Experience the Real Cuba with Locally Sourced Cuba Tours
Below is a great example of the type of itinerary you can follow if you have 4 days in Cuba. However, our specialty and strength as an organization is creating tailor-made private Cuba Tour itineraries that focus on your interests and expectations.
If you have 4 Days/ 3 Nights in Cuba, we think this itinerary forms the perfect base from which to tailor your private Cuba tour experience . Please note that we can be 100% flexible with the activities and accommodations included. We can tailor the itinerary to focus on your interests and budget. Havana is world renowned for its rich history, lively music scene, grand architecture, cigar production, mojitos and those classic convertible American cars. Our Private 4 Day Havana Tour can show you all this and more! You’ll have the chance to experience not only this side of Cuba, but also have a chance to meet with local Cubans and hear their stories first hand, giving you a rare insider glimpse into the history, culture and rhythms that make Cuba's capital city so unique.
Based on your interests and expectations, we will hand select some of the best and most interesting activities for you to participate in, while in Cuba.
Your Private local English (and/or Spanish) speaking guide will be on hand to share their magical country with you.
We think you’ll love our choices of authentic, upgraded or superior B&B Style accommodation (Casa’s). These are family-run establishments unique to Cuba. There is also the option to upgrade to 4-5* hotels as well.
Where meals are included we aim to showcase the best of Cuban cuisine by frequenting the growing number of paladares (privately run restaurants). Where meals are not included, your guide and our Havana office team will be happy to make recommendations and reservations as required.
We can tailor your Cuba tour experience to include a range of accommodation options including convertible classic cars, modern air-conditioned vehicles, coco-taxis, bicitaxis and more!
Forget having to worry about how you’ll get from the airport to your accommodation and vice versa, we’ve got your airport transfers sorted on both arrival and departure.
“Locally Sourced Cuba Tours is dedicated to providing you with an authentic and unforgettable Cuba tour experience. We can help you achieve in one adventure what has taken us years – to go inside the country in a deeper, more personal way. With Locally Sourced Cuba Tours you will have unrivalled access to local people from all walks of life while you experience an island that simply has so much to offer. Our tours are focused on introducing you to the Cuba that we know and love. You will spend time getting to know the locals, immersing yourself in Cuban culture, and supporting the Cuban people through your responsible tourism efforts.”
A Tailor-made 4 day private Cuba tour gives the right balance of informative cultural experiences and periods of relaxation. You can choose to have the freedom to explore on your own without missing out on vital sights of interest. Being a private tour means you’ll never feel lost in the crowd as your private local Cuban guide shows you around at a pace suitable to your fitness levels.
For those traveling to Cuba from the U.S. (regardless of nationality), please note that our intention will be to create an itinerary that ensures your compliance with current U.S. travel restrictions (515.574 Support for the Cuban People). In addition to retaining your itinerary, please keep records of your booking receipt, airline receipt, and any supplemental insurance purchased. You should retain these copies for 5 years after your travel. Some of our travelers have been asked to furnish these upon application for Global Entry, Pre-Check, and other programs with TSA oversight.
Your Private 4 Day Havana Tour begins as you are met by a Locally Sourced Cuba representative at Havana airport and transferred to your joining accommodation. If you have chosen to stay in one of Havana’s casa particular bed and breakfast establishments you will be greeted by the family acting as your host, and shown to your private room within their home. Those of you who have opted to stay in one of Havana’s hotels will have the chance to settle in too.
You will then meet your local English-speaking Cuban guide who will be with you for the duration of your Private 4 Day Havana Tour. A hand-picked expert with vast amounts of knowledge on everything to do with Havana, you will have the opportunity now to discuss the finer points of the itinerary with them.
Depending, on your arrival time, your guide will take you on a guided orientation walk around the local area, showing you important landmarks and points of interest. In the evening, you have the additional option of your guide accompanying you to one of their favourite local paladares. These privately run Cuban restaurants are the best places to experience true local food and hospitality for the first time. If you are still feeling fresh at the end of your meal you can get your feet tapping on a visit to one of Havana’s jazz clubs or another popular music venue. Cuban music and dance will become a thread that weaves itself all the way through your Private 4 Day Havana Tour.
Pull on your walking shoes, grab your camera, and prepare to be amazed by the vibrant and exciting city of Havana. The faded and slightly crumbling facades that you will see today in Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are a reminder of the earlier magnificence of the city’s colonial baroque and neoclassic architecture.
The face of the city has changed dramatically in the last 500 years, since it was originally established by the Spanish around 1519, but Havana has not lost her charm and a tour of Old Havana on foot offers a delightful insight into the past of this city. Not only will you see all the main sights, but you will be entertained by the sights and sounds of everyday Cuban life. This theme continues over lunch at one of a new breed of family- run eateries serving some of the best food in the city.
You’ll start the afternoon off cruising the streets in a classic American convertible car with your local Cuban guide explaining the sights you will see. The journey will see you chauffeured around some of the most famous areas of Havana including Havana Vedado, Revolution Square, Malecon and the affluent neighbourhood of Miramar. This iconic drive is a perfect introduction to Havana, her beauty and her troubled history.
Next on your Private 4 Day Havana Tour itinerary is the chance to participate in one (or more) of the following options. You might wish to be whisked away to a roof-top in Old Havana for a Mojito making lesson. As an alternative we can arrange for you a salsa lesson, or a drink at the Iconic Hotel Nacional, over-looking the Malecon.
Further choices await you on your 4 Day Private Havana Tour after another great Cuban breakfast. This morning you might like to have an authentic rum and cigar experience, learning all about Cuba’s most famous exports. Alternatively, you can participate in a Farm to Table cooking class at Ajiaco Café.
Havana’s Rum Museum is housed in a grand former palace, and explains the rum distilling process from beginning to end. There are plenty of tastings for the curious, and you can even buy some to take away with you. But if you don’t fancy drinking, you’ll still get a lot out of this visit. At the Cigar Factory you can learn more about Cuba’s other most important export, and witness tobacco leaf rolling for yourself before sampling the result.
However if you’d prefer, you can take the opportunity to go to Ajiaco’s for a Farm to Table cooking class. The exuberant and friendly chef will teach you a little about what makes Cuba’s cuisine special, and show you how to make the most out of the freshest of ingredients – grown here on the island in small allotment plots.
This afternoon on your 4 Day Private Havana Tour there are many options to consider. You might choose either the Museum of the Revolution of the Museum of Fine Arts.
The Museum of the Revolution is worth the visit if only to explore its home, the Presidential Palace before Castro’s 1959 revolution. As well as exhibits dedicated to the revolution, including the yacht Granma which brought Guevara and the Castro brothers to Cuba, it also has displays relating to Cuba’s War of Independence against Spain. The Museum of Fine Arts now extends across two separate buildings. It contains landscapes and religious iconography dating back as early as the seventeenth century, to the most modern of contemporary art forms.
A great option to consider is jumping into a classic car to visit the Callejón de Hamel neighbourhood in central Havana and El Morro Mort. A narrow street where the Cuban artist fraternity congregate, the Callejón is a wonderful place to experience day-to-day Cuban life. What’s more, it is brightly decorated in Cuban sculptures, art and paintings of local artist Salvador González. El Morro, dating back to 1589, is the fortified stronghold that stands guard over the entrance to Havana Bay, and gives an indication of the strength needed to keep Havana Spanish.
Your guide will be on hand to help you decide where to spend your last night in Havana and make any necessary bookings for you and of course host you if necessary. You might consider seeing a Buena Vista Social Club performance at Tradiconales de Los 50 or taking a seat at the Parisien Cabaret at the Hotel Nacional… extras that can be organised and paid for locally through your local Cuban guide.
Your last day in Havana is left free of planned activities so you have time to explore on your own before saying goodbye. Your guide will be available throughout the day to help organise any last minute excursions or activities you would like to undertake, along with ensuring your airport transfer goes smoothly, so that you can depart Cuba’s exuberant capital city with minimal stress. Please download our ‘Things To do in Havana’ brochure for more information about the options available to you.
Please also note that some activities are not available on certain days of the week. Where this occurs, your guide will offer a selection of alternatives for your consideration.
This is just one example of the type of itinerary we can run if you have 4 Days in Cuba. Our speciality is creating tailor-made Cuba tour itineraries that focus on your interests and expectations. Please take the time to fill out our tailor-made Cuba tour enquiry form so we can capture important information about your accommodation expectations, interests and sleeping arrangements.
The B&B Style accommodation (Casa’s) we recommend for your time in Cuba offer a unique cultural experience. While they shouldn’t be compared to modern Western hotels, the rooms will have air-conditioning, private en suite facilities, hot and cold water and have generally been recently renovated to a beautiful standard.
Cuba’s accommodation is very special. Until recent regulatory changes, it wasn’t possible to stay anywhere but a government owned and run hotel. But all that has now changed and a growing number of casas particulares, bed and breakfasts owned and run by ordinary families rather than the government, are opening up.
This change allows visitors to stay in a more welcoming environment than most hotels are able to offer. You’ll have privacy while still being able to interact with the locals as much as you want. You will truly be made to feel welcome, and might just forget that you’re a paying guest and not a long lost member of the family.
These types of properties range in quality and we classify them into three groups:
You can learn more about staying in boutique Casa’s/ B&B’s/ Guesthouses here.
Some of our preferred Boutique Casa’s/B&B’s in Havana include:
SUPERIOR
UPGRADED
AUTHENTIC
That’s OK, we can certainly look to upgrade your accommodation to 4* or 5* properties, depending on your budget. It is worth noting some accommodation providers are to be found in older buildings without elevators. If you believe that your physical capabilities will make it difficult to climb stairs, simply let us know. We will be able to find you a suitable alternative.
Take a look at our Instagram page where we feature the best travel pictures
and behind the scenes photos taken by the Locally Sourced Team.
