The Best of Cuba

Fly to Havana (via Madrid). Transfer to the 5-star Iberostar Parque Central for three nights.
(D)

Travel to the Viñales Valley and visit Indian Cave, part of the spectacular Santo Tomas cave system. Visit a cigar factory.
(B, L, D)

A city tour gives you your bearings, shows you Havana’s landmarks, historic and contemporary, and includes a visit to a rum factory, and to the National Museum of Fine Arts, with fabulous exhibits of 500 years of Cuban art. This evening enjoy a cocktail lesson.
(B, L, D)

Travel (4 hrs) to Cienfuegos. Founded in the early 1800s, the town backs a beautiful bay, its neo-classical architecture UNESCO protected. Visit the 1913 Palacio de Valle, now a hotel, with ornate turrets and tiles more typical of a Moroccan style than Cuba; and continue along the coast to Trinidad. Overnight at the 5-star Iberostar Heritage Grand.
(B, L)

Trinidad is a beguiling step back in time, where, in the elegant enclave of its Plaza Mayor, all is as if Independence (and the 20th century) had never happened. Visit the Municipal Museum, covering the history of the city from its 16th-century origins; and enjoy an authentic Cuban vibe in the legendary La Canchanchara Bar; and later, visit the Manaca Iznaga former sugar plantation, its scenic setting belying a haunting slave-trade history, epitomised in the infamous Slave Tower, from which the workers were watched by the guards. Continue, crossing the causeway, to Cayo Santa Maria, for two nights at the 5-star Iberostar Selection Ensenachos.
(B, L, D)

Among the clustered cays and islands of Cuba’s Jardines del Rey archipelago, Cayo Santa Maria offers forests on its southern coast, eight miles of white sand shores to the north, and a veritable marine aquarium around its barrier reef. Explore and enjoy the island on a day at leisure here.
(B, L, D)

En route back to Havana, visit Santa Clara, steeped in Revolutionary legend, to view the city’s most imposing landmark, Ernesto Che Guevara Square, encompassing his magnificent mausoleum, and a huge statue of the man; and the Tren Blindado (Armoured Train), a Cuban Revolution memorial and national monument, on the site of the capture of an armoured train during the 1958 Battle of Santa Clara. Continue to Havana for an overnight stay at the Iberostar Parque Central; and visit ‘Hemingway’s Haunt’.
(B, L, D)

Morning at leisure in Havana. Afternoon transfer to the airport for the overnight return flight (via Madrid).(B)

Arrival in London.