Activities in Cuba
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Centro Internacional de Paracaidismo
For those with a head for heights, Varadero's greatest thrill has to be skydiving at this base at the old airport just west of Varadero. The terminal is 1km up a dirt road, opposite Marina Acua. Skydivers take off in an Antonov AN-2 biplane of WWII design (don't worry, it's a replica) and jump from 3000m using a two-harness parachute with an instructor strapped in tandem on your back. After 35 seconds of free fall the parachute opens and you float tranquilly for 10 minutes down onto Varadero's white sandy beach. The center also offers less spectacular (but equally thrilling) ultralight flights at various points on the beach. Prices for skydiving are CUC$150 per person…
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Cubatur
Baracoa’s rite of passage is the 8km (up and down) hike to El Yunque. At 575m it’s not Kilimanjaro, but the views from the summit and the flora and birdlife along the way are stupendous. Cubatur offers this tour almost daily (CUC$18 per person, minimum two people). The fee covers admission, guide, transport and a sandwich. The hike is hot (bring sufficient water) and usually muddy. It starts from a campismo 3km past the Finca Duaba (4km from the Baracoa–Moa road). Bank on seeing tocororo (Cuba’s national bird), zunzún (the world’s smallest bird), butterflies and polymitas.
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Universidad de Cienfuegos
Offers Spanish courses ranging from beginner to advanced. The courses last one month and incorporate 64 hours of study (CUC$340). It also offers courses in 'Cuban Culture' (CUC$340). Language courses run monthly; culture courses every other month. Check the website for details.
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Aquaworld Marina Chapelín
Aquaworld Marina Chapelín organizes Varadero's nautical highlight in the popularity stakes: the Seafari Cayo Blanco, a seven-hour sojourn (CUC$75) from Marina Chapelín to nearby Cayo Blanco and its idyllic beach. The trip includes an open bar, lobster lunch, two snorkeling stops, live music and hotel transfers. There's also a shorter CUC$45 catamaran tour with snorkeling, open bar and a chicken lunch. The Fiesta en el Cayo is a sunset cruise (CUC$41) to Cayo Blanco with dinner, music and more free-flowing rum at the key.
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Seafari Cayo Blanco
One of Varadero's most popular cruises is the Seafari Cayo Blanco to - you've guessed it - Cayo Blanco. This trip includes the dolphin show at the Delfinario, open bar, lunch on Cayo Blanco, two snorkeling stops, live music and hotel transfers. This trip comes with a free sunset cruise that can be carried over to the following day if desired. Several readers have reported that these trips were the highlight of their stay.
There are cheaper catamaran tours that are less heavily promoted, but still great fun, with the same excellent snorkeling. Try the stripped-down tour that has no music and dancing, and a chicken, rather than seafood lunch. There's also a two-hour guided…
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Club de Golf la Habana
The club lies between Vedado and the airport. Poor signposting makes it hard to find and most taxi drivers get lost looking: ask locals for directions to the golfito or Dilpo Golf Club. Originally titled the Rover's Athletic Club, it was established by a group of British diplomats in the 1920s, and the diplomatic corps is largely the clientele today. There are nine holes with 18 tees to allow 18-hole rounds. Green fees start at CUC$20 for nine holes and CUC$30 for 18 holes, with extra for clubs, cart and caddie. In addition, the club has five tennis courts and a bowling alley. Fidel and Che Guevara played a round here once as a publicity stunt soon after the Cuban missile…
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Barracuda Diving Center
Varadero's top scuba facility is the mega-friendly, multilingual Barracuda Diving Center. Diving costs CUC$50 per dive with equipment, cave diving is CUC$60 and night diving costs CUC$55. Packages of multiple dives work out cheaper. Barracuda conducts introductory resort courses for CUC$70, and ACUC (American Canadian Underwater Certifications) courses starting at CUC$220, plus many advanced courses. Snorkeling with guide is CUC$30. A brand new recompression facility is on site and there's also a training pool, resident doctor and popular seafood restaurant on the premises, Barracuda Grill. Barracuda has a daily capacity for 70 divers in three 12m boats.
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UniversiTUR SA
The largest organization offering study visits for foreigners is UniversiTUR SA. UniversiTUR arranges regular study and working holidays at any of Cuba’s universities and at many higher education or research institutes. Its most popular programs are intensive courses in Spanish language and Cuban culture at Universidad de La Habana. UniversiTUR has 17 branch offices at various universities throughout Cuba, all providing the same services, though prices vary. While US students can study anywhere in the country, they must arrange study programs for the provinces (except Havana or Matanzas) through Havanatur.
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Varadero Golf Club
While it's no Pebble Beach, golfers can have a swinging session at this uncrowded and well-landscaped club: Cuba's first 18-hole course. The original nine holes created by the Du Ponts are between Hotel Bella Costa and Dupont's Mansión Xanadú; another nine holes added in 1998 flank the southern side of the three Meliá resorts. Bookings for the course (par 72) are made through the pro shop next to the Mansión Xanadú (now a cozy hotel with free, unlimited tee time). A 50-minute lesson costs CUC$30.
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Ermita de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de la Popa
For a bird's-eye view of Trinidad, walk straight up Simón Bolívar, the street between the Iglesia Parroquial and the Museo Romántico, to the destroyed 18th-century Ermita de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de la Popa, part of a former Spanish military hospital. It's on a hill to the north of the old town, a favorite sunset-watching spot (use insect repellant).
From here it's a 30-minute hike up the hill to the radio transmitter atop 180m-high Cerro de la Vigía, which delivers broad vistas of Trinidad, Playa Ancón and the entire littoral.
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Marlin Náutica
There are many water activities available at Marina Hemingway in Barlovento, 20km west of central Havana. Fishing trips can be arranged at Marlin Náutica from CUC$150 for four anglers and four hours of bottom fishing, and CUC$280 for four anglers and four hours of deep-sea fishing. Included are a captain, a sailor, an open bar and tackle. Marlin season is June to October. Scuba packages for CUC$35 per dive and tours of Havana's littoral (CUC$60 in a catamaran) can also be arranged.
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Escuela Internacional de Cine, Televisión y Video
The Escuela Internacional de Cine, Televisión y Video educates broadcasting professionals from all over the world (especially developing countries). Under the patronage of novelist Gabriel García Márquez, it’s run by the foundation that also organizes the annual film festival in Havana. The campus is at Finca San Tranquilino, Carretera de Vereda Nueva, 5km northwest of San Antonio de los Baños. Prospective filmmaking students should apply in writing in advance (personal inquiries at the gate are not welcome).
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Laguna de Maya
The Laguna de Maya is a Flora and Fauna Reserve where professional Ecotur guides can rent you snorkeling gear and guide you out to the reef for a bargain CUC$5. There are a reported 300 species of fish here and visibility is a decent 15m to 20m. The Laguna de Maya also incorporates a snack bar, a ranchón-style restaurant overlooking a small lake with boat rental and opportunities for horseback riding. A package including all the activities is offered for CUC$25. You can hike 2.5km to the Cueva Saturno from here.
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Sierra de las Casas
It's possible to climb to this distinctively shaped hill from the west end of Calle 22. A few hundred meters along a dirt track, you will see a trail on the left toward the hills. At the very foot of the hill is a deep cave with a concrete stairway leading down to the local swimming hole. A trail beyond this leads to the mountaintop, from where you can see most of the north of the island.
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Gaviota
This operator features a variety of helicopter tours in Russian M1-8 choppers; the Trinidad trip (CUC$229) is popular. The Tour de Azúcar (sugarcane tour) visits a disused sugar mill and takes a steam train ride to Cárdenas station. Prices are CUC$39/30 per adult/child. It also organizes 4WD safaris to the scenic Valle del Yumurí. The excursion (adult/child CUC$45/34) includes a visit to a campesino family and a huge, delicious meal at Ranchón Gaviota.
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Club Hípico Iberoamericano
This is in the northwestern corner of Parque Lenin. Horseback riding through the park on a steed rented from the club costs CUC$12 an hour, but horses rented from boys at the nearby amusement park, or at the entrance to Parque Lenin proper (you'll be besieged), costs CUC$3 per hour, guide included. Watch out for undernourished or maltreated horses.
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Ateneo
Spanish courses, dancing classes and various other specialist activities can be organized at Ateneo, a cultural organization set up in the late 19th century by lawyer Antonio Bravo Correoso. Bank on CUC$5 for two-hour lessons on salsa dancing, percussion or guitar/ tres (a guitar with seven strings and an integral part of son of Carlos Bourbon of Ballet Folklórico Cutumba fame. There are 11 or so teac).
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Ranchón El Cubano
A pleasant spot 5km from Trinidad with a ranchón- style restaurant that specializes in pez gato (catfish), a fish farm, and a 2km trail to a refreshing waterfall. There are also stables here and opportunities to partake in horseback riding. If you hike to El Cubano from Trinidad, you’ll clock up a total of approximately 16km. With a stop for lunch in the ranchón, it can make an excellent day trip.
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Cueva Saturno
One kilometer south of the Vía Blanca, near the airport turn-off, is the Cueva Saturno. While it's widely billed as a snorkeling spot, it's really just a ho-hum cave with limited snorkeling access, unless you're an experienced cave diver with all the equipment. It's popular with locals looking to cool off at their local water hole, and the snack bar sells good coffee.
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Acua Diving Center
As a secondary option you have this center in western Varadero near the Hotel Kawama. It charges much the same prices as Barracuda, but doesn't have quite the facilities, or volume. When a north wind is blowing and diving isn't possible in the Atlantic, you can be transferred to the Caribbean coast in a minibus (90-minute drive); this costs a total of CUC$55/75 for one/two dives. Popular trips include Cueva Saturno for diving and Playa Coral for snorkeling and diving.
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Varasub
If you want to enjoy snorkeling without getting wet, book an excursion on the Varasub, a 48-berth glass-bottomed boat that allows you to peer out at the fantastic marine life from windows set below the waterline. This underwater adventure leaves approximately six times a day, and includes unlimited alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages and transfers. Book through any information desk or office.
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Cayo Piedras del Norte
Five kilometers north of Playa las Calaveras (one hour by boat), Cayo Piedras del Norte has been made into a 'marine park' through the deliberate sinking of an assortment of vessels and aircraft in 15m to 30m of water during the late 1990s. Scuttled for the benefit of divers and glass-bottom boat passengers are a towboat, a missile-launching gunboat (with missiles intact), an AN-24 airplane and the yacht Coral Negro.
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Marlin Marina Cienfuegos
Hook up with this 36-berth marina a few blocks north of Hotel Jagua to arrange deep-sea fishing trips. Prices start at CUC$200 for four people for four hours. Multiday trips start at CUC$400/3900 for one night/one week (gear and crew included), depending on the boat used. A classic bay cruise costs CUC$16 for the day or CUC$10 for a two-hour sunset cruise (stopping briefly at Castillo de Jagua). Book through Cubatur or Cubanacán.
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Playa Coral
With no reefs accessible from the coast in Varadero, your closest bet for a bit of shore snorkeling is the aptly named Playa Coral on the old coastal road (about 3km off the Vía Blanca) halfway between Matanzas and Varadero. Although you can snorkel solo from the beach itself, it's far better (and safer) to enter via the Laguna de Maya (8am-5pm). The Flora and Fauna Reserve 400m to the east is where professional Ecotur guides can rent you snorkeling gear and guide you out to the reef at a bargain CUC$10 for one hour. There are a reported 300 species of fish here and visibility is a decent 15m to 20m. Decent diving is on offer too. The Laguna de Maya also incorporates a…
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Río Canímar & Around
Boat trips on the Río Canímar, 8km east of Matanzas, are a truly magical experience. Gnarly mangroves dip their jungle-like branches into the ebbing water and a warm haze caresses the regal palm trees as your boat slides silently 12km upstream from an insalubrious start beneath the Vía Blanca bridge. Cubamar in Varadero offers this wonderful excursion with lunch, horseback riding, fishing and snorkeling for CUC$25, or you can chance it by showing up at the landing below the bridge on the east side. Rowboats (CUC$2 per hour) are also available here for rent anytime from Bar Cubamar.
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