Festive Cuba: Jazz & Culture Tour of Havana

Havana captures the sounds of Cuba, from the sea crashing against the walls of the Malecón to the syncopated rhythms of drummers attuning their beat in Parque Central. You land at Jose Marti International Airport to find musical notes everywhere. Cubans speak a melodic, swift Spanish. The sounds of salsa, reggaeton, rumba, and jazz spill out of restaurants and homes. Your private transfer greets you at the airport and escorts you into the heart of Old Havana. The roar of car engines pulses to the movement of Havana’s tempo. The classic American automotive frames blend with the mixture of dilapidated and refurbished colonial architecture to create a unique atmosphere found only in Cuba.

After you check-in to your hotel, you can stroll along the cobbled avenue of Calle Obispo. Bands play in the numerous restaurants, filling the street with jovial sound. The music propels you forward, eager to explore and discover an improvisational concert. At dinner, you find locals and visitors standing outside La Bodeguita del Medio. Music brims out of the open wooden frame and echoes off of the street’s stone facades. People sip strong, fresh mojitos, which offer refreshing flavor in the tropical warmth. The restaurant claims to have invented the cocktail in the 1940s. The yerba buena glows emerald in the drink’s sparkling liquid. The scents of fried plantains and roasted pork shank emanate from the kitchen. The sound is as much a flavor of Havana as the food.

Horses trot around the cobblestone streets of the historic city. They pull buggies and rest in the shade of Parque Central. Their hooves produce a clapping sound as they tap against the cobblestone. Your guide meets you at the hotel after breakfast, ready to introduce you to the captivating heart of Havana. Spanish colonial architecture borders the plazas. In Cathedral Square, you find the beautiful 18th-century Catedral de San Cristobal de la Habana. Engineers used blocks of coral to build the baroque structure, accounting for the textured façade. Two massive bell towers flank the entrance.

Your guide points out the 17th-century mansions wrapping around Plaza Vieja, a contrast to the government buildings and churches of previously explored squares. After lunch, you continue to an artist’s market located in a restored old dock warehouse. Marvelous woodwork, leather goods, jewelry, and paintings decorate the open space. Makeshift stalls molded out of different pieces separate one artist’s space from another. Over the past 30 years, the market has developed into a free-market fair of handmade goods, including bata drums and guitars, where haggling is encouraged. The aroma of freshly carved wood blends with the coconut milk drifting from the small café on the grounds. Inspiration for the arts is everywhere in Havana. At nine in the evening, the cannon of Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabana fires a single shot after a dramatic daily ceremony.

In the morning, the music of Havana returns to the streets. Today you leave the streets of Old Havana behind for the sounds of Matanzas. En route, you stop at a book publisher producing unique hand-bound books made with homespun paper. The publisher releases 200 copies of first edition books each year, turning every release into an immediate collectible. The aroma of dried thread and leather fills the workshop. Arrive in Matanzas to find a city wrapped in folklore and refurbished grandeur. Musical and literary heritage developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, giving Matanzas the name the “Athens of Cuba.” The city originated the musical forms of rumba and danzón.

The 19th century Sala de Conciertos José White has been restored to its former glory, having once hosted orchestras and the first composition of danzón. Meet with AfroCuba de Matanzas, a respected folklore group specializing in traditional African dances. Each dance tells a story. The movements accentuate the music. Percussion pulses through your body. Call-and-response chants send chills down your spine. Colorful costumes add to the vibrant atmosphere of the surrounding city. Listen to the tale of the ocean goddess and pranksters, warriors and rituals, including the audience in every moment, reminding you that music and performance are one in the same.

Listening to the sounds of Havana in the morning allows you to follow the city’s momentum, building to a crescendo. Today you make your way to the eco-community of Las Terrazas for the day, discovering the stunning location and self-sustaining fortitude of the local population. Birds and butterflies glide through the air between blossoming orchids and the vivacious brush. The community took pains to reforest the rolling hills along the western Sierra del Rosario Nature and Biosphere Reserve after over deforestation decimated the region.

The Buenavista Coffee plantations highlight 19th-century mansions with vast fields with thriving coffee beans. Travel along the trails leading into the forest where you can follow the banks of the San Juan River. The water runs down the hillside to a series of waterfalls cascading into inviting fresh pools. People glide through the trees on a canopy tour, traveling along ziplines, feeling the wind blow through their hair. The sounds of the rainforest remind you of music captured by some of your favorite jazz musicians, imitating the pitch of melodic bird calls and the rhythm of trickling water.

The artistry of Havana inspires locals and visitors, from powerful stone fortresses to graceful marble walkways dividing Paseo de Marti. Today your guide leads you on a tour through the visual masterpieces of the city beginning with Palacio de Bellas Artes. The museum was founded in 1913 but settled in its current building in the 1950s. A sculpture adorning the main entrance depicts two people opposite one another, separated by a wave-like shape. The name Espacio y Luz, Space and Light, shows movement and shade set against the backdrop of the equally dramatic architecture.

The Cuban-focused galleries contain works spanning the 17th through 19th centuries. The symbolic imagery prevalent in many works captures the mindset, education, and emphasis of the artists. Much of the art reflects the depth of culture present on the island, spanning Spanish and French history to African and Aboriginal roots. The Museum of Music opened in 1905 with restoration done in the 1980s. The exhibits highlight folk instruments, music machines, and Cuban scores. The Italian Renaissance façade accentuates the beauty and importance of music to the Cuban heritage.

The music and color of Havana create an endlessly exciting atmosphere. After breakfast, your guide leads you to a local recording company to meet with celebrated musicians. The studio works alongside the Cuban Institute of Music, keen on capturing the spirit of Cuba, along with the sounds of which Cubans search the airwaves. Let the sounds of old recording artists wash over you in the sound studio, finding a common thread in each song, whether jazz, danzón, rumba, instrumentals, and even country. On the streets of Callejon de Hamel, your guide introduces you to the center of Afro-Cuban culture in the city.

The sounds of rumba beat along the streets and highlight the inspiring art galleries located in the neighborhood. Following your time listening to the eclectic sounds of the city, you travel to the suburbs of Havana to wander through the distinctive streets of Fusterlandia. The artist Jose Fuster, referred to as the “Picasso of the Caribbean,” has established an artist’s paradise, turning the entire community into a public artist space. Ceramic mosaics drape across the walls. Wrought iron fences twist and turn into avant-garde representations. The unique streets shape a new perception of the city, correlated with the vibrant pop, and captivating qualities of jazz.

Today you leave behind the central streets of Havana to experience a different type of musicality in Cuba. After breakfast, your guide leads you east of the city to a successful organic farm. Ornamental plants blossom next to medicinal herbs. Farmers raise seedlings for private and collective farms in the area. The garden was established in the 1990s with 12 people. Today the cooperative boasts more than 400 members who combine their knowledge to produce healthy organic vegetables through permaculture. Your knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide explains farming in terms of music, using his hands like a conductor, and explaining the harmonious connectivity of the garden.

Eat lunch at a nearby restaurant that uses produce grown from the garden before visiting Ernest Hemingway’s Cuban home, known as Lookout Farm. The writer was an effective lyricist who told stories through a connection of punchy sentences, ensuring every word had an impact, similar to a musical note. Trophies continue to garnish the room, from stuffed elk to marlin. A ceramic bowl made by Pablo Picasso decorates the author’s office. The room retains the character created by Hemingway, including his typewriter positioned at standing height. You imagine the beat of the typewriter as Hemingway pounds away at the keys.

The tree-lined street of Paseo del Prado borders Old Havana. Bronze lions adorn the head of the walkway. Old men rest in the shade, taking refuge from the morning warmth on the marble benches. Iron lampposts shape the feeling of a grand era. The sounds of the previous night’s jazz concert at Café Jazz Miramar continues to thrill you. Local artists set out canvases to capture the daily life of the historic city, using the inspiring images before them as a foundation to capture the uniqueness of Cuba. After breakfast, your private transfer escorts you to the airport with enough time to check-in to your flight home. You will carry the marvelous sounds of the city and the captivating artistry of Cuba in your memories, shaping the music you make.