One of the top destinations on my bucket list is Cuba and I finally made it there with Cuban Adventures in November 2015. If you aren’t English like me, but hail from the US, then check out Savored Journeys guide for Americans traveling to Cuba. In fact this one-stop travel guide is great for any nationality visiting, with top tips on accommodation, money and flights.

Old Havana walking tour with Cuban Adventures

My friend Lucy and I started off our Cuban Adventure in Havana, where our orientation and main activity was a walking tour of Old Havana, or La Habana Vieja in Spanish.

Our accommodation

Old Havana Walking Tour on What's Katie Doing? blog

New country, new beer!

First things first… as the 52nd country that I’ve visited, I had to stick to tradition and have a local beer!

After the beer and with jet lag and our long journey from the UK taking its toll (we went cheap via Madrid with Air Europa – you can get direct flights, but most go via somewhere else like Madrid or Toronto), we headed to bed in our Casa Particular.

The next morning we had breakfast on the roof terrace and met the Italian contingent of our tour group.

A pretty spot for breakfast

View from the roof, complete with geckos and Dolphins… The Casa was a grand old house with the high ceiling rooms partitioned but still replete with chandeliers.

La Plaza Vieja

The walking tour of Old Havana started in the Old Square – La Plaza Vieja. Which is actually one of the newest squares in Old Havana….

They created the square when the San Franciscan’s got fed up of Havana’s main market causing too much noise outside of their church and interrupting services. So La Plaza Vieja is the only square in Old Havana without a church on it!

As part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Havana, the square and all the surrounding buildings have been restored and renovated to their former glory. Each of the buildings has before and after pictures outside and they even managed to dig up the old underground carpark that was under the square.

This is where our second tour guide Alex (we were lucky to have two guides as they were assessing Alex before letting him loose on his own!) explained to us about the restoration.

Some of the buildings not directly on the square are still being done up – they have glorious details on them.

All of the UNESCO site of Old Havana is designated with these bollards

They get a little more creative in other areas – recycling the old canon! Tour guide #1, Inti, is leaning on it.

Quick square selfie with Lucy (she has very long arms!)

The square also hosts some more modern art pieces:

Yes that’s me peering out from behind a large cock statue….

Micro-brewery

You can access most of the buildings around the square as they are either cafes or restaurants or museums. There is also a brewery!!

Ohh shiny shiny

We decided that we needed to go back and so we returned for lunch and a beer tasting, and were delighted to see some live music from a band – music is part of the Cuban’s souls!

Glorious band and slightly awkward tourists…

I can recommend the prawn skewers!!

As we moved around the Old Town we popped into different places and obviously had some more fun with statutes:

Lucy demonstrating that she can give the friar a run for his money at Hostal Los Frailes, a posh old hotel.

The interior courtyard of the hotel as showcased by Giuliano.

Me just hanging out with this dude – shortly after a fashion shoot was going on here!

Plaza de Armas

In Plaza de Armas they have a book market under the shade of the trees, complete with souvenirs for tourists:

This lady was more interested in her book, we thought she was quite easy in the eye..

Statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes with the Cuban flag flying in the background. He set Cuba on the road to independence in 1868.

This old tree is meant to give good luck if you circle it 7 times with your hand on the trunk.

Castillo de la Real Fuerza – a star fort on the other side of Plaza de Armas. It reminded me of Fort St Elmo in Malta.

Random dog statues – can you see from my hair how windy Havana was?!!

The San Francisican church – now not having to compete with the market noise, but instead just the locals taking their wedding pictures outside (Inti showed us his!)

A very posh 5 star hotel on the square – we didn’t go in this one.

This hotel (in a different road) is famous as Ernest Hemmingway lived there…

Catedral San Cristobel

Catedral San Cristobal was our final stop – a fine example of American baroque style

The beautiful interior

A sexy side shot!

Our tour took a few hours and then we rested with a coffee mojito at Cafe O’Reilly.

Ah my first rum in Cuba!

Then it was all on the bus to start our adventure in the rest of Cuba…

For anyone concerned on whether Cuban travel is safe, I would set your mind at ease and say that you need follow some sensible guidelines. Read more about travelling safely in Cuba here.

My friend Lucy and I received our tour with 50% off as I’d entered a blogging competition to win flights and a tour. Whilst I didn’t win the competition I received 50% of the tour costs and my friends can get 15% off tours too! Just mention the discount and this blog when booking with Cuban Adventures (discount does not apply to local payments).

Comments

Jen Morrow says

22 June 2016 at 10:15 pm

So cool! Americans can finally go to Cuba, which I never thought that I would see in my lifetime. We are planning to go in the next year. I will certainly be following your advice!

- Katie Hughes says
  
  25 June 2016 at 1:28 pm
  
  Excellent – let me know if you want any tips Jen, I’m still writing up more of my visit!
  
shayan Naveed says

23 June 2016 at 2:50 am

One cannot just go to a new country and not have their local beer…na uh. Same goes for food.
And definitely one of the best ways to see a city is walking through it. Seems like a great day indeed!

Gina says

23 June 2016 at 3:33 am

Wow! 52 countries? That’s incredible. I’m only at 10 but I aspire to be just like you! I also have a tradition of trying the local beer. I would also love a rum in Cuba! So jelly because Cuba is so wonderful!

Chantell Collins says

23 June 2016 at 4:21 am

Katie – wow I had no idea that you were up into your 50-something countries! That is very impressive! I would love to visit Cuba – we considered doing it on this trip of Central America but realized that we wouldn’t have enough time. Your tour sounds great and I love seeing the photos. Looks like you had a great time. Also – coffee mojito?!! Yes please!

Megan Indoe says

23 June 2016 at 5:53 am

I’ve always wanted to visit Cuba too! That’s so awesome you have already gone! I dream about the day I can walk through Old Havana! I also want to try their local beer! Thanks for sharing your experience!

marie says

23 June 2016 at 8:19 am

I loved Cuba, and luckily it does not look as if things have changed too much in the intervening years. The pictures really bring alive the spirit of Cuba, especially the music and food. I always enjoy your posts Katie!

Sally says

23 June 2016 at 8:59 am

I would love to get to Cuba as soon as possible, can I just say those prawn skewers look delish! Wouldn’t mind a Cuban rum either 🙂

Sarah from Tales From a Fork says

23 June 2016 at 3:20 pm

What a gorgeous spot for breakfast! And those bollards make it easy to spot the UNESCO sites. I love going to UNESCO sites. Wish I could go to Cuba soon!

Katie @ The Budget Backpack says

23 June 2016 at 5:22 pm

I love that you refer to UNESCO! Whenever I go somewhere new I always take a look at their lists to see if there are any sites that I should be visiting. I love the setup of old places – like, they’re centered around big community squares usually close to big, beautiful churches. Looks like a really beautiful, interesting trip.

Hung Thai says

24 June 2016 at 3:28 pm

I”m really looking forward to Cuba being opened for American travelers to just come. It’s still very restricted and entirely expensive to get down there. And the place looks amazing too!

Becci Abroad says

30 January 2018 at 12:57 am

Sounds like you had a great beginning of your Cuba trip! I went on a similar tour with the University of Havana when I studied there. Don’t know… Havana Vieja isn’t my cup of tea. It is too polished and nice looking compared to how Cuba “really” is and how the people have to live. Thanks for sharing your experience, asere! 🙂