Cuba cultural holidays, 15 days

Carbon reduction

Your holiday will help support local people and conservation. We must also reduce CO₂. Learn about the CO₂ emissions of this holiday and how to reduce them.

Environment

We directly run all our ground services and do not go through a second agent as the majority of tour providers to Cuba do. Our own dedicated staff are local to Havana and regional centers. A network of tour leaders, local guides and local transport providers, plus local office staff will help make your trip special. We use local coordinators in regional centers to get the best possible access to services possible and to bring in local expertise.

This trip if 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 Cubans live, observe their way of life, and participate in their culture. Homestays have a much less detrimental affect on the environment as they are smaller scale than large hotel chains and you will observe the same routines of life as the locals. We also encourage our groups to eat in small Paladars run by the locals or to eat in homestays with local families.

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.

All travelers are encouraged to explore with the group and on their own, learn a few words of the ‘Cubanized’ 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.

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 our 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 travelers take our impact on the local environment into consideration. Similarly we monitor the impact on the local wildlife.

The maximum group size of this tour is limited to 12 travelers which enables us to more easily interact with the Cubans and to visit their homes and places of work and play. It also minimizes 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) and ration stores.