Cuba
Located just 90 miles from Florida, our Cuba private tours offer a mesmerizing destination where you can unplug, unwind and appreciate the top-notch arts and sports amid colonial Spanish architecture, classic automobiles, and rural horse-and-buggies.
With the long-awaited opening of Cuba’s gates, private Cuba tours to this beautiful Caribbean island is a must. Cuba offers a step back in time, without the gentrification and commercialisation seen throughout the world. Forget your Starbucks Frappuccino and get ready to taste the 1950’s rustic splendour that traces the white-sand shores of this historically monumental Caribbean jewel.
Each of our private in Cuba tours is masterfully choreographed with special local access and impeccable service.
This is our craft. Our commitment.
FOUNDER
a bit about
Cuba
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Cobbled streets now lead to immaculately polished Baroque churches, castles and palaces. Plazas have been returned to their former glory with fountains flowing and attentively re-rendered facades. Just west of Habana Vieja, the gritty working class district of Centro Habana offers a pre-restored, rutted beauty. This contrasts to the well-heeled districts of Vedado and Miramar, west of Centro, where diplomats dine and the internationally recognized Instituto Superior del Artes is located. Be enthralled by Cubans as they line the streets, socializing or playing an animated game of dominos. Enjoy delicious pizza and ice cream as you stroll through the plazas. Be seduced by salsa music drifting from rebooted sound systems of vintage Cadillacs and Buicks cruising along Havana’s infamous Malecon, the seafront of Havana, as you travel to your next destination on this seductive and enchanting historical city. There is always something to do in Havana. With a wealth of museums and cultural spaces, virtuoso ballet, Afro-Cuban dance, flamenco, jazz and timba, Cuba offers exquisite talent and intellectual rigour. Plus a panoply of new private restaurants, known as paladares, continue to push the envelope on Cuba’s culinary scene as the government allows for an increase in small business start-ups. The nightlife is exuberant: think alfresco salsa clubs, plentiful live music venues and troubadour sessions. Located on the outskirts of Havana lies Las Playas del Este. Here you can bask and play in Cuba's legendary turquoise water-and-white-sand beaches. Choose from hotels worthy of four star ratings from contemporary international chains to faded art deco grande dames, colonial boltholes, and a plethora of private villas. Latin Excursions is the only travel company with access to the newly created private villa rental market. If you want to stay in a original 1950s suburban home or a penthouse on the Malecon, we can arrange your own private pied-a-terre.
With an old fashioned agrarian economy, spur-wearing farmers trot down dusty tracks with oxen to plough the rust-red earth and sow seeds by hand. The valley of Vinales, spiked with karst limestone peaks, is a hypnotically beautiful Eden. This eponymously-named little town is one of the best weekenders near Havana. Here, a functioning private-sector tourist economy allows for old-fashioned country Cuban life to be spruced up for international consumption (in a good way): porches are recently painted, the people are cheerful and well fed, and an array of farmyard animals cluck and oink happily in backyard pens. For visitors, biking, caving and horseback riding through the valley are the main events. You can then return to your casa particular and enjoy a mojito while rocking on the porch, bookended by a delicious home-cooked meal. The nearest beach centre from Pinar Del Rio is little Cayo Levisa, located to the north. Here, 33 cabanas pepper the 3km beach of powdery white sand that are kissed by lusciously aquamarine waters. Snorkelling, diving, and relaxing on a beach lounger reading Hemingway are highly recommended with a mojito in hand. Or you can join excursions to distant, more deserted, keys. Mosquitoes can be irritating at night, but that's Cuban beach life for you.
At night, open air concerts are heard in the plazas. This fertile land of mountain and sea has always brought wealth to lucky locals. In the colonial area, especially between 1750 and 1850, sugarcane was huge, and fabulously rich. Spanish families built gorgeous mansions around Trinidad's main square off the back of their sugar mills in the valley. Now their descendents rent rooms to visiting foreigners. Mountain and sea collide around the Topes de Collantes, where rich soil for crops is produced. Bountiful vegetables and fruit find their way to superior home-cooked meals compared to other parts of the country. Ironically the state restaurants in this town pale in comparison to the abundance of delicious private restaurants (paladares) and meals prepared in casa particulars. Playa Ancon is a short drive from Trinidad and offers one of the loveliest beaches on the island. If you can cope with all-inclusive 3-star hotels, it's possible to stay there too, though day trips are often the better alternative.
Cienfuegos was settled late for Cuba, in 1819, allowing for spacious and civilised streets and avenues. It remains quaint with horse drawn carriages being the most common form of transport. Other attractions include the magical Botanical Gardens, designed by American planter, Edwin Atkins, located at the outskirts of town. Created in the early 1900s with the help of Harvard professors Oakes Ames and George Goodale, the guides are keen to show you their little-visited Eden of more than 2,000 species of tropical plants. Relax in this quiet garden, which you are likely to have all to yourself. The old fashioned beauty of Cienfuego’s facades, notably the beautiful Catedral de la Purisma Concepcion, are breathtaking. The marina is the embarkation point for many catamaran excursions to the island’s southern keys near Cayo Largo. Here you can unwind while soaking up the pleasant provincial atmosphere. On the Paseo del Prado, the longest street in Cuba, leisurely people-watch with a fresh ice cream.
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These itineraries are known as ‘Best Value’ because they have been meticulously crafted, thoroughly tested, and vetted by our team. By choosing a “Best value” itinerary your trip will include private tours, seamless transfers, and knowledgeable guides, all while enjoying comfortable accommodations of high quality. To offer you the best possible pricing, these trips are priced as they are. However, should you wish to make any changes to the itinerary such as changing a destination, our team can customize the trip.
If you are seeking something around your interests or something unique, you can ask one of our specialists to create a unique trip just for you!. No detail is too small. From upscale accommodations and food to the guides chosen for you, all our partners exemplify a high-end approach to customer service. Let us stitch together a masterful itinerary with seamless travel connections.
all our
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in Cuba
They were spectacular. I would give the highest recommendation. Very knowledgeable, attentive and willing to adjust to all we asked. We covered a huge amount of ground in a very short time. When we do our company trip (which should be soon), we should definitely use them. The tour guide, Adrian, was very knowledgeable on every aspect of Cuba from history to architecture to cuisine to rum and cigars. Ray, the driver, got us everywhere we wanted to go quickly and was always positioned ready to head to the next venue. They did an exceptional job.”
