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Headwater adds salsa to its menu with its first walking tour in Cuba

1st August 2011 Print
Cuba Uncovered

The Caribbean’s largest island offers holidaymakers the chance to travel back in time, with classic cars, perfectly-preserved colonial architecture and Che Guevara billboards sitting alongside some of the region’s most untouched wild landscapes.

Headwater’s new guided Cuba Uncovered walking tour will offer six departures from January to May 2012. Exploring the western half of this fascinating island, the local tour leader will provide visitors with invaluable insights into the country’s unique history, politics, culture and natural charms along the way.

The new 10-day tour by-passes the traditional tourist coastal resorts to concentrate on the country’s atmospheric towns, five UNESCO heritage sites and lesser-known rural hideaways. With the walks as varied as the country itself, they range from 6 to 12km and combine city tours with trails through forests, pineapple plantations and mangroves.

Starting in Old Havana, the vibrant backstreets are soon swapped for tropical colours as the tour heads south west to the tobacco plantations around Viñales and lush landscapes of the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve in Soroa, known as Cuba’s Rainbow. Heading east again via the Bay of Pigs and city of Cienfuegos, the group arrives at the cobbled streets of the former sugar cane capital. Trinidad makes the perfect base from which to explore the live music that makes it one of Cuba’s most atmospheric towns, as well the white beaches, waterfalls and jungles trails of the nearby Topes de Collantes National Park. Then finally the group returns to Havana via Santa Clara, where the last battle of the Cuban Revolution took place and where Che Guevara is entombed.

Keeping true to Headwater’s ethos of hand-picking characterful places to stay, the accommodation throughout ranges from a 4-star eco-hotel in Las Terrazas, set within the biosphere reserve, to a stylish 5-star hotel in the heart of Havana with panoramic rooftop views over the city plus a 5-star classic three storey mansion in Trinidad – one of the most luxurious hotels in Cuba.

Catherine Crone, Headwater’s Managing Director, said: “Cuba’s unique blend of communism Caribbean-style makes it a wonderful country to explore but one that visitors may sometimes find it is difficult to more than scratch the surface of. By including local guides who have grown up in the area every step of the way, we hope our new escorted tour will allow guests to gain a great insight into the day-to-day lives of the Cuban people and appreciate their zest for life.

“With the chance to combine Cuba’s traditional as well as off-the-beaten-track highlights throughout the 10-day tour, we’re confident that active holidaymakers will be seduced by the tranquillity of the island, the beauty of its landscapes and the friendliness of its people.”

Prices for the 10-day guided hotel-to-hotel Cuba Uncovered walking holiday start from £2468pp, including flights from London Heathrow to Havana with Iberia, transfers, 9 nights’ B&B accommodation, most meals (8 lunches & 7 dinners), the transfer of bags between hotels and an experienced local leader.

Headwater currently offers walking tours to two other Caribbean destinations - the West Indies and the French Caribbean - plus nearby Bermuda.

For more information, visit headwater.com.

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Cuba Uncovered Cuba Cuban car