Morning: during our Support for the Cuban People trip to Cuba, we will engage in authorized Support for the Cuban People activities that are organized by independent Cuban individuals and organizations. This morning we will visit the Lizt Alfonso Ballet School founded in 1991. Lizt Alfonso’s choreographies are dance and music of a kind no one else creates: a seamless fusion of Spanish classical dance, ballet, flamenco and Afro-Cuban dance. Tour the school and exchange with choreographers, dancers, and others.

Lizt Alfonso Ballet ($5 - $20)
Address: Compostela No.659 e/ Luz y Acosta, Habana Vieja, La Habana.
Postal Code: 10100.
Telephone: +53 7 866 3680

Lunch: a new wave of paladares (privately-owned restaurants) has recently swept the Cuban dining scene offering excellent food and charming ambient. Today we’ll enjoy a welcome lunch at the stylish Paladar San Cristobal, one of Havana's top ten private restaurants.

Afternoon: 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.

The Cathedral's baroque facade is simultaneously intimate and imposing, and one of the two towers is visibly larger, creating a pleasing asymmetry. As with many churches in the city, the building material of Havana Cathedral includes coral, cut and hauled from the edge of the sea by slaves. Look carefully and you'll see fossils of marine flora and fauna in the stone of the cathedral.

Just up the southwest corner of Plaza de La Catedral, we find the Experimental Printing Workshop. The meaningful exchange in between the US travelers and the Cubans is quite an unforgettable experience of our Cuba tours and travel. Next we will meet with a cooperative of young artists who work tirelessly, shirtless in an airy, spacious colonial building where we can see original prints being created.

Next we will 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.

Next we will pay a visit to Piscolabis Bazar-Café, a privately-owned Cuban bazaar and coffee shop run by self-employed (cuentapropista) Cuban fashion designer Sandra De Huelbes to shop for some exclusive clothing and accessories as well as unique souvenirs and local handicrafts. Shopping in these sorts of stores directly supports the Cuban people and the Cuban families financially while encouraging independent entrepreneurial activities that in turn strengthen civil society in Cuba.

Followed by visit to Clandestina Store & Studio. Founded in 2015 by two women Idania del Río and Leire Fernández, this is Cuba's first independent design store. The space includes a design, creation, and experimentation lab—a printing and finishing workshop; a store that receives 40,000 clients a year and an office that manages a global sales operation. Here you can buy the perfect gift or souvenir while supporting a Cuban family!

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.

Chronicles of the time say that the square had a busy commercial life. The people, in humble carts or afoot, sold and bought a variety of goods. It’s important to know that through this place the Spanish immigrants arrived to Cuba.

Free time in the famous handicraft market of Old Havana, located inside the Almacenes de Depósito San José, an old warehouse on the harbourside where you can purchase all sorts of crafts and souvenirs by local artisans.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your hotel.

Great Theater of Havana ($10 - $40)
Address: Paseo de Martí No. 458 e/ San Rafael y San Martín, Centro Habana, La Habana.
Postal Code: 10200
Telephone: +53 7 861 3077

Day tour to Vinales Valley, containing the most spectacular scenery in Cuba and some of the most interesting and varied geological formations on the island. The valley is particularly famous for its great freestanding rock formations called mogotes. No wonder the Vinales Valley and Village were included in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

En route to Vinales Valley, we will also visit the outreach community project El Patio de Pelegrin, the brainchild of Cuban painter Mario Pelegrin. This humble privately-owned art gallery and pottery workshop in Consolacion del Sur Municipality (Western Cuba) has turned into a powerhouse for the promotion of cultural and artistic projects in this countryside community.

During this visit we will engage with Mario Pelegrin and his team to learn more about the role of this independent organization in Pinar del Rio. This Support for the Cuban People activity will result in a meaningful interaction with the individuals of Consolacion del Sur, Cuba. We will present donations of educational & humanitarian items and ask how we can help promoting their work in the USA.

Our tours to Cuba for Americans feature a delicious traditional lunch at the privately-owned bar-restaurant Paladar Yuri & Nino, El Campesino. Yuri is a young woman entrepreneur who started this small restaurant that has expanded into a large establishment. Yuri and her family work hard to create delicious and plentiful food that comes with a beautiful mountain view.

Afternoon: recently CNN’s Bill Weir met with Vinales tobacco farmers and talked tobacco, politics and cash on its The Wonder List documentary.

Our tours to Cuba will introduce USA travelers to local peasants that have been growing the finest tobacco in the world for centuries. In fact, Pinar del Rio’s tobacco accounts for almost 70% of all tobacco produced in the Caribbean island. Ask any Cuban cigar connoisseur and they all agree it is the best quality.

Our tours and travel to Cuba continues with a meeting with the owners of Casa Particular, private rental accomodation, “Room for Rent” businesses. After Cuba’s open up to private enterprise, renting rooms and houses have become one of the most popular activities among Cubans. Even Vinales town, tucked away in Sierra de Los Organos, is not immune to the entrepreneurial fever overtaking Cuba these days. And private accommodation businesses are booming in the village of Vinales.

We will visit the Cueva del Indio, used by the Guanahatabey Amerindians as a burial site in ancient time, and as refuge from the Spaniards for both Indians and Black slaves alike. We’ll take a short boat ride on the subterranean river running through the cave.

Explore Viñales town at your leisure: its open-air craft market, Parque Marti, town church, and other interesting sites of this charming colonial hamlet.

Visit Carmen and Caridad Miranda’s botanical garden, called the Viñales Botanical Garden. The two widows maintain a garden full of fruits, orchids and medicinal plants.

Return to Havana city.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your hotel.

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 Support for the Cuban People activity will result in a meaningful interaction with the new generation of Cuban visual artists. Meet with students and professors.

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. Complimentary lunch will be hosted by the artist himself in his personal residence and privately-owned studio-art gallery. Hence, supporting the Cuban people by patronizing privately owned restaurants, stores, art galleries and other small businesses.

Afternoon: ferry boat ride across Havana harbour to the town of Regla. This Afrocuban community has a long, rich and still active tradition of African-inspired religions.

We'll visit Regla's church dedicated to the black "Virgen de Regla" Yemayá, the African goddess of the sea in the Yoruba religion and the patron saint of sailors.

Tour of Regla's municipal museum to learn the origins of this unique community and its Afrocuban cultures.

Enjoy private Afrocuban religious dance presentation by Regla Folkloric Group. This is another great chance for North American visitors to learn firsthand about the daily life of ordinary Cubans. Your participation in these activities directly supports the Cuban people and the Cuban families financially while encouraging independent entrepreneurial activities that in turn strengthen civil society in Cuba.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your hotel.

Karl Marx Theatre ($10 - $40)
Address: Avenida 1ra No. 802 e/ 8 y 12 A, Miramar, Playa, La Habana.
Postal Code: 11300
Telephone: +53 7 206 3816

Morning: visit to the National Ballet School of Cuba has come to be known as one of the finest centers for classical ballet training in the world. It has produced such dancers as Jose Manuel Carreno, Adiarys Almeida, Rolando Sarabia, Viengsay Valdes, Osiel Gounod, and Lorena Feijoo among many others. The school has a reputation for producing dancers that hold high standards in ballet technique and perform with a great level of authority, artistry, passion, and style. Exchange with professors and students.

Optional lunch: with the help of your Authentic Cuba Travel® guide assisting with individual bookings, dinner time serves as a good opportunity to try a new paladar (family-run privately-owned restaurant), a business model that has flourished in the city in the past years since the Cuban government opened the door to private enterprise.

Afternoon: next we will visit Fabrica de Arte Cubano (The Cuban Art Factory). This is one of Havana’s finest new art spaces located in a converted factory in Vedado neighborhood. This vibrant cultural center is the brainchild of Afro-Cuban rocker, rapper, composer and filmmaker X Alfonso who, after making a lot of money in a highly successful music career, wanted to put something back into his community. FAC is directed by a team of award-winning musicians and artists. Celebrities Mick Jagger, Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Sting and Katy Perry have visited here.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your 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.

Next we will pay a visit to Havana’s first antique bookstore, Memorias Libreria (Memories Book Store), a privately-owned Cuban genuine antique book store that opened in 2014. Run by self-employed Cubans (cuentapropistas), here we can shop for some rare Cuban artifacts (from collectible Cuban books to coins to postcards and posters).

Shopping in these sorts of stores directly supports the Cuban staff and their families while encouraging independent entrepreneurial activities that in turn strengthen civil society in Cuba. Supporting these Cuban entrepreneurs is the main objective of our shopping visits. We will engage with our Cuban hosts in a conversation to learn more about the Cuban culture. Memorias has arguably the best collection of Revolutionary memorabilia in all of Cuba.

Lunch: we will enjoy a complimentary lunch at AMOS paladar (privately-owned restaurant) owned by Ramses Batista, one of Cuba’s most well-established photographers today. As part of our lunch and our Support for the Cuban People experience to Cuba, we will establish a dialogue with Ramses and his team to learn how they have been able to reconcile the socialist centralized economy with the demands of the free market in the booming private Cuban hospitality industry.

Then we will visit his privately-owned AMOS Photography Gallery, and get up close and personal with the work of Ramses Batista. We will revisit Mr. Batista’s 20-plus-year career featuring portraiture, social documentary, religion, landscapes, and nudes. Supporting these Cuban entrepreneurs is the main objective of our Support for the Cuban People trips. We will engage with our Cuban hosts in a conversation to learn more about the Cuban culture.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your hotel.

Morning: during our Support for the Cuban People trip to Cuba, we will engage in authorized Support for the Cuban People activities such as a visit to the recognized independent Cintio Vitier Community Project based in Havana, Cuba. This project offers painting, papier-mache, drama, music, dance, and other skill development workshops to elementary and secondary students.

We’ll meet with director Pedro Pulido for a presentation on his outreach work in the community of Nuevo Vedado. This is a great opportunity to interact with the kids by drawing, dancing, reading and playing games with them! This Support for the Cuban People activity will result in a meaningful interaction with the individuals of the community of Nuevo Vedado in Havana, Cuba. We will present donations of educational & humanitarian items and ask how we can help promoting their social work in the USA.

Followed by a visit to Partagas Cigar Factory, founded in 1845 by Spaniard Don Jaime Partagas. Don Jaime owned many of the best plantations in the Vuelta Abajo tobacco-growing region of Cuba and being able to choose from among the finest tobaccos on the island made the brand Partagas incredibly successful.

Don Jaime is also believed to have experimented with various methods of fermenting and aging tobacco and is legendarily credited with hiring the first lector to read to and entertain the cigar rollers as they worked. Before and after the Revolution, the Cuban-produced Partagás has been one of the most revered and highest-selling brands of cigars in the world.

Optional lunch: with the help of your Authentic Cuba Travel® guide assisting with individual bookings, dinner time serves as a good opportunity to try a new paladar (family-run privately-owned restaurant), a business model that has flourished in the city in the past years since the Cuban government opened the door to private enterprise.

Afternoon: free to attend art shows, exhibits by the Cuban Film Industry, lectures and all cultural events related to the 28th International Ballet Festival of Havana. There would be more than dozen cultural events happening in the city around the ballet festival of Havana.

Next we will visit the home of a Cuban, Elsa who has managed to create a privately-owned cultural project La Azotea de Elsa in the rooftop of an Old Havana dilapidated building. Elsa is also the leader of a locally famous band that will play live for our group. Be ready to dance to Cuba’s most popular rhythms such as Son, Rumba and Salsa by the hand of Elsa, her family and friends. This is another great chance for our American visitors to patronize and to learn firsthand about the daily life of ordinary Cubans.

Evening: attend ballet performance at the Great Theatre of Havana, Karl Marx Theatre, National Theatre of Cuba or Mella Theatre. Your tour guide will provide you with tonight's tickets for the pre-arranged venue of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. All theatres are within 10- 15 minute drive from your hotel.

Early morning departure to Havana City International Airport for departure.