Field Trips for La Habana, Cuba

Finca Vigía was the home of Ernest Hemingway and has now been turned into a museum. Hemingway lived in the house from mid-1939 to 1960. It was here that he wrote much of For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

Old Havana is the city center and one of the 15 municipalities forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of Havana. Explore Old Havana and visit Universidad de La Havana, the oldest in Cuba and one of the first to be founded in the Americas.

Playas del Este is the home of Havana beaches. Just 11 miles east of the city of Havana, beautiful beaches stretch up the north coast for more than 12 miles. These beaches are favorites of the local Habaneros.

Santa Maria is the most famous beach in Havana. It is characterized by its lack of residential areas unlike other beaches, with only some isolated houses. It is located along a coastal strip with abundant sand, vegetation that protects it, and crystalline water.

About an hour west of Havana is the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, declared a reserve by UNESCO in 1985. Centuries of timbering and subsequent harvesting for charcoal led to the deforestation, erosion, and infertility of this once lush area. Similar to the Agrarian Reform laws, the people were provided with housing and employement. In return, they were tasked with replanting the area's forests. Today, the 61,775 acre reserve is one of the world's greatest reclamation projects.

The day trip to Viñales, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, includes visits to a tobacco plantation, a burgeoning activity center, and site of the earliest surviving coffee plantations in Cuba. The trip will help you experience the full range of Cuba's agricultural history, present tourism economies, and natural beauty.