Painting holiday

Cuba • Havana & Trinidad

Cadillacs, castor sugar and candy coloured casas
Pink 50's Cadillacs parked under a palm tree on a Caribbean beach, old plantation houses and grand Spanish squares of colonial houses with peeling pastel-coloured plaster work, untouched for centuries.

Some of our days

Hello to Havana

Arriving at Havana airport around 5pm it's a short drive into the centre of Havana (30 minute transfer approximately) where we stay overnight. There's time before dinner to take a short wander around the square to get a feel for the contrasting textures and colours of Cuba's Spanish colonial architecture.

Pearls of the Caribbean

After breakfast we head south by coach to Trinidad on the coast, stopping briefly at the World Heritage city of Cienfuegos, known as Cuba's 'Pearl of the South' for lunch and a stroll through the wonderful buildings, seeing all the cars and characters. Arriving at Trinidad by mid-afternoon we have time to unpack before an introductory talk and a quick sketch before dinner.

Pastel plaster work

Painting in and around the central square of Trinidad, while music drifts through the streets. Trinidad is a UNESCO world heritage site, with cobbled streets and squares of crumbling pastel painted houses with balconies.

A day at the beach

We visit the balmy seaside village of La Boca where beneath the acacia trees, we sketch the sweep of the bay, the swaying palms and old colonial bungalows.

Cowboy country

A peaceful day based at a local farm, sketching wooden buildings, horses, oxen, banana trees, distant hills, while cowboys ride around on horseback and cauldrons steam on open fires.

Free day to explore

The many options include horse riding, a day at the beach, a catamaran to an offshore island with iguanas, going for a wander around town, visiting local artists studios and galleries or relaxing around the hotel pool.

In the shade of the mango tree

Visit the Mirador of the valley of the 'ingenios' – or sugar mills, and the old colonial town of Manaca Iznaga. It's a lovely small town in the greenest of landscapes, with its famous watch tower and the mansion of the Iznaga family, who owned the sugar plantation in the 19th century. After lunch at a wonderful old hacienda, we can sketch the house from the shade of the mango tree.

Havana here we come

Waving farewell to gentle Trinidad we return to the excitement of Havana, where artists sell their paintings and musicians play in the streets. There will be time to enjoy the evening light and we'll have dinner in a local restaurant.

Faded grandeur

We spend the day in two beautiful squares, painting the faded grandeur of the colonial Spanish buildings, café society and for those that like to work fast there are endless characters to sketch.

Hemingway history

A short trip along the coast takes us to the small port of Cojimar – the setting for Ernest Hemingway's story The Old Man and the Sea, which he wrote while living in Cuba in 1951. We spend the day around his favourite bar; capturing scenes of the bay while Pelicans perch on posts, and have lunch in this old Hemingway haunt.

Farewell Cuba

The final morning is left free for guests to enjoy a final glimpse of Havana but we will have a special farewell lunch in town before catching the coach to the airport at 4pm. 30 minute transfer approximately.