Hemingway's Cuba

There is a great deal to recommend a visit to the beautiful island of Cuba at this moment in time, recent political changes inciting the dawn of a new era in a country where the crumbling legacy of the heady pre- Revolution days still remains. Flying with Virgin Atlantic allows for a full 14 nights’ exploration of western Cuba’s most important cities and stunning landscapes. Now fl ying twice-weekly direct from London Gatwick, Virgin provide high quality on-board service, including a 31-inch seat pitch, individual seatback TV and a selection of meals.

Cuba is still redolent with imagery of the 1940s and 50s, whether it be Hemingway’s old haunts, museums to the exploits of the revolutionaries, the Tropicana Night Club, which still somehow echoes to the sound of Nat King Cole, the hotels run by ‘Long Legs Diamond’ and the events of the Bay of Pigs. It is almost as if Alec Guinness was still our man out there. However Cuba is not just about tourist clichés since there is much to see not only in UNESCO World Heritage site Havana with its baroque cathedral and many forts but also the provincial cities and towns of Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Pinar del Rio, each with their own particular charm and fi ne colonial Spanish architecture. The itinerary is composed of three main elements – the cities of Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad, Pinar del Rio with its mountains, lakes and subterranean rivers and to conclude our stay, Varadero, Cuba’s fashionable Caribbean resort.