Cuba

Cuba is an exciting country to visit right now.  Cuba has recently opened up to the western world, providing tourists with access to a previously little known, colourful and diverse country.    The landscape is stunning, the architecture beautiful and there are many fun activities to take part in when you are out there from salsa lessons to driving an American classic car. Highlights include:

• Havana – a living time capsule of days gone by from Spanish colonial times to the enduring legacy of the revolution.  Think 1950’s classic cars, the famous mural of Che Guevara overlooking Revolution Square, colonial Spanish villas, impromptu bursts of music and evenings strolling along the esplanade.  
• Between the Caribbean coast and Escambray mountains, Trinidad is a must see for any visitor to Cuba.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site with cobbled streets lined with pastel houses and beautiful plazas overlooked by historic buildings.  At night there is a vibrant and growing scene for Cuban food, music and dancing.
• Now a protected biosphere, Las Terrazas was formerly a piece of scrubland chosen by Castro as an area to be reforested using terracing on hillsides. Visit to relax, go birdwatching, cycle or even zip wire across the lake. You can also climb to the top of Taburete Mountain, former site of Che Guevera’s training sessions.
• Visit Vinales, home to tobacco plantations, natural springs, rivers and Mogotes (lime stone mountain outcrops that rise vertically out of the valley floor). Cycle and hike, tour the Santo Tomes cave system or visit one of the nearby almost deserted beaches.  
• Known as the Pearl of the South, Cienfuegos was initially settled by French immigrants and to this day retains a number of French influenced colonial and neo-classical style buildings.  Situated on a large Caribbean bay you can reach some unspoilt beaches within a short drive.  
• Cuba has literally hundreds of beaches.  Both on the mainland and on the tiny cayes situated offshore to the north of the island.   There is a range of accommodation from all inclusive resorts on mile long white beaches to smaller intimate hotels on the some of the cayes.