Over the years we have operated dozens of tours to Cuba, all exploring the unspoiled regions that lie beyond the popular tourist beaches. Many of our participants fall in love with this beautiful island and make repeated visits with us to different regions. This 15-day tour is a combination of the region west of Havana and the central area of Cuba.

Itinerary
(Breakfast - B, Lunch - L, Dinner - D)

Day 1 Saturday
Flight to Havana 
We arrive in Havana today where we will be met by our local guide and driver and taken to our hotel. If you are travelling on a different flight from somewhere other than the Quest flight, you may need to pay an extra transfer cost to the hotel. There should be time to check in and relax and perhaps take a swim in the hotel’s fabulous pool. We’ll have an orientation meeting and dinner at the hotel.

Please Note:  Flights are not included in the tour cost.  Since there are very few scheduled flights to Cuba from Canada, Quest Nature Tours has reserved a number of seats on Air Canada on its direct, non-stop flight from Toronto to Havana and return.  Please let Pamela know if you need assistance in booking your flights and we’ll confirm one of the group seats for you.
o/n Occidental MiramarHavana (D)

Days 2 - 3 Sunday - Monday
Vinales National Park
This morning we’ll have an early start and once aboard our comfortable air-conditioned coach, we will drive to Pinar del Rio Province, west of Havana, travelling through fertile farming areas that are dominated by Cuba’s national tree, the Royal Palm.  Sugar cane and market garden crops slowly give way to tobacco farms.  The local tobacco grown here is used for the famous Cuban cigars and is said to be the best in the world.

We’ll visit the town of Vinales and the private Caridad Tropical Garden, which features diverse tropical fruits and exotic trees. We will have time to explore this bustling Cuban market town and perhaps meet with some of the locals. This will be a great introduction to the Cuban way of life that the beach tourists seldom see. We will explore Vinales National Park.  This park is located in the Sierra del Vinales, a limestone area with Jurassic period geomorphology.  The region is dominated by surreal, conical limestone knolls, with vertical walls and rounded tops.  Its several valleys make up a fertile plain known for its extensive tobacco plantations and typical rural farms and houses.
 
As we wander the rocky trails, we’ll look for ancient tree ferns, endemic snails, feral pigs and large termite nests.  This is also a good area to find the endemic Yellow-headed Warbler.  Nearby, local artists have painted a rock face with prehistoric creatures.  At the end of a busy day we’ll find the pool at our hotel very inviting.  Cuban Green Woodpeckers add their voices to the forest calls as they chase each other on the grounds of the hotel and Cuban Pygmy-Owls shatter the stillness of the evening with their shrill piping whistle.
o/n Hotel Los Jazmines, Vinales (B, L, D)

Day 4 Tuesday
La Guira National Park
Our destination for today is in the Sierra del Rosario Mountains.  This area is known as the rainbow of Cuba, because of its above average rainfall. Many species of orchids thrive in these warm, moist conditions. We will visit an Orchidarium, operated by the University of Pinar del Rio, to see some of these orchids in their natural surroundings.   On the way we will stop at La Guira National Park where we will visit the ornamental gardens of the old Cortina estate.  Here, Great Lizard Cuckoos scuttle along the branches, looking for lizards and tree frogs, in the beautiful park-like setting. This former estate has some standing colonial buildings, and its woodland trails echo with the cooing song of the beautiful Cuban Trogon.  This is Cuba’s national bird, so chosen because it has all the colours of the Cuban flag in its plumage.  We’ll also visit some limestone caves in the area. These caves were the headquarters of Che Guevara during the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s.  They have become somewhat of a national monument and are interesting from both a geological and an historical point of view. After dinner we hope to do some stargazing in the wonderfully clear mountain air, as we watch for possible Stygian Owls hunting overhead.
o/n Villa Soroa  (B, L, D)

Day 5 Wednesday
Sierra del Rosario
After breakfast, we will set off for the Reserva Sierra del Rosario, Cuba’s first Biosphere Reserve.  Introduced forestry practices were so successful here that they became a model for similar forestry schemes in other parts of Cuba and the world.  This is a very good area to listen to the haunting song of the Cuban Solitaire, a bird that is endemic to Cuba.  After a hike along one of the many trails, we’ll have lunch in a typical farming hacienda.  In the afternoon, we will visit the village of Las Terrazas, a model commune village. Our day will end with a visit to a restored 18th century coffee plantation, formerly owned by French coffee planters from Haiti, who fled to Cuba after the slave revolts.  
o/n Villa Soroa (B, L, D)

Days 6 -7 Thursday - Friday
Parque Natural Cienaga De Zapata
Today we’ll take the Autopista from Soroa to Playa Larga. Although this entails several hours driving we will break up the journey with a number of stops.  Our destination is the fabled Zapata Swamp.  Our home for the next two nights will be at Playa Larga, on the Bay of Pigs.  We will visit the national park’s interpretive centre and rehabilitation and breeding centre for the rare and endangered Cuban Parrot.

We will explore Las Salinas, part of the Zapata Peninsula, renowned as the largest marsh in the insular Caribbean.  To get to Las Salinas del Brito Fauna Reserve, on the peninsula, we’ll travel along a road that makes its way through savannahs, mangrove thickets and sub-tropical forests.  This 91 thousand-acre salt marsh is one of the most important flyways for migratory birds in the northern Caribbean.  The mudflats support large numbers of Greater Flamingos, egrets, ducks and shorebirds.  We also hope to see the rare Cuban Black Hawk here.

After lunch at La Cuevas de los Peces, a quaint restaurant located next to a sea cave pool filled with multihued fish, we will visit the crocodile farm at La Boca.  This breeding and research facility is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and is involved in rehabilitation efforts for the endangered Cuban sub-species of American crocodile.  We will return to our hotel in time to relax around the pool or stroll along the beach and enjoy the sunset.
o/n Villa Playa Larga (B, L, D)

Days 8 - 9 Saturday - Sunday
Cienfeugos / Trinidad
This morning we set off for Trinidad, stopping on the way at the Soledad Botanical Gardens, near Cienfuegos.  During our visit to the gardens we’ll be entertained by Cuban Emerald Hummingbirds fighting among themselves for the best flowers in the Gardens amid Zebra-wing and Julia Butterflies.  We will also explore the charming Spanish colonial port city of Trinidad, with its wonderful collection of restored single-story, primary-coloured buildings topped by curvaceous clay-tiled roofs and enclosed in cobblestone streets.  Founded in 1514, it was the third settlement in Spanish Cuba.  The area around Trinidad, called the Valle de Los Ingenios, was home to many sugar mills and was the source of Cuba’s prosperity in the early 1800s.  Many of the old mills still dot the countryside and the entire area has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
o/n Hotel Costasur (B, L, D)

Day 10 Monday
Topes de Collantes / Escambray Mountains
After breakfast at the hotel, we will drive deeper into the Escambray Mountains.  We’ll explore this wild and beautiful montane region that dominates this part of the central plains.  In the fragrant pine and eucalyptus forests of the region, we will look for the Cuban Bullfinch and Stripe-headed Tanagers.  We will travel by army truck (the roads get steeper) to the beautiful coffee plantation of La Codina where we will walk the lush mountain trail.  We’ll enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the old hacienda where butterflies flit among the Hibiscus and Lantana flowers.
o/n Los Helechos (B, L, D)

Day 11 Tuesday
Hanabanilla Dam / Cayo Las Brujas
Today we will have a short but scenic drive to the Hanabanilla Dam.  This picturesque reservoir, winding its way through the countryside, is set against a backdrop of palm-fringed hills.  We will transfer to a comfortable launch and make our way through the flooded valleys to Rio Negro Island to have lunch in a secluded restaurant, accessible only by boat.  We’ll have a short, but steep, optional hike before lunch, for those who are energetic, to have a great view of the area and watch the Turkey Vultures fly by at eye-level.   After lunch we’ll go back on board and make our way to the other end of the lake where our bus and driver will be waiting for us. We’ll drive to Santa Clara where we’ll visit the Che Guevara mausoleum, one of the more striking monuments in honour of the famous Cuban revolutionary. Then we will make our way to Cayo Las Brujas on the North East coast.  The beaches here have been described as simply the best in Cuba. o/n  Villa Las Brujas (B, L, D)

Day 12 Wednesday
Cayo Las Brujas  / Jardines del Rey Archipelago
For a change of pace, we will board our comfortable catamaran for a boat ride through the beautiful Jardines del Rey Archipelago, part of the Archipelago de Camaguey.  Our cruise will take us through a number of different habitats including sea caves, mangrove areas, beaches and rocky headlands.  We will have lunch on one of the deserted cays. There will be free time to beach-comb and enjoy the ambience of warm sand and sea breezes.  Bring your mask and snorkel, as there may be an opportunity to snorkel for half an hour if the sea isn’t too rough. The mangroves around the hotel are a treasure trove of birds with Cuban Green Woodpeckers and Cuban Emeralds on the steps to the cabins. Hutias, an endemic Cuban mammal, can be seen around the boardwalk in the early morning and evening.
o/n Villa Las Brujas (B, L, D)

Day 13 Thursday
Cayo Santa Maria
Today we will have a nature walk along a new trail through the mangroves on Santamaria Cay. The bird life is amazing as the area is still unspoiled and is in its natural state. Along with Curly-tailed Lizards and Cuban Green Anole, we will look for Bahama Mockingbird and Thick-billed Vireo. In the afternoon we will have free time to sit on the beach, snorkel or explore more of Cayo Las Brujas.
o/n Villa Las Brujas (B, L, D)

Day 14  Friday
Old Havana
This morning, after an early breakfast we’ll head for Havana. This is a fairly long drive so we will relax and enjoy the passing scenery. We’ll stop for lunch at Fiesta Campesina.  Old Havana has such a special place in the Caribbean that, in 1982, UNESCO recognized its superb colonial architecture and declared it a World Heritage Site.  Since the old city was declared a world heritage site, restoration is proceeding quickly. All the old world charm of this monument to the past is being carefully preserved. This is being achieved, while maintaining local neighbourhoods that give the old town a natural vibrancy.  We will visit such treasures of the past as the Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales, and the Plaza de la Catedral.  Our Cuba guides will make the history of the old city come alive for us as we stroll around the city.

We will also sample a  “Mojito”, the national drink made from rum and mint, in the Café del Oriente where we will have our farewell dinner, a scrumptious dining experience in the old town. We will be staying at the elegant Occidental Miramar in the upscale embassy section of Havana.
o/n Occidental Miramar, Havana (B, L, D)

Day 15 Saturday
Departure Day
This morning, after a visit to El Morro Fort, we’ll be driven to the airport in time for our flights home.  Please note that our activities will depend on our flight time. (B)