While we are still working with the travel agency to finalize details, below is our itinerary for the trip. Please note this is subject to change.
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Miami
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Saturday, March 17
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Kickoff in Miami: We will arrive in Miami from around the world by Saturday to kick off our journey. We will recommend a favorite Miami hotel if needed for Friday evening and host you for brunch where we will get to know each other, review the itinerary and goals for the retreat.
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Leave for Cuba Transportation will take us to Miami International Airport Saturday morning for a one-hour flight and our Cuban journey begins.
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Cuba
Saturday, March 17
Arrival at Havana International Airport.
Meet your Authentic Cuba Travel tour guide and tour bus driver.
Private transfer to the Meliá Cohíba hotel.
On route we’ll enjoy a panoramic visit to the Revolution Square (Plaza de la Revolucion). Conceived by French urbanist Jean Claude Forestier in the 1920s, the gigantic square today is the base of the Cuban government and a place where large-scale political rallies are held.
It is here where Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis celebrated an open air Mass during their visits to Cuba in January 1998, March 2012 and September 2015 respectively. The Square was also visited by US President Barack Obama during his historic visit to Cuba in March 2016.
Private check-in and welcome cocktail upon arrival to the Meliá Cohíba.
Evening: There’s a new wave of private restaurants that has swept the Cuban capital offering exciting cuisine in atmospheric surroundings. This evening we’ll enjoy a welcome dinner at ‘Cafe Laurent’, a family-run restaurant (paladar) located in the penthouse atop a small 1950s apartment building.
Sunday, March 18
Morning: Visit the Museum of Fine Arts Cuban Collection where we see the evolution of Cuba's visual arts over the last 300 years. The collection accounts for the richness of the island's Spanish, French, Chinese, and African cultural roots.
Lunch at the family-run restaurant ‘Atelier’.
Afternoon: Guided walking tour of UNESCO World Heritage Site, Old Havana.
Visit to the Cathedral Square, named after the masterpiece of Cuban baroque architecture: the Cathedral of Havana built by the Jesuit order.
The Cathedral's baroque facade is simultaneously intimate and imposing, and one of the two towers is visibly larger, creating a pleasing asymmetry.
Visit to Square of Arms, ancient military parade ground for Spanish soldiers and surrounded by impressive buildings such as:
Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the former official residence of the governors (Captains General) of Havana, Cuba. It is home to the Museum of the City of Havana.
Palacio del Segundo Cabo. The seat of the second authority of the island. Today it houses important publishing houses.
Continue walking tour onto San Francisco Square, named after the Convent of San Francisco, this square was conceived in 1628, with the objective of supplying water to the ships trading with the metropolis.
Free time in the famous handicraft market of Old Havana, located inside the Almacenes de Depósito San José, an old warehouse on the harbour side where you can purchase all sorts of crafts and souvenirs by local artisans.
Evening: Attend one of the most traditional and popular ceremonies in Cuba, The Fire of the Cannon of 9 O’clock at the Fortress of San Carlos de La Cabana where Che Guevara established his headquarters after the Revolution came to power in 1959.
Monday, March 19
Morning: Visit to the Partagas Cigar Factory, founded in 1845 by Spaniard Don Jaime Partagas. Before and after the Revolution, the Cuban-produced Partagás has been one of the most revered and highest-selling brands of cigars in the world.
Followed by visit to the Havana Club Museum of Rum. From freshly cut stalks of sugar cane to a reconstitution of a distillery and ageing cellars, the museum offers a real-time experience of the rum-making process, as well as a taste of true Cuban culture.
Lunch at the family-run restaurant paladar ‘Mediterraneo’.
Afternoon: Cuban Dance Workshop on Salsa Dancing for 2 hrs.
Evening: Enjoy a performance of the world famous “Buena Vista Social Club” at the classy Habana Cafe cabaret. (Optional)
Tuesday, March 20
Morning: Departure to Cienfuegos, in Central Cuba.
The colonial town of Cienfuegos was founded in 1819 in the Spanish territory but was initially settled by immigrants of French origin. It soon became a trading place for sugar cane, tobacco and coffee because of its position on the Caribbean coast of southern-central Cuba at the heart of the country’s sugar cane, mango, tobacco and coffee production area.
Lunch at the family-run restaurant paladar Dona Carmelina.
Afternoon: Guided by Cienfuegos City Historian, Architect Iran Millan Cuetara, we will embark on a walking tour of UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cienfuegos Historical Center.
We will visit neoclassical buildings around Paseo del Prado and the main Square Jose Marti such as:
The Tomas Terry Theatre completed in 1895.
The Casa de la Cultura, home of another wealthy sugar baron, stunning mansion in neoclassical style.
The Cathedral built with the donation of wealthy families like the Lebrancs, the Albis, the Terrys. Inside you find the reproductions of the 12 Apostles in stained glass imported from Paris. Also the original machinery of the clock tower was built in France. Still in place and working.
We'll also visit the elegant art gallery Galería de Arte Maroya.
Check in at Jagua Hotel. With a magnificent location in the well-known residential area of Punta Gorda, in Southern Cienfuegos, the Jagua Hotel rises over the waters of Cienfuegos Bay.
Wednesday, March 21
Morning: Day trip to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Trinidad’s Historical Center.
Guided walking tour around this historic city known for its cobble-stoned streets, pastel colored homes and small-town feel.
Next we’ll visit the Museo Municipal de Historia located in the beautiful Neo Classical Cantero palace. In addition to antiques and 19th-century furnishings, there are bits and pieces of slave history, and exhibits of revolutionary Cuba. For many visitors, though, the highlight is to climb up the narrow wooden stairs to the tower, which has terrific bird's-eye views of Trinidad and the surrounding area.
Lunch at Trinidad's family-run restaurant paladar ‘El Dorado’.
Afternoon: Visit to the Manaca-Iznaga Hacienda. The famous Manaca-Iznaga Tower, built in 1816, is 45m high, has seven floors and 136 steps to the top. The restored hacienda is now a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the valley. A traditional guarapera at the rear serves fresh-squeezed cane juice. Some barracones (slave quarters) still stand too.
Trinidad is well known for its pottery makers. Next we meet with a family that has been passing the tradition for generations: the Santanders.
Return to your hotel in Cienfuegos.
Evening: Enjoy traditional Cuban music at Cafe Cantante Benny More. (Optional)
Thursday, March 22
Morning: Transfer to Havana City.
Upon arrival we have lunch hosted by Jose Fuster, one of the most important Cuban ceramists and painters today.
Fuster has turned an entire neighborhood in western Havana into a giant art installation that involves locals and their actual homes as part of the exhibit. He's engaged and trained many neighborhood residents as artisans, especially youth. This is art for and by the people on an epic scale!
Afternoon: Visit to the studio of artists Yamilis and Jacqueline Brito.
The two sisters have worked together in their separate art worlds since grade school. Their art can be found in many important collections including the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Antonio Pérez Foundation in Spain, the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the Jablonka Gallery in Cologne, Germany, among others.
Followed by visit to the studio of Alicia Leal, one of Cuba's most important and influential artists since the 1980's.
In Alicia Leal’s work women play a central role. Throughout time, her work has been moving in four essential directions that in many cases intertwine and nourish reciprocally: the memory of nature, femininity, fables and the ups and downs of daily life.
The work of this famous Cuban painter can be seen in murals and public art throughout Havana. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, the Center for Cuban Studies in New York, the Spanish Embassy at the United Nations in New York , Las Americas Museum in Nicaragua, Museum der Bildende Kunst in Germany, the National Gallery of Jamaica, The Guayasamin Foundation in Ecuador, among other.
Check in at the Meliá Cohíba.
Evening: FABRICA DE ARTE – The Factory of Art (F.A.C.) is an artistic project that is driven by the need to rescue, support and promote the work of thousands of Cuban artists of all art branches such as: cinema, music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, photography, fashion, graphic design and architecture; that, through its integration, art/artist promote exchange and direct approach to the public and the creator at mass level. (Optional)
Friday, March 23
Morning: Visit to Finca Vigia, a hilltop villa 20 kilometers east of Havana, where famed author Ernest Hemingway lived from 1939 to 1960. It is here where the writer completed some of his greatest works, including The Old Man and the Sea, Across the River and into the Trees, and Islands in the Stream.
The villa has been maintained as a museum for the past 49 years. It contains original book and short story manuscripts, letters, over 3000 photographs, Hemingway’s fishing tackle and gun collections, furniture, priceless art collection, and a 9000 volume library that contains rare first editions of his books and those of other famous writers. Finca Vigía has made both the World Monuments Fund List of 100 Most Endangered sites and The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Places.
Lunch at the family-run restaurant paladar ‘La California’.
Afternoon: Visit to the Museum of Revolution, the former Presidential Palace. Today it exhibits the history of the Cuban Revolution through documents and objects among which we find the famous Yacht Granma that returned Fidel and his 82 guerilla fighters from Mexico to Cuba to launch the struggle for liberation from the Batista dictatorship.
Other historic artifacts include military vehicles and weaponry from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, a U-2 spy plane shot down during the Cuban missile crisis, and items from Cuba’s nineteenth-century wars of independence.
Evening: Farewell dinner at one of Havana's very best paladares: Elite.
Saturday, March 24
Transfer to Havana International Airport for departure.