Cuba Beach Vacation

After breakfast in the hotel, your guide and driver will pick you up at the appointed time and take you for a walking tour around Old Havana. Let’s begin with an exterior visit to the Doric-style chapel of El Templete, and then go on to stroll the four major squares symbolic of Old Havana’s spirit. Plaza de Armas, the oldest that dates back to the 1520s, is where you can find the Baroque magnificence of Palacio del Segundo Cabo and City Museum Palacio de los Capitanes, which we will enter to admire its colonial decorations and historical relics. Walk south towards Havana Port and we will reach Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, where you get to appreciate white-marble Los Leones Fountain and colonial heritages like San Francisco de Asis Convent from their outside. But it’s only at Plaza Vieja (Old Square) that you will be greeted with a colorful feast of colonial architecture: buildings of Baroque, Neo-Classical, Art Nouveau styles are sitting seamlessly next to each other. You will then be taken to Museo del Ron Havana Club to learn about and have some tasting of Cuban rum. Next, visit Plaza de la Catedral for its Havana Cathedral, the oldest and most beautiful cathedral in Cuba.

For lunch, according to our experience we highly recommend you eat at Restaurante 5 Sentidos. If you think Cuba is a desert on the culinary map given supply shortages, your eyes would light up seeing this place, with delicately-prepared food and friendly English-speaking service. Now that we are talking about food in Cuba, we’d want to remind you that you should always avoid taking in tap water, unless it is boiled; if you are ordering cocktails, make sure the water has been at least filtered.

Stroll less than a hundred meters down a beautiful alley named Empedrado, and we will arrive at the restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio (a glass of mojito included), which Ernest Hemingway often visited for a drink when he was in Havana. Later, walk through Obispo Boulevard and Central Park - here a statue of the freedom fighter José Martí will greet you - to see Grand Theater of Havana and National Capitol of Cuba. A visit to Partagás Cigar Factory is also in store if today is a day between Monday and Friday.

In the afternoon, your guide will escort you to take an old American vintage car to explore modern Havana. We will drive out of Old Havana to first have a joy ride along the Malecón. After admiring the exterior of Morro Castle at the seaside, continue to appreciate the outside of University of Havana and Colón Cemetery. Revolution Square will be our last stop. Built during dictator Batista’s era, the square was named Plaza Civica first and changed to its current name after Fidel Castro took over in 1959. Here, to the north you can find the statue of José Martí and Che Guevara’s famous giant steel mural, which beckons from the façade of Ministry of Interior; just a few hundreds of meters away, there is Camilo Cienfuegos’s mural of the same size as Che’s installed on the edifice of Ministry of Communications. A square where three biggest revolutionary heroes of Cuba are honored, it is evocative of history and makes one think.

Please note:
Almost all the running vintage cars in Cuba - including yours - are convertibles, which means they are trustworthy in general as the outworn parts have been replaced with the newer. However, the basic structure is still the product of five decades ago, with no seatbelts for passengers or the driver. On your way through modern Havana, you will find these antiques running at up to 100 km/h; for your own safety, we highly recommend you ask your driver to keep your car at a lower speed.

Finally, your guide and driver will transfer you back to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel NH Capri La Habana (4 stars)

A more exciting day awaits! Get up early today for breakfast and we will drive 2.5 hours to Viñales Valley 172 km (107 mi) away. We just can’t praise the valley’s karst beauty without mentioning its mogate hills. Reaching up to 300 meters (984 feet) tall, sometimes isolated from each other, those lovely round hills are deposited limestone, eroded by natural elements and shaped by tectonic forces. These magical beings are commonly seen in the Caribbean area, particularly in Cuba. And it’s none other than the climate - which gave birth to these hills - that conceived a fertile land where the best tobacco leaves in the world can be grown. Our tour through the landscape will include a visit first to a tobacco farm to learn about the plantation, the drying process of tobacco, and how the world-renown Cuban cigars are rolled - chances for you to puff a Cuban cigar and take selfies to show off! Then a traditional Cuban lunch will be served at the organic farm Finca Agro-ecological El Paraiso, which offers a sweeping view of the Viñales Valley and the chance for you to learn about how organic agricultural products are cultivated.

After lunch, we will head to Indian Cave and take a boat to visit stalactites among other karst wonders in the cave. Then come to Mural de la Prehistoria to admire the huge murals on the cliff. Later, we will continue to embark on our journey to Varadero.

★ Privilege of Our Guests: Enjoy an All-Inclusive Hotel
The Blau Varadero Hotel we offer is adult-only and thus your best choice if you come with friends or your sweetheart, or simply to meet like-minded strangers. There are bars for mojito by the pool and on the beach open 24/7, spa center, classes to learn salsa dance, water sports, fitness facilities... just to name a few. We even doubt you can enjoy them all within just days. All is to say that, you get to enjoy a lot of programs to harvest pure highs, without kids nearby to distract you. Of course, if you are taking kids, we are more than glad to offer another hotel that suits your need.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Blau Varadero Hotel (4stars)

Welcome to Varadero, Hicacos Peninsula, home to an endless stretch of golden sands that is among the best in the world! From today, your three-day leisurely beach vacation begins.

● Recommended Activities:
To acquaint yourself with Varadero, why not start your day one in Varadero by checking out Museo Municipal to learn about its history since 1555 when it’s built and local customs? It would surely make your further exploration more meaningful and fun.

Of course you won’t forget Varadero’s beach! Grab a tropical fruity drink, recline on a chair in shade, and listen to waves surging and crashing! The turquoise seawater will also invite you to swim in it.

The hop-on-hop-off bus, which operates every half an hour, can take you for a 2-hour panoramic tour of this town at a cost of 5 USD, with 46 stops at points of interests including markets, marinas, and scenic spots. The HOHO bus would save you lots of efforts if your destinations for today or following days are among its stops.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Blau Varadero Hotel (4 stars)

Today is another free day for you to enjoy Varadero. Dive Deeper!

● Recommended Activities:
Over thirty great diving spots to encounter coral reefs and ship wreckage are around for you to discover. Whether you are a green or old hand, you can always find your place underwater. There is a diving center just a few hundreds of meters away from your hotel. For snorkeling lovers, perhaps the Coral Beach 30 minutes’ drive away is your best choice.

How about joining a luxury all-in-one Catamaran Cruise? Setting sail from Varadero Marina to Cayo Balanco, to meet another beach landscape, lunch, snorkel, drink rum, and at last enjoy dating dolphins for 15 minutes.

Tonight, go to Beatles Bar, a rock music live house that not only plays the Beatles songs; people either love or hate it, but if you are a rock fan, it’s going to enrapture you for sure!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Blau Varadero Hotel (4 stars)

Continue indulging in Varadero’s beauty at your own pace. Now that you’ve experienced Varadero’s world-class beaches, to grasp all the town’s magic perhaps it’s time to do something different.

● Recommended Activities:
Caves in Varadero are worth your while too. Have a liking for both prehistoric heritage and gothic aesthetic? Ambrosio Cave, with old pictograms and lots of bats, is the one for you. If you want some dipping in cool waters, Saturno Cave awaits.

Varadeo isn’t the ideal place to immerse in local life, but that doesn’t mean there is no chance. Take a stroll and you’ll find markets everywhere which you can browse for traditional clothes, souvenirs, and Cuban-style food. Ever tried bargaining with lovely Cubans? If you’d like to taste and collect authentic rum with attractive price, visit Casa del Ron then; just keep in mind that Cuban products aren’t allowed to cross the US border.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Blau Varadero Hotel (4stars)

Today is your departure day. We will drive back to Havana according to your flight schedule and see you off at the airport.

Please note:
Cuba’s overall backwardness suggests that you might encounter low efficiency in every part of its society, including Cuba’s airport. That’s why we suggest you arrive there at least 3 hours prior to your departure. In case of breakdown of the ticket system, which is old, you should consider printing out your flight ticket beforehand. You will also have to deal with the slow progress at the check-in counter, where the staff are expecting tips from every passenger by asking irrelevant questions.

● Recommended Activities for Free Time
Although it’s your last day in Cuba, you don’t have to leave so early as to waste your chance to enjoy more of what Varadero has to offer. You haven’t witnessed the 500-year-old giant cactus El Patriarca in Varahicacos Eco-logical Reserve, have you? A skeleton that dates back 2,500 years in the small cave Cueva de Musulmanes here is also a highlight. Just promise to apply as much as mosquito repellant as you can.

If you haven’t had time for the mentioned Catamaran Cruise and still hope to interact with dolphins, Varadero Dolphinarium in a natural park near your hotel would be honored for your presence.

Meals: Breakfast