GARDEN/CULTURE/BIRDING TOUR

FEBRUARY 17 TO 28, 2026

Take a minute to read “Cuba Garden Tour – 2023”  article by Tracey Kenning

For 2026, I have combined my Garden/cultural tour with aspects of the Birding tour to offer a good mixture of both tours. Like all my Cuba tours, I will only take a maximum of 14 people and require a minimum of 8 to confirm the tour. I hope that after reading through the program, you will be interested in signing up for a unique experience in a country that offers so much but is presently struggling with its economy and greatly needs tourism.

Hope to hear from you.

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 –Breakfast and transfer to Playa Giron 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, lunch and dinner at Playa Giron resort.

DAY 3 – Breakfast and begin with an excursion to Las Salinas to view a myriad of shore birds and return to Giron to view the bee hummingbird, the smallest of the species. Afternoon will be free to chill on the beach and possibly visit the museum about the Bay of Pigs invasion, or a local cenote, and swim with the fish. Lunch and dinner are included.

DAY 4 – 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 hotel San Carlos or similar.

DAY 5 – Breakfast and visit to the Cienfuegos botanical garden which was a former botanical institute and research centre for Harvard University. The garden has a remarkable collection of tropical palm trees among other peculiar plants such as the “Cavanillesia platanifolia”, “Lecythis spp” and “Strychnos nux-vomica”.  The garden is located just outside the city and you will have a local guide to walk you through the varieties finishing at the greenhouse area.  We will continue along the Caribbean coast before we arrive in the UNESCO heritage town of Trinidad.  We will have lunch at a local restaurant in the centre of the city and after, a short city tour before heading to the mountainous area to Topes de Collantes. Accommodation and dinner at Los Helechos hotel.

DAY 6—Breakfast and begin your birding hike with a local guide. The hike is moderate. Then, we will take a truck to Codina Valley. We will have a short hike around Codina. We will have lunch at the Codina farm and then transfer back to the bus by Russian truck. We will continue to Lake Hanabanilla, where we will spend the night. We will have dinner and accommodations at the hotel Hanabanilla.

DAY 7 – Breakfast and birding with a local guide. Lunch at the hotel and then transfer to the city of Santa Clara with accommodation and dinner at the Los Canayes hotel.

DAY 8 – Breakfast and transfer to Vivero Organoponico Alamar in east Havana. You will meet up with a worker who will explain the origin of the garden and how it functions. Then you will walk around the garden area to have an up close look at the production. You will learn all the aspects of Organic gardening in Cuba and how they operate and sustain themselves. You will have lunch in the fishing village of Cojimar where Ernest Hemingway once kept his boat, the Pilar and have lunch at Las Terrazas restaurant which he frequented. Accommodation and dinner at a 4 star hotel. 

DAY 9 –Breakfast and transfer to the National Botanical Garden in Havana. First, you will have a briefing about the gardens and then visit the amazing green houses with displays of cactus, ferns and many other species. You will then drive to and walk in some of the more interesting parts of the garden. Lunch is not included this day, but arranged at a local restaurant. After lunch, tour of old Havana, before returning to the hotel. Dinner at the hotel.

DAY 10 – Breakfast and transfer to Soroa in the Sierra del Rosario mountain range. Visit to the Orquiderio Soroa (famous orchid garden) built between 1943 and 1953 by a Spanish lawyer in memory of his wife and daughter (google). There are 700 orchid species, 6,000 ornamentals, various growing houses and research facilities. Lunch at a local restaurant. Accommodation and dinner at the Soroa hotel.

DAY 11–Breakfast, birding hike with a local guide and then transfer to the all inclusive beach resort, Memories Jibacoa to the east of Havana and west of Varadero. You will spend you final two night here and have the opportunity to swim, snorkel, hike or just relax on the beach. All meals, snacks, beverages are included

DAY 12–FREE DAY

DAY 13– 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 a property of your choice.

Julianne Labreche is a freelance writer and gardening enthusiast who volunteers with Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton. She was on this tour that was organized by Square 1 Travel & Cruise in Courteney, British Columbia.  Enjoy this article written by Julianne on her recent visit to Cuba and its gardens.  Link:  Lee Valley & Veritas Gardening Newsletter. February 2016

Please visit our Testimonial page for more accolades from folks who traveled to Cuba with us on our 2019 Garden/Culture Tour.

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

Please put in the message section of the contact form:  Garden & Cultural Tour