Havana Streets Photo Tour - 6 days

List of Activities

• camera_enhanceDay 1
  Following your arrival in Havana's José Martí Airport you will be taken to renowned Hotel Capri. On the way to the hotel you will get your first impressions of Cuba while motoring across several principal avenues. You can always ask the driver to pull over for a short moment if you see a good shot on the way. Check in at the hotel and meet us a while later for a welcome cocktail and orientation talk. During this time, your tour leader(s) will provide essential information on the activities scheduled and the country itself, and will also answer all of your questions. We then leave you some spare time for accommodation and refreshment.
  
  Next we take you to world-famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba, where your first photo gig will take place. The hotel was the preferred venue for Mafia leaders in the 1940's and 50's. This is where organised crime conventions took place, attending Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Al Capone and Meyer Lansky, amongst many other capos. The hotel takes pride on being Cuba's most-visited by celebrities from all over the world. There is a large garden and terrace overlooking the sea, which has an outstanding vantage point view of the Malecón and colonial fortresses on the other side of the bay. Excellent dusk and nighttime photos of the Malecón are guaranteed!
• camera_enhanceDay 2
  Right after buffet breakfast at the hotel, you will be shooting in the streets of Havana's historic district. Be sure to pack your best architecture and street photography gear and don't forget to bring some spare batteries along, as the day will be jampacked with stopovers, landmarks and awesome spots. It is in the streets where you can truly become aware of ordinary life in Havana and Cuba overall. There will be a great many of opportunities to capture extraordinary happenings in Cubans' ordinary life. The city and the country itself are full of awe-inspiring moments that make great environmental shots.
  
  Your local photographer-guide will also point out buildings of interest you may want to photograph and guide you through a vast array of Old Havana's landmarks. They include the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the Plaza de Armas and Plaza Vieja, the Convento de San Francisco de Asís, Old Havana's Malecón portion, the Avenida del Puerto and the Parque Central and surroundings, where the Capitolio and magnificent Gran Teatro Alicia Alonso are located.
  
  After this first expedition to the inwards of the city, the group will be heading back to the hotel for a pool-side lunch,* where a networking event will be taking place. This event offers a great opportunity for you to meet local photographers and enquire about their body of work and lives as professional photographers in Cuba. As part of this networking event we have scheduled a fashion and portraits photo shoot with models from the Idilio Tropical show. Dinner is at VIP Havana Restaurant, one of today's finests in La Habana.
  
  *This day's lunch is not included in the tour price.
• camera_enhanceDay 3
  Day three focuses on iconic, modern Havana locations, like the Plaza de la Revolución, Vedado's Malecón portion, 23rd Street and Paseo Avenue. This is where you'll find an ensemble of Republican Havana's architecture, featuring some magnificent and well-preserved Art-Deco landmarks. Vedado was the preferred district by the wealthy to build their luxurious homes -in some cases high-end mansions-, from the 1920s and up to 1959, the year a new world order was established on the island, following the triumph of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro. Over time, the whole of the Republican mansions in the Vedado area were turned into schools, or estate-run cultural institutions, or given to multiple lower-class families to split and inhabitate in bulks, which they have now been doing for generations. Contrast between two completely different historic moments will most-likely amaze you.
  
  Coming up next we have arranged a city-cruise experience on American vintage cars from Vedado to poetic Cojimar, a fishermens' village in the outskirts of the city, where Ernest Hemingway found inspiration to write his Pulitzer-winning novel The Old Man and the Sea. You will also have the opportunity to visit Hemingway's estate and country house at Finca Vigía, located in San Francisco de Paula town. Later on, we will head to Guanabacoa, where popular religiousness has some deep roots, for a sneak peek into daily life in this charming barrio.
  
  Lastly, day three finalises with a night out at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC), Havana's largest and hippest nightclub and art venue, where all forms of art come together in a bohemian ambiance. At FAC you'll witness some of the best emerging talent in Cuban visual arts. The venue hosts a great many of art events and exhibitions throughout the year, including dedicated photography exhibitions. Plus, there are two stages for musicians and performers overall to milk crowds of young, energetic Cubans, several bars and hang-out areas and a fully equipped cinema, all of which makes an excellent setting to discuss art amidst artists and friends.
• camera_enhanceDay 4
  The Viñales Valley is one of Cuba's most photographed landscapes and the place we've chosen for you to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city and immerse yourself into the Cuban countryside, which is no less full of wonders. Nature and landscape photographers will thrive on their way through day four's schedule. Lush fields growing tobacco and a very unique set of towering mogotes add to the pristine charm of this area.
  
  A peasant's village, several tobacco-drying houses and the very special nature of the valley itself and its people are to be regarded as the highlights of the day. A shuttle departs from the hotel early in the morning, takes you across Artemisa province -full of green plantations contrasting with the bright red soil- into Pinar del Río province, where the valley is located. Pinar del Río is Cuba's westernmost province and has a character and reputation of its own, as the land where world-class Habanos cigars are produced.
  
  We will take you to several, rustic tobacco plantations, where you can linger and photograph the making and makers of Cuban cigars in the very core of it. You will also have the opportunity to buy your quota of the real thing at rock bottom prices, directly from producers. There's a myriad of great photo ops in small towns like Guanajay and Bejucal on the way back to the hotel. As was the case in previous days, a local photographer-guide will join you during this excursion out of the city and ensure you enjoy your experience.
• camera_enhanceDay 5
  On day 5 we'll set flag in Jibacoa, a coastal town and resort. During the daytime, we'll mingle with locals while at their own favorite getaway: the beach, one that's somewhat off-the-beaten track for tourists. Fried chicken, tamales, dominoes and coconuts cracked open and filled with Havana Club spirits are enjoyed by the typical Cuban families while on their beach time. This is a great moment to meet joyful, charismatic Cubans and make some new, local friends.
  During the evening there will be a camera roll review with your photographer-guide and a dinner all together.
• camera_enhanceDay 6
  It's been nearly a week full of amazing, new experiences in the Caribbean's hippest destination. By now, your time in both eclectic Havana and pristine Viñales has made you a sharp image on what daily life consists of in Cuba. You would have probably captured some of your best photos yet. Sadly, it's time for a farewell.
  
  Following breakfast at Hotel Capri you will have some spare time to relax by the pool before you are taken to meet your flight back home. You can now get some closure to your trip relaxing by the pool while flickering through your own and exciting Cuba imagery.