Just the Havana jazz festival tour

Just the Havana jazz festival tour map

Day 1 • Tuesday • Say hello to the city of music

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Havana Jazz Fest: A series of epiphanies make for a monumental experience.

The Havana International Jazz Festival: A series of small epiphanies make for a monumental experience in the Pearl of the Caribbean. Photo Ana Lorena.

• Arrivals at Havana’s José Martí International Airport
• Collect your luggage and proceed through Cuban customs to the arrivals lobby
• Our airport concierge or your tour guide will arrange tour bus or private taxi transfers from the airport to your hotel located in El Vedado, the heart of Havana's cultural district. Your hotel check-in is pre-arranged, you simply present your passport
• Time at hotel to settle in and freshen up
• Dinner is served at your hotel’s restaurant
• Time to explore Havana’s vibrant nightlife, and make new Cuban friends. We’ll keep you posted on evening entertainment options.
• Havana Jazz Festival Performances, choose among events taking place at several different venues (transportation NOT INCLUDED)

Day 2 • Wednesday • Old Havana, History and Capitol building

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Castillo de la Real Fuerza was built in 1562 to fend off pirates.

Castillo de la Real Fuerza, next to Plaza de Armas, was built in 1562 to fend off attacks by pirates. It is the oldest stone fort in the Americas and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Old Havana and its Fortifications. Atop the watchtower (shown here) sits the statue La Giradilla, a symbol of love and longing, and the logo of Havana Club. Today the fort houses a maritime museum. Photo Norlys Pérez Padrón.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel
• Followed by a private walking tour of Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ll visit four historic plazas that make Havana unique in the western hemisphere. Together they contain the largest collection of remaining Spanish colonial-era architecture in the world
• Cathedral Square, the most beautiful and private 18th century colonial plaza on the island. Named after the masterpiece of Cuban baroque architecture, Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana was built by the Jesuit order
• Square of Arms, an ancient military parade ground for Spanish soldiers, surrounded by impressive buildings such as:
• Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, former seat of colonial government. Today the building houses the Museum of the City
• Palacio del Segundo Cabo [Palace of the Second Lieutenant] dates from 1770
• We continue onto San Francisco Square, one of the oldest plazas in the historical quarter. The square is named after magnificent Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco de Asís dating from the 16th century. The basilica is a striking example of Cuba baroque architecture
• On to Plaza Vieja, the only civic square of colonial times. Absent are churches and government buildings. The plaza is surrounded by opulent aristocratic 17th century residences.
• Later on, we'll visit Cuba's National Capitol Building, a Latin American architectural treasure. Its size and appearance are similar to Washington's Capitol Building, but the Pantheon in Paris inspired its opulent neoclassical form and art nouveau flourishes. Cuban architects Raúl Otero and Eugenio Rayneri Piedra designed the colossus in 1925, and construction began in 1926 by the U.S. firm Purdy and Henderson. Completed in 1929, it served as the seat of Congress until 1959 when Fidel and fellow rebels chose less bourgeois digs to conduct revolutionary affairs.
• Welcome lunch at the private restaurant Mojito-Mojito. Ideally situated in Plaza Vieja, its friendly atmosphere, and delicious food makes it rank high on TripAdvisor. The restaurant's slogan: "A single mojito is not enough.".
• Return to your hotel and freshen up
• Welcome dinner at the private restaurant Le Petit. An attractive, elegant and casual restaurant, located in the oldest area of ​​Havana.
• Havana Jazz Festival Performances, choose among events taking place at several different venues (transportation NOT INCLUDED)

Day 3 • Thursday • Cuban dance + Festival Performances

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Jazz aficionados boogie to Afrocuban tunes in a Havana park.

Jazz aficionados boogie to Afrocuban tunes in a Havana park. Photo Norlys Pérez Padrón.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel
• Morning visit to one of the best Cuban dance companies. We’ll visit and meet the troupe during their practice performances. All great dance is globally inspired. Movements from other countries going back millenniums, refined and stylized, turned into something ethereal for our time. If any nation has contributed most to US dance, we think it is Cuba with its rich sensuous African, European, Asian and Indigenous mixes.
• Lunch included at the private paladar Atelier where President Obama, First Lady Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha dined in 2016.
• Return to your hotel and freshen up
• Dinner not included in tour cost. An occasion to sample Havana’s stellar private eateries and taste the diversity of the island's distinctive cuisines. We’ll provide suggestions for restaurants most popular with Cubans and our travelers
• Havana Jazz Festival Performances, choose among events taking place at several different venues (transportation NOT INCLUDED)

Day 4 • Friday • Rum, art, shopping + Festival Performances

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The national elixir of Cuba is Habana Club. The legal drinking age is 16.

The national elixir of Cuba is Habana Club. The legal drinking age is 16. No wonder Cuba was awarded the Cocktail Capital of Latin America in 2018. Cuban bartenders are on record for creating the world’s largest Cuba Libre (rum and Coke). One hundred guests quaffed the enormous 500-liter drinksie at the Pan-American Championship of Cocktails at Hotel Habana Libre. Photo Ana Lorena.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel
• Visit Centro Cultural Antiguos Almacenes de Depósito San José. This marvelous restoration of an old dock warehouse has resulted in a gigantic market fair exhibiting the wares of hundreds of Cuban artists and crafts workers. It’s an amazing shopping opportunity for memorable Cuban gifts and souvenirs
• Time flies when you’re having rum! Cuba’s golden elixir spans nearly five hundred years of brewing. You’ll learn the fascinating history and art of distillation of the island’s (and Hemingway’s) most popular spirit. The Havana Club Museum of Rum opened in the year 2000 within a grand private palace. It houses incredible artifacts used in the rum-making process, as well as an expansive Rum inventory, and a chance to sample this liquid ambrosia.
• Lunch will be served today at Café del Oriente.
• Return to your hotel and freshen up. Explore the city with your tourmates and new Cuban friends
• Dinner not included in tour cost. An occasion to sample Havana’s stellar private eateries and taste the diversity of the island's distinctive cuisines. We’ll provide suggestions for restaurants most popular with Cubans and our travelers
• Havana Jazz Festival Performances, choose among events taking place at several different venues (transportation NOT INCLUDED)

Day 5 • Saturday • Afrocuba, Hemingway farm + Festival Bands

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Cuban Yoruba dancer in Havana’s Callejón de Hamel.

Cuban Yoruba dancer in Havana’s Callejón de Hamel [Hamel’s Alley]. Locals transformed a once desolate two-blocks-long slum into a vibrant outdoor art gallery, rumba stage, and community hub for Santería devotees. Santería is a combination of traditional Yoruba religion and Catholicism. Photo Norlys Pérez Padrón.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel
• Visit to Callejón de Hamel, a magical section of Old Havana filled with Afrocuban murals and art
• We’re off to visit Finca la Vigía [Lookout Farm] where North America’s literary titan Ernest Hemingway spent twenty-one of his most important and productive years adding to the building blocks of English literature. Claimed by both the United States and Cuba as a native son, it was Hemingway himself who declared Cuba to be his true home. His house has been preserved just as it was when he lived in it. You’ll see his eclectic personal objects, thousands of books, manuscripts and photographs, as well as some animal trophies he bagged on his safaris to deepest Africa
• Tour highlight. We have a special lunch arranged for you by our friends at Ajiaco paladar [private restaurant]. It’s considered the best in Cuba. It’s a mandatory dining stop located off the beaten path in the romantic coastal fishing village of Cojímar. Ajiaco is noted for fantastic service, atmosphere and scrumptilicious country Cuban cuisine. All their ingredients are fresh and organic, supplied by nearby private gardens to give every dish a delightfully aromatic flavor you’ll never forget
• We’ll visit the village of Cojímar, the setting for Ernest Hemingway’s "The Old Man and the Sea.” Here adoring local fishers cast a bronze bust from old anchors, props and tools. They had no money for new materials. Its inscription reads, "In loving memory of the people of Cojímar to the immortal author of Old Man and the Sea." A plaque below the bust reads: Sculpted with the contributions of the Fishermen Cooperative of Cojímar
• Return to your hotel and freshen up
• Dinner not included in tour cost. An occasion to sample Havana’s stellar private eateries and taste the diversity of the island's distinctive cuisines. We’ll provide suggestions for restaurants most popular with Cubans and our travelers
• Havana Jazz Festival Performances, choose among events taking place at several different venues (transportation NOT INCLUDED)

Day 6 • Sunday • Cuban Art + Festival Closing Finale

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Spontaneous outbreak of outdoor music and dance during the Havana Jazz Festival.

Warm tropical winter nights present the opportunity for street parties. Havana Jazz Festival activities take place across many venues – including spontaneous outbreaks of outdoor music and dance. Photo Ana Lorena.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel.
• Later on, we’ll examine Cuba's greatest visual masterpieces spanning three centuries at Havana’s world class museum of modern art – Palacio de Bellas Artes. It’s exhibits display the richness of the island's Spanish, French, Chinese, African and Aboriginal cultural influences. Notable works include those of René Portocarrero and Wilfredo Lam.
• Lunch today: In the heart of Havana city, we will have lunch at Plaza Nueva.
• This afternoon is for you to explore the city on your own with your tourmates and new Cuban friends.
• Return to your hotel and freshen up
• Attend a big jazz event this evening (transportation included).
• Farewell group dinner at local restaurant, included

Day 7 • Monday • Goodbye to Havana – missing Cuba already

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Cuban kids are always eager to ham it up for photos.

Not camera shy. Always eager to ham it up for photos, beguiling, emotive, and affectionate characterize Cuban kids. Photo Ana Lorena.

• Greet the day with tasty breakfast served at your hotel
• Check-out of your Havana hotel
• Transfer to José Martí International Airport in Havana for flights home
• We'll miss you and hope you will return soon. In Cuba we say: A true friend remembers the song in your heart when you have forgotten the lyrics