Cuba: A Cultural Odyssey

Tour starts: 5:00 PM, Hyatt Regency Coral Gables. Travel from Miami International Airport to The Hyatt Regency Coral Gables in a taxi that we will reimburse you for. Join us for a welcome reception to meet your fellow travelers and hear the details from your Tauck Director about the next 6 days in Cuba.

After an early breakfast, your group boards an included flight from Miami to Havana's José Martí International Airport, where your local Cuban guide greets you as you head to a local paladar (restaurant) and learn about authentic Cuban cuisine. Visit Cuban artist Kadir Lopez's artwork in an exclusive showing open to Tauck guests only. His work continues to illuminate the city streets highlighting the livelihood of its patrons from the Republican years, which you will learn at his studio. After checking into your hotel late this afternoon, please join us tonight for a welcome dinner at a local paladar.

Introduced to the country by Cuban students returning home from U.S. colleges back in the 1860s, the sport of baseball is one of the biggest pasttimes in the country and you'll have the exciting opportunity this morning to meet a former baseball legend who'll help you learn about the game. Next, step into the pedestrian-only UNESCO Heritage Site of Old Havana with a local expert on a walking tour to see the city's architecture and restoration efforts before driving to a vintage American car club well-known from the popular tv series Cuba Chrome, where you'll meet the Club members and ask questions regarding the challenges they face as part of the new emerging entrepreneur sector in Cuba nowadays. Next, learn about Cuban dance during a visit to meet the instructors of a private dance company, then enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Today is about exploring the Vinales Valley countryside, and learning how this landscape is optimal for growing tobacco, and sustaining crops and livestock. Head for lunch on an organic farm in a private restaurant to exchange in conversations with the farmers and hear about their entrepreneurial endeavors as a private business in Cuba. Visit Benito Camejo Tabacco Farm where Mr. Benito himself will share stories about this craft and processes of how tobacco farming works. Visit the despalillo to learn about stripping and grading the tobacco. Enjoy the evening as you wish in your hotel.

Connect with Afro-Cuban culture heritage and island identity with a visit to Project Beyond Roots – an organization whose mission is to inspire, empower, and create a positive change in the lives of Cuban people. A guided visit at the Fine Arts Museum precedes lunch. Later this afternoon, enjoy a meeting with the teachers and students at La Casa del Nino y Nina, an after school program that helps young boys and girls develop language skills and cultural awareness followed by a visit to Vi Humos, a private project focused on the manufacturing of purses out of recycled cigar wood boxes, along with guayabera shirts designed by Vivian Acosta, the project owner. Experience a cigar rolling tutorial and tasting, while listening to great music and Vivian's personal story in the world of high-end habanos. Dinner tonight is at a local paladar.

Join a local scholar this morning for an open discussing on Cuban history, the econonmy and the country's modern-day diplomacy with the United States. Next, you're off on a visit to the Hemingway Museum. He was an American novelist well known for his short stories, a prolific fisherman who actively monitored the Cuban coastline when he wasn't at his desk writing For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, and the locals often called him "Ernesto." Ernest Hemingway spent much of his life in Cuba, from 1939 to 1960, and today you'll have the chance to visit his home of 21 years. See the author's 9,000-volume library, and his beloved typewriter, and talk with a docent about his life here and the strong connections to Cuba and its people. Visit an outreach musical program where you'll learn their special approach teaching youth how to develop vocal and instrumental skills with traditional music. Your last evening will be spent at a local paladar.

Tour ends: Miami, Florida. A transfer this morning is included from your Havana hotel to José Martí International Airport for your return flight to Miami. Please book flights from Miami to your final destination no earlier than 3:00 PM.