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How to go to Cuba from USA under the General License for Educational Activities
Educational Cuba Travel
University & College faculty, staff & students, K-12 teachers from USA are eligible to travel to Cuba under the General License, a process that can be completed by individuals & educational institutions without submitting the application to OFAC.

General License for US Cuba Travel
Cuba Tours
Whether you want to go to Cuba for Professional Research, Support for the Cuban People, Professional Meetings, Religious Activities, Public Performances, Exhibitions or Workshops, chances are you can find a Cuba tour that matches your interest in our 2024 rooster. Here’s our full roster of Cuba tours:
Cuba Education Tour 1 From Feb 24 to Mar 2, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 2 From Mar 2 to Mar 9, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 3 From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Cuba Engage 3 From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Cuba Art Explorer I From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Bird Watching Cuba Tour From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 3 From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Cuba Business Tour From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Healthcare Cuba Tour From Mar 9 to Mar 16, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 4 From Mar 16 to Mar 23, 2024
Photography Tour I From Apr 6 to Apr 13, 2024
The Nature of Cuba From Apr 6 to Apr 15, 2024
Cuba Engage 4 From Apr 6 to Apr 13, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 4 From Apr 6 to Apr 13, 2024
Four Biosphere Reserves From May 3 to May 12, 2024
Cuba Engage 5 From May 11- May 18, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 5 From May 11- May 18, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 5 Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024
Cuba Engage 6 Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024
Cuba Art Explorer II Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 6 Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024
Photography Tour II Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024
Fire Festival Cuba Tour Jun 30- Jul 7, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 6 From Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 7 From Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024
Cuba Engage 7 From Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024
Cuba Business Tour From Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024
Healthcare Cuba Tour From Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 7 From Jul 13- Jul 20, 2024
Jews of Cuba Travel From Aug 8- Aug 15, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 8 Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Cuba Engage 8 Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Photographers On Tour Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Cuba Education Tour 8 Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Cuba Art Explorer III Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Cuba Architecture Tour I Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Lawyers Cuba Travel Aug 10- Aug 17, 2024
Seven Historical Cities II Aug 10- Aug 21, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 9 From Sep 7- Sep 14, 2024
Cuba Engage 9 From Sep 7- Sep 14, 2024
Cuba Baseball Tour From Sep 7- Sep 14, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 10 From Oct 5 to Oct 12, 2024
Cuba Engage 10 From Oct 5 to Oct 12, 2024
Performing Arts Tour From Oct 5 to Oct 12, 2024
Dance Cuba Tour From Oct 5 to Oct 12, 2024
Cuba Ballet Festival From Oct 26- Nov 2, 2024
Jo Jazz Havana Trip Nov 6- Nov 13, 2024
Seven Historical Cities I Nov 7- Nov 18, 2024
Cuba Nature Tour Nov 8- Nov 17, 2024
Cuba Business Tour Nov 9- Nov 16, 2024
Healthcare Cuba Tour Nov 9- Nov 16, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 11 Nov 9- Nov 16, 2024
Cuba Engage 11 Nov 9- Nov 16, 2024
Havana Art Biennial From Nov 16 to Nov 23, 2024
Film Festival Cuba Tour Dec 9- Dec 16, 2024
Cuba Real Tour 12 Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Engage 12 Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Education Tour 9 Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Education Tour 10 Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Education Tour 11 Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Bird Watching Cuba Tour Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Architecture Tour Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuban Art Explorer IV Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Photography Tour IV Dec 26- Jan 2, 2024
Family Discovery Tour Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Jewish Heritage Tour Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025
Cuba Real Tour 1 From Jan 11 to Jan 18, 2025
Cuba Engage 1 From Jan 11 to Jan 18, 2025
Havana Jazz Festival From Jan 19 to Jan 27, 2025
Santiago Jazz Festival From Jan 20 to Jan 27, 2025
Cuba Jazz Festival From Jan 22 to Jan 27, 2025
Havana Book Fair From Feb 7 to Feb 14, 2025
Cuba Al Natural From Feb 8 to Feb 19, 2025
Cuba Real Tour 2 From Feb 8 to Feb 15, 2025
Cuba Engage 2 From Feb 8 to Feb 15, 2025
Habano Cigar Festival From Feb 22 to Mar 1, 2025
Cuba Study Tours & Travel to Cuba from USA
US Cuba Study Tours & Travel
Authentic Cuba Travel® offers universities, colleges and schools from US, Canada and all over the world the best study trips to Cuba.

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US Cuba Educational Tours & Travel
Educational Travel to Cuba should be more than sunbathing in beautiful Caribbean beaches while sipping cold tropical drinks.

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Cuba Study Trips makes sure your School Jazz Band plays OFFICIALLY at the Havana Jazz Festival


Our Jazz Tours to Cuba are open for US Schools

Cuba jazz festival 2014 Cuba Ballet Couses Cuba Educational Tours USA Cuba Travel for US Schools Free Cuba Travel for Educators Old Havana Cuba Study Trips Cuba Beach for Spring Break 2024 USA Cuba Travel for US Organizations
After the easing of Cuba travel restrictions from USA for educational programs and CUBA STUDY TRIPS in 2010, Authentic Cuba Travel® has been working together with the organizing committee of the Havana Jazz Festival to make possible that University Jazz Ensembles and Jazz Big Bands travel to Cuba legally to perform at the prestigious international event as official representatives.

Friends University’s Jazz Ensemble was one of those lucky groups that got to traveled to Cuba to perform as a part of the Havana International Jazz Festival 2012. The US students were honored to represent their University, Wichita, the state of Kansas and the United States at the Cuba Jazz Festival. The Friends group was the only college jazz ensemble from the US officially invited to perform that year. The Jazz Ensemble performed three times at the official venues of the Cuban jazz festival.

At Cuba Study Trips, a division of Authentic Cuba Travel® we are very proud to have facilitated this educational trip to Cuba. The following documentary “It’s All Good” by Sierra Scott tells the story of the Friends University Jazz Ensemble Cuba trip told by students. You can learn more about the trip by reading the article Jazz Ensemble to Leave for Cuban Jazz Festival. Cuba is an untouched culture in the sense that there’s little clear influence of American culture.



If it always has been on you bucket list to go to Cuba to attend the International Jazz Festival of Havana, and you are involved with a US University Jazz Ensemble or Jazz Band, Cuba Study Trips will make your dreams come true. It is a lifetime opportunity for your students to be honored to represent their university, state and nation in such a world acclaimed event out of reach for most of the American citizens. And then they will get to play and rub shoulders with the most talented Jazz musicians from Cuba and abroad. Study trips to Cuba for American schools are possible, Authentic Cuba Travel® can help!

Do not wait any longer. Now is the time to start planning the next Jazz Cuba trip for your students. Cuba Jazz travel for students are hard to find these days, especially if traveling to Cuba from the United States of America. Your students will consider traveling to Cuba an experience of a lifetime. They will come home optimistic and inspired by fresh perspectives on what is possible not only personally but also socially. Request a custom-made no-obligation Cuba Study Trip for your students today, and check some of the resources we put at your service.

Request your Cuba Student Trip Today!

Notice to US Academic Institutions, US Secondary Schools and other US Educational Organizations on Cuba Travel:



In January 2016, the US Government announced further enhancements to the 12 categories of authorized travel to Cuba that previously required a specific license (this is, lengthy applications to OFAC). Now travel to the Caribbean island is allowed under a general license (this is, self-completed paperwork with no application to OFAC needed).

After President Biden’s policy change on USA Cuba travel on June 9, 2022, the General License for Educational Activities remains in place. Accredited U.S. graduate or under graduate degree-granting institutions; U.S. Academic Institutions; and U.S. Schools can organize and sponsor an educational trip to Cuba for their students, faculty and staff under the General License for Educational Activities, provided that the trip meets OFAC guidelines; and that an employee or other representative of the organization escorts the trip to make sure such guidelines are followed by all participants.

The purpose of the Cuba travel should be for:

_ the participation in a structured educational program offered for credit as part of a course of the sponsoring institution;

_ educational exchanges sponsored by Cuban or U.S. secondary schools involving secondary school students’ participation in a formal course of study or in a structured educational program offered by a secondary school or other academic institution, and led by a teacher or other secondary school official are authorized. This authorization allows for participation of a reasonable number of adult chaperones to accompany the secondary school students to Cuba.

_ attendance at non-commercial academic seminars, conferences and workshops related to Cuba sponsored or co-sponsored by U.S. academic institution.

_ non- commercial academic research related to Cuba for the purpose of obtaining a graduate or undergraduate degree;

_ the participation in a formal course of study at a Cuban academic institution provided that credits will be accepted toward the student’s graduate or undergraduate degree;

_ participation in a 10-week structured educational program in Cuba as part of a course offered at the U.S. institution;

_ participation in a formal 10-week course of study at a Cuban academic institution, provided the formal course of study in Cuba will be accepted for credit toward the student’s undergraduate or graduate degree at the U.S. institution;

_ teaching for 10 weeks at a Cuban academic institution by an individual regularly employed in a teaching capacity at the U.S. institution.

We take care of all details both in North America and in Cuba, including VISA and flight arrangements to Cuba's main destinations via USA ports (Miami, Tampa, New York, Los Angeles, or other) or through third countries like Canada and Mexico. Authorized US organizations can travel through a third country subject to the same restrictions and requirements as those flying directly from USA.

At Authentic Cuba Travel®, we have been organizing such educational and cultural travel experiences from the United States of America for years with great success.


Notice to US Recording Industry Associations, US Music Publishers’ Associations, US Musicians Associations, US Music Clubs, US Academies of Music, and other Music Institutes and Societies from USA



US Recording Industry Associations, US Music Publishers’ Associations, US Musicians Associations, US Music Clubs, US Academies of Music, and other Music Institutes and Societies from USA can organize a trip to Cuba under the provisions of the General License for Educational Activities, the General License for Group People-to-people Educational Travel, the General License for Support for the Cuban People, the General License for Professional Research, the General License for Semi-Professional & Amateur International Sports Competition, the General License for Humanitarian Projects, the General License for Activities of Private Foundations or Research or Educational Institutes among others. Certain conditions are to be met to comply with OFAC General License requirements for each category of USA Cuba travel though.

The mission of your organization and the objective of your trip to Cuba determine under what general license you can travel to Cuba legally. In general, most trips should consist of a full-time schedule of activities intended to promote the exchange with the ordinary citizens of Cuba. This full-time schedule must also include educational activities that result in meaningful interaction in between U.S and Cuban nationals. Free time in excess or regular tourists' activities are not permitted.

We take care of all details both in North America and in Cuba, including VISA and flight arrangements to Cuba's main destinations via USA ports (Miami, Tampa, New York, Los Angeles, or other) or through third countries like Canada and Mexico. Authorized US organizations can travel through a third country subject to the same restrictions and requirements as those flying directly from USA.

At Authentic Cuba Travel®, we have been organizing such educational and cultural travel experiences from the United States of America for years with great success.

Check Our Most Popular Cuba Study Trips


With customizable Cuba student trips, it is easy to offer North American High Schools, Colleges and Universities the educational experience US students expect out of ballet tours to Cuba. Not only is there a Cuba school trip to fit any group size, educational interest and budget, but each student trip to Cuba also immerses US professors and students in the authentic Cuba and takes you deep into the heart and soul of the Cuban people.

Cuba Study Tours Include:


  • Nice, Safe, Clean Accomodation
  • Most Meals
  • Complimentary Professor(s) Participation
  • Official Asistur Cuban Health Insurance
  • Luxury Air-conditioned Coach Transportation
  • An Expert Cuban English Speaking Guide
  • Activities & Exchanges as Described
  • 24/7 Support Before, During and After your Cuba Study Tour
  • Resources for Educators:


  • Free Exploration Tour
  • 100 Educator Loyalty Points per student!
  • Complimentary Custom Website
  • Complimentary Facebook Page
  • Fundraising Ideas
  • Parents Updates
  • Won’t be alone when introducing your Cuba Educational Tour


  • Are you a US K-12 teacher, university or school professor? Check these tours!

  • Cuba Education Tour 1Havana, Cienfuegos & Trinidad Feb 24- Mar 2, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 2Havana, Cienfuegos & Trinidad Mar 2- Mar 9, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 3Havana, Bay of Pigs, Santa..Mar 9- Mar 16, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 4Havana, Las Terrazas & Vinales Mar 16- Mar 23, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 5Havana, Cienfuegos & Trinidad Jun 8- Jun 15, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 6Havana & Santiago de Cuba Jul 6- Jul 13, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 7Havana, Las Terrazas & Vinales Jul 13- Jul 20, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 8Havana, Cienfuegos & TrinidadAug 10- Aug 17, 2024Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 9Havana, Cienfuegos & TrinidadDec 26- Jan 2, 2025Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 10Havana, Bay of Pigs, Santa.. Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025Book Now
  • Cuba Education Tour 11Havana & Santiago de Cuba Dec 26- Jan 2, 2025Book Now



  • Day 1. Wednesday. Your Cuba Study Trip to the Havana Jazz Festival Begins!
    CUBA JAZZ TOURS attending the Cuba Jazz Festival will arrive at the Havana International Airport. After clearing customs and immigrations, US students traveling to Cuba will be welcome by the CUBA STUDY TRIPS dedicated guide and driver.

    Most American schools visiting Cuba choose to stay at a Luxury Casa Particular. Cuba Study Trips tour guide will make sure your check in is smooth and that US students get the nicest rooms.

    Cuba Jazz Travel usually features a welcome dinner at one of Cuba’s most popular restaurants. Paladar La Guarida has been rated off the charts by most American travelers who have joined the Jazz Trips to Cuba. It is also a great opportunity to take a glimpse of Havana at night.
    Day 2. Thursday. The Jazz Cuba Travel Adventure is ON!
    Morning: Jazz travel to Cuba should make no compromises and immerse the American students traveling to Cuba into the authentic Cuba that coexists parallel to Cuba’s mainstream tourism.

    Cuba Study Trips will treat US schools in Cuba to a guided walking tour of OLD HAVANA, a UNESCO world Heritage Site destination that attracts millions of foreign visitors every year.

    By the expert hand of your Cuba Study Trips Cuban guide you will tour the 4 main colonial plazas in Old Havana such as Plaza de La Catedral, Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja and Plaza de San Francisco.

    US schools visiting Cuba will also explore the most important landmarks of Havana’s historical centre. Worth mentioning the Museum of the City, former Captains General Palace, The Fortress of the Royal Force, The Cathedral of Havana, The Basilica de San Francisco, among many other attractions of this popular destination for Cuba’s tourism.

    Study trips to Cuba for American universities will wrap the morning exploration with a visit to the largest handicraft market of Cuba, located in a former warehouse on the harbour side. American students traveling to Cuba will have ample free time to purchase all sorts of arts and crafts at very affordable prices.

    Study trips to Cuba for US schools attending the Jazz festival of Havana will also include a lunch break at a popular restaurant in Old Havana, Paladar San Cristobal that features not only authentic Cuban dishes but the best Cuban popular music live!

    In the afternoon, our Cuba Jazz tours feature an exclusive visit to the Lizt Alfonso Dance School. US students visiting Cuba will be treated to a backstage tour of the dance company. The world acclaimed dance company will also introduce Cuban students to US students for a meaningful people-to-people exchange.

    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.

    Time permitting; the Cuba jazz travel adventure will continue with a short coach ride to the Eastern Beaches of Havana city for some “cooling off” time at the beach before heading back to Vedado for the opening of the International Jazz Festival of Havana tonight.

    Tonight is the night! University Jazz Ensembles and Jazz Big Bands traveling to Cuba with Cuba Study Trips will enjoy premium seats at the Opening Ceremony of the International Jazz Festival of Havana.
    Day 3. Friday. Official Performance at the Havana Jazz Festival
    A morning visit to Cuba’s Higher Art Achools is always a highlight in our Cuba study trips for American students traveling to the Caribbean island for people-to-people exchanges and cultural enrichment. The Cuba Jazz travels will introduce US schools to professors and students of music, visual arts, dance and drama this morning. Students will even be able to take on jam sessions with Cuban young Jazz musicians and staff. This quality time and interaction with Cubans is another component of our Cuba education tours that cannot be copied by other Cuba travel companies providing Cuba educational tours to the Caribbean island.

    As people-to-people meaningful exchange is a key aspect in our study trips to Cuba, next Authentic Cuba Travel® will take American students to Jaimanitas, a coastal town in the outskirts of Havana inhabited by fishermen for centuries. This is also the land of Jose Fuster, a Cuban visual artist who has turned the town into a living art gallery. Fuster opens the doors of its residence and studio to Cuba Study Trips this morning for special lunch and guided tour of the area. What a treat! Only with Cuba Study Tours!

    In the afternoon, we will continue our meaningful encounters with the Cuban people by visiting other humble towns in the outskirts of Havana city, San Francisco de Paula and Cojimar coastal town in an attempt to retrace the footsteps of American novelist of Ernest Hemingway in Cuba.

    Cuba Study Trips will visit Finca la Vigia, a hilltop villa 20 kilometers east of Havana, where Hemingway lived from 1939 to 1960. It is here where the writer completed some of his greatest works, including The Old Man and the Sea, Across the River and into the Trees, and Islands in the Stream.

    Cuba Jazz Travel also features a visit to Cojimar, another coastal town inhabited by fishermen where Hemingway used to park its famous boat El Pilar. Monuments, sculptures and paintings of the famous US writer can be found all over the place. Hemingway was a beloved friend of Cuba and the people of Cojimar.

    Tonight marks the first official performance of your University Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Big Band at the Havana Jazz Festival. Authentic Cuba Travel® facilitates the official invitation to play at the main venues.

    It is a lifetime opportunity for US students to be honored to represent their university, state and nation in such a world acclaimed event. And then they will get to play and rub shoulders with the most talented Jazz musicians from Cuba and abroad.
    Day 4. Saturday. Cuba Study Trips Goes Western!
    Jazz trips to Cuba should also immerse US students in the authentic Cuba that lies outside Havana city. This morning Cuba Study Trips will treat American schools traveling to Cuba to the Vinales Valley and Vinales Town, declared UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site and showcasing one of the most amazing geological formations in the world, the mogotes, flat-top freestanding rocks hills.

    Once in Vinales Valley we will continue our people-to-people encounters with visits to local tobacco farms and meeting with farmers that have been passing from generation to generation the secrets of growing the best tobacco in the world. Jazz Cuba travel should be about exposing US citizens to the Cuban culture and the Cuban people, not just about sipping mojitos in fancy beach hotels.

    As part of the Cuba Study Trips explorations of the Valley we will take US students traveling to Cuba to a guided tour of 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.

    A visit to Mural de la Prehistoria, a huge painting on the side of a mogote is also a highlight of our trips to Cuba for American schools attending the Havana Jazz Festival in an official capacity.

    The most authentic and delicious Cuban dishes are served at Paladar Casa del Campesino. Cuba Study Trips will provide a complimentary lunch next. The venue also features great Cuban country music live.

    Before heading back to Havana city, the study trips to Cuba will allow US students to explore some more of Viñales Village at their own leisurely pace. Recommended spots: open-air craft market, Parque Marti, town church, and other interesting sites of this charming colonial hamlet.

    Tonight marks the second official performance of your University Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Big Band at the Havana Jazz Festival. Authentic Cuba Travel® facilitates the official invitation to play at the main venues.

    It is a lifetime opportunity for US students to be honored to represent their university, state and nation in such a world acclaimed event. And then they will get to play and rub shoulders with the most talented Jazz musicians from Cuba and abroad.
    Day 5. Sunday. Closing Performance at the Havana Jazz Festival
    Morning: a guided tour of the Museum of Cuban Art is the icing in the cake for a comprehensive cultural immersion of US students traveling to Cuba as part of our Cuba Study Trips for University Jazz schools. The collection accounts for the richness of the island's Spanish, French, Chinese, African cultural roots.

    Cuba Jazz tours will treat US travelers to Cuba with a lunch at Paladar La Moneda in Old Havana, an eatery famous for his dishes.

    Afternoon: to enrich the Authentic Cuba Travel® experience and enhance the people-to-people component of our study trips to Cuba, we will go for a ferry boat ride across Havana harbour to Regla Town. This Afrocuban community has a long, rich and still active tradition of African-inspired religions.

    Cuba trips for American students also feature a 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 a private Afrocuban religious dance presentation by Regla Folkloric Group_ another treat of our Jazz tours to Cuba for American students.

    Tonight marks the closing ceremony of the Jazz Festival of Havana. It also marks the final official performance of your University Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Big Band at the Cuba Jazz Festival. Authentic Cuba Travel® facilitates the official invitation to play at the main venues.

    It is a lifetime opportunity for US students to be honored to represent their university, state and nation in such a world acclaimed event. And then they will get to play and rub shoulders with the most talented Jazz musicians from Cuba and abroad.
    Day 6 Monday. Good Bye Cuba Jazz
    Your Cuba Jazz adventure to the Caribbean island of Cuba sadly comes to an end. Cuba Study Trips provide with an early morning transfer to Havana City International Airport for departure.

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