A comprehensive and intriguing tour taking in the highland interior and coast. Walks are optional and graded easy.
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Day 1: Havana
Arrive Havana, the capital of Cuba, and check-in at our hotel. Built around a deep natural harbour, Havana is one of the most impressive surviving colonial cities in the Americas.
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Day 2: Havana
Modern day Havana is a mixture of restored and crumbling architectural marvels. Our morning tour explores the city, driving past art-deco style buildings along the coastal Malecon and through the Vedado and Miramar suburbs where the kids play baseball below rusting, street lights with 50s American cadillacs cruise past.
On foot we investigate the Vieja (Old) district with its beautiful neoclassical buildings at the Plaza de Armas and the baroque Cathedral. During your free afternoon you can visit the City Museum or the fascinating Museum of the Revolution. Cool breezes blowing in from the Caribbean freshen lively sunset strolls along the Malecon.
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Day3: 4 Vinales
Today we head on to the Vinales region. W walk through the valleys of this remarkable landscape to El Palmarlto (approx 3hrs) with the Mogotes towering above us. We pass through tobacco fields and may see the odd drying barn.
We travel to the lush rainforest of Soroa with its orchids and waterfalls, before continuing on to Vinales, one of the most famously picturesque areas of Cuba.
Millions of years ago underground rivers cut tunnels through the limestone hills and when the roofs collapsed strange hills or 'mogotes', with interesting and sometimes unique vegetation, were left sticking up from today's flat valley floor. The iron-rich, red soil creates a patchwork of fields growing some of the best tobacco in the world - the raw material for the ubiquitous cigars.
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Day 5: Fly and drive to Santiago.
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Day 6: Surrounded by hills and looking out over the Caribbean, Santiago has been the epicentre for revolutionary ideals since the time of Cespedes.
Many of the colonial buildings and museums of Cuba's second city are painted in attractive, traditional pastel shades. This morning we have a guided tour of Santiago city.
We take the bus to the Plaza de la Revolucion with it's fine monument to the heroes of the Independence wars, visit the remarkable cemetery where independence hero Jose Marti is buried and then the Moncada Barracks which Castro and 118 students unsuccessfully attacked in 1953.
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Day 7: Drive Bayamo
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Day 8: La Comandancia de la Plata, Santiago de Cuba
A truck carries us up a steep asphalted road to El Alto de Naranjo. From this trailhead we walk 3km (6km return) through virgin rainforest to La Comandancia de La Plata where Fidel Castro and Che Guevara took refuge after an unsuccessful uprising against the Cuban dictator.
Batista on 2nd December, 1956. This mountain hideaway became the revolutionaries - headquarters until Batista fled Cuba in 1959. This afternoon we drive directly inland towards the lively former Cuban capital of Santiago.
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Day 9: Camaguey
Leaving the Escambray Mountains behind we stop at the Valle de los Ingenios. Later we visit Sancti Spiritus, one of the original seven settlements founded by Diego Velasquez whenhe claimed Cuba for Spain, for lunch, before continuing on a long drive across the flattest province in Cuba - Ciego de Avila.
The Llanura de Jucaro Moron (plain) is mostly used for agriculture, predominantly cattle ranching, sugar growing, citrus fruit and pineapple production. Our journey continues up into the hills of the Sierra de Cubitas where beef and dairy cattle roam. We reach the provincial capital of Camaguey in the late afternoon.
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Day 10: Trindad
Drive to Trinidad, free afternoon.
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Day 11: Trinidad
This morning we wander through the old centre of Trinidad, visiting one of the many interesting museums which reflect Trinidad's varied history. In the early 19th century French settlers, fleeing a slave revolt in Haiti, landed and started to grow sugar cane in the Valle de Los Ingenios. This crop generated considerable wealth and consequently the town had to be regularly defended from pirates. The street layout is said to be deliberately complicated so as to confuse them!
The afternoon is free to visit the deserted island of Cayo Blanco (optional). Here you can eat fresh seafood, relax on the beach and snorkel in the pristine coral wilderness. Snorkelling equipment is not always available - if you are a keen snorkler you might prefer to bring your own. Alternatively, you can simply relax on nearby Playa Ancon, or continue to wander through Trinidad's lovely colonial streets: a paradise for photographers.
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Day 12: Santa Clara
Today we leave Trinidad behind for a full days drive towards Santa Clara, the home of Ches Mausoleum, where we break our journey and spend the night. This is an off-the-beaten track stop, which allows us to visit one of Cuba's most famous revoluntionary landmarks.
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Day 13: on Cayo Ensenachos
Free afternoon.
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Day 14: AM on Cayo. PM fly to Havana
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Day 15: Havana
Tour ends Havana.