BIRD WATCHING TOUR
February 28 – March 11, 2025

• Like all my tours, this tour will be fully escorted with a Cuban guide and driver throughout the tour.  Each region chosen for your birding excursions will have a local guide to maximize your experience.
• You will travel in the comfort of a modern, air conditioned bus and all accommodations are at 3 to 4+* hotels, ending in Varadero at an all inclusive beach resort.
• As all my tours, I will need a minimum of 8 and maximum of 20 in order to confirm so I encourage you to book early.

Compare the quality and the price to other companies offering similar tours…Cuba1tours is best in both.  All our accommodations are in hotels with 3 to 4+ star ratings.

DAY 1 – Arrive in Varadero and transfer to a 4* all inclusive resort. (AI)

DAY 2 – Transfer to Havana after lunch at the resort. En route to Havana you will stop at the highest bridge in Cuba with a spectacular view of the Yumuri valley and the best piña coladas in the world.  Accommodation and  dinner at a 4 star hotel. (B/L/D)

DAY 3 – Breakfast and city tour of Havana.  Lunch not included.  After lunch, transfer to Las Terrazas, a Unesco Biosphere reserve in the Sierra Rosario mountains.  We will stay at a local hotel and begin your first birding expedition from here.  Dinner will be at the hotel. (B/D)

DAY 4 – Breakfast and meet with the local guide and begin your first birding expedition with a hike through the local forest.  Lunch will either be boxed or at a restaurant. In the afternoon, you will have an option of visiting a famous orchid garden in this area.  Dinner at the hotel. (B/D) 

DAY 5 – Breakfast and transfer to Playa Larga in the Zapata Swamp region also known as the Bay of Pigs. This area was declared a biosphere reserve in 2000 and a Ramsar site in 2001. It covers an area of 628,171 hectares and is the largest and best-conserved wetland in Cuba and the Caribbean.

You will have an opportunity to see many different species in this area with a professional local guide.  Accommodation and dinner at the Playa Larga hotel.  Lunch not included. (B/D)

DAY 6 – Breakfast and begin a morning of birding with your local guide.  If lucky, you will have the opportunity to see the bee hummingbird and many different endemic species.  Afternoon will be free to chill on the beach and possibly visit the museum to the Bay of Pigs invasion or a local cenote and swim with the fish.  Lunch and dinner included. (B/L/D)

DAY 7 – Breakfast and a morning of birding before transferring to the city of Cienfuegos, the ”pearl for the south”.  It is a small, clean and very safe city surrounding a huge, protected bay.  Lunch is not included, but we will stop en route.  Accommodation and dinner will be at the Jagua hotel. (B/D)

DAY 8 –  Breakfast and travel along the Caribbean coast before we arrive in the UNESCO heritage town of Trinidad.  We will have a city tour before lunch at a local restaurant in the centre of the city and after, transfer to Topes de Collantes, in the Escambray mountains.  Accommodation and dinner at Los Helechos hotel.  (B/L/D)

DAY 9 –Breakfast and begin your birding hike along trails through the mountains with a local guide.  The hike is moderate and approximately 6 to 7 kms to Codina valley, with many different species en route.  Lunch at the Codina farm and then transfer back to the bus by Russian truck and continue to lake Hanabanilla where we will spend the night and have dinner at hotel Hanabanilla. (B/L/D)

DAY 10 – Breakfast and birding with local guide.  Lunch and dinner at the hotel.  The hotel is right on the lake and there are a number of private boat operators willing to take you for a lake excursion for a modest price…great experience.  (B/L/D)

DAY 11 – Breakfast and transfer back to Varadero with  accommodation at a 4+* all inclusive beach resort.  (B/AI)

DAY 12–Breakfast and transfer to the airport.

If you wish to add more days in Cuba, you can do so on your own or ask Sue at Square1travel to book property of your choice.