Health and Safety Precautions
To date, around 90% of the Cuban population has been full vaccinated against Covid with three doses. The country of roughly 11 million remains the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have produced a homegrown shot for covid.
Safety the health and safety of our travelers is our highest priority. The coronavirus pandemic presents new challenges, and are enhancing our protocols to meet those challenges. Every aspect of your journey will be planned on safety first. Everything from our selected accommodations and restaurants we frequent will follow our rigid protocols to protect your health and assure maximum cleanliness. We will take care of all of the details, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy your experience in Cuba. These are our commitments to you:
- all vehicle services will be cleaned and sanitized each day
- all restaurants will serve plated meals instead of offering buffets, including breakfast
- all rooms will be sanitized and deep-cleaned prior to check-in, and housekeeping staff will wear masks and gloves
- all porters, drivers, hotel or casa staff and tour representatives will wear a face mask and gloves when handling your luggage.
- our tour staff will wear face masks and other appropriate personal protective equipment and regularly wash their hands and/or use hand sanitizer
- all travelers will be required to wear face masks while touring public places, particularly indoors, and on our vehicles. In Cuba, such amenities as hand sanitizer and masks will be limited, so we ask you bring your own supply of both. We will do our best to have an emergency supply on hand should the need arise.
- if you or any other traveler exhibits symptoms of illness, we will promptly seek a medical evaluation, and assess whether any travelers should be isolated from the group.
NEW: Cuba Music Tour
Join us on our Cuba tours and immerse yourself in Cuba’s authentic music performances and cultural delights. Our tours offer a unique opportunity to connect with the Cuban people and their rich musical heritage. Whether you’re a musician or simply someone who loves music, our tours have something for everyone.
We provide a life-changing experience that includes Cuban dancing, top-rated restaurants, Cuban farming, mindfulness, art, education, museums, architecture, shopping, and meaningful interactions with the Cuban people. Our tours are carefully planned to take you on a journey through the history of Cuban music, where you’ll meet some of the best musicians around Cuba.
Each night, you’ll visit a different music club, theater, or event, where you can listen to different music styles, such as Son, Rumba, Latin Jazz, Boleros, Afro Beats, and maybe even some Cuban Reggaeton. We offer tours with different themes and durations designed to accommodate your interests and travel time.
NEW: Cuba Photography Tour
This trip is authorized by the US Government under the category of Support for the Cuban People.
Our Cuba Photo Tours emphasis (indeed all of our tours) is on small, group tours – usually 10 participants or less. And, wherever we travel, we focus on the best available – with local flavor of course – accommodations. Our tours are conducted with the flexibility to “stop along the road,” either for a special photo or simply to enjoy a view or activity. We also like to build in diverse cultural experiences, achieved by working closely with local guides – guides we know and trust. At The Unconventional Travelers, we seek to strike a great balance in our tours, so you get the most out of the trip from a photography standpoint, and simply as a great tour – all led by a passionate teacher of the art of photography!
Join Daryl Hawk on this memorable photo tour to the most photogenic destinations in Cuba. He has traveled to Cuba since 2016, leading photo groups there since 2020, and has established long-time relationships with many people there. We’ll get to see many of the finest iconic sights that Cuba has to offer, but we will dig much deeper into the lives of the amazing Cuban people. We will interact with Cubans from all walks of life while taking advantage of the best light, and with a flexibility that allows us to make the most of opportunities as they arise.
We will start in Havana, with its world-class street shooting and so much more. We will organize photo shoots, such as the most important boxing gym in Cuba, Afro-Cubano dancers, and ballet dancers from the Cuban National Ballet posing in an old mansion. Everywhere we go we will meet and photograph the friendly people of Havana.
Next, we will explore the tobacco-growing region of Vinales – with its stunning limestone cliffs, or Mogotes. Vinales would be an important photo destination just for the scenery alone, but it is the traditional farmers that make it so great. We are friends with many of the farmers in the area, and they will invite us into their homes, affording photo opportunities that the typical group will never have.
Finally, we will journey to the colonial city of Trinidad. Many consider this Unesco World Heritage site the most beautiful city in Cuba. With the backdrop of the perfectly preserved colonial buildings, we’ll photograph cowboys riding horses and pulling horse-carts through the cobblestone streets, along with the classic American cars. We’ll meet a local photographer there and visit a cowboy ranch outside of town, where we’ll be served an authentic country-style lunch. Trinidad also hosts a thriving local live music scene, and we will have the opportunity to photograph local musicians there.
Register for more information, contact us here.
