Gringo Viejo
Tour Leader
Cost
Extra USD $300. Should you register looking to share with another and we are not able to find an acceptable companion, you will need to pay the Single Supplement charge.
USD $2800.
Tour Details
- Destination: Western Cuba.
- Duration: 13 days.
- Arrives: 03/08/2025
- Departs: 03/20/2025
- Days of cycling: 8
- Usual daily distances: 25 km to 90 km (with flexible options).
- Terrain: Quiet backroads, for the most part, a little city cycling. There are hills and rolling countryside. A reasonable level of fitness is recommended.
- Road Surfaces: As through most of Cuba, roads can be rough in places so wider tires (28-35 mm) are recommended.
- Best Bike to Use: Hybrid, gravel, or touring.
- Support vehicle: 100%
- Tour staff: 1 tour leader, 1 cultural guide, 1 driver, 1 bike mechanic.
This tour is a shorter version of our popular Tailwind tour, but still covers the best parts of the longer route. We highlight Cuba’s varied landscapes, immense natural beauty and rich culture in 13 short days beginning in the historic capital of Havana.
Beginning in Havana, we will explore historic sites and experience the contrasts of this timeworn yet glorious city. Our first bike ride will explore the coast between Havana and Playa Baracoa, and stop at Fusterlandia a kaleidoscope of colour created by ceramic artist José Fuster.
Leaving Havana behind, our ride takes us out of the city and into the Sierra Rosario to the one of a kind eco-tourist community, Las Terrazas. We will enjoy a hike through the surprisingly non-tropical evergreen forests, with rivers and waterfalls. The area is particularly well known for bird watching.
Our stop at the Soroa Orchid garden will amaze everyone with the exceptionally well maintained collection of 18,000 orchids from all over the world. The site of the garden is critical as the unique micro-climate is perfect for growing orchids. We cycle along the Sierra Rosario to San Diego de los Baños where we can enjoy a spa treatment at the mineral spring.
We travel farther into the hills through La Guira National Park and visit las Cuevas de las Portales the caves where During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, ‘Che’ Guevara set up his headquarters. Next up we cycle through the western province of Pinar del Rio and the Valle Viñales. The quiet back roads of western Cuba will take you past lush green fields of tobacco, alongside turquoise beaches, through the Viñales Valley surrounded by unique limestone formations, and onward to islands, beaches, and coral reefs.
Finally we arrive at the western tip of Cuba at Guanahacabibes National Park where Maria la Gorda is located. Here we will enjoy beach life and great snorkelling.
This tour will give you a chance to glimpse the city life, decompress in the countryside, connect with the Cuban people, discover historical sites, visit with a youth cycling club and relax on the stunning beaches that Cuba is known for. Come along with your leaders Lee and Beth Orphan and become a Cuba addict.
This tour is not extreme cycling and is suitable for those with moderate cycling ability. Hybrid, gravel or touring bikes are the best choice for this ride.
TOUR GALLERY
DAY BY DAY SCHEDULE
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Arrival Saturday March 8
Fly to Havana or Varadero and transfer to the Vedado area on the Malecon. Settle into “casas particulares” (Cuban BnBs) and set up the bikes in front of the Cafe Rueda. Our evening meal at a local restaurant will give us an opportunity chat and introduce ourselves.
Cycling: 0 km
Accommodation: Casas particulares (BnBs)
Meals Included: dinner
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Sunday March 9
Havana Cycling – Playa Baracoa & Fusterlandia
After breakfast at Cafe Rueda we will ride to Playa Baracoa, a small town where wealthy Havana residents built their summer houses. Many of these wooden houses are still standing. On the way back, we stop in the Jaimanitas neighborhood and visit Fusterlandia, where artist José Fuster has turned his home neighborhood into a masterpiece of intricate tile work and kaleidoscopic colours.
We will eat lunch on the way back to our casas in Vedado where we can change into street clothes. In the afternoon, we will take a ride in the famous classic cars and see the Malecon from the seat of a 1950s convertible. We will have dinner at a nice restaurant in “La Habana Vieja” before watching the evening ceremony “Re-enactment of the Closing of the City”.
Cycling: 50 km (+108 m)
Accommodation: Casas particulares (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner
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Monday March 10
Havana (Mariel) to Las Terrazas.
We will take our tour bus out of Havana to the Town of Mariel. Here we will meet a youth cycling club and share donations of cycling equipment before we hop on our bikes.
Our ride to Las Terrazas, will take us to the ruins of a coffee plantation “Ruinas del Cafetal Angerona” located 6 km from Artemisa where we will have lunch. Our destination is an eco-hotel in the quiet and scenic Sierra del Rosario Biosphere full of unique flora and fauna. Upon arrival at our hotel, we will enjoy the rest of the day by the San Juan River.
Cycling: 53 km (+544 m)
Accommodation: Hotel Moka
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner
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Tuesday March 11
Las Terrazas Hike.
For a break from the bikes, today we will hike the El Contento Trail located in the Sierra del Rosario biosphere.
Our hike will take us through evergreen forests, rivers and waterfalls with crystal clear water, fresh breezes and birds singing, a rural environment that invites you to enjoy nature tourism. We will have the chance to challenge our limits by taking a 2.0 km long zip-line adventure across the forest canopy.
Walking: 9 km
Accommodation: Hotel Moka
Meals Included: breakfast, box lunch, dinner
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Wednesday March 12
Las Terrazas to San Diego de los Baños.
We will begin our day with a short (19 km) hilly ride to spectacular Soroa orchid garden. This orchid garden contains an immense collection of 18,000 orchids from all over the world, maintained in the unique micro-climate of Soroa.
After lunch at the Hotel Horizontes Villa Soroa we will continue our ride to San Diego de los Baños in the foothills of the Sierra de los Organos. San Diego de los Baños was made famous for its hot mineral springs believed to have medicinal properties, along the Caiguanabo River. We have an option to enjoy a treatment at the mineral spring – they even give you a certificate for your treatment.
Cycling: 75 km (+705 m)
Accommodation: Hotel Mirador de San Diego de los Baños
Meals Included: breakfast, lunch & dinner
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Thursday March 13
San Diego de los Baños to Viñales.
In the morning, we ride 32 km to the Cueva de los Portales where we visit the cave where Che Guevara had his headquarters during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and have lunch. Then we visit the local yet internationally renowned artist Miguel Antonio Remedios and stay for a fabulous cup of espresso.
The afternoon ride is 30 km from La Palma to Viñales. The Viñales Valley was declared a national monument in 1978, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It is known for the outstanding karst landscape and traditional agriculture as well as architecture, crafts and music.
Cycling: Morning 32 km (+423 m), Afternoon 30 km (+292 m)
Accommodation: Casas Particulars (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner
Route:
Morning (San Diego to Cueva de los Portales) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45822807
Afternoon (Palma to Vinales) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45822768
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Friday March 14
Viñales to Beach at Cayo Jutías.
We ride through the Valle Viñales to Pons and over the ridge to Santa Lucia, then out to Cayo Jutías, a wonderful beach area. Enjoy lunch on the beach and some beach time at a white sand paradise. Later we return to Viñales on the tour bus. For dinner we will explore an eco-farm where we will have a farm to fork meal on the hill at the farm’s wonderful restaurant, watching the sunset over the mountains.
Cycling: 60 km (+447m)
Accommodation: Casas Particulars (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast/lunch/dinner
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Saturday March 15
Viñales to Pinar del Río.
Wake up in the Valle Viñales and enjoy breakfast surrounded by the Sierra de los Órganos mountain range. The area is known for its dramatic formations known as mogotes towering over the landscape. The mogotes – large, rounded mountains – are all that’s left of a limestone plateau that existed here 160 million years ago.
We will begin our day with a visit to a tobacco farm and take a short hike. We will have lunch before we begin our 25 km ride which is mostly downhill to arrive at the historic town of Pinar del Río.
Cycling: 25 km (+239m)
Accommodation: Hotel Vueltabajo
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner
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Sunday March 16
Pinar del Río to María la Gorda.
A very flat ride beginning in the historic city of Pinar del Río, riding through fertile farm land dominated by tobacco fields and ending at María la Gorda the world famous dive centre at the western tip of Cuba, remote and beautiful, even exotic.
The final 14 km is a smooth road adjacent to the sea and lined with sea grape trees with spectacular views. The sunsets at the beach can be epic!
Cycling: morning 78 km (+437m), afternoon 14 km (+40m)
Accommodation: Hotel Villa María la Gorda
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner.
Route:
Morning ride: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45823319
Afternoon ride: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45823355
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Monday March 17
María la Gorda to Cabo San Antonio.
After breakfast we will ride from Maria la Gorda to the marina at Cabo San Antonio, and enjoy a beautiful and quiet beach. The route is flat and follows along the shore.
For those who want a rest day, here is a beautiful coral reef at María la Gorda for snorkelling just offshore, and a chance that we can rent a dive boat to snorkel or dive farther offshore. At the end of the day, we will have dinner and watch the sunset over the ocean.
Cycling: 77 km (+295 m) complete or 56 km (from the park gate)
Accommodation: Hotel Villa Maria la Gorda
Meals Included: breakfast, lunch and dinner
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Tuesday March 18
María la Gorda to Havana.
You have spent the last 10 days on a journey to the western tip of Cuba. Today, taking advantage of our luxury tour bus, we will fight the headwind back to Havana where we began our journey.
Along the way we will take a coffee break in Hotel Pinar del Río and have a chance to tour a cigar factory. Upon reaching Havana we will have some free time to explore the nearby Malecon before dinner
Cycling: 0 km.
Accommodation: Casas Particulars in Vedado, Havana (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast, dinner
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Wednesday March 19
Havana walking Tour.
Bring your camera this day, as we will take the tour bus to the centre of Old Havana. We will have a guided tour of the key sites that make Havana a top tourism destination including, the National Theatre and Capitol building among many other monuments.
We will have lunch in Havana Vieja during our tour and visit and then visit an artisan’s market on the harbour. Our farewell dinner will be at the sky restaurant El Torre at the top of the FOCSA building with the best views of the city. Later in the evening, we can visit the Art Factory (Fabrica de Arte), a place with art galleries and clubs to complete our day.
Cycling: 0 km, walk 4 km
Accommodation: Casas Particulars in Vedado, Havana (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast, lunch & dinner
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Thurday March 20
Departure Day.
Sadly, today is departure day and the bus will take us to the airport for the flight back home. We hope you have enjoyed the ride, our country, its wonderful people, and that you will return for more cycling with the Bicycle Breeze tour team.
Cycling: 0 km
Accommodation: Casas Particulars in Vedado, Havana (BnBs)
Meals Included: breakfast
Cycle Rental
Bicycle Breeze has bike rentals at great prices. For this tour you will need either a hybrid (my choice) a sport touring or a endure gravel bike. All will work. Should you prefer to bring your own that is fine with us, you will get the same mechanical assistance as the renters.
Check your travel company for costs of shipping your bike. Depending on your country of embarkation you may be better to rent. Renting has other positive aspects. Your bike will not get lost in transit. It is far easier to travel without a bike box and spare bikes are on the bus for renters. The negative side is that this is not your favourite ride.
Customize This Tour
With a group of 10 or more riders, Bicycle Breeze can offer the ability to customize a tour to suit your needs. Contact us to start planning your next great adventure.