THE FINE PRINT
GETTING THERE
Among airlines that fly from the US to Havana is Alaska Airlines, which flies direct from Los Angeles to Havana. Air Canada flies from Sydney to Havana via Vancouver and Toronto; LATAM flies from Sydney to Havana via Santiago, Chile.
GETTING AROUND
Black Tomato, a tour company based in the UK and US, arranges customised 10-night luxury tours from Havana to eastern Cuba, visiting Santiago, Baracoa and
Cayo Saetía, from $7,200 per person. This includes accommodation listed below, transfers, domestic flights and activities. blacktomato.com
STAY
Santiago de Cuba
The once-derelict Hotel Encanto Imperial has been restored by the government recently and is now the city’s best hotel, with 39 spacious rooms and public areas with beautiful balconies and pediments. Black Tomato also arranges stays in a 1950s home on the cliffs overlooking the beach at Siboney or in Vista Alegre, the suburb once favoured by the city’s sugar barons. Calle Enramadas, Esq Santo Tomás. Stgo de Cuba, +53 2268 7171, hotelescubanacan.com
Baracoa
Villa Maguana has 16 rooms set in pretty timber buildings on the pristine Bahia de Cayoguaneque, about 20 kilometres north of Baracoa. Carretera de Moa, Km 22, Guan, Baracoa, +53 21 45106, villamaguana.com
Cayo Saetía
The cay’s only accommodation is the simple but comfortable Villa Cayo Saetía, a government-run guesthouse of 12 rooms set in bungalows with verandas overlooking the ocean. villacayosaetia.com
VISITING CUBA
The Cuban Ministry of Tourism reports close to four million arrivals on the island last year, an increase of nearly 13 per cent on 2015, but an ageing and largely inadequate infrastructure in Havana and cities such as Trinidad and Viñales means tourist operators struggle to meet demand for accommodation, food and service. There are anecdotal reports of hotel tariffs in Havana, Trinidad and Viñales doubling in the past two years; the cost of some rooms in Havana has tripled or quadrupled. While some global tour operators have pulled back on
Cuban itineraries, the current wave of tourists arrives on cruise ships, with an estimated 370,000 cruise passengers due in Havana this year. Seven new luxury properties are under construction or restoration, which will add 3,673 rooms across Cuba. In the northern spring, Swiss chain Kempinski opened Cuba’s first modern five-star hotel, Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana.
Last year Starwood Luxury Collection snapped up Hotel Inglaterra and Hotel Santa Isabel, colonial-era landmarks in Old Havana, and extensive restoration is under way. And earlier this year Cuban authorities and Russian Railways announced a plan to upgrade Cuba’s antiquated railway network, investing nearly $1.5 billion by 2030 in either a new branch line from Havana to Varadero via Matanzas or an extension of the existing Hershey line.