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. Meet 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. After dinner, enjoy time in your hotel as you please.

After breakfast, chat with a local scholar on Cuban Revolution history and what it looks like modern-day. 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 heading to lunch with a former baseball legend. The sport of baseball was introduced to the country by Cuban students returning home from U.S. colleges back in the 1860s. Drive to a vintage American car club well-known from the popular tv series Cuba Chrome, meet the Club members and ask questions regarding the challenges they face as part of the new emerging entrepreneur sector in Cuba nowadays. Learn about Cuban dance during a visit to meet the instructors of a private dance company, then enjoy dinner and live music 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 Tobacco 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. After you'll have the chance to explore local goods and connect with artisans in the 19th-century storage houses that are now the Almacenes San José Artisans' Market. Following lunch, visit 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. Next, meet 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. Back at your hotel, meet with a group of classic American car owners as they explain how their process of maintaining these relics of the past. 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. Join us tonight for a farewell reception and dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking El Morro Castle.

Tour ends: Miami, Florida. An early morning transfer 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.