Day Trip in Viñales: Cuba
During our 3 day trip to Havana, Cuba, we took a day trip to Viñales located approximately two hours from Havana. We booked transportation through Fermin with an orange antique car. Note - NOT a good idea to book an antique car for a long drive! It’s not smooth, and you feel every little bump - rough on the body. Our visit to Viñales had two main purposes - visit the tobacco farm, and go horseback riding.
Tobacco Farm
With a free tour of Papito’s tobacco farm, cigar and rum tasting are included! The tour guide patiently explained the tobacco farming process while answering our ten million questions. Following the farm tour was a cigar and rum tasting & a unique mojito. We learned a new trick to smoking cigars - dip the mouth side in honey (grown on the farm) and then take a puff. The honey adds a sweet flavor and creates a natural filter (puro cigar) & smoothness to the cigar. Now, I’m not a fan of honey but their farm grown honey tasted delicious - we actually purchased a couple of bottles! The rum was flavored with guava - none of us were fans of the rum. However, the mojitos made with their homemade honey and rum were delicious! The entire experience at the farm lasted approximately two hours, ending with us purchasing coffee beans, honey, and a few cigars of course!
Some interesting facts about CIGARs we learned at the farm:
October-December: planting the tobacco plant
This area has the best soil to grow tobacco leaves due to its perfect PH balance with high alkaline. Other counties have more acidic soil which gives the cigar a more bitter flavor
January: picking the tobacco leaves… they leave the plant to grow up to 1 meter, where they start picking the bottom leaves first (lightest flavor), then middle leaves and lastly the top leaves (with most sun exposure-strongest)
Leaves are moved into the “casa de tabaco”- a rustic shed with a steep wooden roof. They are hung to dry for approximately 90 days, and eventually turn into a brownish color.
Next step is fermentation where the dried tobacco leaves are wrapped for about 6 months in palm trees leaves for about 6 months which helps give the lives the tobacco smell and make it easy to roll
Nicotine goes to the central vein of the leaf which makes it less addictive since eventually they remove the central vein before rolling the cigars and use it as a natural pesticide
Rolling the cigars takes about 6 tobacco leaves
Cigars should last for about 3-4 years, if stored properly. Either in a humidifier or cover with a special leaf and store in the bottom section (veggie drawer) of the fridge
Before smoking, leave the cigar out for 30 min at room temperature
The quality of this farm’s organic cigars is visible where the ash stays intact for the duration of the cigar smoking
90% of the farm’s cigar production goes to the government which leaves them with 10% to sell at the farm
Horseback Riding
Horseback riding is booked with the farm tour guide. They offer a 60 minute ride, but we opted for 30 minutes as we just wanted the experience of riding a horse. Since this was my first time even getting on a horse, I was extremely nervous but the guide for the ride was patient and stayed close by controlling the speed of the horse. Before beginning, he spent few minutes explaining how to make the horse turn left or right, and stop. Everyone had their own horse appropriate for their height and body size. We rode through a farm, through trees, up and down pathways, with varying speeds. It was an amazing experience! One that left Hind and I bruised since we were wearing shorts. Tip - wear clothing that covers the thighs! Or be prepared for bruising.
Lunch
For lunch, Fermin took us to Paladar Yuri & Nino- El Compesino with the concept of farm to table lunch and a beautiful views of the hills. The meals comes complete with protein, rice, beans, salad, soup. Enough to feed several people! You will not leave this place hungry.
Expenses for a day trip to Viñales:
Day Trip (7:30am-6pm) from Havana to Viñales in a vintage car including a tour of the tobacco farm: $160 (Car includes: driver/guide/4 passengers)
Organic Honey: $12
Cigars: $100 (30 cigars), $40 (10 cigars), $4 (1 cigar)
Organic Coffee Beans: $10
Mojito w/ honey: $3
Horseback riding: $10 /30min
Lunch at Paladar Yuri & Nino- El Compesino: $15 /per person
What to wear:
Keep it very casual! Shorts, comfortable walking shoes, and a light top. If you decide to go horseback riding, make sure the shorts are long enough to cover your thighs. Also, just an added tip - take snacks for the long ride! The gas stations do not have chips or sodas along the route.
