We will meet at the hotel in Miami for our pre-travel briefing. Discuss the details of the travel itinerary and receive your travel documents. Get all the details of the places to go and all the relevant information about Cuba and your trip.

Our flight leaves Miami bright and early! You will be picked up at the hotel  for our  departure on the Holguin-Miami flight. We  arrive  at Frank Pais International Airport.

The city of Holguin is the capital of the Cuban province of the same name. Known as the city of parks, Holguin is the fourth largest city in Cuba by the number of inhabitants. The province is known for its large industrial development and agriculture.

Holguin is considered the third most important tourism center in Cuba. It has many natural attractions and is known for its unparalleled beauty with its vegetation, countryside and beaches.

The Great Admiral landed in what now is the port of Bariay in October 1492. Stepping on Cuban soil for the first time, he was impressed by the beauty of its beaches and exuberant vegetation and he pronounced a phrase that is remembered to this day: “It is the most beautiful land that human eyes have seen.”

Holguin City Tour

We will meet the guide and driver who will accompany us throughout the tour.

Welcome to the city of Holguin, as we take a panoramic tour of the town with a stop at the Calixto Garcia Park, where the old town hall is now a museum.

Climb the Loma de La Cruz (Mount of the Cross), where you can take in a magnificent view of the city. This a place where Pope Francis celebrated Mass on his trip to Cuba. La Loma de la Cruz takes its name from a wooden cross that sits at the top of the hill, a symbol of assurance and safety for many and a place of pilgrimage for most visitors.

Lunch in a restaurant in the city.

Playa Costaverde

We depart for the 4-star Playa Costaverde Hotel, located in Playa Costaverde–one of the most beautiful beaches in the area. The hotel is all-inclusive.

After checking in, our guide will provides us with more details about the program.

We drive 4 x4 jeeps that take us on a beautiful off-road adventure in the region. We cross roads and dirt paths throughout the countryside until we reach our destination: the peasant farm of Alcala, where we meet the family who manages it. We take tour of their growing crops and meet their young farm animals. You can go horseback riding throughout the estate.

Enjoy a typical Cuban lunch at a ranch.

The jeep excursions are available if your driver’s license has been has been valid for more than two years. You can drive these jeeps if you are familiar with a manual stick shift transmission.

People to people

Get to know a peasant farm, its customs and their farmers’ lifestyle. Enjoy the typical peasant food which is simple yet delicous.

Return to the hotel.

After breakfast we depart for Bariay, the place where the first meeting took place between the two cultures – Indigenous and Spanish, and where Christopher Columbus said his famous words. We will visit the monumental complex that memorializes the event, and the replica of an aboriginal village.

From there, we continue to the town of Gibara, called la Villa Blanca (The White Village), a picturesque colonial enclave. The small city has a rich history and its own cultural life.  It boasts beautiful architectural sites and a wonderful layout of its houses, streets and parks, but to most visitors the wealth of the town lies in its people, a lovely community proud of their town and its history.

Lunch in a private restaurant (Paladar) with typical local dishes based mainly on seafood.

People to People

Meet the new form of private businesses. Share an exchange with restaurant owners and its Cuban clientele. Get to know how the current dual currency in Cuba is managed.

After lunch we stroll through the town, visiting two small museums (Colonial Art and Natural Sciences), and La Bateria Fernando VII, a Spanish Fort that guards the entrance to the bay.

Return to the hotel.

We stay in the hotel and its beautiful surroundings as we immerse ourselves in a typical Cuban  Celebration, with its different artistic forms. We will explore the preparation of local dishes in a festive atmosphere that is recreated right in the hotel grounds. Engage with artists and locals. Join in contagious Cuban dances. Let’s move!

People to People

Get to know the festive and culinary traditions of the region, sharing in on a way of life that keeps Cubans alive and happy.

After breakfast, we go on another excursion.

We travel to Pinares de Mayari, where La Mensura National Park sits in a mountainous area, where you can take amazing photographs of the lush greenery and vegetation. Visit the Salto del Guayabo, a beautiful natural waterfall, where you will have opportunity to swim in crystalline waters. Throughout the tour, we will hear bird songs and see several native species of birds in the tropical forest.

We will visit the Exotic Farm, where we will receive an overview by the La Mensura National Park specialists, and observe how the unusual animal species are nurtured and conserved in Cuba. We will enjoy a lunch made of natural and organic products.

People to people

Explanation and discussion of protected areas and Cuban natural parks. Description of the parks, their management and conservation.

We return to the hotel.

After breakfast, we visit Chorro de Maita (Maita Stream), located 30 minutes away from the hotel by bus. It is an archaeological site with a museum that recreates buildings and sculptures depicting the life of the locals at the time of Colombus’ arrival.

This is the place where we asume that  the first contact between the two cultures took place. Surrounding the aboriginal cemetery of Chorro de Maita, the landscape is a riot of green, ocher and blue tones, framed by the sea, palm trees and mountains.

People to People

Join the museum conference specialists who explain the history of the place and the discoveries made in the burial grounds. Visit the primary school in Maita and interact with the students.

Next, we visit Bahia de Naranjo (Naranjo Bay). It is one of the best-preserved bays in Cuba, where you can see manatees and other endangered species in their natural habitat. A small boat takes you to the aquarium and dolphinarium located in the center of the bay over a series of small keys.

Enjoy a seafood lunch surrounded by tropical fish exhibitions, and participate in a dolphin and sea lion show.

Return to the hotel.

Santiago de Cuba, known as “the capital of the Caribbean,” is the second largest city in Cuba after Havana. It has a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and an important international port. The Santiago de Cuba municipality, the capital city of the province, is the most populous in Cuba.

The city preserves important examples of colonial architecture. In the streets of the historic center you can see colonial houses with adobe walls, gabled roof tiles, large windows and landscaped courtyards.

El Morro

We begin the tour at the Castle of San Pedro de la Roca, which is also known as Morro Castle. It was built between 1638 and 1643 by the famous military engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli. It now houses the Museum of Piracy. It has been declared a National Monument and World Heritage Site.

Bacardi Rum Factory

We continue our tour at the original Bacardi rum factory, which was founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862 by Don Facundo Bacardi Masso. Of Spanish origin, Don Facundo established himself in the city of Santiago de Cuba, a former Spanish colony, in 1820. In 1862, with the help of his brother, he built a small distillery near the port city. History tells us that this old warehouse was inhabited by bats and, hence, the Ron Bacardi logo. Then we tour the Rum Museum, where we get to know the history of ​​this ancient rum making process.

Lunch in a private restaurant in town, and then we continue our journey.

House of Diego Velazquez

We visit the House Museum of Diego Velazquez, who was a Spanish conquistador, and the first governor of Cuba in 1511. In Cuba, he lived in this house, which was built between 1516 and 1530 and is the oldest house in the whole country.

Casa de la Trova

We end the tour by visiting the Casa de la Trova (musical genre) Santiaguera

It is impossible to speak of Cuban music and Santiago de Cuba without mentioning the Casa de la Trova “Pepe Sánchez”. This small property on Heredia Street between San Felix and San Pedro, contains on its modest walls more history of Cuban culture than you could imagine.

Santiago de Cuba is home to a large number of Cuban musical genres. It has been recognized as the cradle of Son and Bolero, Trova. Choral traditions  are also deeply rooted in this region. The city is the birth place of great musicians like Sindo Garay, Nico Saquito, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Olga Guillot, just to name a few.

People to People

Interact with the troubadours in the midst of their culture, share with musicians and regulars, and the musical fans that frequent this place. Feel the true Santiaguera popular tradition.

We return to the hotel in Holguin.

Transfer to the Holguin airport and flight back to Miami.