With customizable Cuba study tours, it is easy to offer North American Universities and Schools the educational experiences they expect out of Cuba travel. Not only is there a Cuba study trip to fit any group size, educational interest and budget, but each one also immerses Canadian and US Professors and students in the authentic Cuba and takes you deep into the heart and soul of the Cuban people.
Day 1. Saturday. Spanish immersion tours to Cuba take place in Havana
Spanish immersion tours to Cuba take place in Havana. Most students traveling to Cuba from USA will arrive at the Havana City airport.
Your Cuba adventure begins right after meeting with your dedicated Cuba Student Travel guide at the airport.
Transfer to your
Luxury Casa Particular located next to the University of Havana, your Spanish immersion Cuban school for the next two weeks.
Private group check-in.
Cuba education tours include breakfast and dinner complimentary at the hotel everyday.
Day 2. Sunday. Cuba Student Travel visits Old Havana
Morning: students travelling to Cuba appreciate a guided walking tour of
Old Havana, UNESCO World Heritage Site for starts.
The Authentic Cuba Travel® experience begins with a visit to the
Plaza de Armas, and ancient military parade ground for Spanish soldiers and surrounded by impressive buildings such as Palacio de los Capitanes Generales was the former seat of colonial government, El Templete, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, and the Palace of the Counts of Santovenia.
Cuba travel for American students should feature authentic venues such as
Paladar San Cristobal where US students visiting Cuba can enjoy traditional Cuban dishes and music live!
Next the Cuba school travel continues on to
Plaza de La Catedral, the most beautiful and private 18th century colonial plaza of Cuba, named after the masterpiece of Cuban baroque architecture: the Cathedral of Havana built by the Jesuit order.
Cuba travel for students also features a visit to
Plaza de San Franciso, one of the oldest in Old Havana.
A guided tour of
Plaza Vieja is another highlight of the travel experience to Cuba for students. This colonial square is surrounded by Cuba’s foremost art galleries today.
Student Cuba travel includes shopping time in the famous
handicraft market of Old Havana, an authentic Cuba attraction where students can purchase souvenirs by Cuban artisans.
Return to your private rental accomodation.
Evening: Cuba Student Travel has arranged for a
Cuban band to play for our Spanish immersion students tonight!
Day 3. Monday. Spanish Immersion Program Assessment
Morning: Spanish immersion Cuba travel kicks off today. The Cuba Student Travel tour guide will introduce US students to the Spanish language instructors at the
University of Havana.
Spanish Immersion Cuba Tours for US high schools, colleges and universities begin with a written and oral assessment of the students’ language level: beginner, elementary, intermediate or advanced. Students will be assigned to classrooms according to their level.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: a visit to
Callejon de Hamel is a highlight of the Cuba Student Travel experience. 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, and are inspired by Afrocuban culture and religions. Afterwards we'll meet Salvador Gonzales at his studio.
Evening: Cuba tours visiting Havana
must attend a baseball game at
Latinoamericano Stadium, the largest in the Caribbean island. And that’s where Cuba Student Travel is heading tonight.
Day 4. Tuesday. Cuba Educational Travel Cultural Enrichment
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Cuba educational travel should be about meeting with Cubans from all walks of life in their own environments. A visit to
Jaimanitas coastal town serves this purpose well as students visiting Cuba can meet with ordinary fisherman as they go about their daily routines. This is also the home of renowned Cuban visual artists
Jose Fuster who will host a private lunch for students participating in the Cuba Student Travel.
Afternoon: travel to Cuba for students is enriched by a tour of the most important sites of
Modern Havana such as the Capitol building, the Grand Theatre, Central Park,
Prado promenade, Sevilla Hotel, Revolution Square, Malecón seawall, Monument to the Battleship Maine, Hotel Nacional, University
of Havana, Cristóbal Colón Cemetery, and the Miramar, Central Havana and Vedado neighbourhoods. USA students traveling to Cuba will be able to appreciate the urban development of the city as a modern metropolis at the end of this afternoon.
Evening: the Cuba travel experience for American students attending Spanish Immersion programs in Havana is greatly enhanced by exposure to Cuban music. Tonight US students will enjoy Afrojazz, Cubajazz and Sonjazz at
Club La Zorra y El Cuervo, Havana’s most famous Jazz club.
Day 5. Wednesday. Spanish Immersion in Regla Town
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: a ferry boat ride across Havana harbour to the town of
Regla is another cultural enriching experience of the Cuba travels for American students. 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.
Cuba travel for American high schools, colleges and universities feature a private Afrocuban religious dance presentation by
Regla Folkloric Group.
Return to your private rental accomodation.
Day 6 Thursday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: Spanish immersion Cuba tours visit the
community-based project Cintio Vitier in Nuevo Vedado neighbourhood. Students traveling to Cuba benefit from learning about grass roots community projects. Offering painting, papier-mâché, drama, music, and dance workshops to Cuba students, director Pedro Pulido gets the whole community involved in artistic development.
Evening: attending
The Fire of the Cannon of 9 O’Clock at the Fortress of San Carlos de La Cabana it is a
must-visit in Cuba tours attempting to immerse North American students in the local culture and history of the Caribbean island.
Day 7. Friday. Cuba Travel broadens the Mind!
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: Cuba Student Travel features a guided tour of the
Museum of Fine Arts' Cuban Collection where we Cuba school travel students can see the evolution of Cuba's visual arts over the last 300 years.
Cuba travel broadens the mind!
Evening venue: visit to
Casa de La Musica de Miramar_ a treat of the Authentic Cuba Travel® experience. A great opportunity to Rueda de Casino and Salsa dancing with Cubans and your tour companions to live music of Cuban best salsa bands such as Los Van Van, Paulito FG, La Charanga Habanera, Adalberto Alvarez, and many others! Even though it is FUN this is also an educational Cuba travel component of our student travels to Cuba.
Day 8. Saturday. Havana- Las Terrazas- Vinales
Cuba travel for schools should take students to tour Cuba beyond the Cuban capital of Havana City.
Morning departure to
Las Terrazas, in 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 rural
Primary and
Secondary schools.
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. Lunch by the river.
Check-in at your
Luxury Casa Particular with breakfast and dinner included.
Day 9. Sunday. Vinales- US Students are off on their Cuba Travels again
Student travel to Cuba is a process of continually discovering new aspects of the Cuban culture by exploring picturesque towns and landscapes. The exploration of
Viñales Valley is an enriching cultural experience of our travels to Cuba for US students. The valley is particularly famous for its great freestanding rock formations called mogotes. US Students are off on their Cuba travels again.
Lunch at
Paladar Casa del Campesino.
After lunch 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.
Meet with
local farmers that have been passing from generation to generation the secrets of growing the best tobacco in the world.
Visit to
Mural de la Prehistoria, a huge painting on the side of a Mogote.
Explore
Viñales Village 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 and herb garden, called the
Viñales Botanical Garden. The two widows maintain a garden
full of fruits, orchids and medicinal plants.
Transfer back to Havana City.
Day 10. Monday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: Cuba travel for US schools should include a guided tour of the
Museum of Revolution, the former Presidential Palace. Today it exhibits the history of the Cuban Revolution through documents and objects among which we find the famous Yacht Granma that returned Fidel and his 82 guerilla fighters from Mexico to Cuba to launch the struggle for liberation from the Batista dictatorship.
Other historic artifacts include military vehicles and weaponry from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, a U-2 spy plane shot down during the Cuban missile crisis, and items from Cuba’s nineteenth-century wars of independence.
Evening: free to explore the city on your own and spend time with your classmates and new Cuban friends.
Day 11. Tuesday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: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/ not included)
Evening: free to explore the city on your own and spend time with your classmates and new Cuban friends.
Day 12. Wednesday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
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.
Evening venue: visit to
Habana Cafe. A great opportunity to practice Rueda de Casino and Sala dancing with Cubans and your tour companions to live music of Cuban best salsa bands such as Los Van Van, Paulito FG y su Elite, La Charanga Habanera, Adalberto Alvarez y su Son, NG La Banda, and many others (optional/ entrance fee not included)
Day 13. Thursday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: visit the studios of important
Cuban contemporary artists such as Alicia Leal and Juan Moreira, Britos’ Sisters, Ernesto Benitez and others young prominent artists.
Evening: attend
baseball game at Latinoamericano Stadium, popularly known in Cuba as "The Colossus of Cerro” is home
of Ciudad Habana Industriales. The stadium holds 55,000 people. In 1999, it hosted an exhibition series between Cuban
National Team and the Baltimore Orioles (optional).
Day 14. Friday. Havana
Morning: student Cuba travel for American schools feature
3-hour Spanish immersion classes at the University of Havana each morning.
Havana University will present course participants with
Certificate of Completion for their study of the Spanish Language.
Lunch on your own.
Afternoon: Free.
Evening venue: visit to
Casa de La Musica de Miramar. A great opportunity to Rueda de Casino and Salsa dancing with Cubans and your tour companions to live music of Cuban best salsa bands such as Los Van Van, Paulito FG, La Charanga Habanera, Adalberto Alvarez, and many others (entrance fee not included).
Day 15. Saturday. Departure
Early morning departure to Havana City International Airport for departure.