Cuba, China to build new luxury hotel in Havana

by Melanie Nayer on

While the U.S. continues to talk tourism with Cuba, Caribbean developers will break ground on Havana’s first luxury hotel later this year, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported.

The luxe-hotel is a joint effort between Cuba and China that will cost approximately $117 million (51 percent Chinese capital and 49 percent Cuban). According to reports, the hotel complex will have 650 rooms and cover an area of about 19 acres in the “Marina Hemingway” tourist center in western Havana.

This isn’t the first project Cuba and China are working on together – China is Cuba’s second-largest trading partner, so it’s no surprise the two friends have joined together to create a luxury hotel for tourists. The two countries have a total of 13 projects currently in development and spanning various industries including mechanics, communications, agricultural production and tourism.

[via The Latin American Herald Tribune]

Beyoncé’s Pimpin’ Private Tour Jet

by Andrew Evans on

What? You think Beyoncé has her own special private airplane with black velvet seat cushions and a bedazzled fuselage all covered in blingetty-bling (with a ring on it) and with bottles of Vitamin Water lined up like a rainbow in her mirrored mini-fridge? Well, she doesn’t. No doubt, girlfriend could afford it, but being the smart, sensible artist that she is, Beyoncé just chartered a plane from OpenSkies, the transatlantic all-business-class airline that flies nonstop between Washington, DC, New York City, and Paris.

Beyoncé and her entourage chartered the plane in February 2010 for the two-week South American leg of her recent “I AM… SASHA FIERCE” tour, beginning with a week of show dates in Brazil, followed by appearances in Argentina, Chile, Peru and finishing off with a last-stop carnival hurrah in Trinidad capital Port-of-Spain on February 18th. The Boeing 757-200 charter jet that carried her from gig to gig is compact but with long-range capacity and lots of luggage space for all those crazy stage sets and costume changes. The all-business-class layout offers two cabins, one with 24 BIZ BEDS (seats that convert into a 180° fully flat bed) and another 40 BIZ SEATS (which recline only to 140°). Of course, Beyoncé slept up front in one of the BIZ BEDS, while her hairdresser and makeup team were most likely hanging out in the back of the plane. Flight attendants reported that “Beyoncé’s really nice” but “not as tall as you think she is.” (Yeah, you already knew that.)

OpenSkies is known for its spectacular French gourmet meals (in spite of its affiliation with British Airways) but most suspect that 28-year old Beyoncé chose the airline for its signature color, which is vivid lavender (expressed inside the airplane’s lush interiors.)

So there it is. For all you Beyoncé fans who wonder how the Queen Bee travels from one sweaty stage to the next, that’s it.

Next stop: Cuba’s Vinales Valley

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Cuba’s Viñales Valley is home to the Parque Nacional Viñales, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The area is one of Cuba’s top-level tourist attractions. It can be reached by bus from Havana for CUC$12 ($13), a journey that takes between three and three-and-a-half hours.

Located in the far western province of Pinar del Rio, Viñales is comprised of a beautiful and otherworldly karst landscape of enormous outcrops of limestone, called mogotes, which are surrounded by green fields. The contrast between the red, even orange, soil and the super verdant foliage is dramatic and very picturesque. A media-primed visitor might wonder why this landscape hasn’t featured in any Hollywood films, at least before remembering about that pesky embargo.

Pinar del Rio is tobacco country, and in fact much of the agricultural production here is devoted to tobacco. Other crops include sugar cane, corn and various tubers. Farms in the valley sell their products to wandering tourists. There are fruits and vegetables on offer, as well as cane juice and cords of cigars. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to visit a tobacco farm during your hike and witness the various stages of tobacco production.

It is possible to tour the fields, mogotes, and caves independently, though most tourists plump for a local guide. Ours was extremely reasonable, at just CUC$3 ($3) per person per hour. Guides can be organized through casas particulares or hotels. Most walks are not particularly challenging, though shoes with a good grip are more or less obligatory.

For greater adventure, check out Viñales’ burgeoning climbing scene via Cuba Climbing. More adventurous travelers might also be interested in taking a day trip to the Santo Tomás cave system some distance beyond the town of Vinales. Santo Tomás is Cuba’s largest cave system.

Accommodation Tip:

Check out the simple, two-room Villa El Mojito, a casa particular run by an affable couple named Tita and Juanito. Tita serves up outstanding home-cooked dinners, and Juanito, formerly a bartender, goes by the nickname “El Mojito.” He mixes delicious mojitos with muddled yerba buena grown in the casa‘s back garden. A twin bedroom at Villa El Mojito goes for CUC$20 ($21). Breakfast is CUC$3 ($3) per person; dinner begins at CUC$8 ($8). The freshwater shrimp and pork are dinner standouts.

Cuba’s Budget-Friendly Accommodation Option: Casas Particulares

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Cuba’s casas particulares are already old hat for backpackers and other budget-minded types hailing from outside the US.

Europeans, Latin Americas, Canadians, and others have been digging the casa particular scene since the 1990s, when the Cuban government began to permit private citizens to rent out rooms in their houses to tourists.

Cuba’s privately-owned rooms generally cost between CUC$15 ($16) and CUC$50 ($52) for a double room per night, with a great number clustering in the CUC$20-25 ($21-$26) range.

The casa particular is a budget traveler’s dream: cheap and simple, with breakfast on offer for a few extra CUCs, or convertible pesos. Many casas also provide dinner at a very reasonable additional cost. Some offer private bathrooms; others provide shared facilities. Across Havana’s gorgeous Vedado and Miramar neighborhoods, many casas particulares take up space in gorgeous old mansions on romantic, tree-lined streets.

The casa particular accommodation form bears more similarity to gîtes, the French owner-occupied guesthouse accommodation model than it does to the North American bed & breakfast. The owners are on site or easily accessible, and the vibe is friendly and familiar. Guests feel as if they are staying in a home, not a hotel.

Very clearly (thankfully, even) there is also no domestic Cuban B&B industry churning out chintz and ruffled window curtains for a particular look. You can be fairly sure that your casa particular will be outfitted simply, but beyond that a unified aesthetic will be difficult to identify.

Most crucially for tourists interested in meeting locals and getting a sense of life in Cuba, casas particulares allow for extensive socializing between owners and tourists.

Casaparticularcuba, casaparticular, and cubaparticular also list rooms for rent. The Lonely Planet guide to Cuba also provides a good listing of casas particulares in Havana.

AdventureFinder.com helps you discover your next adventure

by Kraig Becker on

Orbitz Worldwide launched a new online search tool, called AdventureFinder.com, earlier this week with the intention of making it easier than ever to help you discover new locations to explore, then customize and plan active, outdoor escape to those places. The site replaces GORPTravel.com, which was formerly used as an adventure travel resource as part of The Away Network.

Visitors to the website will find a variety of ways to search for their next trip, including by destination or activity. So for example, if you’re looking for a trip to Africa, you’ll be presented with a list of the many options for that continent, from some of the top adventure tour operators in the world. But if you want to see the best places to go mountain biking or white water rafting, you can do that too. The AdventureFinder front page also offers featured destinations and activities as suggestions as well, with Japan and Hiking/Backpacking getting those respective nods at the moment.

The unique “Who’s Going” search option allows you to find trips designed for specific types of travelers. Options include “singles”, “couples”, “family”, and so on. This option is great for helping you select a trip that will ensure you’ll be joining a group with which you have a common approach to travel, which can sometimes mean the difference between an enjoyable vacation and an awful one.

With so many great destinations to choose form, a tool like this is always welcome. I’ve found a couple of nice deals on places that I would certainly like to visit, and it seems that this will be a great resource for adventure travelers before they head out on their next escape.