Tailor made walking & sightseeing tours in Cuba
| country: | Cuba |
| trip type: | Introductory guided walking holidays |
| departures: | This itinerary is available all year round. We offer a complete tailormade service allowing you to decide how and when you travel, where you stay and what you do. |
| price: | From £1260 (11 days) excluding flights. Price includes visa, transport, accommodation, services of English speaking local guide, all breakfasts, 8 lunches and 7 dinners. We can help arrange flights from the UK |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Tailor made walking & sightseeing tours in Cuba
This itinerary combines day walks and touring to savour the delights of rural Cuba. On this tailor made holiday you are in control of how far you walk on any day escorted by a local guide. Trails pass through a fascinating mixture of scenery and habitats, in national parks, coffee, cocoa, banana and tobacco plantations. This holiday for nature lovers takes you through forests where you walk to the accompaniment of birds and the scent of mariposa (Cuba national flower), across streams and waterfalls, past the mogotes of Vinales, with its tobacco and rice plantations and landscape awash with flame trees, bougainvillea and hibiscus.
On this walking holiday you will also visit Havana, Santa Clara and Trinidad, Vinales, Soroa and las Terrazas. Cuba is a unique destination. The country's lush landscapes and the people's deeply engrained propensity to enjoy themselves outweigh the greyer reality of life for the ever-optimistic Cubans. This is a private walking holiday that you can take at your own pace, no rushing or worrying about keeping up with other people. You do as much or as little as you please.
Your 10 day fully escorted holiday begins with two nights in Old Havana to explore on foot this fascinating and vibrant city, its history, architecture, music, culture and everyday life in the company of your local English speaking guide. This is followed by three days walking in the delightful Sierra del Escambray mountain range through forest, coffee, banana and cocoa plantations. You will enjoy spectacular views, rich natural history and hopefully the odd dip in a waterfall to cool down.
On this holiday you will also spend two nights on the south coast outside Trinidad - time to explore its beautiful colonial residences and cobbled streets and sample the salsa before you turn west towards Vinales, the Guira national park, Soroa and its orchids and las Terrazas eco-community to explore this spectacular region of mogotes and tobacco plantations rich in plant and birdlife.
During this holiday you will also have the opportunity to understand something of the real Cuba - a melting pot of races, beliefs, colonial history and architecture, classic cars, cigars and music straining against the Castro brothers' Stalinist grip since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and suffering enormously thanks to the US embargo that makes economic progress incredibly difficult. Its people are frequently hungry but have an adequate diet thanks to a government ration system and enjoy free healthcare and education.
On this walking holiday you will also visit Havana, Santa Clara and Trinidad, Vinales, Soroa and las Terrazas. Cuba is a unique destination. The country's lush landscapes and the people's deeply engrained propensity to enjoy themselves outweigh the greyer reality of life for the ever-optimistic Cubans. This is a private walking holiday that you can take at your own pace, no rushing or worrying about keeping up with other people. You do as much or as little as you please.
Your 10 day fully escorted holiday begins with two nights in Old Havana to explore on foot this fascinating and vibrant city, its history, architecture, music, culture and everyday life in the company of your local English speaking guide. This is followed by three days walking in the delightful Sierra del Escambray mountain range through forest, coffee, banana and cocoa plantations. You will enjoy spectacular views, rich natural history and hopefully the odd dip in a waterfall to cool down.
On this holiday you will also spend two nights on the south coast outside Trinidad - time to explore its beautiful colonial residences and cobbled streets and sample the salsa before you turn west towards Vinales, the Guira national park, Soroa and its orchids and las Terrazas eco-community to explore this spectacular region of mogotes and tobacco plantations rich in plant and birdlife. During this holiday you will also have the opportunity to understand something of the real Cuba - a melting pot of races, beliefs, colonial history and architecture, classic cars, cigars and music straining against the Castro brothers' Stalinist grip since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and suffering enormously thanks to the US embargo that makes economic progress incredibly difficult. Its people are frequently hungry but have an adequate diet thanks to a government ration system and enjoy free healthcare and education.
best time to go
Cuba is an all-year round destination but we particularly recommend travel between November and May. January to end - March is predominantly hot and sunny (but not too hot and nights are cooler). April and May are slightly hotter. The tropical rainy season arrives in May and ends in October. The hurricane season runs from June to October. The high seasons for visitor numbers are traditionally Christmas week, mid-January to end March, Easter, July and August (when Cubans also take their annual holiday). day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival in Havana. You will be met on arrival at Havana airport and transferred to your mid-range Habaguanex hotel in Old Havana. |
| Day 2: | Old Havana. Today your guide will take you on a comprehensive full day walking tour of Old Havana and its museums ending with a walk down one of Havana's busy shopping streets to Havana's central square. From here you will visit the Bacardi building before strolling down the elegant Prado boulevard to the Malecon (seafront). |
| Day 3: | Lake Hanabanilla. This morning you will be driven to Hanabanilla via Santa Clara with the option to visit the Che Mausoleum and Museum, plus the famous armoured train that marked the end of the Batista regime and a stroll through Santa Clara’s attractively peaceful central square. You will stay at the hotel at Lake Hanabanilla for the next two days. |
| Day 4: | Hanabanilla -Cola Cambiada. Today starts with a short boat ride followed by a three to four hours walk in the company of a local naturalist guide up Cola Cambiada –lit. curly tail - a winding, steep trail with panoramic views over Lake Hanabanilla. You will walk through banana and coffee plantations, pass by a remote coffee farm and enjoy a leisurely late lunch at a restaurant by the lake before returning to your hotel. |
| Day 5: | Salto del Caburni waterfall - Trinidad. Firstly a drive to the start of the trail to Salto del Caburni waterfall followed by a day’s fairly strenuous walking via waterfalls and steep paths, look out for humming birds and Cuba’s national flower, the white mariposa (butterfly jasmine) with its lovely scent. Listen out for Cuba’s national bird, the Tocororo, with its blue, red and white Cuba plumage. Later you will drive down to the picturesque colonial town of Trinidad for two nights, where you will stay on the edge of town at Ancon beach. There will be opportunities to wander in the picturesque cobbled streets and perhaps enjoy music in the Casa de Trovar at night. |
| Day 6: | Sierra del Escambray - Hacienda Codina. Today is spent in the verdantly humid Escambray mountains, a blend of pine and rainforest with coconut palms, banana and cocoa plantations. Some lovely walking today around Hacienda Codina, learning about local flora and fauna. Mind you don't step on the world's smallest frog! |
| Day 7: | Hacienda Cortina & Che's Cave. An early morning start today. You move on towards Western Cuba and Vinales stopping en route to visit Hacienda Cortina and its gardens - an early 20th century folly reminiscent of Stourhead and Giverny in the midst of the tropics! Picnic lunch. You then walk/drive on to Cueva las Portales, Che's cave base during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 for history of a different sort. Tonight you will stay at either Los Jazmines, El Ermita, Rancho San Vicente or San Diego de los Banos for two nights. Dinner at hotel. |
| Day 8: | Vinales. Enjoy today exploring this breathtakingly beautiful region famous for its tobacco plantations, sheer sided mogotes - limestone hills rising from a tropical plain rich with hibiscus, bougainvillea and flame trees, tobacco plantations and rice paddy fields. Your guide will take you on an interesting walk to learn more about tobacco farming in the area. You will walk in the shade of mogotes through this mistily dreamlike landscape rich in plant and birdlife. Picnic lunch. Dinner at hotel. |
| Day 9: | Las Terrazas. Today after an early breakfast you move back towards Havana via the eco-community at La Terrazas. Drive from the hotel to El Curujey Ranchón to meet with a local specialist guide for an introduction to Las Terrazas community then can follow the Santa Serafina trail, where you will experience the immense biodiversity of the area in terms of its flora and fauna and the beautiful contrasts between the different ecosystems. On the way you will visit the Santa Serafina coffee plantation ruins, a legacy from the French settlers. The walk ends at Rancho Curujey, where you will have lunch. Maybe a swim in the San Juan river's natural swimming pools. Drive back to hotel. Rest of afternoon at leisure. Dinner at hotel. |
| Day 10: | Orchids - departure. This morning you check out of hotel for your return to Havana. You will stop off at Soroa to visit the orchidarium before visiting this beautiful forested area rich in birdlife and a very good spot for seeing amphibeans and reptiles. Depending on the time of your flight you will have lunch in Soroa before leaving for the airport and your flight home to the UK |
| Day 11: | Arrival UK. |
traveller reviews for Tailor made walking & sightseeing tours in Cuba
The first day, arriving in La Havana, was undoubtly the most exciting because it was my first time in Cuba and everything was new to me although what I could see was like frozen 50 years ago. (more)
how this holiday makes a difference
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As in depth specialists to our destinations, behaving responsibly towards our suppliers and hosts is at the very heart of what we do. Our aim is to give our clients the very best experience of the destinations they visit whilst benefitting the local community if we can, and never acting to its detriment.
Our philosophy is to support local economies wherever possible and to encourage conservation wherever we can. To us, this means much more than a simple donation to a charity for each client. We try to build long and constructive involvements with local guides, guest houses and hotels, in the course of which we, and our clients, can make lasting wide-ranging contributions to the wonderful places and people we engage with. Cuba is a special case. The country's economy is dependent upon tourism and the Cuban people would be worse off without it. Simply by travelling to Cuba one is benefitting local communities, albeit indirectly, because all Cubans depend on the state for their food rations, free healthcare and education. Although the Cuban attitude towards the environment is largely practical and frequently driven by hunger and economic priorities, the Cuban government is a firm supporter of sustainable development, re-foresting and conservation. Cuba has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world. Your Havana hotel is part of the historic building/hotel restoration project initiated by Habaguanex, which has saved and restored many buildings in Havana. By choosing a walking holiday you will be able to interact with the people and communities you visit |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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