Cuba Roundtrip with the Classic Car – Cuba with Style - 8 days / 7 nights

Cuba and American classic cars – a travel dream which we want to fulfil for you. This adventure trip will bring you close to the tourist country of Cuba in a special way. Discover the Caribbean metropolis of Havana with its old town belonging to the World Heritage, get to know Cuban culture, history and traditions as well as great landscapes like the natural reservations of Viñales and the Bay of Pig, and via Cienfuegos you will reach the colonial jewel of Trinidad.

This trip brings you to the following destinations in Cuba: Havanna - Pinar del Rio – Valle de Viñales – Schweinebucht – Guama – Cienguegos – Trinidad – Santa Clara


Program for the Cuba Roundtrip with the Classic Car – Cuba with Style - 8 days / 7 nights

1st day: Arrival at the airport of Havana (optionally airport of Varadero)

Today is foreseen for the arrival in Cuba. After landing at the airport of Havana you will be met by an employee of our local partner agency who will take you to the hotel Melia Cohiba at Havana (a transfer from the airport of Varadero is possible for an extra charge).
Overnight and breakfast in the 5* hotel Melia Cohiba (or equivalent) at Havana, directly above the sea promenade of Malecón.




 

2nd day: Havana

The following two days are at your disposal for exploring the city of Havana. Let yourself be enchanted by this Caribbean metropolis, because the Cuban capital offers much more than rum, tobacco, the famous promenade of Malecón or the „Buena Vista Social Club“.
After breakfast in the hotel you will meet the fellow travelers of your group and your German speaking guide. He will inform you about all important matters regarding the procedure and the organization of your roundtrip with classic cars and answer all your questions.
Immediately afterwards you will be picked up for the first program item in Havana: an exclusive city walk through the historic old town of Havana which belongs to the World Heritage.
During a walk through the main streets and squares in the historic center you will see among others the Plaza de Armas, Plaza San Francisco, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de la Catedral and many more attractions of the old town.

You will take your lunch in one of the best private restaurants (Paladares) in the old town of Havana. You will be served good Cuban kitchen!
After lunch, the relaxed part of the city tour will follow – by one of the famous, mostly American, classic cars of the 50’s and 60’s. During a nostalgic panorama tour along the Malecón you will discover modern Havana with the districts of Centro Habana, Vedado and Miramar, while also stops are foreseen at the Capitolio, the Gran Teatro de La Habana, the University of Havana or the Plaza de la Revolución.

After this city tour it is again your turn: you return to the Paladar where you have had your lunch and you may now exercise cocktail mixing. A professional bar keeper will tell you interesting stories about the world famous Cuban cocktails, their ingredients and history – and he will teach you how to prepare yourself cocktails like Cuba Libre, Mojito, Daiquiri and Cubanito (for those “pupils” who don’t like alcohol it is also possible to prepare non-alcoholic drinks).

Overnight and breakfast in the 5* hotel Melia Cohiba (or equivalent) at Havana, directly above the sea promenade of Malecón.


3rd day: Havana

Today, after breakfast in the hotel, you will immerse into the history, the culture and the everyday life of Cuba.

You will start by the Museum of Revolution, which is situated in the rooms of the former presidential palace. You will learn important details about the revolution against the former dictator Fulgencio Batista. Of course, also the further developments after the victory of the revolutionaries and the seizure of power by Fidel Castro will be dealt with – in fact, Castro signed the documents for his inauguration in these rooms. Subsequently a world-wide unique social system came into existence in Cuba.

We continue by another important product for Cuba: tobacco! You will trace this most important and most well-known economic good and visit the tobacco museum. After you have known the most important about the history and production of tobacco you will get to know the product itself and may watch, among others, a cigar turner in his work in the Hostal de Fumador. Those who would like to do so may of course smoke a good cigar and buy tobacco goods.

We will have lunch in a typically Cuban restaurant in the old town.

On we go! Cuba is perhaps the only country in the world which disposes of two national currencies: your guide will shortly explain to you the exciting backgrounds. Subsequently you will change a few euros (2 – 3 Euro) into the currency which is normally not used by tourists. You might perhaps even get hold of some of the demanded coins with the portrait of the revolutionary Che Guevara.
Equipped with the necessary small change you will join the native people at a typical Cuban farmers’ market, the Mercado ‘de doble salida’. Here you will spend the local currency on some foodstuff which will be of some use to you later on: tomatoes, yucca, mangoes, pineapples – according to the season; the total cost will sum up to about 2 – 3 CUC. Incidentally it will be exciting to see how Cubans trade, which products are sold and how Cuban market life goes on.

After the shopping you go by a so-called bici-taxi (costs about 3 CUC per bici – not inclusive) to the district of Santo Angel in Havana Vieja for the next highlight of the day: You will get to know the social and art project “Santo Angel”, a private initiative which aims at improving the conditions of life in this district.
We finally get to a Cuban paladar (private restaurant) where the next challenge is expecting you: You will prepare the supper yourself! Under professional instruction you will prepare a traditional Cuban meal – with the help of the ingredients you have bought yourself earlier in the day.

After supper a taxi will bring you back to your hotel. The rst of the evening is at you own disposal. Enjoy the hotel pool, take a walk to the near calle 23, which is famous for its night life, or visit one of the popular music clubs with their high class live music.

Overnight and breakfast in the 5* hotel Melia Cohiba (or equivalent) at Havana, directly above the sea promenade of Malecón.


4th day: Havana - Viñales – Havana (excursion to Viñales)

Breakfast in the hotel Melia Cohiba. 

Subsequently you will be picked up at the hotel by “your” classic car. This does not refer to your professional Cuban driver but to the means of transport for the coming roundtrip days. This is one of the mostly American classic cars from the 50’s and 60’s of the past century, which promises you a special roundtrip experience in the coming days!

The day will start early because you will get to know the West of the island. About 200 kms South West of Havana, in the province of Pinar del Rio, the Valley of Viñales (Valle de Viñales) is situated – one of the most beautiful landscapes of Cuba!

However, before we make a side-trip to Pinar del Rio, the capital of the province. There you will visit a tobacco factory and try a special local liquor – the Guayabita.

Having arrived at Viñales you experience the breath-taking landscape with the tropically overgrown “Mogotes” (Karst hills). The bizarre limestone cones originally were the columns of a giant system of caves which had been formed about 160 million years ago. Over time most of the caves tumbled down because of the heavy weathering of the limestone.

The best view to the landscape you can have from the terrace of the hotel Los Jazmines, where you can see how the Mogotes raise like a dome from the fertile tobacco fields.

Not without reason, this region around Pinar del Rio and Viñales with the valley of Viñales is called the "green province" or "Garden of Cuba". The region is famous for the cultivation of perhaps the world's best tobacco; the local tobacco culture looks back on a long tradition:
Already in the 18th century, the first seedlings were planted.
Your lunch will take place in a typical restaurant of this region.

You visit some of the highlights in Viñales and learn to know the rural life:
We will visit a typical country house (a local farm), stop at the "wall of history" (a mural on a Mogote) and visit the Cueva del Indio - including a boat ride into the cave.
Then we start our journey back to Havana - in style, of course, in "our" classic car.
Overnight at the 5 * Hotel Melia Cohiba (or equivalent) with breakfast in Havana, directly above the waterfront of Malecón.



5th day: Havana - Playa Larga (Bay of Pigs) - Lago del Tesoro

After breakfast, the tour follows in the direction of the center of the island. On the "Carretera Central" we cross quickly to the East and turn in Jaguey Grande in the direction of National Park "Cienaga de Zapata", which is absolutely worth seeing with its extensive marsh and mangrove landscape and the many partly endemic plant and bird species. You first have a stop on the Caribbean coast, Playa Larga,

This stretch of beach is part of the historic Bay of Pigs and has gained greater prominence, as Cuban exiles there once tried to end Fidel Castro’s revolution of by an invasion.
Today it is considerably more quiet there and you now have some time to enjoy the beach and the Caribbean Sea.

You will have a  typical Cuban meal for lunch In a paladar.
Your destination is the hotel Guama on the Lago del Tesoro (the Treasure). On the way you visit the crocodile farm in the complex of Boca de Guamá. In the largest crocodile farm in Cuba the rare species of crocodile Rhombifer (Cuban) is grown since the 1970’s.

We proceed directly to the treasure lake amid the natural landscape. Some legends are connected with the lake - it is said, for example, that the Tainos (the native people of Cuba) had sunk their treasures on the bottom of the lake, so they do not fall into the hands of the Spaniards. And it's true: The hotel is located right on the lake with pole huts, which are connected by wooden bridges. A replica Indian village on artificial islands forms the heart of Villa Guama.

Overnight at Hotel Guama (or comparable / subject to availability).


6th Day: Lago del Tesoro - Cienfuegos - Trinidad

Breakfast at the hotel.

This morning you leave Guama and continue the journey to Trinidad. Passing by Playa Larga and Playa Girón, the port city of Cienfuegos on the south coast is the next destination.

During a guided tour, you will notice how clean and pretty the city is looking. Cienfuegos was planned mid-19th century by French architects in one piece. One can clearly see that in the playful architecture. For urban planners, this city is a popular subject of study with its checkerboard-like landscaped streets and squares.

In the pedestrian zone of the main street, very little has changed over the past 50 years. During a walk you may feel the flair and atmosphere of the 1950’s: The stores look today exactly like they did half a century ago. You feel yourself to be in a time machine.

You visit the main attractions as well as the Punta Gorda peninsula. The city here ranges far out into the Bay of Cienfuegos. With a little bit of luck you can watch dolphins in the sheltered bay of Cienfuegos - a sign that efforts to improve the water quality in the harbor bay, were successful.

After lunch in Cienfuegos the tour continues to Trinidad on a narrow road along the southern foothills of the mountain ranges "Montana Guamuhaya" and "Sierra Escambray". The coastal road takes you past a number of small bays and opens now and again the view of the magnificent coastal panorama.

Overnight in a private pension (Casa Particular) in Trinidad with breakfast (for more information see bottom of page).

OPTIONALLY we offer the upgrade in a superior hotel in: Trinidad for a surcharge:: e.g. with 3 * Hotel Las Cuevas or La Ronda or 5 * Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad


7th day: Trinidad

Breakfast at Casa Particular.

Today you devote yourself entirely to the city of Trinidad, as well as its history and the surrounding area.

The differences between Havana and Trinidad will quickly catch your eye. Havana, with more than 2 million inhabitants, is a very large, vibrant city, while Trinidad with its less than 100,000 inhabitants is embedded rather quiet and cozy between the Caribbean Sea and mountains and gives the impression as if time has stopped here for a long time. Trinidad is one of the best preserved colonial cities in the Caribbean and, therefore, is a UNESCO World heritage Site!

First, you get to know to Trinidad by a city tour. You discover a colonial city completely preserved from the 18th century. During this period, the city became rich and important for the Cuban economy by the sugar trade through the port. The sugar was grown in the hinterland of Trinidad with slave labor in the "Valle de los Ingenios" (Valley of the Sugar Mills)  which you will visit later on this day yet. Climb to the roof terrace of the municipal museum (Palacio Cantero): in the old center of the city. From here you have the best view over the city.

In the afternoon you visit the other highlight: Sandwiched between the Escambray Mountains and the Caribbean coast, is situated the hinterland of Trinidad, the very fertile "Valle de los Ingenios". This region and the watchtower Manacá Iznaga remember the time of the slaveholders with their vast sugar plantations. The Valley of the Sugar Mills was once one of Cuba's most important sugar growing centers and created the basis of the prosperity of the upper class of Trinidad. In the sugar era some noble families have become indescribably rich, because they controlled the entire sugar production and trade in Trinidad.. Today, the ruins of sugar mills, slave quarters and warehouses can still be seen.

The tower "Torre Manacá Iznaga" - the landmark of the area - was once a watchtower from which the former overseesr were able to watch the slaves. On top a broad panoramic view over the entire valley opens up.

The evening is at your disposal for your own exploring. Take, for example, another evening stroll, dine in a cozy restaurant, a paladar or even in your Casa Particular (not included) and then visit the "Casa de la Trova": Every evening there will be played live Cuban music, the restaurant is frequented by tourists and locals alike.

Overnight stay in a Casa Particular in Trinidad with breakfast.


8th day: Trinidad - Santa Clara - Havana / Varadero

After breakfast you will return to Varadero. But the first destination is, the city of Santa Clara. This is not only an important transport hub and industrial center, but is also a major science center. One of the most prestigious universities in the country can be found here. The students give the place a young flair and care for life.

The city is also seen as a "Che Guevarra City" and thus has a very unique look. Here the hero celebrated the decisive victory over the Batista dictatorship, and since the mortal remainders of Che Guevarra were transferred to here, Santa Clara has gained the reputation as a place of worship of the revolutionary. The visit of Che Guevarra Memorial is "a must".

Then the last leg of your certainly impressive journey classic car tour of Cuba begins: We continue to Varadero, where you may e.g. book subsequently a relaxing beach holiday. The hotel offer is great: from affordable 3 * hotels to luxurious 5 * facilities with All Inclusive service. Alternatively, you may also go back to Havana with the classic cars and extend your stay there.

We will advise you on your journey extension, or to an intermediate overnight followed by airport transfer, if you must depart early the next day. Just contact our expert travel team!




Our services include:

  • Transfer from Havana International Airport to Hotel Melia Cohiba (other transfers, such as from Varadero are optionally available)
  • Tours and excursions according to the itinerary above
  • German speaking guide from 2nd  to 8th  program day
  • Round trip in classic cars from the 50s or 60s from the 4th to the 8th day of the program including the additional classic car excursion on the second day of the program (all other transfers such as airport transfers and hotel pickup-to the tours in Havana are with regular taxis)
  • A total of 7 nights: 4 nights in a 5 * hotel in Havana, 1 night in hotel Guama and 2 nights in a typical private house in Trinidad
  • Meals: all program days (2 - 8 day) are always breakfast and lunch included. On the 3rd day of the program also the cooking class with dinner


Not included are the following services:

  • Round-trip flight to Cuba
  • Tourist Card (entry visa) - When you stay with us you can buy it for the price of € 25, - per participant
  • sightseeing, entrance fees and guide unless not specifically identified as included in the program sequence.
  • Tips, drinks and personal expenses
  • Hotel upgrade in Trinidad
  • Departure tax (payable in CUC before the return journey at the airport - currently CUC 25, -)



IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS TRIP
The implementation of this trip is usually done in small groups of no more than 9-12 participants and is carried out guaranteed upon the number of participants from 2 people. This means that e.g. in the off-season, the groups can be smaller in the high season may be a little bit bigger.Participation in trips by private transport such as Bicitaxi and classic cars and lodging in casas particulares (private houses) is at the risk of the tour participant. So, for example, classic cars have no  airbags and often do not have seat belts because such a device at that time was not provided


For traveling in classic cars:
All classic cars that are used for these tours, have a taxi permit for the transportation of foreigners. The classic cars are all dated from the period before or shortly after the revolution (1954-1960). So they are over 50 years old. It is very expensive and cumbersome to restore such classic cars in Cuba and maintain them for business trips. Therefore, they are mostly self-driven and well maintained by their owners. The drivers are mostly home mechanic and tinkerer, and often have renovated their cars themselves. In most cases you will find the car in the same family since 3 generations. The "carros classicos" as the Cubans say, are no cross-country cars, but are merely designed for comfortable trips on asphalt roads. On the back seat of the rather broad "Americans" three travelers will find more than enough room. Each car is occupied by a minimum of 2 participants and maximum of. 3 persons plus the driver. The professional, German-speaking tour guide will ride during the tour in the various vehicles of the group travel.In the allocation of places it is ensured that married couples and possibly also befriended passengers may possibly always or at least mostly go together in the same car. The classic car owners are themselves interested in driving the cars in a group in a moderate pace with proper safety distance in convoy. They are eager to make the ride in classic cars to a comfortable experience. For emergencies, all drivers are connected to each other through their own mobile phone.Classic cars are no new cars with warranty! Even if this is not unprecedented in our long-standing practice, a failure of a classic car because of a technical defect might also be expected.. Nevertheless, however, the tour must go on. Therefore, we reserve, for these exceptional cases, the right to replace such a failed classic car by another vehicle - this may, subject to availability, also be a modern car, so that the itinerary remains guaranteed. A price reduction for this reason has to be excluded because of the opposing high cost of replacement.


Regarding luggage restriction in classic cars:
The luggage compartment of the classic car is quite spacious. Nevertheless, there will be only a correspondingly limited space, when the car is fully occupied, given up to 3 passengers (+ driver and tour guide if necessary). Therefore max. 5 pieces of luggage can be accommodated per car (1 driver + max. 3 passengers plus a guide) - plus, for example, a photo bag or equivalent for each passenger. In order to use the storage space in the best possible way, you should take flexible luggage, preferably  travel bags. Taking hard suitcases or comparable rigid baggage is not possible.


Notice for individuals and three traveling together participants:
If you book this trip with an attendance of three people, it is possible in Havana to be accommodated in a triple room. In  Guama and Trinidad 3-bed rooms are not available, so that one double and one single room must be booked. The round trip of 3 people traveling together takes place in a car with driver and possibly guide. For individual travelers it is not possible to get a classic car for one person exclusively (the costs would be too high). The ride will be done at least with one other single traveler or together with max. 2 other trip participants with driver and possibly guide.


Regarding the transfers:
All transfers (e.g. airport transfers or the transfer from your hotel in Havana in the old town) are performed with regular taxis (usually not with classic cars).


Private pensions in Cuba / Casas particulares
Casas particulares / private houses are in Cuba usually simple and functional - typical of the country - you'll travel to a developing country. Luxury or European standards cannot be expected in any case! Most casas particulares have air-conditioning and warm water, however, failures by technical reasons might occasionally occur. The latter is also true for many of the Cuban hotels - especially in the countryside.   The advantage of the casas particulares compared to many hotels is the attentive service - the hospitality of the Cuban people. The private pensions are usually operated by a family. The breakfast, for example, is often served in the living room or on the kitchen table. The Casa hosts usually hold themselves back in order to ensure their privacy - but if you show interest, they will tell you a lot about the country and people and their daily lives and they are also interested to know about your life in Europe..So you can learn to know Cuba more authentic than it would be possible with many other forms of travel. You can often get one or the other "tip" for your operations on your own, which you'll never find in any travelguide. The direct contact with the Casa hosts and in contrast to the most foreclosed hotel complexes offers some advantages, in our view: so it might, for instance, become a bit noisy at a birthday party in the host family or at a wedding in the neighborhood or simply during a cozy celebration weekend: Good mood, Caribbean mentality and Cuban music contribute to this - a number of Casa hosts then invite their pension guests to join in the celebrations .Experience and learn more about Cuban traditions, customs, everyday life - about Cuba and the Cubans.


Important Note: In the private houses usually only power connections with 110 volts / U.S. plug standard are available. We therefore strongly recommend to take appropriate equipment and a matching connection adapter from Europe. Power adapters are only sporadically available in Cuba.



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