Arrival at "Jose Marti" International Airport in Havana.

You are welcomed by your Cuban guide and bus driver for the entire tour.

Private transfer to your Hotel Habana Libre, located at the cultural center of Havana City.

Private group check-in.

Breakfast is complimentary from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Morning: visit the Scale Model of Havana City. Meeting with architect Miguel Coyula from the Group for the Comprehensive Development of Havana City.

Welcome lunch at La Mina restaurant.

Afternoon: visit to Taller Experimental de Gráfica (Experimental Printing Workshop), a cooperative of young Cuban artists whom can be found working on their lithographs over stone matrices in the large, airy building. The variety of colors, sizes, and content of the prints is wide, including pieces with recognizable Cuban icons, bold black and white woodcuts.

Followed by guided walking tour of UNESCO World Heritage Site, Old Havana.

Visit to the Cathedral Square, named after the masterpiece of Cuban baroque architecture: the Cathedral of Havana built by the Jesuit order.

Visit to Square of Arms, ancient military parade ground for Spanish soldiers and surrounded by impressive buildings such as:

Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the former official residence of the governors (Captains General) of Havana, Cuba. It is home to the Museum of the City of Havana. It houses exhibitions of art and historical artefacts and many of the rooms are preserved with their original Colonial decoration.

Palacio del Segundo Cabo. The seat of the second authority of the island. Today it houses important publishing concerns.

Castillo de la Real Fuerza. The second oldest fortress built by the Spaniards in the West Indies. The castle was recently renovated and reopened in June 2008 to hold the impressive maritime museum. Well laid out exhibits chart Spain and Cuba's naval history.

Visit to Plaza Vieja, the only civic square of colonial times. Notice it doesn't have a church or government building around. Here we will visit important institutions for visual arts.

Continue walking tour onto San Francisco Square, named after the Convent of San Francisco, this square was conceived in 1628, with the objective of supplying water to the ships trading with the metropolis. For many years it also served to stockpile the goods arriving from the harbor.

Free time in the famous handicraft market of Old Havana where you can purchase all sorts of crafts and souvenirs by local artisans.

Return to hotel.

Evening: enjoy performance of the National Ballet of Cuba at the Great Theatre of Havana (optional) (TBC). Return to hotel.

Morning: guided tour of the Museum of Fine Arts' Cuban Collection where we see the evolution of Cuba's visual arts over the last 300 years. The collection accounts for the richness of our Spanish, French, Chinese, African cultural roots.

Afterwards visit to Callejon de Hamel. An alleyway street caught in Centro Habana neighborhood where an effort of cultural rescue and expansion led by fine artist Salvador González has been underway since 1990.

Salvador’s murals and sculptures have taken over entire buildings’ facades– shrines to Afrocuban deities. Meet with Salvador Gonzales to discuss their work and its effects on the neighborhood.

We are now "leaving" Havana and entering Fusterlandia, the studio, residence and wild kingdom of José Rodriguez Fuster, one of the most important Cuban ceramists and painters today. Lunch hosted by Jose Fuster.

Afternoon: visit the studios of important Cuban contemporary artists such as Alicia Leal and Juan Moreira, Juan Carlos Alom, Britos’ Sisters, Ernesto Benitez and others young prominent artists.

Evening: tonight we have a Cuban band playing for us! We learn how to play and dance to Salsa, Son, Rumba, and other popular Cuban rhythms. Morning: guided tour of Cuba's National Art Schools (ISA). ISA professors are all active visual artists, art curators or art critics. The faculty of visual arts provides a combination of theory and practice designed for students serious about pursuing artistic achievement through concentrated study.

Study at the Institute is comparable to conservatory work in the United States. This is a great opportunity to exchange with the new generation of Cuban visual artists. Meet with students and professors.

Lunch at El Aljibe restaurant.

Afternoon: visit to Habana Art Gallery, specializing in contemporary Cuban art, it is one of Havana's oldest and best-established galleries; in the last few years, it has extensively promoted the latest trends in today's visual arts.

Followed by visit to the studios of important Cuban contemporary artists such as Rene Pena, Lazaro Saavedra and Jose Angel Toirac.

Evening: participation in the different cultural and political venues taking place in the city around New Years Eve (optional). Morning: visit to the Wifredo Lam Center, a cultural institution devoted to the study, research and promotion of the contemporary visual arts in the developing countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Housed in the former 18th-century home of the Count and Countess de Peñalver, the Wifredo Lam Center is responsible for the organization of the Havana Art Biennial.

The gallery's permanent collection includes a significant number of Lam's paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures. Time to visit Havana Art Biennial's temporary art exhibits both Cuban and international.

Lunch on your own in Old Havana (not included).

Afternoon: visit to some of Cuba's premier art institutions for the promotion of visual arts such as:

Visit to the Center for the Development of Visual Arts, an art institution that promotes and exhibits the work of Cuban contemporary artists. Visit current exhibit and meet with artists and curators.

Visit to Fototeca de Cuba, an art institution created in 1986 to preserve, study and promote the country’s photographic patrimony and open a space for the promotion of international photography. The Fototeca is an archive with a vast and valuable collection of documents; it is also a museum with the widest and most valuable collection of Cuban photography known and it functions as a gallery with rooms for temporary exhibitions in which works that do not belong to the permanent collection are generally exhibited.

Visit to La Casona Gallery that focuses its activities on the latest movements within contemporary Cuban art, promoting and marketing the new conceptual projects that use different artistic languages, such as photography, installation, video, painting and sculpture.

Return to your hotel.

Evening: attend one of the most traditional and popular ceremonies in Cuba, The Fire of the Cannon of 9 O’Clock at the Fortress of San Carlos de La Cabana. Morning departure to Las Terrazas, located in UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Sierra del Rosario where we start the morning tour of the rural town at Rancho Curujey for explanation of the area.

Enjoy the view of the village that lies above the shores of San Juan Lake and beneath the mountains.

We also visit the home/studios of local artists and artisans.

Visit to the ruins of a French Coffee Plantation built in 1801.

Continue to La Moka, an ecological hotel with trees growing up through the balconies and ceiling.

Later we can take a swim at San Juan River cascades and pools.

We have lunch in local traditional restaurant.

Return to Havana City.

Evening: enjoy Afrojazz, Cubajazz and Sonjazz at Club La Zorra y El Cuervo, Havana’s most famous Jazz club. The club features great performances by island bands and soloists! (optional, not included) Free day to revisit your favourite art galleries, exhibits and studios.

Farewell dinner at Cafe del Oriente. Early morning departure to Havana City International Airport for departure.