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).
Eat lunch at paladar, Doña Eutimia, to enjoy traditional Cuban food.
After lunch, visit Callejón de Hamel to join a celebration of Afro-Cuban music and dance.
Visit San Jose Craft Market and meet with vendors and artisans selling their crafts. You will most certainly see something you want to take home with you!
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner.
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.
Spend the morning at Finca Vigia – 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.
Enjoy lunch at paladar, Café Ajiaco – great seafood!
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 the quaint and stylish paladar on the water, RioMar
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 Los Mercaderes paladar
Meet with director/choreographer Isabel Bustos and the dancers of Retazos Dance-Theater, a small company known for using modern dance techniques to integrate the arts, including visual art, music, cinema, and literature. Enjoy a performance by the dance group and then engage in a Q&A.
Meet with Cuban historian and expert in architecture, urban planning, economy, and social services for a brief overview of Cuba from past to present. (This is a great time to ask questions!)
Visit La Colmenita Childrens’ Theater – They will perform a special tribute to the Beatles. In 2007 La Colmenita was the first theatrical group in the world to be proclaimed Ambassador of Goodwill of the UNICEF. We will meet Patricia Diaz, program director of one the numerous Colmenita community programs offered in Havana who will explain the project. We will engage in a Q&A after the performance.
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner.
Special reception and dinner at the private home of Milagros Borges, art dealer. We will have open discussions about Cuban art.
Enjoy a live music performance at Habana Café
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.
Lunch at El Aljibe known for their traditional Cuban food and garlic chicken
After lunch, we will explore Modern Havana and its remarkable architecture with Dr. Maria Elena Martin Zequeira, a senior professor at the University of Havana and the author of Havana Deco: An Architectural Guide, and also a founding member of the Habana Deco Group.
Stop at the private home and studio of a top Contemporary Cuban artist.
Visit the private residence of Juan Delgado, art curator and producer of Detrás del muro (Behind the wall), one of the biggest and best public collective art installations to occur in Havana.
Return to hotel and get ready for dinner.
Dinner at La Fontana. This 1950s home in Miramar is a favorite paladar amongst Cuban artists.
A night of live musical entertainment.
Take a walk through through Colon Cemetery with a knowledgeable guide. This elaborate necropolis covers nearly 8% of the City of Havana, and contains an endless sea of poignant memorials, architectural jewels and human interest stories.
Meet with MalPaso Dance Company at the Sephardic Temple where they practice to watch them perform and engage in a Q&A with the company.
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 Vistamar – This paladar is a seafront duplex 1950’s house 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 and synchronized waterworks directly from Mother Earth.
Visit the private homes and studios of top Cuban Contemporary artists.
Return to Hotel
Dinner at Starbien
Live music entertainment
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.
