MUSIC, CIGARS, AND VINTAGE CARS IN HAVANA

Palm trees away, the sultry sounds of guitar and timbales pour forth from Havana salsa clubs, and colorful architecture fills the urban cityscape. 
Our own, Monz, travelled to Havana in January 2019 and fell in love with this city. All photos are taken with her camera.

Below is an example of what we can design for you in Havana.  
Day 1. Upon your arrival to Havana, meet and greet by our representatives that will guide you through customs into the VIP lounge to wait for your luggage to come out.Transfer from the airport to your hotel in Havana.
For this evening, we will book you some of our favorite restaurants in Cuba: 
Day 2. After breakfast, head on a city tour of Colonial Havana. Walk in the footsteps of Havana’s colonial past visiting the four key squares of Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visit Plaza de Armas, Plaza San Francisco de Asís, Plaza Vieja, and the Plaza de la Cathedral with our expert guide offering insights into history along the way.
 
After your tour, have lunch at a lovely restautant, enjoy traditional flavors of Cuban cuisine while exchanging ideas with with our specialist Mr. Ricardo who holds a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences from the University of Havana. 
When you’ve finished lunch, take your convertible classic American car from the 1950s and enjoy a Hemingway tour. Gertrude Stein, the celebrated American writer, once said that Hemingway had a good nose for finding good places of where to live and eat. She wasn’t wrong at all. Hemingways villa in the outskirts of Havana proves her absolutely right, situated on a hill, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation and a magnificent view of the city in the distance, the house was visited during the 1940s and 50s by numerous renowned celebrities. The house today is exactly as Hemingway left it 1960: hundreds of personal belongings, his large swimming pool, the Wheeler boat he used for fishing, the three-story tower with a spectacular views, and much more. And on the way back to town, your guide will bring you to see Cojimar fishing village: a small picturesque town that inspired Hemingway to write the novel The Old Man and the Sea, and whose fishermen he dedicated his Nobel Prize to. As you finish the tour you will have an opportunity to see some of the most spectacular views of the city from the El Morro fort across the harbour from Havana.
 
In the evening you will have your VIP table booked at Tierra for dinner, whcih is a new fine-dining restaurant inside Fabrica de Arte Cubano (Cuban Art factory). Travelling-themed, the menu is a culinary tour of the world, with 20 delicious dishes. Drinks are delicious and huge (try the house mojito). The venue is in a three-story cooking oil factory converted into an avante-guard art museum. It has lots of hallways and rooms that have really eclectic art all over the place. After dinner, step right into nightlife and mingle with connected locals. It is meeting place for artists and avant-garde arts. Enjoy music, dance, film, art and shows under the same roof.
 
Day 3. After breakfast, enjoy an E-bike Tour of the city. This is a wonderful way to see a lot of Havana in a short time. The lithium batteries give you an extra power but you are still using your own energy at a predetermined level. Great for hills and in warm weather. We choose a route with you that can take you to non-touristy sites like Jardines de Tropical or Playa Baracoa (Havana) for a swim. Afterwards, enjoy lunch and Rumba performance and lesson at our chosen restaurant, a return to old school paladars where the owner is the chef and the house including the kitchen is yours to roam. The owner chats as he cooks while you enjoy a drink or a tune played by his mum on the piano. Expect long lost childhood recipes from pre revolution Cuba such as the delicious lamb slow-cooked in pru (an eastern Cuba herbal drink) or a countryside classic called farm eggs on a bed of maize. Enjoy the performance of one Havanas best folkloric musicians and dancers. Professional dancers will teach you the delicious and beautiful art of Rumba, and will explain its his party is a music style developed by Afro-Cuban workers in the poor neighbourhoods of Havana and Matanzas. Traditionally, the three main styles of rumba are yambú, columbia and guaguancó, each of which has a characteristic dance, rhythm and singing. Although still a purely folkloric genre, numerous innovations have been introduced in rumba since the mid 20th century, including new styles such as batá-rumba and guarapachangueo.
 
You will then meet with one of Castro’s photographers and his son. Visit photographers Ernesto and Javier Studios. Ernesto, an original Revolución photographer, accompanied Castro during the 1962 missile crisis, and at the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. His picture of Castro cutting sugar cane is inked on the Cuban three-peso bill; on the reverse is Heroic Guerrilla. Also his son, Javier is also one of the best known contemporary photographers today.
 
No visit to Havana is complete without taking to the floor in a Salsa Club. Our teacher guarantees to have you up and dancing in no time!
 
Private dinner at an artist’s home and studio. Known internationally for his provocative visual narratives on the complexities of native Cuban life, our chosen artist creates with the craftsmanship of a master sculptor achieving imagery that challenges and provokes the socio political status quo with the biting wit and satire of prose. His work, primarily sculptural, is created from a spectrum of different mediums including welded steal, fiberglass, found objects and resin castings. His drawings however display the artist’s skill as a draftsman, possessing the same spirit of ingenuity as his sculptures and even more prone to the highly confrontational imagery the artist has become known for.
 
In the evening, Buena Vista Style Show at Hotel Nacional. A Cuban musical show inspired by the “Son” music of the famous Buena Vista Social Club. Step back in time at the landmark Hotel Nacional and enjoy a quaint piece of Cuban history. You can get up with the other guests, too, to dance the night away
 
Day 4. After breakfast, start cigar rolling in an atmospheric mezzanine bolthole in a small hotel in Havana Vieja. An experienced cigar roller works everyday showing how the best cigars in the world are rolled. While this is not the factory experience it does give you a good idea of how cigars are made with more of a chance to ask questions.
 
After your Cigar rolling session, enjoy a private dance performance at one of the most amazing Dance companies, which is best known around the world after the famous music video Bailando by Enrique Iglesias.
 
Lunch and dinner will be booked at the best restaurants in Havana.  Not to miss La Guarida Paladar. Enrique and Odeisys Nunez first opened what has become the Cuban most celebrated paladar on July 14, 1996. Anyone who has been to La Guarida will find it difficult to disagree that Enrique and Odeisys have managed to create their own magical place. The restaurant has now expanded with a huge outdoor terrace and a cool rooftop bar. You dinner will be followed by cigar somellier pairing cigar and rum tasting, a cigar expert will join you for a rum and cigar tasting at Hotel Nacional before enjoying a Late Night Jazz, which is a significant musical genre in Cuba.