Santiago de Cuba & Havana
Once you land in Santiago de Cuba.
Arrival: Welcome to SANTIAGO. Transfer to hotel and free time. In the evening, we will go to Casa de la Trova, a meeting place for Cuban music lovers, with its live performances.
We include a tour of SANTIAGO, Cuba’s second city and one of contrasts, capital of the ‘son’ and the revolution. Around 20 km from the city, in the mountains, we will go to the Basilica of our Lady of Charity of Copper, where we will be surprised at the veneration for the virgin patron of Cuba. After that, we will go to the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, where Fidel Castro and José Martí are buried. We will see the Ron Bacardí factory and go to the CASTILLO DEL MORRO, an impregnable citadel on a promontory declared a world heritage site, which houses an interesting museum on Piracy. Lunch included. Free time in the afternoon.
Among beautiful landscapes of tropical hills, we travel to the north coast. A walk through the quiet center of HOLGUIN before continuing to GUARDALAVACA, where we see the Museo Chorro de Maita archaeological park that protects the remains of a village and an Indian cemetery with the remains of 62 human skeletons, and Taina Village, which reproduces scenes of how the Indigenous peoples. We see the magnificent surroundings of BARIAY BAY. Lunch included. Afternoon free at the resort by the beautiful Guardalavaca beaches. Dinner included in the hotel.
Free morning to enjoy the beach. After lunch (included) we will leave for YAGUAJAY, where the Camilo Cienfuegos museum-cemetery is located. Night in REMEDIOS, one of the most beautiful colonial towns in Cuba. Dinner included.
On the outskirts of Remedios, we see the old Marcelo Salado sugar mill, a former sugar mill closed after the fall of the USSR, and today a museum that shows us what traditional sugar production was like. We include a 20-minute ride on an old train with a steam engine. After that, we travel to SANTA CLARA, where we see the Constantino Pérez cigar factory (Montecristo and Partagas cigars). After lunch (included) we visit the Che Guevara Mausoleum Museum. Return to Havana. Arrival at about 19:00.
This morning we include a visit of about 4 hours; we will include a stroll through Colonial Havana; declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a panoramic tour of Revolution Square and the University. We will include a boat trip across the bay in the little boat to Regla where we will see the church of the Virgin of Regla, a place of great devotion where there is a strong syncretism between the Catholic religion and the Afro-Cuban. Will you buy flowers and have a daughter of Ochun read your hand? After this, at lunchtime, we will take you to the area of the ‘Callejón del Chorro’, an area with multiple “paladares” (private restaurants) where you can have lunch. Afternoon free.
