How to get here?

The journey to arrive in Viñales Valley is beautiful. Situated in the province of Pinar del Río, during your journey from Havana you will see some of Cuba’s most picturesque landscapes. There is usually very little traffic on the road, and throughout the journey, there are multiple views that are worthy of making beautiful photographs.So, how do you get to Viñales from Havana? When I was in Cuba with my friends in 2019, we arranged in advance a private minibus with a local person, he picked up us from the airport (we were coming from few days in Cayo Largo del Sur) and he drove us to our casa particular in Viñales.It’s very easy to get to Viñales from Havana, it is approximately a 2 hour and a half car journey or you could get there by bus with Viazul buses – they are public coaches that travel across the country multiple times a day.I really love Viñales, it has a completely different scenario and vibes from any other towns of Cuba, Viñales is a small town especially famous for the green valley that surrounds it, where they grow all the tobacco that then gets used for the famous Cuban cigars.

Viñales valley horse riding excursion

The horse riding excursion in the valley of Viñales it’s one of the main attraction and you can’t miss it, if you are not staying for many days in this area of Cuba, the horseback tour of the valley needs to be in the top of your to do list.If you love nature’s beautiful landscapes, this place won’t disappoint you! This was by far one of the highlights of our trip, experiencing the authentic rural farming life of this part of Cuba.The owner of our casa particular arranged for us a 4 hours horseback ride through the valley and tobacco plantations for $20 CUC ($20 US). We had the most fun, interesting and breathtaking time and absolutely loved learning about the rural Cuban way of life. We visited a tobacco farm, rolled our own cigars and smoked it, visited a coffee plantation, drank rum, and explored the beautiful tobacco valley. It was incredible value for money as well, highly recommend for anyone visiting Viñales.Even if you don’t smoke cigars and don’t love to ride a horse (my fiancé’ and our friend were walking behind us😊) you will love it anyway, the local farmer told us about the tobacco growth cycles and they explained the process that happens from when the seeds are first planted, to the tobacco leaves rolled into cigars, and also told us the law that they have in place for the cigars, basically they have to sell 90% of the tobacco they grow to the government, and are allowed to only keep 10% for their own personal use or for selling to tourists. After the incredible ride, we stopped at the bar of a coffee plantation farm for a demo of the coffee bean process and tasting, we also had fresh fruit juices before making our way back during the spectacular colours of the golden hours. Ah, maybe you don’t want to wear white trainers if you are walking, the terrain is red sand, don’t do like my fiancé that had to get rid of her shoes and socks afterwards :). 

El Mural de la Prehistoria,Viñales

Farm in Viñales valley

Tobacco farm

Viñales valley horse riding excursion

Cigars making lesson