Havana photo tour

We stay in casas particulares (Cuban version of B&B's) in Old Havana and Centro Habana. This is a form of lodging extremely popular in Cuba. It's cheaper than a hotel, but more importantly it's a much better way to submerge one self in the authentic Cuba by staying in the house of Cubans. And in real living neighborhoods.

These are quality houses approved by the state to have the standards to rent to tourists. And tested and used by us for years. Rooms are private, clean and safe. They have double beds (twins by request), aircon and private bathrooms. Guests can come and go as they please and will often even be given their own key. The casa is included in the price from Sunday to Friday (option to leave luggage there until returning from the last day of the tour on Friday), extra nights can be booked through us if you wish to arrive before the tour or extend your stay after the tour.

Participants can upgrade to a hotel if they prefer so at an extra cost. Please ask us to quote.

Breakfast Monday thru Friday at the casa particular is included. It will usually consist of eggs to order, bread, butter, jam and honey, various fresh fruits and fresh juice. The house owners will usually go out of their way to accommodate special requests or diets.

While touring, we hold a lunch break every day of about an hour. Not at very fancy places, but good enough to be on the safe side with the food. Each tour day we end before dinner time. It happens that the tour participants go out for dinner together on Friday after the tour completion.

We drive around in a discrete car or van. Not a big ugly tour bus. We'll be a maximum of 7 persons - guide & driver included - in that van, with a maximum of 5 participants per van. This is the most comfortable group size for the participants. All transportation is included. We usually meet somewhere central in Centro Habana or Habana Vieja in the late morning and end somewhere close to homebase as well. We book accommodation (casas) for all participants within walking distance of the meeting point.

As participants usually arrive from different corners of the earth and rarely at the same time, we cannot offer a combined airport pick up. But Jose Martí Airport in Havana is extremely easy to navigate and taxis are easy to find and will cost you 30-35 CUC to anywhere in Havana. If you feel more comfortable being picked up and taken to your casa by us, you can request this service when booking. It's $45 each way.

Let's face it, Havana has something to offer at night and while you might come home with gold-medal photos you're not in town to train for the Olympics. In other words, we understand that some participants may want to go out at night, so we start each day at around 11 with a program that runs until lunch at around 2. After lunch we typically continue until around 6 or 7. This varies from day to day, and according to winter/summer time, and as things in Cuba can change without warning, schedules can also be altered ad hoc. But the rule of thumb is that we don't get up with the roosters in the morning and that we end in time for participants to get home to the casa and grab a shower before heading out for dinner.

Also, most photographers would agree that there are two times of day especially suitable for taking photos; when the light from the sun is dim and cool after sunrise and before sunset. Since we can't stretch the daily program to 10-12 hours daily and don't want to break it up by 3-4 hours mid afternoon, we have chosen to concentrate on hitting the late afternoon blue hour every day. Nobody stops you from getting up at 6 in the morning to catch the early blue hour on your own before having breakfast and joining that days tour.

While we will not just be covering the tourist parts of Havana, but also areas where few to no tourists ever go, safety should not be a major concern. Violent crime against tourists in Cuba is almost unheard of and while pickpocketing and snatch and grabs are not completely unheard of, anybody taking standard precautions should be fine.

It goes without saying that you shouldn't leave your expensive camera lying around on tables at restaurants and bars or in an open car, and not flash expensive watches or jewellery.

The tour leader speaks fluent English and Spanish. The tour is conducted in English. Custom booked tours can be arranged in other main languages for single language groups.

The tour leader has lots of experience working with photographers and getting them into situations and conditions to take great photos. He or she understands the needs of photographers. This is his main skill, don't expect the tour leader to be able to offer technical help on photographing. This tour is not about tutoring, it's about life, people, situations, moments - and making those things happen for the 'real' photographers on the tour.

Your tour leader is not your typical guide in a screaming yellow polo with a blue palm tree on the back and an equally yellow umbrella that everybody in the group must hypnotically follow at all times. Your tour leader is wearing normal clothes. Nor is he / she your typical bossy kindergarten teacher who hurdles everyone around like sheep and says things like 'You have two minutes here!'. We don't believe in this form of travel. We don't even believe in two minutes. We hope and believe all participants are adults who know the time and how to move around.

The tour leader is a door-opener, a story-teller, a resolver, a person trained to accommodate photographers looking for the best shot - and someone who knows the streets of Havana and the people living there. He or she is not a babysitter. So if you're one of those travelers who don't have the nerves to travel in a typical tour group, rest assured this is not how it works at the Havana Photo Tour. Participants on the tour are not treated like sheep - they are treated like photographers.

11:00 / Meet up and introduction, Hotel Inglaterra outside terrace (or as instructed prior to trip)

Early program - Theme: "Colonial beauty"

11:45 / Habana Vieja and back streets, on foot, barrios Belén and Jesús Maria

14:00 / Lunch break

Late program - Theme: "Colonial beast"

15:00 / Move to Centro Habana. Street walk around the blocks and buildings in what many would call the pumping heart of Havana. Meet the Cubans in their own neighborhood.

18:30 / End of today's program.

11:00 / Meet up at Hotel Inglaterra outside terrace (or as agreed with tour leader)

Early program - Theme: "Havana in the sun"

11:00 / A tour around town and up on top of some of the buildings in Havana that offer the most extraordinary views of the city from above. From the terraces of famous hotels to the roofs of run down residential buildings. We see Havana from above, from just about every imaginable angle.

14:45 / Lunch break

Late program - Theme: "Havana in the shade"

15:45 / Interior photography. We visit and enter some interesting buildings to get some interior shots in the twilight between sun and shade.

18:30 / End of today's program.

11:00 / Meet up at Hotel Inglaterra outside terrace (or as agreed with tour leader)

Early program - Theme: "Close but no cigar"

11:00 / A tour on wheels into some of the neighborhoods that surround the central parts of Havana, but that are way off the beaten tourist track. Cerro, 10 de Octubre, Luyanó and further out that way. Prepare for a warm bumpy and noisy day among bikes, people, vintage cars and diesel fumes.

14:30 / Lunch on the go

Late program - Theme: "Coasting"

15:00 / We do a huge stretch of Havana coast. From the colonial core and to way out west. We stop by interesting buildings, people and barrios and see how the ocean beats up Havana on a daily basis. Hopefully by the end of the day, Havana treats us with a beautiful sunset

19:00 / End of today's program.

11:00 / Meet up at Hotel Inglaterra outside terrace (or as agreed with tour leader)

Early program - Theme: "Mansions, palaces and the color of money"

11:00 / From upscale Vedado we move on to Miramar, Playa and Siboney. We see the finest architecture and most well kept mansions in all of Cuba.

14:30 / Lunch on the go

Late program - Theme: "Dirt, wood and the color of survival"

From palaces of presidents we turn the corner into some of Havanas poorest working class neighborhoods where many roads are dirt and houses erected with wood and plastic. We pass through El Romerillo and head on to Marianao. Havana is one of very few capitals of developing nations where a group of tourists with cameras can move around safely in such areas as long as they use their basic street smarts.

19:00 / End of today's program.

11:00 / Meet up at Hotel Inglaterra outside terrace (or as agreed with tour leader)

Early program - Theme: "Hemingway drive"

11:00 / A drive and walk to some famous Hemingway spots, doing a drive half an hour out of the city center to San Francisco de Paula then onto the fishing village of Cojímar for a visit to Hemingways main residence followed by a walk by the coast in Hemingways footsteps. It's not just about the writer and his tracks, it's also about seeing and passing interesting areas of Havana with some great photo ops.

14:00 / Lunch break by the sea

Late program - Theme: "Havana from across"

15:00 / Driving back to Havana along the coast with a few stops we end the tour at El Morro across the bay from Havana, the old fort guarding the harbor entrance with a great view over the city. Bring your widest lense if you have one. We end the day, and the tour, with a drink overlooking Havana.

18:00 / End of daytime program

Sometimes the group arranges a last night dinner together. Sometimes even a night out afterwards. Our guide will be happy to advise about the possibilities.