UNESCO – Vinales National Park

by coach & on foot

This experience takes you to one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in Cuba - the Vinales National Park, also known as Vinales Valley, which was declared a cultural landscape World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 because of its use of traditional tobacco-growing and agriculture techniques. The valley’s lush landscape is largely rural in character. Most of the buildings scattered over the plain are simple, built of local and natural materials and used as homes or family farms.

Visit an exclusive landscape nestled in the Sierra de los Organos, where you can see the famous mogotes. The extraordinary geomorphological formations known as mogotes, found nowhere else in Cuba, are small steep limestone mountains with rounded tops that have sometimes not only attained the dimensions of mountains but have also taken on a variety of unusual shapes. The only comparable geological structures in the world are those found in Asia.

You set out leaving Havana behind for Parque Nacional Valle de Vinales and during your day you will see the tobacco manufacturing process, the countryside and rock formations of rounded summits and experience the local project of Roots.

Your first stop will be at the Mirador de los Jazmines for great views of the lush green valley. You then continue on for a visit to the Raices project. The Raices (roots) project has had a very positive influence on the community where it is based, upholding the local Cuban identity. It consists of a group of amateur artists, children and adolescents whose artistic productions enjoy great prestige throughout the country. Here you can observe intricate handmade woodwork whilst at the same time admiring the vistas of Valle de Vinales.

Following this you will see the Mural de la Prehistoria which is a 120m (393ft) long artwork painted on the Pita rock face. The Mural is one of the biggest open-air paintings in the world and it took four years to complete. The huge snail, dinosaurs, sea monsters and humans depicted on the cliff-face symbolize the theory of evolution.

During the course of the day, a traditional creole lunch will be served in a local restaurant.

At the end of your scenic day in the national park area you return to Havana.