Cuba cultural tours
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends it's good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as experiencing new cultures.
How Cuba cultural tours makes a difference
Environment
This trip is filled with opportunities to get to know the culture and vibrant society of the intriguing island nation of Cuba. Nearly all of the accommodation is in the homes of Cuban families, where you will get to see how typical Cubans live, observe their way of life, and participate in their culture.
This tour is lead by a local Cuban guide who will give you an insight into the complex Cuban history and society. The guide will demonstrate how this unique country has managed to resist many of the negative impacts of North American culture, influence, and capitalism, and how it has achieved significant social goals, and at the same time, show you the short-comings of the present system.
The maximum group size of this tour is limited to 12 travellers which enables us to more easily interact with the Cubans and to visit their homes and places of work and play, and which minimises our impact on the local culture and society. You will get the chance to visit government run local community projects such as the ‘organoponicos’ (urban based community organic produce gardens), local schools, and ration stores.
All travellers are encouraged to explore with the group and on their own, learn a few words of the ‘Cubanised’ Spanish, and to interact with the locals as much as possible. The local guides are employed to help explain as much as possible about the cultural differences and the historically significant places that we visit and to make your experience in Cuba as enjoyable and as much fun as possible.
Community
We directly run all the on ground services and do not go through a second agent as the majority of tour providers to Cuba do.
We have our own dedicated staff of locals in Havana and regional centres. A network of tour leaders, local guides and local transport providers, plus local office staff. We use local coordinators in regional centres to get the best possible access to services possible and to bring in local expertise.
We stay almost exclusively in are locally run homestays and Cuban run Hotel, not major chains that dominate tourism in Cuba.
We also encourage our groups to eat in small Paladars run by the locals or to eat in homestays with local families.
We ensure that we 'spread the wealth' throughout each town so the benefit is to the community as a whole and not a few individuals. In this we attempt to get as many local providers involved in tour tours as possible, providing a BBQ by the river, or similar activities where the group is mixing with the real locals and not just those in the tourism industry.
We promote best practice in responsible tourism and actively encourage our local suppliers to work with us in this.
All our staff are trained in Responsible Tourism and make this an important part of their tour. We ensure all the activities offered to the travellers take our impact on the local environment into consideration. Similarly we monitor the impact on the local wildlife.
Our commitment to responsible tourism is not limited to our overseas operation and we have measures to ensure our Australian office operates according to our responsible tourism policy.
Cuba cultural tours
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