Cuba is about blending. Cuba is not one identity; it is a mixture of eras coming together. It is the past still hanging on with old building, old cars, and old ways of thinking while the future is knocking on the door. It is the colonial times of clearly Spanish influences together with the economic boom right after the turn of the century under strong US presence, and then a 180 degrees turn with the communist organization and a Soviet stamp. Even after the collapse of the Eastern Block Cuba is still hanging on and the future is looking good. Despite the US embargo against Cuba since 55 years tourism is growing. “Come now before it all changes!” is the message you hear everywhere and the only problem is: they are right.
Cuba is about enjoyment. You come here to drink the original mojitos, to listen to the real Cuban music, to dance the true salsa. You come here to savor a kitchen prepared from natural products. You come here to converse in a direct and friendly way with the locals.
Why should you visit Cuba?
Cuba has the all-inclusive beach resorts for total relaxation, at all levels of luxury, in accessible places like Varadero or more remote as Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Coco or Holguin beach. Quality chains have their hotels like Melia, Iberostar or Warwick. The perfect ending for the Cuban experience.
Dive into the Cuban provincial life and enjoy a stay of a few days in Trinidad. It has everything: accessible mountains with trails through tropical forests leading to waterfalls where you can swim in, the perfect Caribbean beach with the unpretentious thatched roof bar and restaurant, the colonial pedestrian center dating back to the 18th century. And above all a natural night life of small bars and restaurants and music in the streets.
Trinidad is not about luxury but about immersion into a jovial safe provincial city where time stood still long ago.
No city is like Havana. It is the identity of the country. The majestic Malecon or Sea Front Boulevard with its architecture from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century is the post card picture of Cuba. But the best is to get lost in the pedestrian zone of Old Havana and discover plaza after plaza. Or explore the residential architecture in Vedado or Miramar.
Havana is about the streets with the variation of transportation means between bici-taxis, vintage cars of the 50ies, Ladas or Polish Fiats from the Soviet era, colonial horse coaches, all blending together with the pastel colors of the buildings.
Look out for those small paladars or private restaurants who understood the art of mixing Caribbean, Cuban and International kitchen. Enjoy their genuine hospitality.
Sure you won’t forget the night life and the music. More and more bars and music places pop up where you can try the true Cuban mojitos and daiquiris listening to the latest Cuban music being performed life, of course.
Havana is a unique city. And 2019 is special as it is 500 years since the city was founded.
For this MITM Americas organized by GSAR Marketing has chosen Havana and the emblematic Hotel Nacional de Cuba as the host City and Hotel for their event this year. From the 14th till the 17th of October hosted buyers (Corporate companies, incentive houses, international associations, tour operators, events, congress and fairs organizers, business travel, wedding planners and luxury travel mainly from Americas and Europe) and exhibitors (Tourism offices, convention bureaus, hotels, DMC’s mainly from Cuba) will interact during planned and casual meetings. 2 days are for table set meetings and social events. A 3rd day is for educational lectures and post-fair tours.
Of course World of DMCs’ Cuba member Cubafortravel will be present with an own table and 2 delegates to attend the many meetings with potential buyers. The delegates are Johan Dorssemont, general manager of Cubafortravel, and Yunier Ramos, incentive executive and commercial manager of Cubafortravel.
The potential for MICE in Havana and the rest of Cuba is enormous, and only limited by the already 60 year old embargo of the US against Cuba. But the rest of the world can take the situation as an advantage. Over the years the touristic infrastructure of the country has become very varied, professional and of high quality. The enormous tourist boom hasn’t arrived yet so the venues are just there for you to book and the rates are still acceptable and in the reach of a large market. A fair like this in Havana is an opportunity for incentive and meeting buyers to get to know a destination that will be a landmark for incentives and meetings in the future.
Your partner DMC in Cuba is Cubafortravel, of course member of World of DMCs.
Ref:
Cubafortravel www.cubafortravel.com
MITM Americas www.mitmevents.com/mitm-americas-en.html
Hotel Nacional de Cuba www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com
Havana Malecon by night
Cuba for Travel, DMC in Cuba
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
2019 is the year to do your incentive in Havana Cuba. It was 500 years ago that the city was founded by the Spanish conquistadores. The city is shaping up for this unique celebration with new hotels right in the colonial quarter. This year in August opens the 5 star Gran Iberostar Packard at the Prado boulevard in Old Havana. Next year it is for new 5 stars Sofitel at the corner of Malecon and Prado. Doesn’t your incentive or event group want to stay there in that year full of surprises for the city.
Contact your partner Cuba for Travel, experienced DMC located in Havana. (www.cubafortravel.com /[email protected]).
Havana is a surprising city where layers of the past come together in the present. You see old Classic American Vintage cars of the 50 ies together with Ladas from the Soviet era right in the streets full of colonial buildings of the 18th and 19th Century. Many have been restored and can be the setting of your event. Many have that flavour of decay and the scars of times that make such a great picture or the background of your incentive party. But in Havana is the joy of life that comes with the mojitos and the salsa music and dancing.
Visit Havana before it changes for ever and becomes one of the many modern cities. Try the uniqueness of this place and celebrate with us the 500 years of this grand old lady.
Cuba is the country of palaces and many are turned into venues for lodging, dining or partying. Most of them are either colonial from the 18th or 19th century in a neo-classical style or early 20th century in the ecclectic fashion of the period.
Have a look at this program below where www.cubafortravel.com combines Havana, Trinidad and Varadero with dining, visiting and even staying in palaces of different styles. The program is mostly suited for small groups of up to 15 persons with rates around 1500 usd per person for the full 6 days.
Day 1 Arrival in Havana in the late afternoon. Welcome by English speaking guide. Transfer to Villa Teresa on the hills of La Vibora area of the city. This is a complete private villa for your group. The house is in colonial style dating back from the beginning of the 20th century, in a very uniform classical style with old furniture and marble everywhere.
Check in with cocktails and finger food snacks. Possibility to sit at the roof top terrace with incredible views of Havana by night.
Website lodging: http://lavillateresa.com/
Address: Patrocinio 251 e/ Cortina y Juan Bruno Zayas, La Víbora, La Habana, Cuba.
Day 2 Breakfast at the lodging.
9 AM Today we organize a bicycle trip through the city. The Havana bicycle club will come to the hotel with bicycles and helmets. Members of the club will accompany us on their bikes as we ride through the city. On cross roads the traffic is stopped so we can pass. We make a few stops on the way like at the Tribuna Anti-Imperialista, a fruit and vegetables market with rationing store, the John Lennon Square, the Cemetary Christopher Columbus, the Plaza de la Revolucion and the Chinese Quarter. Each time a guide in your language will explain while the bikes are attended by the members of the club. The tour takes the whole morning and ends in Old Havana at our lunch spot.
12h30 Lunch is served at the cosy restaurant Mercaderes. On the upper floor we have a relaxed seating in a colonial environment. On the menu we have: welcome cocktail/variety of tapas/ several dishes family style prepared Cuban way with rice and beans and vegetables/dessert/ coffee/ 1 drink.
14h00 Afternoon walk with guide along colonial squares and streets. We make a stop at a colonial courtyard (or other place) where we do a dance lesson by enthusiastic Cuban dance teachers. Guests are introduced into the basic steps of the Cuban salsa (including 1 mojito and water). There is a dance partner per guest. Before going back to the hotel we have an invitation for a session of cigar/rum tasting in Palacio de Conde Villanueva. A master explains how to lighten a cigar, how to blend the different tastes of tobacco, coffee and rum, the difference between old and white rum. Guests receive a cigar, a shot of rum and a coffee. It is done in the patio of a colonial mansion where there are also shops that sell rum and cigars.
17h00 Return to the lodging by classic American Vintage cars with open roof. We do a tour stopping at the view point over the city from Morro castle.
At 20h00 we have transfer by old soviet chaika limousines (the balck ones that were used by the old Soviet presidents). Transfer to the bar Floridita for a daiquiri cocktail right where Hemingway used to have it. 21h00 We continue with our Chaikas to the paladar La Guarida (most famous and highest end restaurant in Havana) for dinner (3 course menú with options incl. Cocktail, wáter and coffee). After dinner we have the Chaikas to drop us off at a night club or at the lodging. Rest of the night on own cost incl. return to the lodging.
Day 3 Breakfast at the lodging.
At 10 am drive to Cienfuegos. 13H30 Lunch at the bay side restaurant Villa Lagarto (3 course menu with options incl 2 drinks and coffee). Visit of the center with the Palacio Valle, the Theatre Terry (a gorgeous 19th Century theatre), the Prado boulevard, the Parque Marti and Cathedral.
Afternoon continue to Trinidad. Check in to Hostal Lola in Maceo street. This is a small colonial boutique hotel in the center of Trinidad. Dinner tonight is included in the hostal (sea food option, no drinks included). In the evening the guide takes you out into the nightlife of Trinidad with life music in the streets and many bars.
Day 4 Breakfast at the lodging.
We take 4 x 4 trucks to go into the mountains of Topes de Collantes. We hike on a trail through lush tropical forest to a waterfall hidden in the mountains. Time to swim in the falls. Lunch in a local restaurant in the mountains. In the afternoon we drive back to Trinidad and continue to the beach area at the Caribbean Sea. Here another option to swim. We can enjoy the sunset (winter at 6 PM). Return to the lodging in Trinidad.
In the evening we have dinner at the top restaurant of Trinidad Solananda at the Plaza Mayor (3 course menu with options incl welcome cocktail, water and coffee).
Day 5 Breakfast at the lodging.
At 09H30 am we drive to Cienfuegos beach area and in the lagoons we have a swim with dolphins. The trainers help us play games with the creatures in their natural habitat of the sea water.
Continue in direction of Varadero. Lunch along the way in Fiesta Campesina (typical farmers style lunch). Continue to Varadero and check in to Xanadu mansion hotel, a historic house of the Golf Club of Varadero (6 rooms available / some on sharing basis).
Dinner tonight is at the restaurant of Xanadu and possibility to end the evening in the roof top bar.
Day 6 Breakfast at the lodging.
Time at the beach in the morning or optional playing golf at the club (green fee is included, extra costs only for sticks rental and cart).
Check out around midday. Drive to the restaurant the House of Al Capone for a lobster lunch with views on the ocean.
Continue to Havana airport for flight out.
Your partner in Cuba: www.cubafortravel.com, Miramar Trade Center, Building Sta Clara Office 514. Contact: Johan Dorssemont +5358453245.
Havana to Varadero safari or how a dull transfer turns into a unforgettable journey. We take you a first hour along a coastal road in a Classic American Vintage car of the 50ies with profesional driver. Then we change to self-drive jeeps and get into the dirt roads of the green tropical Valley of Yumuri.
After a hearty breakfast Cubafortravel will entertain your transfer day of about 150 kilometers from the fascinating city of Havana to the beach resorts in Varadero in the most surprising way.
09 AM After putting the luggage in the bus you take Classic American Vintage cars of the 50ies with profesional driver to leave the city and continue along the coastal road Via Blanca. You drive by through the tunnel of Havana under the bay and have the Atlantic Ocean with a nice breeze on your left for quite a while. We pass by the beaches of Havana where the locals go for their summer swim. After an hour drive we arrive at the view point Bacunayagua. Here the views over the sea and the Valley of Yumuri are enormous.
10H30 AM We say goodbye to the Classic Vintage cars and get modern jeeps which we can steer ourselves. With the our guide in the first car we drive now into this beautifully green valley off road, with lots of nature and agriculture around. We make stops in small villages and farms so we get to know the simple life of the farmers who live close to nature and work the land with their animals and bare hands. The trip takes us till the city of Matanzas where we enjoy the view from Monserrate look-out point over the city and the huge bay.
12H30 AM We continue to the ecological restaurant La Arboleda along the Banks of the river Canimar. Here we have a rest and get small snacks from the typical creole kitchen like banana chips.
13H00 We leave the jeeps and take small speed boats which we steer ourselves over the Canimar river canyon. We go all the way up to the r iver mound surrounded by tropical forest. We end up at the place La Boca where at last we see our bus back that takes us swiftly to our luxurious resort in Varadero. Nicely in time for our buffet lunch (around 14H30).
For bookings and Price for this adventure and a lot more contact your Cuba member in World of DMCs: Cubafortravel
Cubafortravel.com, Miramar Trade Center, Building Sta Clara Office 514. Contact: Johan Dorssemont +5358453245.
| Added | File | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 14.06.2016 | Havana-Trinidad-Varadero | Download |
| 14.06.2016 | Havana Incentive | Download |
| Company Name: | DMC Cuba - Cuba for Travel |
| Contact Person: | Johan |
| Phone: | +5372042114 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Website: | http://www.cubafortravel.com |
| Address: | Centro de Negocio Miramar Building Santa Clara office 514 Havana Cuba |
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