What a country! What people! Cuba is an amazing country to visit and has some of the warmest people... read more
What a country! What people! Cuba is an amazing country to visit and has some of the warmest people... read more
I signed up for a 17 day tour of Cuba which very unfortunately was cut short due to the Covid 19... read more
We traveled as a party of 4 - ages ranging from 27-60. Experience Cuba exceeded our expectations, providing a comprehensive tour of Old Havana and close surrounds. Our guides were extremely engaging and erudite young men and related well to both age groups. Both shared an expert knowledge in Cuban history, politics, culture, architecture and music, were very easy going and were able to determine our tastes and cater to our interests extremely well.
The schedule was very well designed and we all agreed all activities were in the right order. It was fantastic to start with a walking tour, as we were then able to get a good idea of our surroundings and could use our free time well. All tours finished by around lunchtime, and so we had afternoons to explore and return to areas of specific interest such as Museo Nacrional de Bellas Artes, the Museo de la Revolucion and the bar below below our apartment - which had the best daiquiris and salsa band.
The highlight for us all was our day in Mariel on A Taste of Cuba Tour. We were made to feel part of the family and very much at home. We had a delicious lunch and a dominoes marathon.
The apartment that was organised for us was really beautiful and exactly what we were after. The location was right in the heart of Old Havana and the activity up and down our street Obispo Calle was 24/7 - but we enjoyed watching the comings and goings from on high.
Experience Cuba is an exceptional company that due to their personal connection go out of their way to cater for your needs but also ensure that you experience the real Cuba.
Hi Zoe C:
We want to first of all say thank you for choosing us for your trip to Cuba and provide us with the opportunity.
We are incredible happy to hear we exceeded your expectations. It was an absolute pleasure to attend you all, from the first contact and query to ultimately your trip in Cuba.
We will make sure we pass the feedback to the guides that attended you and to all the team in Cuba.
Once again thank you so much for choosing to travel with Experience Cuba!
Best regards
Ayna
I travelled with 3 friends all of us in our 60's and 70's. We found this company extremely easy to deal with - always replying promptly to phone calls and emails - something I have found sadly lacking with bigger companies.
On arrival in Cuba we were met by members of the family who run the business and our guide. This lovely personal touch continued throughout our 14 day trip. We designed our own tour with their help and it was a great way to see and experience Cuba. A few days into the tour we decided to change our itinerary a little . Not a problem for Experience Cuba !! So efficiently done.
Our guide was very pleasant and accompanied us throughout the 14 days unlike our Mexico tour where we picked up different guides wherever we went.
Staying in Casas was great! We sat out on the front porch in the rocking chairs so many of them had and watched the constant activity in the street ! Fascinating! This is the way to experience a country - do different to looking out from a high rise hotel .
Would definitely recommend!
Hi MLtravelling:
Thank you first of all for choosing us for your trio and providing us with the opportunity to show you Cuba from a different perspective. It was our absolute pleasure to provide you and your friends with our services.
We truly hope you enjoyed your experience of Cuba!
Regards
Ayna
In 8 days, we obtained a broad and beautiful view of Cuba. Experience Cuba and the family who run the company were helpful, friendly, thoughtful and kind. We chose precisely what we wanted to see and do on our guided tour and nothing was too much trouble. A truly people-to-people tour.
Hi edwardbear32:
Thank you so much for pick us for your trip to Cuba, and thank you for the kind words. It was an absolute pleasure to show our country in a personalise way to you and your family.
Once again thank you.
Ayna
We had already been planning a Cuba trip, but relatively late in the day realised there were some logistical things that were making a completely "do it yourself" trip more challenging than in other countries. I found Experience Cube on the internet, and gave them a call. I got really good advice straight up, and became interested in getting them to help us out with a proper tour itinerary.
My partner and I were very happy with the way the tour worked out. The guide we had for our entire 6 days was fantastic - articulate, enthusiastic, and very friendly. He was proud of his country, and keen to hear about ours. It was nice that we had the same person who travelled with us to Cienfuegos and Trinidad, we were actually assuming there would be different guides for each city.
Basically, it made the whole trip much easier, with less hassle and stress, but it still felt like we were on our own - not a "tour bus" feeling, which even private tours can be like. It felt like we had a friend-of-a-friend who was showing us around. And I feel the cost was very reasonable for what we got.
I also believe we saw things and experienced things that we would have missed had we tried to do it all ourselves. They booked us for best-seats-in-the-house at the Tropicana nightclub, for instance, with a vintage car collecting us from our Casa, which was really worth it. Also, our guide suggested restaurants which were really good, and he sent me to a cigar sommelier who taught me how to hold and smoke a cigar properly. Also, our Casa in Cienfuegos was organised by Experience Cuba, while I had already booked our one in Havana, and I can say the Cienfeugos one was far superior.
Some people mention in other reviews below about the car transport. They are right in that there are no seat belts in the back, and the driving can be a little creative, however you need to expect that sort of thing when travelling to a place like Cuba. Try being driven in China!
In summary, I can recommend Experience Cuba for a hassle and stress free trip to Cuba, at a very reasonable cost.
Travelled in March 2017, with 3 nights in Havana and 3 nights in Cienfuegos (with a day trip to Trinidad from there).
Hi Simon:
Thank you so much for choosing us for your trip to Cuba and thank you for the very kind words.
We are incredibly happy that you think so high of our services, specially the feedback around the guide being so personable and the feeling of being showed around by a friend, that is exactly what we aim to provide our clients with, so very very happy we where able to make you feel that way. We will make sure to pass the feedback to our team in Cuba, specially your guide.
Once again thank you, and we hope we see you in Cuba again! Although we know is a long way...
Regards
Ayna
If you are going to Cuba, Experience Cuba are great, seriously consider them. The benefit of this company is that your tour is customised for you to get the experience you want, and the peculiarities of Cuba, a less developed country, are all managed really well.
We focused on Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad in 9 days, which was about the right amount of time for that tour.
Experience Cuba provided a great service both in Cuba and in Australia before we left. In Cuba, meeting us at the airport and making sure we changed our money OK and were settled in our accomodation (Casa Particulars). They provided us the same guide for the whole time we were there, and he was fabulous, he learnt what we wanted to see and do and supported us well, meeting us each day at our accomodation. He managed the processes and difficulties of Cuba for us, including transportation, accommodation, tours, and suggested restaurants and bars. He travelled with us and interpreted for us, particularly in the museums and restaurants, he provided us background information to ensure we got the most out of our visit.
Experience Cuba staff are fantastic, they made sure we got to the airport in plenty of time and that our checkin went smoothly, interpreting for us as needed.
If you are going to Cuba, do it now and go with Experience Cuba, but keep an open mind and understand that it is a developing country, not everything works or is perfect, but it is so much fun.
Hi Kaye S:
Thank you so much for the kind words, and thank you for choosing us for your trip to Cuba. It was an absolute pleasure first organizing the tour with you and then welcoming you and your family group in Cuba. We are very pleased to hear the guide feedback and we will make sure to pass it to him. It was a pleasure dealing with you also, as you made it very easy for us to provide you with services.
We hope to see you in Cuba again (maybe?)
Regards
Ayna
Thank you all for helping to make our trip what it was. We asked a lot of you in our short 7 days but you managed to make it all fit and thanks for the recommendation of Playa Larga, Annabelle you are gorgeous and a fine cook, and Cienfuegos we are glad that we didn't miss out on visiting this lovely city.
Our planning was difficult because we wanted to fit so much in, but you really did help and give us some good recommendations. Your team in Cuba was so welcoming and our guide, Brian, was a genuine gem. He helped us so much and the walks around Havana and Cienfuegos just felt like we were walking with a friend we've known for years.
I will warn others though that stairs can be tricky in Old Havana. Our first Casa had narrow stairs which were not easy coming home after dinner, and maybe a few mojitos, but the second we stayed in was much easier.
It was lovely to go driving with Orly in his fantastic classic car, he doesn't speak much English but is just lovely. We wish we had done some more research before contacting you as we have been told afterwards how nice Vinales is, but we never got to go there. Of course if we don't ask how are you to know and for us to go there we would have had to miss out on somewhere else as we just didn't have time.
Experience Cuba provided us with a very relaxed, friendly yet very real experience. We did not really think that we were going to get to see it quite as authentic as we did, and we are so glad that we did. Thank you.
Anyone interested in something different to the standard tours give Experience Cuba a go.
Hi amartin:
It was our absolute pleasure to welcome you in Cuba and provide you with our services. We are please to know you had such a great time in Cuba. We will make sure to pass your feedback to our team, specially Anabel and Brian.
Stairs is something keeps hunting us :-) We need to inform our clients more around that topic. Havana being a UNESCO heritage declared city imposes a bit of a challenge regarding accommodations since lifts for instance are not allowed to be installed in this buildings, and as well there is constrains on renovations and architectural changes. But we will communicate more and more with our clients around this topic to manage expectations and offer other possibility, like Vedado area.
Once again thank you so much for choosing us for your trip to Cuba. And we hope to see soon again!!
Regards
Ayna