CTG GETAWAYS
Cienfuegos to Havana
8 DAYS / 7 NIGHTS
PRICES FROM: $4.990 USD Per Person
DAY 1
Miami - Cienfuegos
- Flight from Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida, US to (CFG) Jaime Gonzalez International Airport, Cienfuegos, Cuba.
- You’ll arrive at the historic port city of Cienfuegos, Cuba’s “Pearl of the South”, where we’ll begin our explorations. Cienfuegos soothes the eye with harmonious architecture and Spanish-colonial urban planning.
- Check in to Hotel Jagua.
- Welcome dinner at a local paladar (private restaurant). Meals Included: Dinner
DAY 2
Cienfuegos
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, take walking tour of the graceful Old Town, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for its French neoclassical architecture and 19th century city planning.
- Visit sites as the Tomás Terry Theatre, the Government House, and the Cathedral de la PurÃsima Conceptión.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- After lunch, visit the lush, fragrant Cienfuegos Botanical Garden, and enjoy a discussion about its unique species. The garden, actually a botanical experimental station, was developed in the 19th century by a wealthy American sugar planter from Boston, together with Harvard University, to develop more productive sugar cane. The university maintained a connection to the garden, using it as a field laboratory for the study of tropical botany, until the Cuban revolution in 1959.
- Get a taste of Cuba’s strong musical heritage at an evening performance by the world famous Cienfuegos Choir.
- Return to the Hotel Jagua.
- Dinner on your own. (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch)
DAY 3
Cienfuegos - Trinidad
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, ride through the sugar cane fields, Cuba’s most important agricultural product, in route to the colonial city of Trinidad. Trinidad and the nearby Valley de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills) were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a testament to the prosperity generated by Cuba’s sugar industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.
- A guided walk reveals the historic city center around the Plaza Mayor, with its wealth of buildings clearly reflecting their Spanish heritage. You’ll also witness how traditional crafts are made when you visit the local workshops.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- Visit Valley de los Ingenios’s Manaca Iznaga and Tower and taste the sugar cane juice. Valley de los Ingenios is comprised of three interconnected valleys, as many as 50 sugar mills and 11,000 slaves processed cane from the fertile fields into syrup.
- Return to Cienfuegos, Hotel Jagua.
- Dinner at your hotel. (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
DAY 4
Cienfuegos - Havana
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, make way accross the island to Cuba’s history rich capital city, Havana.
- Visit Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) the site of the 1961 military invasion attempting to remove Fidel Castro from power.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- After lunch, continue route towards Havana stopping in the town of Papite, where you will visit the Korimaccao Community project, where you’ll enjoy a student performance.
- Upon arrival in Havana, check into the famed Hotel Nacional de Cuba, which was once the most glamorous destination in the Caribbean.
- Dinner at the local paladar (private restaurant). (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
DAY 5
Havana
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, Visit Morro Castle, at the entreance of the bay of Havana, where you’ll enjoy the best panoramic views of this iconic city.  Visit the Sister Teresa Vaz center where the center’s dedicated staff provides day care and other programs and services to the underserved youth of Havana as well supporting the day care center.
- Continue on a guided walking tour of Old Havana, the historic center of Cuba’s capital city and the first of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites. See the four main plazas of Old Havana, Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de Sanfrancisco de Asis and Plaza de La Catedral. Visit the basilica of San Francisco de Assis, the beautiful Havana Cathedral, and El Templete, a Greco-Roman monument marking the spot where Havana’s first Catholic mass was celebrated in 1599.
- Continuing the tour, visit the studio of a local silk screener.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- After lunch, continue your highlights tour in New Havana.
- Return to the Hotel.
- Dinner at a local paladar (private restaurant). (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch)
DAY 6
Havana
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, start your day with a visit to visit Finca VigÃa, the beloved home where “Papa†Hemingway lived for 21 years and worked on “For Whom the Bell Tolls†and “The Old Man and the Sea.†The house is maintained as a museum and remains almost exactly as Hemingway left it when he last visited in 1960.
- Then, you’ll see another side of Cuba’s lively dance culture when you watch a dance performance at Havana Compass Dance.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- After lunch, continue you will have the opportunity to visit an arts and crafts market where you spend the afternoon taking in all the culture, painting, sculptures and more.
- Return to the Hotel.
- Dinner at a local paladar (private restaurant). (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch)
DAY 7
Havana
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- After breakfast, take a stroll through Calle Hammel, an alleyway in Havana that has been transformed into a living work of Afro-Cuban art, with vivid murals covering entire buildings and the streetscape transformed by funky sculptures and mosaics.
- Continue your artistic explorations with a guided visit to the National Museum of Fine Arts. Here you’ll admire the most comprehensive collection of Cuban art in the world, spanning from colonial times to present day.
- Lunch at the local paladar (private restaurant).
- After lunch, take the afternoon to explore, or take the opportunity to relax before this evening’s events. prepare for a Farewell Dinner at a Havana restaurant that begins with a ride in a vintage American car. They are one of the most distinctive sights to be seen on this vibrant island that in many ways seems frozen in time.
- Return to the Hotel.
- Dinner at a local paladar (private restaurant). (Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch)
DAY 8
Havana - Miami
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Hotel check-out
- Transfer to Jose Marti International Airport
- Flight Jose Marti International Airport, Havana, Cuba – Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, US.
What’s included
- Accommodations as detailed in itinerary
- Exclusive-guided programming, including; unique activities, access to Cuba’s famous places and private interaction with Cuba’s renowned experts
- Full-time experienced tour leader
- Full-time expert Cuban guide
- Meals while in Cuba, as delineated in itinerary
- Certification of travel to Cuba under the U.S. Department of the Treasury general license
- Small friendly groups of an average size of 15 pax
- All entrance fees to scheduled activities and events
- Flight package including; round-trip charter air from Miami to Havana, or other city in Cuba, Cuban visa, priority check-in at Miami International Airport, Cuban airport departure tax, and baggage fee for first checked bag
- All in-country ground transportation and airport transfers via luxury motor coach
- Private Cuban Driver
- Cuban health insurance
- 24 hour emergency customer service hotline
- Gratuities for luggage handling, restaurant service, and programmed activities throughout tour*
*Customary end-of-tour gratuities for the Cuban guide, driver, and tour leader are left to the guest’s discretion and should be based on your satisfaction with the level of service received.
What’s not included
- Pre-departure flights to and from Miami Florida US
- Pre-departure hotel in Miami Florida US
- Gratuity for tour guides and tour leaders
- Travel insurance