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Honestly, my favorite part of Havana was the street art. Turns out we missed a lot that we could’ve seen, it seems. Just another reason to head back!
Mandi and I used Airbnb Experiences for planning our trip. This was our first time and we will definitely use it for future trips as well.

On our first full day in Havana, we did a classic car tour. This was a great way to experience the city and to learn some about the history of Cuba. The weather was also nice since it was early in the day. They also were so kind to pick us up and drop us off at our Airbnb.

Later that day, we did a Cigar, Coffee, and Rum experience with Able. It was absolutely amazing. I had never smoked anything in my life and Able explained how coffee and rum can change the flavor of cigars. He also talked to us about the planting of the tobacco and how cigars are rolled. We left with a lot of knowledge and he also let us know where we could buy some of these items. The restaurant, Café O’Reilly, that we had the experience at was so cute and we would recommend going even if you can’t do the experience for some reason.

Our next day, we went to Ernest Hemingway’s house (there is a cost, I believe it was 5 CUC per person). We found that it was cheapest to take a yellow taxi there – this cost us 40 CUC round trip, whereas a classic car would’ve been 50 CUC round trip. I was a Lit major in college, so I had the desire to go to Hemingway’s house. I’ll be honest, it was neat to see where you can imagine Hemingway sitting and writing (and of course, drinking!) but you cannot go in the house, so it’s all based off looking through doorways. Once we got back, we went and saw the Floridita but it was so crowded that we just took a few pictures and went on exploring!

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That evening, we did a hike through history with Benito. We enjoyed this because we got a different perspective of Cuba. We also got to ride on the bus and the ferry!

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Another experience that we did when we returned to Havana was a printmaking class. I actually wasn’t able to participate very much in this one because of the after-effects of food poisoning. But, here’s what I can tell you – I WILL be going back and experiencing a class with Octavio. Octavio and his wife, Beatriz, were so incredible! It was amazing to hear about Octavio’s training and education and the opportunities that they are creating within the art community in Cuba. This is an experience that cannot be missed!

Our next stop was Cienfuegos! To read about Cienfuegos and Mantazas, check out this post!