Western Cuba Highlights

Bienvenido a La Habana!!! Welcome to La Habana!!!
Our accommodation for the next two days will be Casas Particulares, Cuba’s version of a Bed & Breakfast. This will be a great opportunity to start having contact with the locals and enrich your perception of the real Cuba. Bikes will be assembled by our well-trained staff and tonight, we will enjoy a lovely Welcome meal and allowing Cuba Cycling Adventure to host your trip to Cuba.

Let’s ride, shall we? Today we ride around La Habana. Like any Capital City, some level of traffic is to be expected. However, it doesn’t compare to anything you may be used to. Starting at Vedado we will have a nice City Tour by bike. Along Centro Habana, La Habana Vieja (Old Havana), and towards Vía Blanca, you will appreciate how the city grew, and how different it is.

Some members of the La Guayaba Cycling Club, master’s category, also known as Guayaberos, will ride with us and share their stories of biking through Cuba. Soon after, we head out to San Francisco de Paula to visit La Finca Vigia, the primary home of Ernst Hemingway. After a short tour, we will shuttle back to La Habana Vieja for lunch followed by a walking tour through La Habana Vieja’s history. Finally, you can rest while we drive to Viñales, a beautiful and picturesque destination known for its stunning landscapes, tobacco plantations, and unique geological formations, Mogotes. Its UNESCO World Heritage Valley and the tobacco Farms are among highlights of the Country.

After breakfast, we head north west from Vinales and take the quiet backroads to appreciate the enormous beauty of this World Heritage Landscape, the heart of Los Organos Mountain Range. Tobacco Farms, their “Casas de Cura” (Drying Houses), the lush green, the Mogotes and a vivid rust-colored soil will be our surroundings. Get ready, because we will be sharing the roads with carts pulled by oxen, people on horseback, and, of course, other locals riding for life, just like us.
Our ride will have some small, rolling hills as we travel to Santa Lucia, where we have a short stop to reach out to a local family and entrepreneurs and a chance for a “Cultural Coffee.” From there, we roll to Cayo Jutías which boasts pristine white sands and crystal-clear turquoise waters, making it a picturesque beach. The place is surrounded by lush vegetation, including mangroves and coconut palms, adding to the natural beauty of the area. The backdrop of greenery creates a tropical ambiance that enhances the overall appeal of Cayo Jutías. Just breathe and relax!

Today we saddle up and head in the opposite direction! We will enjoy the splendor of the unique scenery and it’s only toward the end of the ride, when we get to Los Portales, that we will notice how the mountains begin to change – forming the narrow and elongated Guaniguanico Mountain Range. En route, we will stop and visit a friend, Pedro Alonso, a self-taught artist who lives a peaceful and rustic life, but with a great view!
Our stop for lunch will be at a small Paladar in Herradura. By now, we will have cycled 59.2 km/ 37 mi of rolling hills so, you can call it a day and jump in the bus or, push through another 11 mi to the finish where we will end at San Diego de los Baños. The town dates back to the 17th Century and is famous for its sulfuric thermal mineral waters. San Diego de los Baños Therapeutic Center is known along the country for its thermal pools, and therapeutic properties and offers various treatments like massages and mud baths so let us know if you would like us to make you a reservation! At the end of the day, we will pack up the bus and drive to Las Terrazas, another gorgeous place that is the first Biosphere Reserve of Cuba.

This will be another day surrounded by colorful landscape and the purest of airs. Las Terrazas was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1985 due to its well-preserved natural environment. The reserve covers an area of about 25,000 hectares and is home to diverse flora and fauna. Las Terrazas is a self-sustaining community within the reserve and is also known for its sustainable development projects. The projects cover everything from eco-tourism, organic farming, and art and crafts initiatives to local workshops and studios of pottery, papermaking, and woodwork.
As we head out to San Diego de Nuñez, we will have time to learn about the local’s way of life in the small rural communities in the mountains before arriving at Cabañas for lunch. At this point, we will have covered 35 mi of rolling terrain and some 17 more are to come! You have the choice of holding on to your saddle or taking it easy on the bus. We will end the day back at La Moka where you can enjoy the pool, which will feel like heaven after this ride in the warmth of Cuba.

The adventure must go on, so this morning we leave Las Terrazas, heading out through the beautiful scenery toward La Habana. We will ride through small communities and small towns, like Cayajabos, Guanajay, Mariel and arrive at the seaside town of Baracoa for lunch where we will support the local entrepreneurs and enjoy our lunch at a local Paladar.
For those who wish to cruise into the city, the shuttle can easily transport you or, you can jump back on the bike and ride another 9 miles to Jaimanitas, with an option for 9 additional mi to Vedado, where we are staying in a Casas Particulares.
In Jaimanitas, we will pay a visit to Fusterlandia, an artistic neighborhood located in this seaside town, just west of Havana. Even though its history is a lot more than the sole character of the renowned Cuban artist José Fuster, he is responsible for transforming the neighborhood into a vibrant and colorful work of art.
After settling into our Casas Particulares, we will cruise into La Habana in Private Vintage Cars before closing the tour with a farewell dinner and again, celebrate you for having chosen Cuban Cycling Adventure to be your guide through some of Cuba’s beautiful and historical sites.

This morning we wake up with home in mind, packing and making sure we take back all that we brought, as well as a new approach and perspective on reality. Cuba leaves a unique imprint and hopefully this past week will have a lasting impact on how we approach life. Thank you for choosing us and keeping Riding for Life!