Why a group tour?

Advantages of taking a guided small group tour over independent travel in Cuba

• Independent travel in Cuba is complicated
• A guided small group tour will give you a deeper understanding of Cuba's enigmatic society
• Convenience - an organised tour of Cuba will take the hassle out of travel
• Local Expertise
• Conditions in Cuba change frequently and guidebooks go out of date quickly
• Freedom and flexibility
• Great companionship

Traveling in Cuba can be complicated

Even if you speak Spanish, Cuba is one of the more complicated countries in which to travel independently.

Accurate and impartial information on available activities, cool things to do, and places to go in Cuba, is difficult to obtain.

Local Cuban Government tourist agencies that organise day trips and activities can be useful to an extent, however the Government tends to only promote tourist activities that will earn the government income, and activities that keep the tourists separate from the locals.

This is presumably to keep to a minimum, interactions that may erode socialist thinking.

As an independent traveller looking for interesting things to do in Cuba, asking a Cuban often doesn't lead you to the information you are after.

Many Cubans rely on tourists for extra income and so the answer they give you may well be something they contrive in the hope of making some money from you. (See Dealing with Jineteros for a more complete explanation).

Unfortunately, as an independent traveller you will meet these types of Cubans more frequently as they are the ones that come up and introduce themselves to you on the street.

Fortunately most Cubans are not like this, and are genuinely warm and friendly, and delighted to share their country (and whatever they are fortunate enough to have) with you.

Our small group tour of Cuba can more readily put you in contact with such people.

You will be introduced to families, artists, doctors, musicians, and dancers that the local tour guide knows well, and knows can be trusted to treat foreign guests with respect.

Understanding Cuba

Cuba is one of the more complex and enigmatic nations - from its turbulent and unique political history to its complicated present situation.

It is surely a very different country from any other you will visit.

Many independent travellers come away from Cuba enchanted and enriched, but confused about how the whole system in Cuba works.

Travellers visiting Cuba usually leave with more unanswered questions than they arrived with.

• How do the Cubans survive on such meager salaries?
• Do they have a say in how the country is run?
• What percentage of Cubans actually believe in socialism and support the government?
• How much do they blame the United States for the problems in Cuba?
• Why is the US still allowed to have a naval base at Guantanamo bay?

Most Cubans struggle to find complete answers to all these questions themselves and are often shy to tell you their truth.

However, a local tour guide who has fielded these questions from many curious travellers before, has lived many years here, and traveled the entire country, will be able to give you a much deeper understanding of the current situation in Cuba than most.

Your visit to Cuba will be much enhanced with a qualified person to answer all the questions and curiosities you may have, and you will come away from Cuba enriched with a first hand understanding of a unique and fascinating society.

Convenience - a small group tour takes the hassle out of travel in Cuba

If you have accommodation and transport already arranged, and a tour guide to help organise activities, this can take a lot of the hassle out of travel in Cuba.

You won ’t have to queue for tickets, lug around your backpack looking for a hotel, or wait two days for a train.

Everything is taken care of for you. Better still, the price is comparable to doing it on your own.

What you will see and experience on your tour of Cuba would take much longer to achieve on your own.

Local Cuban Expertise

Apart from acting as a source of information to answer the many questions you will have about this intriguing nation and society, the tour guide has an expert local knowledge about interesting things you can see and do in Cuba.

Your guide knows the places you visit like the back of their hand and can show you to the best hidden corners and out of the way places that you won't find in any guidebook about Cuba. Including the country's natural highlights, introduce you to friends, and maybe even find a sacred Santeria ceremony or a Rumba street party that few tourists will ever have the privilege to attend.

If you have a special interest, such as art, architecture, baseball, boxing, music, dance, religion etc, the guide can help you find ways to explore this in Cuba, and put you into contact with local people who are involved.

Conditions in Cuba Can Change Quickly

Because of Cuba's special political situation, the Cuban Government's reaction to increasingly aggressive political policies of the United States, and the delicate position the country is in emerging from the Soviet sponsored old style communism to a more independent socialism with limited capitalist elements - rules, systems, and conditions in Cuba can change quite frequently and quickly.

Guidebooks about Cuba can struggle to keep up on the changes because they are only updated at the very best, every couple of years.

On the other hand because we maintain a continuous presence in Cuba, we are keeping up to date with knowledge on local conditions.

We know the best places to stay and eat in Cuba, when and where the local festivals and events are held, what the latest political events are, and how they will affect the Cuban people and the economy.

Guidebooks about Cuba can be quite useful for background and especially historical summaries of the situation in Cuba and we recommend several of these as background reading for your tour. See literature.

Freedom and Flexibility

A small group tour of Cuba is unlike many group tours where everything is on a strict schedule and paid for and organised in advance.

Instead, only the bare bones are included - accommodation, transport, the guide, and breakfast everyday.
(We don't include loads of unwanted extras such as airport transfer, international flights, lots of meals and pre paid activities you may not want, need or even like!)

At each destination on the tour in Cuba, you will be offered an assortment of optional activities that are possible and given recommendations on what others have enjoyed.

Some groups enjoy sticking together and hanging out as a team, however it is entirely up to you, and it is perfectly acceptable to take off, do your own adventuring, and make your own discoveries.

The activities / day trips / excursions you partake in are paid for by you locally and directly to the local provider/person, local community, or organization providing the service at local prices, with the funds going directly back into the local village or local town's economy.

Because you'll be traveling as a small group in Cuba, travel plans can be more easily changed or altered en route.

If the group discovers a special event or festival that they would like to attend, and this is not covered by the original itinerary, it is possible for the group to change the itinerary, given the condition that the group can come to a unanimous agreement and reservations can be changed.

We are not about imposing a strict, old school adherence to the itinerary.

After all, we are fully aware that one of the main purposes of the tour is for fun and adventure and therefore we are willing to offer the group as much flexibility as practical to achieve this end.

Great companionship

Our groups are made up of like-minded travellers from all over the world, who are ready for some fun, adventure, and to explore this fascinating island.

They are therefore very social occasions where the group is often bonded by the common adventurous experiences.

The friendships formed on our tours with others travellers and the guide can last a lifetime.