Day One: Arrival in Havana & Classic Car Tour
Based upon the time your flight arrives at the 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 our favorite restaurant 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: Fishing, Cuban History & Culture
At an arranged time, your professional guide will meet you at your BnB to set out for the marina, just outside of Havana, where you should be out on the water by 8:30am. Depending on what you are fishing for, you will either have a short ride out or troll shallow waters. Either way, while fishing off the coast of Cuba, you will not get far because the water gets deep fast. You will enjoy approximately five hours of fishing with your guide and crew, where your tackle and lunch (drinks also included) will be provided. After a big day of fishing, you will be returned to the marina around 1:00-1:30PM where your arranged taxi will escort you and your guide back to Old Havana.
Following your morning of fishing and your return to Old Havana, you will have the time and freedom to rest and clean up before your Old Havana Walking Tour if you so choose. Due to fishing in the morning, your Old Havana Walking Tour will be split into two shorter days, beginning in the oldest part of the city. On your walking tour, you will receive a completely comprehensive education on Cuban culture, history, folklore, and much more on a 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 (one of Hemingway’s hangouts), 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!
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, your guide will take you to one of our favorite places 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 dinner, your guide will drop you off at your BnB if you so choose. If you desire to further explore the nightlife of Old Havana, you will be free to do so.
Day Three: Fishing & Classic Havana
At an arranged time, your professional guide will meet you at your BnB to set out for the marina, just outside of Havana, where you should be out on the water by 8:30am. Depending on what you are fishing for, you will either have a short ride out or troll shallow waters. Either way, while fishing off the coast of Cuba, you will not get far because the water gets deep fast. You will enjoy approximately five hours of fishing with your guide and crew, where your tackle and lunch (drinks also included) will be provided. After a big day of fishing, you will be returned to the marina around 1:00-1:30PM where your arranged taxi will escort you and your guide back to Old Havana.
Following your morning of fishing and your return to Old Havana, you will again have the time and freedom to rest and clean up before the second portion of your Old Havana Walking Tour if you so choose. Due to fishing in the morning, your Old Havana Walking Tour will be split into two shorter days, finishing today in the capitol area of Havana. On your walking tour, you continue your education on Cuban culture, history, folklore, and much more. 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.
Just before dinner, you will take time to clean up and put your Cuban best on to experience one of the best nights you will have in Cuba, an incredible dinner accompanied with live jazz! Following dinner, you may want to explore more of Havana’s nightlife, but if not, your guide will escort you to your BnB.
Day Four: Offshore Fishing & Cuban Cocktails
At an arranged time, your professional guide will meet you at your BnB to set out for the marina, just outside of Havana, where you should be out on the water by 8:30am. Depending on what you are fishing for, you will either have a short ride out or troll shallow waters. Either way, while fishing off the coast of Cuba, you will not get far because the water gets deep fast. You will enjoy approximately five hours of fishing with your guide and crew, where your tackle and lunch (drinks also included) will be provided. After a big day of fishing, you will be returned to the marina around 1:00-1:30PM where your arranged taxi will escort you and your guide back to Old Havana.
Following your return to Old Havana, you may have a time of rest if you please, then you will receive a private lesson on how to make Cuban cocktails where you will receive at least one cocktail to enjoy! Be sure to bring pen and paper to take notes!
After your more relaxing evening, you will be guided to a popular restaurant (so popular, they had to make another just like it across the street) where the cocktails have an artsy touch and the tacos satisfy the taste buds like none other! Following dinner, your guide will drop you off at your BnB if you so choose. If you desire to further explore the nightlife on your last night in Old Havana, you will be free to do so.
Day Five: Farewell Havana, Hello Viñales!
After breakfast, at a predetermined time, you will take off for Viñales in a private car. Following 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 either rest a bit and get acclimated to the slow pace of Viñales or take off for a tour of a local tobacco farm where you will receive an education on Cuban tobacco from seed to harvest from a local campesino (farmer). Depending on the season and availability of tobacco, you might even get to help in the process of harvest or roll your own cigar! At the end of the Tobacco Farm Tour, you will have the opportunity to kick your feet back with the farmers and enjoy a smoke, a drink, and the view as long as you please.
Following, you will be transported to what many claim as the best view in all of Cuba, a panoramic view of the Viñales Valley. You will see farms and mogotes (random mountainous formations in the valley) for miles and dream 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. 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 Six: Coffee, Dominoes/Caves
At the arranged time you choose, your professional guide will meet you at your BnB to begin your day in Viñales. 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 all the way from picking the beans to brewing your own espresso!
After the coffee experience, you will have the opportunity to eat lunch at a local restaurant. If you desire a more relaxed lunch, you can arrange to eat a home cooked meal at your BnB.
Following lunch, you will then have the option to enjoy the company of locals as they teach you how to play Cuban dominoes or travel to the nearby Cave of the Indian for a short tour. Dominoes could very well be the most incredible experience you have with the locals, getting to know their favorite family game, learning about them, their families, culture, and maybe even learning some Cuban vernacular as you play along. Otherwise, if you choose the Cave of the Indian, it will be a relaxed tour, where you will first encounter a performance by the natives, explore the insides of a great cave, and finish on a quick boat tour through the cave.
Once you’ve wound down the afternoon, no matter what you chose, you will be escorted to dinner. 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 that 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.
