Havana Jazz Plaza 2025, 40th Edition
Damara Estévez Bresó
January 25, 2025
- info@saguaservicestravel.com
- 3148 NW 72 Ave, Miami, FL 33122
- Fla. Seller of Travel Ref. No. ST40733
$3,170.00 – $6,000.00
Join us on this amazing tour!
Secure your spot today!
HIGHLIGHTS:
Sunday, May 18-Saturday, May 31, 2025
Sunday, June 1-Saturday, June 14, 2025
Sunday, October 12-Saturday, October 25, 2025
14 DAYS / 13 NIGHTS
The best way to learn a language is to visit the country where it is spoken. An immersion context makes learning much more efficient and reduces the time needed to achieve the required fluency. Our language tours/classes are designed not just as a language course but as a total cultural immersion.
You have 13 days of language classes, structured around your previous learning and whether you want to improve your conversational or formal Spanish. These are followed by excursions throughout Havana with your teacher accompanying you, discovering and learning about the culture of your host country, which will give you a new perspective on the world.
The course includes lectures on various aspects of Cuban music, politics, culture, art, history, and visits to museums and landmarks, all designed to enhance your studies. You will also have a weekend excursion to relax while you learn. Take 2 weeks to travel with us and improve your Spanish communication skills.
Requirements
Guaranteed departures:
To guarantee the departure of this group tour a minimum of 4 people is required. Don’t worry if you are traveling alone or with a friend. You can reserve your package for only $100 per person and once the departure is confirmed continue paying the balance due. Te Esperamos!
Sagua Services & Travel (SST) offers opportunities to travel legally to Cuba under the OFAC General License category “Support for the Cuban People,” 31 CFR § 515.574. Our programs include activities intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba and constitute a full-time schedule that enhances contact with the Cuban people, and results in meaningful interactions between you and the locals.
HAVANA | ARRIVAL
Welcome to Havana! Your adventure begins as you are met at the airport by our professional taxi driver and transferred to your lodging in Havana Center. Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #1
Good morning, amig@! Enjoy a delicious breakfast and get ready to go to your Spanish classroom. Get an introduction to the course and panorama of Cuban culture taught with a communicative approach to develop basic interpretation, writing and communication skills through knowledge of Cuban culture, cinema, literature, plastic arts and more. After your lesson, your guide and driver will take you to have lunch, and then you will visit the Fine Arts Museum, where you will receive a crash course on Cuban history by examining the art exhibitions. The Cuban Art Collection spans from the Colonial Period to the present day. It includes sculptures, engravings, paintings, photographs, and videos by pioneering Cuban artists. Continue your afternoon lesson with a walking tour of Old Havana, surrounded by beautiful colonial buildings. This is a ‘must-see’ while in Havana.
Upon return to accommodation, get some rest and be ready around 8:00 pm. Your guide and driver will take you to enjoy a wonderful NOCHE CUBANA! You will delight your palate with delicious local food while enjoying the Buena Vista Social Club show.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #2
Today you will get up early in the morning, and after breakfast, take your transfer to your Spanish lessons. Once your lesson is over, you will visit the Community Project-Art gallery, Corral Falso. Interact with the community. Introduce yourself formally to its members and exchange with them while creating small, special pieces of art during the ceramic workshop. Your Spanish teacher will accompany you most of the time to make sure you continue reinforcing learning; in that way you’ll be in direct contact with the culture.
Cultural quirks are often firmly linked to languages. Without a doubt, getting up close to and participating in the culture that surrounds the language will boost your knowledge of the language so that you use it more naturally. Often, being able to link linguistic quirks with real-life experiences helps students to remember them.
Enjoy a delicious local lunch at the community project. Return to accommodation. Time to share experiences and relax with private Casa family. They will happily help you with your homework.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA
On your 4th day in Havana, after having breakfast, you will be picked up by your teacher, driver and guide to take you to play Scavenger Hunt at a small local organoponic. Go and find your own fruits and vegetables. Learn their names in Spanish and continue to have a ‘Farm to Table’ experience, including a conversation about the spices they grow and urban organic agriculture. At the restaurant, introduce yourself to the “Ajiaco Family” team and get to know them better. Listen to a brief explanation of Cuban cuisine through the history of our traditional dish “El Ajiaco”. Move on to a cooking class under the guidance of our kitchen team, and then go to the bar to learn how to make a good Cuban Mojito.
After that, it’s just time to enjoy what has been cooked, including drinks, desserts, and coffee. On your way back to accommodation, stop at the Almacenes de San Jose, the ideal destination for authentic Cuban souvenir shopping, and practice your Spanish. Friendly local artisans set up booths within a warehouse, where they showcase paintings of Cubans ranging from landscapes to celebrities, modern and historical photography, embroidered garments, sculptures, jewelry, leather crafts, and cigar humidors, among many other handmade knick-knacks.
Return to your accommodation and be ready at 8:00 pm when your guide and driver will pick you up to enjoy the Cannon Firing Ceremony, a tradition dating back to the Colonial Period.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #3
This morning, you return to the classroom. After fulfilling the first part of the day, go have your lunch and visit The New Latin American Cinema Foundation; the FNCL promotes the history and works of the seventh art. Enjoy a Cuban film. Prepare for debate about the movie you watched, speaking mostly Spanish. The FNCL headquarters, located at calle 212 esquina a 31, La Coronela neighborhood, La Lisa, has been incorporated into the heritage route of this Havana municipality. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the former property of poet Flor Loynaz, the youngest daughter of the Loynaz del Castillo family.
At night, be ready to enjoy salsa music at Sala de Fiestas “Jardines 1830”. This is a great place to dance salsa, and if you don’t know how to do it, then you will find a teacher right there. There is good Cuban music and 100% Cuban Salsa. Your driver will be ready to take you back to your accommodations at midnight.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #4
On your 4th day of class, you are already sure that this is the best country to learn Spanish: sunny most of the year, beautiful long beaches, rugged mountains, and welcoming with its open and sociable people. Here, you will surely have fun while you learn. Second language skills are increasingly in demand in today’s job market, so the language could open doors for you. Besides, Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, so it will always be useful for you.
After lunch, continue the day by visiting a primary health care institution in Cuba. The Cuban model is a comprehensive public health approach that meets the World Health Organization’s definition of primary care. Learn more about how it works from a primary care professional. Return to homestays.
Dinner at homestays. Free afternoon to relax.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA → VIÑALES
The weekend is here, and as part of your language trip, there is a weekend excursion included! Get ready to visit the western part of the island. The Viñales Valley is located in the province of Pinar del Río, one of the richest agricultural areas in Cuba and certainly one of the most picturesque. Your first stop will be at the Los Jazmines viewpoint for a panoramic view of almost the entire valley. Continue your tour of the Cueva del Indio. Wear comfortable shoes as you will walk about 250 meters inside the cave and enjoy a 10-minute boat ride through the subterranean river San Vicente. Once you leave the cave, continue to visit Macondo, a tobacco plantation also called Vega where you will meet local farmers to learn a little more about the planting and harvesting process of this important product and receive a demonstration of how to roll a Cuban cigar traditionally.
Afterward, continue to the Prehistoric Wall, which shows the evolution of human beings in this part of the island. After the visit, your guide and driver will be ready to take you to your accommodation in this impressive valley. Rest of the afternoon and evening at leisure.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
VIÑALES → HAVANA
Today in the morning, you will have free time for zip-lining, biking, walking, horseback riding, etc. (on your own). Then you will enjoy a farm-to-table menu. In the afternoon, visit the Soroa Orchid Botanical Garden. Soroa, a privileged natural environment, is one of those places that are only found in Cuba where the sun and tropical rains combine and explode into trees, rivers and waterfalls that stretch as far as the eye can see. This area is named “the rainbow of Cuba”. At the end of the tour, continue your way back to Havana. Rest of the afternoon and evening, free at leisure.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #5
Get up early, and after breakfast, take your transfer to your Spanish classroom. After your lesson, delight your palate at a delicious Cuban paladar. Always try to use your Spanish when making your order.
In the afternoon, visit the “Cabildo Quisicuaba Socio-Cultural Project”. It aims to rehabilitate traditional popular culture, taking into account the spiritual, cultural and material needs of this population. Given the qualitative and multidisciplinary nature of this effort, social concerns are of great importance, as the project is an attempt to rescue and rehabilitate the tangible and intangible values of a locality with serious social problems. The name given to this socio-cultural project, “Quisicuaba,” came in part from the name of free blacks who lived there in the 16th century: the “Quisis,” individuals who originated from the southern Angolan Basin. The word used for designating a settlement of black slaves was “cuabal,” which came from the word for the farmhouses built in the area. The merger of these two terms gave the neighborhood — and now the project — the name “Quisicuaba,” which is the rescue of an important historical and cultural value that evolved from the area’s past (though the neighborhood later acquired the name “Los Sitios,” which has remained through today).
Actions carried out within this project are, in one way or another, achieved by the participation of many community members. Exchange with the community! This is the key to the sustained success in this socio-cultural project designed for the comprehensive transformation of families as the basic unit of society. Return to accommodation.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #6
Rise and shine, and prepare for your 6th day of class. After lunch, visit the headquarters of the Habana Compás Dance Company. A mix of Afro-Cuban and contemporary rhythms with flamenco and other Spanish dances; however, the inclusion of percussion in the repertoire made them achieve that dream of being completely different from what was done in Cuban music and dance. Enjoy a rumba-percussion lesson. Train your ears and learn through dancing.
Return to accommodation and be ready to enjoy your evening at Fábrica de Arte -*For some, the best nightclub in Havana! (Entry fee: on your own; transportation included) At midnight, your guide and driver will take you back to accommodations.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #7
7th day of class! After your lesson, you will visit the Eastern part of Havana, where you will find a community project called Bacura. This is an equestrian center that organizes equestrian therapies—treatments that use activities with horses with the purpose of positively contributing to the cognitive, physical, emotional, social, and occupational development of children who suffer from some type of disability or special need. Enjoy lunch at the project.
Upon return to accommodation, have some rest and be ready around 8:30 pm, when your guide and driver will take you to enjoy a delightful dinner in a lovely ambiance in the company of exquisite Latin jazz.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #8
After your Spanish lesson, Visit Hemingway’s house on the island. Finca Vigía is where the American author lived, in the capital, for more than two decades. After this visit, enjoy a wonderful ride on an elegant vintage American car through the area of Modern Havana. A stop at the Revolution Square is included.
Continue to visit an awesome project, “Familia Manrique”, a Cuban Family business consisting of a restaurant, hostel, market, store and coordinator of family events. Learn about the project and enjoy the cozy atmosphere and its good vibes. Located in front of the sea, it offers a sensory experience due to the surrounding natural beauty. You will have an unforgettable moment to remember. Delight your taste buds with the best Creole food, surrounded by Cuban family, some music and a lovely sea breeze.
Return to your accommodation and prepare your luggage for your transfer the next day. Rest of the night at leisure.
Dinner at homestays.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | LESSON #9 & EXAM DAY
It’s your last day in Cuba! We hope you have learned not only a little more of Spanish, but also a little more about Cuba, this beautiful island that enchants. After your last Spanish lesson, you will visit a beautiful area you cannot miss. Have an idea? Discover it!
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
HAVANA | DEPARTURE
Time to go back home. After an intense program have your suitcase ready. The driver will pick you up 3 hours before your scheduled departure flight time to take you to the airport. Remember to have your passport, airline ticket and all your belongings by hand.
Our SAGUA TEAM wishes you an excellent flight back home!
Meals Included: Breakfast
This schedule is a representative guide. In case there is any activity of the program that for reasons beyond our control is not available on the scheduled date, our company will offer a second alternative to replace it.
Sagua Services & Travel offers a simple and flexible travel payment plan to make it easy for you.
Payment processing fees will apply.
Directly via the Sagua Services & Travel website www.saguaservicestravel.com; via WhatsApp Business and/or email info@saguaservicestravel.com
Cancellations made
Your payment will go directly into Sagua’s bank account. Please, use your ORDER NUMBER [XXXX] as the EXCLUSIVE payment reference to ensure your payment is properly received. Any delay or setback due to the non-fulfillment of this indication shall be covered by the customer.
Please be aware that a 4% surcharge will be applied to the total amount of your package when selecting this payment method.
Once your reservation is confirmed, you will be required to fill out this One (1) Time Credit Card Authorization Form to process your payment.
By completing and signing this form, you authorize Sagua Services to make a one-time charge to your credit card or bank account. This is permission for a single transaction only, and does not provide authorization for any additional unrelated debits or credits to your account.
Notice your information will NOT be saved to file for future transactions.
Use the Zelle app. This is a fast, safe, and easy way to pay for your package.
Please, use your ORDER NUMBER [XXXX] as the EXCLUSIVE payment reference to ensure your payment is properly received. Any delay or setback due to the non-fulfillment of this indication shall be covered by the customer.
Essential travel documents you must bring with you in order to travel stress-free and get the most from your visit.
A valid passport is required for the entirety of your trip. Make sure it has six months validity at the time of entry.
Cuba requires that all arriving travelers, except Cuban born travelers, have a Tourist Card or Visa to enter the country. If you are flying to Cuba via the US or you are a US citizen, then you will need a “pink” Visa. For those who travel from the rest of the world to Cuba, they will need a “green” one. You can get your visa online or purchase it at the airport during check-in for your flight. If you are a US passport holder residing in the United States you can also purchase it from us. We ship only within the US. Note it will arrive blank for you to fill out with your passport information. This tourist card is valid for 90 days. Make sure you do not misplace it while in Cuba since you cannot leave the country without it, and please, do not detach the two separate sides. Customs in Cuba is responsible for this.
Cuba requires all visitors to have a travel medical insurance at the time of entry to the island to cover their entire stay. Most of the U.S. airlines that fly directly to Cuba give you the option of purchasing it at the moment of booking your flight ticket. SST assists its clients in the choice and purchase of the travel insurance plans if needed, limiting itself only to the assistance during the purchase and not to the implementation of said plans. Therefore, in case of unforeseen circumstances, you should contact your insurance company directly.
Make sure to buy a roundtrip ticket or have onward travel from Cuba if you are buying one-way. US airlines flying to Cuba: American Airlines (AA), Southwest (WN) and Delta (DL). SST assists its clients with the airline ticket booking process if required. Please, take into account that your flight ticket will be booked directly through the airline depending on their availability for the scheduled date. Most of these airline tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE. If you cancel your trip, the amount paid for the airline ticket and the travel insurance will not be refunded.
This is an Advance Traveler Information form. As it is mandatory for each traveler to fill out the form, it is available in several languages and must be filled out 48 to 72 hours prior to arrival. It results in a QR code to be presented digitally or printed, in order to facilitate transit through customs. Access through this link, click Top Right Hand ‘Lenguaje’ tab for the dropdown language menu and choose Ingles/ English which will instantly translate the page for you. Then, follow the instructions. If you need more help filling out the form, check out our complete guide on how to fill out the D’Viajeros Travel Form.
If you are visiting the island and staying on your own, you will probably find that most of the private casas in Cuba do not have wi-fi service available, so guests usually go to the nearest hotels, buy an internet card and access the service in the hotel lobby. If this is too complicated for you, CUBACELTUR has the perfect solution. You can get a temporary phone line with internet access plans for an additional cost.
Note that CUBACELTUR is a service offered by ETECSA, the Cuban telephone operator. Sagua Services & Travel does not benefit from this operator. It only provides information for its clients.
Sagua Services & Travel offers a simple and flexible travel payment plan to make it easy for you.
Secure your trip
* If you find the perfect package for an unforgettable experience, reserve your spot for as little as $100 per person (non-refundable).
* Subsequently, you can decide how often you want to make payments and how much you want to pay (minimum $100 per person)
* Your package must be paid in full 45 days prior to departure.
