Tour of Cuba & relaxation on the beach!

We decided that, if we were to visit Cuba, we needed to see something more than just a beach and we particularly wanted to visit Havana. We started making tentative enquiries and found Mauricio at Quest World Travel really knowledgeable and helpful. He recommended the Pearl of the Caribbean Tour which would take us around the North West of Cuba. This tour starts on a Friday to coincide with the arrival, on the Thursday evening, of the Virgin flight from Gatwick to Havana. We wanted a direct flight from Manchester and, as there are none to Havana, Mauricio booked us on the Wednesday Thomsons flight to Varadero and arranged a car to meet us at the airport and take us to Havana. Unfortunately, we had a 3 hour delay at Manchester so our journey out was very tiring, but at the end of a 22 hour day we still managed to venture out of the hotel to find a small bar to taste our first mojitos!

Our hotel in Havana was the Sevilla. Our room was enormous, which was great, but overall the standard of furnishings were tired and there was damp in the bathroom! There was an outside swimming pool which, as we had Thursday free in Havana, we were very pleased to take advantage of after a hot and dusty morning walking around the old town. If we were to visit Havana again, we would probably insist on the Parque Central.

The doorman at the Sevilla organised us an open top 1952 Buick for a one hour tour of Havana on the Thursday evening. At only 30 CUC this was an absolute must. We asked the driver to end the tour at the Hotel Nacional where we had dinner, and it was very interesting just walking round this historic hotel.

The Pearl of the Caribbean Tour proper started on the Friday morning. We were very lucky – there were only the 2 of us on the tour. Kenny, the guide from Havana Tours, was excellent with a good command of English, and we always felt safe with our driver, George. The two of them really did go out of their way to look after us and took us to additional places e.g. the beach when we were in Trinidad, to an open air music/dance evening, etc.

Day 1 – Friday – we walked all over the old part of Havana, visited the Havana Club museum, the hotel where Ernest Hemingway stayed, went around the museum of the revolution, etc., etc. We also got the opportunity to buy cigars. After lunch (n.b. all meals on the tour were included in the price), we went to the other side of the river and visited the fort and saw Che Guevara’s office with excellent views of Havana. Overall a really interesting (if tiring) day!

Day 2 – Saturday – we travelled to Santa Clara where we visited Che Guevara’s mausoleum. Unfortunately the museum was closed. We also visited the spot where the train carrying ammunition for Batista’s troops was derailed in the defining point of the revolution. The carriages of the train have been converted to a museum so we had a look around there. We then continued to Trinidad.

The Grand Hotel Trinidad is fabulous, definitely the best hotel of our holiday - a shame we only had 2 nights there. However, there is no swimming pool which would have been nice. The restaurant was very good and generally the standards of this hotel were what we would expect of a 4 star hotel.

Day 3 – Sunday – a guided tour (walking) of this world heritage site. Lovely buildings and pretty squares, etc. The weather turned bad, unfortunately, and we called in at a couple of bars for drinks, with live music (a couple of guys playing guitar and singing) and impromptu salsa dancing! The rain stopped in the afternoon and we were able to spend a few welcome hours on the beach with a dip in the sea which was lovely.

Day 4 – Monday – Torrential rain delayed our departure for Las Terrazas. The roads in Trinidad became rivers! A long, long journey broken by a boat trip to a replica stilted Taino Indian village. Very pretty, but the rain was relentless and, despite our rain ponchos, we got soaked!

We arrived at Hotel Moka quite late. Oh dear, 3 days there is definitely too much!!! Attitudes are awful - from not being able to book us in when we arrived because the manager was having dinner, to no breakfast on Tuesday morning because of the torrential rain and staff not being able to get in to work. I did manage to negotiate a coffee (not easy) and a cut down version of breakfast did eventually arrive. The food in the restaurant was grim, fortunately we only had dinner there on the first night. That said it is in the most picturesque and lovely area! Had the sun been shining (it rained almost the whole time we were there) and the pool been open (it had been drained), our opinion might have been somewhat different.

Day 5 – Tuesday – Visit to the community of Las Terrazas with stops for locally produced coffee and the opportunity to buy locally produced gifts. Also visited the home of Polo Montañez, a famous Cuban singer/musician, who had lived in the community and who was killed in a road crash. After lunch visited Soroa orchid garden and the Cascades el Salto waterfall which were lovely, but again our visit was marred by heavy rain!

Day 6 – Wednesday – Visited Pinar del Rio / Vinales, a beautiful lush valley – some fabulous views etc. Visited a cigar factory, took a subterranean boat ride through the El Indio limestone cave system and viewed the Mural de la Prehistoria, but don’t pay to go in (it is quite expensive by comparison to other tourist attractions in Cuba) – you can see the Mural from the road and there really is nothing there worth paying to see! Later we went back to Las Terrazas and, as the sun had come out, had a swim in the San Juan river.

Day 7 – Transfer to The Hotel Tainos in Varadero. After a leisurely start to the day, we were delivered here safely by our guide and driver, with a stop on the way to admire some beautiful views. Kenny, our guide, even rang us in the evening to check everything was ok.

We spent the last 6 days of our holiday doing little but lying on the beach. Hotel Tainos was ok – food was pretty good, very nice open air entertainment every evening until 9 pm, lovely beach. We didn’t spend any time round the pool as there were very limited sun umbrellas and they were a definite necessity.

Our whole itinerary ran completely smoothly and our transfer to the airport at the end of our holiday was no exception. Thanks to Mauricio for his organisation!

The balance between the tour and the final 6 days on the beach was just right. We felt that we saw enough of Havana, saw some fabulous old colonial architecture and tropical scenery and got to learn about the history of Cuba and of the revolution. We enjoyed ourselves and retain some wonderful memories of Cuba.