Day One: Arrival in Havana & Classic Car Tour
Based upon the time your flight arrives at José Martí International Airport in Havana, your professional guide will be waiting for you at your final customs exit. Following a quick meet and greet, you will ride into Old Havana, get settled into your BnB, then kick your tour off with a bang on a two-hour Classic Car Tour of the city! You will visit Havana’s most remarkable sites such as the Christ Statue overlooking the city, the Morro Castle, Revolution Square, the Capitol, the Vedado neighborhood, and finish with a breezy cruise down the Malecón (seawall) at sunset. After your classic car tour, you will be dropped off at one of our favorite restaurants in the city to experience their mouth-watering cuisine and the live music that the alley offers! If you choose, your guide will drop you off at your BnB after dinner. If you desire to explore the nightlife of Old Havana, you will be free to do so.
Day Two: Cuban History, Culture & Dinner with Cigars and Live Jazz
At the arranged time you choose, your professional guide will meet you at your BnB to begin your day. You will receive a completely comprehensive education on Cuban culture, history, folklore, and much more on an Old Havana Walking Tour. You will be walking through the city to learn of and visit some of its most historic and romantic sites like the Castle of the Royal Force, Plaza Vieja, the Havana Cathedral, La Bodeguita del Medio (a place made famous by Hemingway), and so much more. You will meet local artists at their shops and might even bump into a few of Havana’s personalities. Who knows, you might even find yourself dancing to traditional Cuban music with locals in the street! Your Old Havana Walking Tour will begin in the morning in the oldest part of the city, and following lunch at the location of your choice (your guide can give recommendations), you will complete the walking tour in the Capitol Area visiting locations like an artisan’s market, Central Park, the Capitol, the Original Partagas Cigar Factory, and the Museum of the Revolution among others.
After your walking tour is complete, you will have the time and freedom to rest and clean up before dinner if you so choose. For dinner, you will experience an incredible dinner and enjoy cigars with drinks and live jazz at a private venue! The private evening includes a four-course dinner, a shot of premium Cuban rum, a premium Cuban cigar, and some of Cuba's best jazz! Following, you may want to explore more of Havana's nightlife on your final night, but if not, your guide will escort you to your BnB.
Day Three: A Day of Cigars & Crafted Cocktails
Day three will be icing on the cake with a Cigar Factory Tour, a Cigar Pairing, a Cuban Cocktail Lesson, time to purchase more souvenirs, and an incredible dinner in one of Havana’s most popular alleys.
Again, your guide will meet you at your chosen time in the morning, then you will be transported to one of Havana’s famous cigar factories to receive a complete education on the process of Cuba’s world-renowned tobacco!
Following your visit to the cigar factory and Habanos store, you will be transported back to Old Havana for lunch at the restaurant of your choice (your guide can give recommendations).
After lunch, you will be escorted to a special place for an education and experience with Cuban cigars, rum, and coffee (one cigar, one shot of rum, and one coffee included). It doesn’t get any better than this! After the cigar pairing, your guide will escort you to another hidden rooftop in the old city where you will get a private lesson on making Cuban cocktails!
Before dinner, you will have time to relax and clean up. At the appropriate time, your guide will take you to one of our favorite places down a popular alley in the thick of the city. Like all of our partner restaurants, you will receive the most tasty cuisine in a unique atmosphere. This will be the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax, and enjoy your company. Following, you may want to explore more of Havana's nightlife on your final night, but if not, your guide will escort you to your BnB.
Day Four: Farewell Havana, Hello Viñales
After breakfast, at a predetermined time, you will take off for Viñales in a private car. After your arrival, you will get settled into your BnB, then walk into town for lunch at a restaurant of your choice on the city’s main street!
You will then have the opportunity to kick back and rest a bit as you get acclimated to the slow pace of Viñales. Following, you will be transported to what many claim as the best view in all of Cuba, a panoramic view of the Viñales Valley. It is there that you may enjoy a fine Cuban cigar and a drink while looking out over the valley’s farms and mogotes (random mountainous formations in the valley), dreaming of what life was like as the natives roamed the land.
Following a time of relaxation and photographs at the viewpoint, you will be taken just a short walk away to a restaurant with one of the best views in all of Viñales. You will taste their exquisite cuisine and relax as you soak in the view and assume the slow-paced lifestyle of the Campesino (farmer). And if you’re one to enjoy a Cuban cocktail, this restaurant places a bottle of rum on your table and simply explains, “Here is a bottle for your table, in case you would like to add more rum to your cocktail.”
After dinner, if you so choose, your guide will drop you off at your BnB. If you desire to explore the nightlife of Viñales, you will be free to do so.
Day Five: Award-Winning Tobacco Farms
At the arranged time you choose, your professional guide will meet you to begin your day. First, you will be transported deeper into the province of Pinar del Rio to visit two famous tobacco farms. Your first stop will be at the Montesino Tobacco Farm, where they offer arguably the best hand-rolled stick that you can pick up. You will get the opportunity to walk through the fields and get a first-hand account of what the entire process of Cuban tobacco undergoes from seed to stick. After your tour is the best part, where you will sit down with the owner and he will roll you a few cigars. Then you light up, grab some coffee, and chat as long as you please.
After you tour the first tobacco farm, you will have the opportunity to eat lunch at one of the farms. Whichever you choose, you will not need to put your cigar out but rather kick back and enjoy your lunch with the local farmers.
The second tobacco farm is in the Vuelta Abajo region. The owner, Hector Luis Prieto, was a past winner of the prestigious “Hombre de Habanos” award and it is at his farm where you will meet him, take a walk through his farm, learn about their process, hear some stories, and simply bask in the great art of Cuban tobacco production. There will be no rush to go anywhere or do anything specific, so you will have ample time to kick back, grab a drink, light up, and take the afternoon as easy as you desire at one of Cuba’s most awarded tobacco farms.
Once you’ve wound down the afternoon and it is time for dinner, you will be escorted back to Viñales to a great local restaurant on top of a hill where you will enjoy the sunset views, then dine on classic Cuban cuisine like smoked pork, fresh-caught fish, shredded beef, or grilled chicken. After dinner, if you so choose, your guide will drop you off at your BnB. If you desire to explore the nightlife of Viñales, you will be free to do so.
Day Six: Coffee, Caves & Locals
At the arranged time you choose, your professional guide will meet you to begin your day. You will first be escorted to a local farm for an extensive education on Cuban coffee from a local farmer. There you will have the opportunity to learn the entire process that Cuban coffee undergoes from plant to espresso. Depending on the season and availability of coffee, you might even get to help in harvest and join in the process from picking the beans to brewing your own!
After the coffee experience, you will eat lunch at their little restaurant situated right in the middle of the farm. Following lunch, you will then be escorted to the Cave of the Indian. There you will take a short and relaxing tour, where you will encounter a performance by natives, explore the insides of Viñales’ most famous cave, and finish on a boat through the cave’s small river.
Upon completion, you will return to your BnB where you will have the opportunity to light up a smoke and enjoy the company of locals as they teach you how to play Cuban dominoes. This just might be the most incredible experience you have with our local friends. You will not only get to know their favorite family game, but will learn about them, their families, and culture, and you might even learn some Cuban vernacular as you play along.
To finish your evening in the most immaculate style, after cleaning up, your private car will take you into the valley to a former tobacco farm that has been converted into an acclaimed restaurant manned by a Cuban chef who can’t be matched (he was trained by the King’s Chef in Spain). You will dine at what we claim is Cuba’s best restaurant and experience true Cuban hospitality and the fine food that comes with it! We can guarantee that this will be the best dining experience that you will have in all of Cuba. The view, the hospitality, the cuisine, and the atmosphere simply can’t be beat.
If you choose, after dinner, your guide will drop you off at your BnB to relax as you wind down your evening. If you decide to explore the nightlife of Viñales on your final night in Cuba, you will be free to do so.
Day Seven: Final Taste & Departure
Depending on the departure time of your flight, you might have the opportunity to relax and enjoy your last few hours in Viñales. If so, you will have time to purchase any last-minute souvenirs from local artisans and/or take those photos that you may have missed. At the appointed time, you will be picked up by your private taxi, escorted directly to the José Martí International Airport, and dropped off three to four hours prior to your departure for an ample amount of time to purchase any last-minute souvenirs, check your bags, go through security and customs, and arrive at your gate for a safe flight home.
