Havana and author of the Havana Art Deco Architectural Guide.
Have a traditional Cuban Lunch with Dr. Maria Elena Martín Zequeira at El Aljibe – known for their garlic chicken and black beans!
See the intricate architectural works of the Theaters of Havana
Including Lugardita, Fausto, Arenal, and America Theater
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner.
Dinner at Paladar, Chef Ivan Justo
Begin with an architectural discussion as seen through social history with architect and historian, Miguel Coyula
Lunch at Atelier – 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.
Explore Havana!
Bacardi Building, Maternidad de Linea, Maternidad Obrera Hospital
Visit the Community Project of Artist Jose Fuster – Meet with Alex Fuster, son of Jose Fuster at the community art project known as Fusterlandia – 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 local kids who worked to 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.
Return to Hotel and get ready for dinner.
Dinner at Paladar
Meet with a specialist 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).
We will see the Monument to Catalina Laza and listen to the interesting story behind it.
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.
Visit the 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.
Lunch at Paladar, La Fontana – This 1950s home in Miramar is a favorite amongst Cuban artists.
Get an insider’s view form an Architect who leads us on private coach tours of the modern homes and compounds built by famous and infamous resident living in the Miramar neighborhood prior to the revolutions.
Return to Hotel and get ready for dinner.
Food for thought! – Special reception and dinner at private residence of Art Curator, Milagros Borges. We will meet with some of the artists she represents and have open discussions with them.
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 Old Havana local Paladar – Doña Eutimia – a la carte
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.
Return to Hotel
Dinner at Paladar El Cocinero, a trendy open-air rooftop restaurant.
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.
Take off to Matanzas City
Stop at Bacunayagua Bridge’s Observation Point
Inaugurated on September 26th of 1959
Considered one of the 7 wonders of the Cuban Civil Engineering
Visit LoLo’s ceramic art studio and meet with artists.
Enjoy a preview of some of the most famous locations around the historical center of the city with a local architecture specialist.
Sauto Theater, “Palacio del Junco” Museum, Liberty Square, Cathedral, San Pedro Church, Monserrate Chapel and the Pharmaceutical Matanzas Museum, first Pharmaceutical Museum of Latin America, opened in 1882
Lunch at Xanadu Mansion (Dupont Estate)
Return to Havana
Dinner at the quaint and stylish paladar on the water, RioMar
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.
