Latour Launches Three New Cuba Tours

January 13, 2015 By: Newswire

With the U.S. and Cuba currently restoring diplomatic relations (lessening restrictions but still mandating “purposeful” travel), now is the time to see the country, before it changes.

Latour, a member of The Isramworld Portfolio of Brands, is offering travelers a taste of the Caribbean island nation with the launch of three unparalleled itineraries – Hello Cuba, Shalom Cuba and LGBT Cuba– as the only tour operator to offer regular specialty departures.

Licensed via the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through June 2016, Latour’s exclusive people-to-people exchange programs feature a series of meaningful cultural experiences, crafted to encourage conversation and shed light on Cuba’s history as well as its vivacious arts, culture and music scenes.

“What travelers don’t realize is that the government announcement is not directly impacting currently scheduled trips; you can’t just get on a plane to Havana tomorrow – people-to-people experiences are still the way to legally travel,” said Arthur Berman, executive vice president at Latour. “A destination as dynamic as Cuba deserves more than one visit. There are few places in the world that offer us a ‘before and after’ experience, and I am encouraging travelers to go now – and later.”

Latour's signature Cuba programs include:

Hello Cuba (9 Days /8 Nights; from $4,499)

Kicking off in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Havana, clients get a glimpse of daily Cuban life through personal encounters with locals, and visit the Museum of the Revolution and Finca Vigia (“Lookout Farm”), Ernest Hemingway’s winter home. Next it’s on to Cienfuegos and Trinidad, one of Cuba’s best-preserved colonial towns and the heart of the country’s cigar industry. Highlights here include a one-on-one meeting with members of the renowned Chorus of Cienfuegos; a visit to the Benny More School of the Arts; touching exchanges with local talent at the Experimental Graphic Arts Workshop and Havana Compras Dance company; and a fascinating encounter with The Committee for the Defense of the Revolution.

Shalom Cuba (9 Days /8 Nights; from $4,299)

With a focus on Jewish life, guests will meet Jewish Cubans at their synagogues and institutions during stops through Havana, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad. Highlights include: visits to the Plaza of the Revolution as well as the El Patronato Jewish Community Center; one-on-one local exchanges with Cuban Jewish kids at a Havana’s nursery school; a visit to the orthodox Adath Israel Synagogue, Cuba’s only kosher butcher; and a stop through Temple Sheve Achim, Cuba’s first synagogue. There will also be an opportunity to see Ernest Hemingway’s winter home in Finca Vigia, as well as the home, studio and community art projects of renowned Cuban native artist, Jose Rodriguez Fuster, plus a visit to Teatro de La Caridad, one of the few remaining colonial theaters in Cuba and a national treasure.

LGBT Cuba (9 Days /8 Nights; from $4,499)

From learning about the social challenges gays face in Cuba, to meetings with artists, dancers and musicians, plus the magical spell of tropical nights and the grandeur and intoxicating pulse of Old Havana, LGBT Cuba doesn’t miss a beat. With visits to Havana and Santa Clara, guests will have touching local exchanges with gay Cubans during visits to: the Muraleando art project, where Cuban and international artists have used almost every available wall as canvas for hundreds of beautiful painted murals; Los Mejunje, known for more than two decades as the home of some of the most dynamic disco and drag scenes in the Caribbean; and CENESEX, the National Center for Sex Education and Research; and the National Union of Jurists for a meeting with members of the Association of Family Law and Civil Rights.

Visit www.latour.com.

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