ITINERARY – CENTRAL & WESTERN ADVENTURE RIDES CUBA / EASTERN CUBA
Itinerary – Central & Western Cuba Adventure with Exit Tours MC & Profil Reisen on BMW GSf 700’s
(See Below for Eastern Itinerary)
Jan 10-20 / Feb 10-20 2025 11 days, 10 overnight stays, 8 stages.
All-Inclusive Adventure Ride Tour with Support Van and Guide.
CENTRAL & WESTERN ADVENTURES
Day 1 Havana Vieja / Day 2 Havana Vieja / Day 3 Bay of Pigs / Day 4 Trinidad / Day 5 Trinidad- Rest Day/ Day 6 Remedios / Day 7 Varadero or Matanzas / Day 8 Viñales / Day 9 Viñales Rest Day/ Day 10 Havana Vieja/ Day 11 Departure
Day 1: Meet in Havana
Meet this evening at your B&B in Habana Vieja (Old Havana). Ride convertible classic cars to your welcome dinner in Old Havana.
Meals: Dinner Overnight: Posada de Chacón or similar (B&B), Havana.
Day 2: Habana Vieja / Greater Havana
After breakfast, we take a guided walk through the historic center of Havana. We then have lunch and return to our accommodation. We put on our motorcycle gear and are taken to the motorcycle parking lot, from where we set off on a Longer tour of Havana. We enjoy the evening in Old Havana.
Meals: Breakfast Dinner (BD) Overnight: Posada de Chacón or similar (B&B), Havana.
Day 3, Stage 1: / Bay of Pigs/Playa Larga (150 miles)
After breakfast, pick up your motorbikes. Then head east via the Escaleras de Jaruco hills and Madrugada, and along the Autopista (the freeway) and via the Zapata Peninsula to Playa Larga (“Bay of Pigs”). Overnight by the beach where the CIA- trained Cuban-American exile army came ashore in April 1961.
Meals: BD Overnight: Hostal Sol Caribe (B&B) or similar, Playa Larga.
Day 4, Stage 2: Cienfuegos / El Nicho / Trinidad (120 miles)
This morning you’ll be glad for the F700s as you follow a dirt track along the Caribbean shore to reach the bay city of Cienfuegos. After lunch here, continue along the Caribbean coast to the UNESCO World Heritage City of Trinidad.
Meals: BD Overnight: Casas particulares (B&Bs), Trinidad.
Day 5, Stage 3: The surroundings of Trinidad (80 miles) Rest Day
Excursion from Trinidad to the surrounding area. The beach of Ancón, the Escambray low mountain range and the Iznaga open-air museum to the east of the city are tempting. We return to Trinidad in the afternoon.
Meals: BD Overnight: Casas particulares (B&Bs), Trinidad.
Day 6, Stage 4: Topes de Collantes / El Nicho / Santa Clara / Remedios (100 miles)
Take a switchback to Topes de Collantes, high in the Sierra Escambray mountains, then (riding skills permitting) follow a steep dirt track down to El Nicho waterfall for lunch. Then head via Manicaragua to Santa Clara, stopping to visit the Conjunto Escultórico Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara. Continue the short distance to Remedios, a beautifully preserved UNESCO World Heritage Site colonial city.
Meals: BD Overnight: Hostal La Estancia & Casona Cueto, or similar (B&B), Remedios
Day 7, Stage 5: Sagua la Grande / Varadero (184 miles)
Follow the Circuito Norte (North Coast Road) through the Vuelto Arriba tobacco country. Lunch beside the sea in the fishing village of Isabela de Sagua. Then continue to Varadero, Cuba’s premier beach resort or Matanzas (Matanzas, closer to Havana, makes tomorrow’s long ride far more feasible).
Meals: B Overnight: Casas particulares, Varadero
Day 8, Stage 6: Matanzas / Havana / Viñales (200 miles)
Head west to skirt Havana to visit Museo Ernest Hemingway (Hemingway’s former home) and then Las Terrazas, an eco-resort in the Sierra de Órganos mountains. Lunch here before continuing west to Viñales, a charming village in the heart of tobacco country and Cuba’s most scenic valley. Dinner at Finca Agroecologico El Paraiso.
Meals: BD Overnight: Casas particulares, Viñales
Day 9, Stage 7: San Luis y Martínez / Viñales (120 miles) Rest Day
Full-day excursion offers a sinuous ride into the tobacco growing region of Vuelto Abajo. Visit and then lunch at a private tobacco farm before a scenic return through the mountains via Isabel Rubio and Pons to Viñales.
Meals: BD Overnight: Casas particulares, Viñales
Day 10, Stage 8: Viñales / Havana (100 miles)
Follow the Carretera Central or the Circuito Norte coast road back to Havana. After return of the motorbikes, transfer to your B&B in Habana Vieja. Tonight enjoy a farewell dinner in one of Havana’s best private restaurants.
Meals: BD Overnight: Posada de Chacón or similar, Habana Vieja.
Day 11: End of trip Transfer to the airport for your departure flight.
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EASTERN ADVENTURE ITENRARY
Eastern Cuba Adventure with Exit Tours MC & Profil Reisen on BMW GSf 700’s
March 10-20 2025 11 days, 10 overnight stays, 9 stages.
All-Inclusive Adventure Tour with Support Van and Guide.
Day 1 Meet in Holguín/ Day 2 Via Bayamo to Sierra Maestra/ Day 3 Sierra Maestra to Marea del Portillo/ Day 4 Mareal del Portillo to Santiago de Cuba/ Day 5 Santiago de Cuba/ Day 6 Santiago de Cuba to Baracoa/ Day 7 Excursion to Yumurí and Punta Maisí/ Day 8 Baracoa to Playa Maguana/ Day 9 Playa Maguana to Mayarí/ Day 10 Mayarí to Holguín/ Day 11 Depart Holguin
ITINERARY
Day 1 (10/03/25): Meet in Holguín
The U.S. “support for the Cuban people” license allows individuals to travel freely to Cuba as they wish. We’ll meet this evening at our B&B in Holguín, in eastern Cuba (American Airlines flies to Holguín from Miami).
Get a first impression of Cuba and some information from your tour guide while enjoying your welcome drink in your private pension. Dinner in one of the many private restaurants in Holguín is included in the tour.
Meals: D
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner (BD)
Day 2 (210 km) (11/03/25): Via Bayamo to Sierra Maestra
After breakfast we get familiar with our F700GS bikes and begin our first stage. It starts with a well-paved road that leads through semi-arid farmland to Bayamo, a colonial-era city that has a rich history at the forefront of rebellion against Spanish rule.
From here, we turn south and headup into the Sierra Maestra mountain range to reach our overnight accommodation in private B&Bs in the remote hamlet of Santo Domingo.
Meals: BD
Day 3 (190 km) (12/03/25): Sierra Maestra to Marea del Portillo
We descend the snaking mountain road to Bartolomé Maso, then turn west for Yara and Manzanillo.
Time permitting, passing through Campechuela and Medialuna, we’ll ride to the Cabo Cruz lighthouse, at the southwest tip of Cuba, stopping en route at Parque Nacional Desembarcos del Granma to view the site where Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and 80 other revolutionaries landed in 1953 to launch the war to topple dictator Fulgencio Batista.
We then skirt the western foothillsof the Sierra Maestra to reach the sugar-processing town of Pilón, on the Caribbean shore.
We stay overnight in a pension B&Bs a few kilometers away from here in Marea del Portillo. Depending on our arrival time, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy a swim in the sea.
Meals: BD
Day 4 (180 km) (13/03/25): Mareal del Portillo to Santiago de Cuba
Today we will have a breathtaking ride on one of the most beautiful tracks of Cuba. A narrow, mostly unpaved (and frequently badly damaged) road runs along the Caribbean coast to Santiago de Cuba.
Boulders often bar our way! Using our enduro bikes, we can usually easily overcome these obstacles, turning this part of our journey into a true adventure ride. Meanwhile, the turquoise sea is always at fingertip distance on your right, with the Sierra Maestra mountain range soaring on our left.
This is semi-desert, with cacti studding the barren landscape. Rocky coastal stretches alternate with numerous small beaches inviting us to relax and dream. Today’s destination is Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city of Cuba. Depending on our time or arrival, we may divert a short distance to visit the Basilica del Cobre–the holiest shrine in Cuba–before checking into our private B&Bs.
Meals: BD
Day 5 (60 km) (14/03/25): Santiago de Cuba
Today enjoy a riding tour through this historically important and hilly city (founded in 1514 by conquistador Diego Velázquez).
We lunch beside the clifftop “El Morro” fortress before heading east, out of town, to Parque Bacanao.
We’ll ascend the twisting road that rises to Gran Piedra… a mountain peak at 4.011 feet elevation. Alternately, you might choose to use this as a rest day for independent exploration of the city.
Meals: BD
Day 6 (210 km) (15/03/25): Santiago de Cuba to Baracoa
After breakfast, we depart Santiago and follow a scenic, winding route to the colonial-era (and now heavily militarized) city of Guantánamo, inland of Guantánamo Bay. We’ll stop at a mountainside mirador (viewpoint) to look down over the distant U.S. naval base, before riding one of the most spectacular roads of the country: La Farola.
This sinuous and scenic mountain road was built in the mid-1960s and is reminiscent of European Alpine passes. We then descend La Farola dizzyingly, passing in a few kilometers from the semi-arid south side to the humid, lush northern side of the Sierra Cristal mountains and the oldest town in Cuba–Baracoa (founded in 1511).
Here, depending on our time of arrival, there’ll be time to explore this fascinating and architecturally distinct city, which enjoys a magnificent setting in the Bahía de Miel (Bay of Honey). We’ll spend two nights in private accommodations.
Meals: BD
Day 7 (140 km) (16/03/25): Excursion to Yumurí and Punta Maisí
After breakfast we ride east along the Atlantic shoreline to the rivermouth of Yumurí and, beyond, to Punta de Maisí, the easternmost point of Cuba. We’ll return to Baracoa through the coffee- country via La Maquina.
This mountain zone is the only area in Cuba where the indigenous Taíno peoples managed to escape extermination by Spanish conquistadores and European diseases.
Even today, the faces of many people living in this region show facial characteristics of their indigenous heritage.
Meals: BD
Day 8 (50 km)(17/03/25): Baracoa to Playa Maguana
About 40 km north of Baracoa is a small beach with a hotel: Playa Maguana. We enjoy the afternoon and evening in this remote place.
Day 9 (180 km)(18/03/25): Playa Maguana to Mayarí
Our last full day riding is one for the ages as we ride west along the denuded coast road. After a drive of 40 kilometres on a gravel and stony track, we’ll stop for refreshments at lovely Playa Maguana beach.
Passing through Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, we finally reach Moa, “the Ugly Ducking” of eastern Cuba (enormous surfaces torn open by extensive mining and nickel processing give an apocalyptic appearance to the landscape).
We then turn south into the Pinares de Mayarí mountains—a cool upland zone of pine forests that were amchildhood playground for Fidel and Raúl Castro. We’ll overnight in private B&Bs in the town of Mayarí.
Meals: BD
Day 10 (120 km) (19/03/25): Mayarí to Holguín
After breakfast, we head towards Holguin, with a short diversion to visit Finca Manaca—the birthplace and childhood home of Fidel and Raúl Castro. We’ll continue via Banes and the beach resort of Guardalavaca to arrive Holguín in the afternoon. Here, we’ll return the bikes. Retire in B&Bs. Finish the tour with a final dinner together.
Meals: BD
Day 11 (20/03/25): Depart Holguin
Depart Holguín for Miami today (or extend your stay as may be required).
Meals: B
EACH OF THESE RED BUTTONS IS LINKED:
