Santiago de Cuba

Tour to Céspedes Park one of the main squares of the city of Santiago de Cuba. It is surrounded by some of the most emblematic buildings of the city: the Municipal Popular Power (old town hall), the House of Diego Velázquez, the Cathedral, the old Club San Carlos and the Hotel Casa Granda. During all the hours of the day the area has a stable influx of people, increasing during the night in which the environment is complemented with different cultural manifestations.

Visit to the Provincial Museum Emilio Bacardí Moreau, significant exponent of the urban historical center of Santiago de Cuba. The building stands out due to its eclectic façade decorated with neoclassical elements. This museum treasures valuable samples of the pre-Columbian culture, national and international art and Cuban history.

Visit to the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery. It is the main pantheon of the Cuban East and second of the Island in importance after the Necropolis of Columbus in Havana. In addition to the large register of personalities that are buried in the necropolis, the cemetery holds a rich historical, architectural and cultural arsenal. In this cemetery you can find the Mausoleum dedicated to José Martí, National Hero and Apostle of the independence of Cuba, where his ashes lie, surrounded by the shields and a handful of earth of each country of America; It has a permanent honor guard.

Departure for el Cobre (27 km from the city of Santiago) a miners’ village where all Cubans have their home, regardless of creed or religion, because among hills and reefs stands theBasílicaSantuario Nacional de NuestraSeñora de la Caridad del Cobre(Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre), Patroness of all Cubans. The church is decorated in ocher and white tones. The virgin that is kept inside these walls is made of gold and the altar is made of marble and solid silver decorated with objects of enormous value. You can also visit the Chapel of Miracles, a small enclosure where believers deposit dissimilar offerings: gold jewelry, precious stones, chains, costumes, Olympic medals or other objects of great significance to them. It houses the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Ernest Hemingway.

Return to the city. Lunch at the restaurant El Cayo, Cayo Granma, an islet located in the interior of the bay of Santiago de Cuba. Given the magnificent location you can enjoy an exclusive and impressive view of the sea as well as an exquisite Caribbean menu based on fish and seafood.

Visit to the Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca or Castillo del Morro, as it is also known, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the most complete and best-preserved example of Spanish-American military architecture, based on the principles of medieval and Renaissance design. Thanks to the uniqueness, plasticity, volumetry and texture of this Fort, it is considered a jewel of military architecture in the Caribbean and it is placedamong the most important fortifications in the area, next to the Castle of the Three Kings of Morro in Havana and the Castle Fortress of San Felipe del Morro, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Return to the Hotel by the tourist road along the coast of Santiago.

Dinner at a restaurantof the city.

As Santiago de Cuba is also known for being the home of the son and the bolero, it is proposed to enjoy musical presentationsin the evening at La Casa de la Música or La Casa de la Trova, according to the client’s preference.

Visit to La Gran Piedra Natural Park; the visitor can see 111 of the 171 ruins of French coffee plantations that make up the Archaeological Landscape of the first coffee plantations in the Southeast of Cuba, declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.
The tour stops at the Juan Morales viewpoint, at 954 meters above sea level. Its excellent views are ideal for landscape photography.

Visit to the ruins of the old hacienda francesa La Siberia. The original walls and staircases of the old French ranch are conserved. You can see nurseries of the Garden of ornamental plants “Ave del Paraíso”.

Arrival at Hotel Villa La Gran Piedra. Check-in and cozy welcome.

Lunch at La Villa.

Ascent through a trail consisting of 454 steps to the natural viewpoint”Gran Piedra”,which is recorded in the Guinness Record book as the rock of its largest size in the world (at 1225 meters above sea level) and the third largest in the world, the 360 ​​degree visual that it offers make La Gran Piedra a unique attraction in its kind.

We head down the road that leads to the community to get in the jeeps for La Isabelica coffee plantation, a museum representation of coffee plantations and French traditions in Cuba.

Return to the Villa.

Realization of the Coffee Ritual in the patio of the hotel (45 min). Dinner in the Hotelcourtyard. Recreational show with artists from the area.

4X4 Jeep tour to the ruins of the Cafetal Fraternidad. On the way you can appreciate the rural environment, the mountain villages, and especially the coffee environment, which highlights the archaeological landscapes of the first coffee plantations of southeast Cuba, declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for being a unique evidence of a pioneering form of farming on difficult terrain.

Visit to CafetalFraternidad, a coffee plantation that preserves the house, storehouse, coffee house, tendales or dryers, fermentation tanks, domestic and industrial aqueduct, nursing, kitchen, barracks and other minor elements. Enjoy the landscape and the different views towards the farm, as well as towards the Santa María del Loreto plateau.

The tour continuesby Jeeps to visit the ruins of hacienda Santa Paulina. You will experience the use of the planting system through terraces, and then make a walk to the San Luis de Jacas coffee plantation.

Start of the descent to the Llano de San Felipe to take the Jeeps towards the town of La Lucía.

Rural lunch at Ranchón La Lucía.

Return to the Villa La Gran Piedra.