Brilliant Free Strawberry Tours Walks in Havana

[k0k0]

We just returned from a cruise which visited Havana.  We selected “Support the Cuban people” and arranged our own schedule.  As others have said, there is no need to do the ships own tours, just use the Internet to plan your own trip according to the OFAC requirements.  By using Cuban guides directly, it’s much cheaper for you, and the local people benefit far more than when most of your money goes to a major international cruise line!

 

 In Havana we did free walking tours with Strawberry Tours.  You just tip as you wish at the end.   Each one runs for 2.5 to 3 hours, with lots of stops in the shade. It is a lot more walking than on a ship’s tour, but so rewarding.  So, if you can cope with walking in the sun, then I highly recommend booking online for https://strawberrytours.com/havana/tours/free-historical-centre-tour and https://strawberrytours.com/havana/tours/free-cuban-revolution-tour.  There were 12  people in our group and we had a guide named Cesar who was just brilliant. Really knowledgeable, completely fluent in English, and a clearly passionate about his country.

[EatonDoolittle]

Thanks for posting - I have booked the evening tour with them for next month and it's great to hear you had a positive experience.

 

Off topic, but I wonder why that woman on the far left thought it was appropriate to wear a bathing suit while touring  the Cathedral?

[k0k0]

Haha... the woman in the bathing suit wasn’t actually part of the walking tour.  Perhaps she was working on her tan outside the Cathedral.

I don’t remember if this particular Cathedral was one of them, as I went in a lot of churches, but several churches had signs forbidding short-shorts (golfing style shorts/Bermuda shorts seemed to be acceptable) and vest tops (T-shirt’s which cover the shoulder seemed to be acceptable too).  I suspect it is just too hot in Cuba to insist on clothing that is much more demure.

 

The Strawberry walking tour didn’t actually go inside the cathedral. It ended near the cathedral, so you could go and visit inside the many beautiful buildings at your own pace after.

[petsgalore]

We did a private strawberry tours food walking tour with cesar and he IS brilliant. I highly recommend the tour and if there is a way to ask for cesar, do it. 

[plane2port]

Thanks for this info!  I just booked us on the walking tour.  We will be in port from 7:00 am to 1:00 am the following morning.  The plan right now is to take the walking tour in the morning, come back to the ship for a siesta, and then go experience the night life after dark (when its cooler.)

[soccersharon]

We did the evening "bar hop" Strawberry tour, and had a great time!  Cesar was our guide too, and he was excellent!

[ebslcc]

I have not been disappointed with free walking tours with our trips.  The Strawberry Tours Havana offers many different ones with 200+ excellent reviews.  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147271-d13544046-Reviews-Strawberry_Tours-Havana_Ciudad_de_la_Habana_Province_Cuba.html  The timing of the tour can cut into touring time if you want to have a very full day touring. 

 

Best Cuba Guide's walking tour appears to be a good alternative if you don't mind paying for the tour vs. just tipping as you please.  You can set the start time when you want http://bestcubaguide.com/old-havana-walking-tours/ It has 18000+ reviews mostly 5 stars!   Has anyone taken this??  Fully customizable paid per hour $35 for up to 6 people.  

 

Laurence

[cruizinfools]

On 12/5/2018 at 1:50 PM, soccersharon said:

We did the evening "bar hop" Strawberry tour, and had a great time!  Cesar was our guide too, and he was excellent!

We just scheduled this for our upcoming Cuba cruise (in three weeks 😎!). If you don’t mind, how much did you tip per person? Did you purchase any food/drinks? Approximate cost?

 

Thanks!

Edited January 1, 2019 by cruizinfools
Typo

[soccersharon]

14 hours ago, cruizinfools said:

We just scheduled this for our upcoming Cuba cruise (in three weeks 😎!). If you don’t mind, how much did you tip per person? Did you purchase any food/drinks? Approximate cost?

 

Thanks!

 

I think I tipped Cesar $10.00.  We purchased drinks at each stop.  We spent maybe $30.  Sorry, can't remember exactly.

[cruizinfools]

2 hours ago, soccersharon said:

 

I think I tipped Cesar $10.00.  We purchased drinks at each stop.  We spent maybe $30.  Sorry, can't remember exactly.

No worries! Thank you!

[Ronaldo807]

On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:50 PM, soccersharon said:

We did the evening "bar hop" Strawberry tour, and had a great time!  Cesar was our guide too, and he was excellent!

 Hello,

 

My wife & I have been looking into this same tour for our stop over the summer. The website states that the tour starts at 8:00 pm and lasts for approximately four hours. We have been to many Caribbean islands, but never Cuba, and never out on the town that late at night. Did you feel safe? Were there a lot of people from your cruise on the tour? How close to the port/ship did they "pick you up and drop you off" at?

[soccersharon]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo807 said:

 Hello,

 

My wife & I have been looking into this same tour for our stop over the summer. The website states that the tour starts at 8:00 pm and lasts for approximately four hours. We have been to many Caribbean islands, but never Cuba, and never out on the town that late at night. Did you feel safe? Were there a lot of people from your cruise on the tour? How close to the port/ship did they "pick you up and drop you off" at?

We were a large group, many from our roll call, and some folks who were on vacation in Havana.  I always felt safe in Havana, day and night.

 

The tour meeting point is in a park across from La Floridita.  Maybe a 10 minute walk from the ship.  Easy to find 🙂

 

I hope this helps.  Enjoy the tour!

[carmenincalgary]

So glad to see this company recommended.  I've done "free" walking tours in cities around the world, and find I get so much more out of them than the bigger tours (especially those offered by cruise ships!).  I've booked both the Cuban Revolution tour and Historical Centre tour for my cruise in May!

[HOSKI]

Thank you for this suggestion.  As a family of 5 tours get expensive and we are more likely to go it on our own.  I booked the walking food tour which I believe will be of the most interest to most of us. 

 

I know we need to exchange money to pay the guide and buy the food.  Where is the best place to do this? 

[Magnetchief]

On 1/9/2019 at 3:03 PM, Ronaldo807 said:

 Hello,

 

My wife & I have been looking into this same tour for our stop over the summer. The website states that the tour starts at 8:00 pm and lasts for approximately four hours. We have been to many Caribbean islands, but never Cuba, and never out on the town that late at night. Did you feel safe? Were there a lot of people from your cruise on the tour? How close to the port/ship did they "pick you up and drop you off" at?

We did the night time bar hop tour with these guys.

Great fun visited 4 different bars, some for live music, some for dancing. 

We had a blast, skipped the last stop that was to a nightclub. It was midnight and we were tired. (Old)

 

The tour comprised of 6 English and 15 Spanish, then 2 guides. One for us with excellent English and the other guy handled the Spaniards.

 

We tipped our guide $20 each.

[Ronaldo807]

2 hours ago, Magnetchief said:

We did the night time bar hop tour with these guys.

Great fun visited 4 different bars, some for live music, some for dancing. 

We had a blast, skipped the last stop that was to a nightclub. It was midnight and we were tired. (Old)

 

The tour comprised of 6 English and 15 Spanish, then 2 guides. One for us with excellent English and the other guy handled the Spaniards.

 

We tipped our guide $20 each.

Do you happen to recall the average drink price and what you were drinking?

[Magnetchief]

On 1/11/2019 at 2:28 PM, Ronaldo807 said:

Do you happen to recall the average drink price and what you were drinking?

 

First bar was a strange English cocktail bar Upwards of $10 a drink, but very strong.

Rest of the bars we drank beer or rum and coke, $3 - $4 a pop.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Magnetchief

[riffatsea]

I want to add that in addition to their popular free walking tours, this company will also provide private paid tours. We are coming on a Sunday when their night tour doesn't run but they were very prompt in answering an e mail about a possible private one that night.

Their web site is also quite specific in showing exactly what you will see and do which I really like .

We may book a paid tour with them if we don't want to walk everywhere.