Cuba tours, homestay & adventure

Our Cuba tours offer a fascinating insight into the colourful, friendly Cuban way of life and aim to support local communities every step of the way. We encourage passengers to learn some basic Spanish before they arrive so they can interact with the Cuban people on a basic level and also as a sign of respect as visitors.

Most of the accommodation on this tour is in the form of a traditional homestay with a local family. By staying with local families, and not in hotels, we are using minimal resources and directly supporting the communities. These homestays also give passengers the chance to interact with the locals directly, which is definitely a highlight in itself. They also educate tourists about the day to day life of people in Cuba.When we aren’t staying with local families, we choose to stay in locally-owned and operated hotels, rather than large chains or conglomerates, in order to give back to the economy and support local businesses.We choose to drive and take public transport on this tour, rather than using internal flights, so that our carbon emissions and overall environmental impact is lower.

We use local operators and specialist guides on our tours throughout Cuba. Our commitment to these local operators means we are constantly putting back into the community and ensuring these businesses continue to prosper. This also empowers local business operators leading to increased confidence and development of their products and services. Local guides can also educate our passengers about customs and cultures. Our tour leaders will encourage passengers to donate items to the families they stay with as a sign of appreciation and respect. Passengers can also leave items with their Tour Leader or local guides at the end of their trips.

In the Caribbean, we support the Caribbean Conservation Corporation & Sea Turtle Survival League. Since 2004 we have adopted a total of 7 Green Sea Turtles in conjunction with the Sea Turtle Survival League. Our support has provided additional funding for the league to establish sanctuaries and maintain habitat protection, continue scientific research and promote and educate others of the threat of extinction to Green Sea Turtles. We also supports Tourism Concern, an organisation dedicated to minimising the negative impact of worldwide tourism. Tourism Concern works to raise awareness and implement change by involving both tourism organisations and host communities.

We have an extensive list of pre-departure documentation which includes maps, regional advice, responsible travel practices and detailed itineraries, and we send this out to our passengers well before their departure to ensure that when they travel they are socially conscious and respectful of their surrounding environments - both during our tours and before/after.

Office policy: We recognise that it is not only on-location staff who have environmental responsibilities but also our administration staff in our offices around the world. All our offices endeavour to be environmentally sound through practising energy conservation, implementing recycling plans and being responsible for the surrounding physical environment. We believe in leading through example and operate in this manner to encourage other businesses and individuals to be considerate of the environment and conserve the natural beauty we currently share.