We started our tours in May 2022. 

We are updating any departure information should there be a change with regard to internal travel as advised by the Cuban Health Department.

As for getting to Cuba, that is governed by each country, for updates please check your local travel advisory.

We ask that when you travel with us, you adhere to the health and safety guidelines provided to you by our tour leader.

The tour becomes confirmed once we have booking forms and deposits from the minimum number of participants required. This is usually 2 people for non-photography tours and 4 people for photography tours.

Each tour that meets the requirement of the minimum number of participants is confirmed to go ahead on the scheduled tour date.

We may cancel a trip at any time prior to departure if, due to external events including but not limited to terrorism, natural disasters or political instability or a force majeure event. Should a cancellation occur by us, we will always re-schedule. You have the choice to join us at the reschedule date or join one of our other tours available.

For further information on cancellation, please read our Booking Terms & Conditions.

If closer to the time the tour didn’t fill we will reach out to advise an option of a small group supplement to be paid.

If the participants in your group do not wish to pay the small group supplement, then we may be forced to cancel the tour. If this were to happen, your deposit would be refunded in full. It is essential to only book your flights once the tour is confirmed.

If your tour did not meet your expectations, then please get hold of us at tours@simplycubatours.com within 28 days of completion of your tour and we will be happy to discuss the issues with you. Sometimes a problem can be easily rectified on tour without the need for it to become a big concern. We happily welcome feedback during the trips to ensure that you have the best possible experience on your vacation time. Please feel free to discuss problems or issues with your leader so that they can attempt to solve a particular issue before it gets out of hand.

Our photography tours are aimed for those who wish to be mentored in creating a photographic portfolio. We aim to keep these tours focused on those who wish to fully participate.

We however have other options that provide the photographic opportunities, without the expert mentor on the tour that you can both enjoy.

Most certainly. Please let us know at the time of booking whether your partner wishes to have the option to snorkel whilst you are diving or simply enjoy some beach time. Both of those can be accommodated.

Most definitely!

Our first and foremost focus is that you get to see and enjoy authentic Cuba. So on each trip there are cultural experiences from visiting museums, to rum tasting, salsa dancing, farm-to-plate dinners and more. These experiences can often be one of the most memorable moments on a tour.

The opportunities of the cultural experiences do vary depending on the tours with a few, such as our Simply Cuba tour, being almost a 50/50 split between photographic opportunities and enjoying the fun in the sun. The detailed tour itineraries will provide ample information on the day’s activities and what is on the agenda.

Yes.

Whilst Simply Cuba tour offers an expert on hand to assist you with iPhone travel photography and how to become a travel influencer, its main focus is the cultural immersion.

We also offer a 6 day Wonders of Western Cuba, 9 day Cuban Birding Tour and a 14 day Cuban Diving experience. Should you wish to look for a different kind of experience, we are always happy to design itineraries for small groups.

Our tours fall in the range of easy to moderate, as we put in a fair amount of effort to try and find the best experiences without going to extremes. Most of our tours will include walking or some light trekking.

Your tour leader will always give ample warning to prepare for each day, the occasional rustic accommodations, difficult terrain or any challenges that you may encounter. Please see our detailed itineraries on our website for more information on a specific tour.

We will also send you pre-departure information to help you prepare for each of our tours.

Most of our tours are between 2 and 8 participants. Our non-photography tours may go up to 10 people, depending on their focus. Birding related tours will never go over 8 participants. Liveaboard diving tours can be as large as 24 people.

We will always have 1 local tour leader on our land based tours and on our photography tours, you will also have an expert photography advisor.

The safety of all of our guests and our guides is of the utmost importance and every care is taken to ensure that vehicles comply with widely accepted safety standards. Some of our activities may include the well cherished classic cars, and whilst they are well maintained, they may not comply with the same safety standards as the vehicles in your country, especially when it comes to seatbelts.

Most certainly can, please contact tours@simplycubatours.com to advise your accommodation requirements for pre- or post-tour dates.

Due to the vast choice and flexibility of the ever increasing on-line flight deals that can be found, we do not book flights for our guests. We do however partner with travel agents around the world who may be able to help you find the best flight deals and ensure that they can get you to where you need to go. Please reach out to tours@simplycubatours.com if you would like us to get you in touch with one of our travel agency partners.

At Simply Cuba, we are constantly striving to provide birding tours of the highest quality and would hope that every birder would familiarise themselves with these general guidelines in order to ensure a more enjoyable tour for everyone on board.

Many of our travellers are avid birders/bird photographers and often have similar goals to many of the other group participants; however, people are different and although the common denominator on our trips is seeing birds, we do find that general group interests, personalities, behaviour etc. can differ markedly from person to person and from group to group. We ate Simply Cuba Tours take dynamics very seriously and understand that healthy group dynamics lead to successful, homogenous tours that can be enjoyed to their full potential.

Trail Rotation – Rotating on a narrow trail every three or so minutes allows everyone an opportunity to be at the front of the trail for a period of time. The front person will step aside after three minutes and, allowing the rest of the group to pass, join up again with the group at the rear of the line. The guide will always be at the front of the line;

We would also like to point out that it is inappropriate to walk in front of the leader whilst birding. It is important for the leader to have as unobstructed a view as possible, so they can find and identify birds. Once the bird is viewable, the leader will move out of the way as much as possible to ensure all our participants can see the bird and on a photography tour, capture them through their lens.

Talking on Trails – Please keep noise levels to a minimum while we are birding, this includes roads and trails. High noise levels make it difficult for the leader to pick out those critical calls and are also likely to have a negative impact on the number of birds and general wildlife you are likely to encounter, as generally, these animals prefer a quiet, natural environment. Constant chatter on trails can also be rather annoying to those who are also trying to appreciate the tranquility of the surroundings. However, at the same time, we do want our participants to enjoy themselves and we understand that tours are a social event; therefore, use your discretion in deciding when it’s appropriate to engage in a conversation with your leader/s or fellow participants.

The odd bit of movement or shuffling when you are by yourself birding is often okay and does not have such a huge impact on your chances of obtaining a sighting; however, when you are in a group and you multiply everyone’s movement and shuffles by six or eight people, it quickly adds up to a rather disturbing volume, which is not conducive to seeing the special species that the group are hoping to find.

Wide-brimmed Hats – Please make sure wide-brimmed hats are not worn as it can significantly reduce the visibility of participants standing or crouching behind you.

Appropriate Clothing – This is another topic that can cause a fair bit of debate and there are a number of theories on the topic. As a general rule, though: dark, neutral colours such as browns, greys, blacks, dark blue, dark green and khaki are preferable. Bright colours such as yellows, white, pale blues, pale greens, pinks, red and oranges are not recommended, especially while birding in forested zones. We find that the combination of wearing the appropriate clothing while taking careful measures to not talk and not move too abruptly helps significantly when searching for forest skulkers. Other items of clothing such as rain pants that crinkle while walking through a forest are also detrimental to the group’s success of finding birds close to the trail, especially some of the more shy forest species.

The same goes for rain boots such neos and rain jackets, which can make loud noises while walking through a quiet rainforest. Please be very careful about the items of clothing you pack for your tour and be aware of the noise levels your clothing can have. There is a huge range of gear out there to choose from with most of the options being quiet and thus, birding friendly.

You can book your trip on our website and choose one of the payment options. If you wish to arrange a different payment option to those available, please contact us on tours@simplycubatours.com

Our tour prices do not include any flights – neither international nor internal/domestic (unless domestic flight is required as part of the tour).

If you need assistance with international flights we can provide details of one of our travel agency partners to support you.

You are required to pay a non-refundable deposit of EUR$1500 per person per trip for your booking to be confirmed (Deposit). If your booking is made within 120 days of the departure date, then the full amount is payable at the time of booking.

Should you need to cancel you trip (up to 120 days before departure), you can transfer your deposit to another available trip or receive a credit note to hold your deposit on file indefinitely, should you need to cancel your trip. When is full payment due?

For full details, please read our Bookings Terms & Conditions.

Our trips are based on twin share accommodation, however if you let us know prior to your travel that you do not wish to share, we can arrange single rooms at an additional cost. Single room can be arranged in most areas that we are visiting.

The single supplement is a premium charged to solo travellers when they do not share a room during the tour and is levied by the accommodation establishments. The single supplement cost will be charged if you wish to have single accommodation.

If the tour does not have sufficient registration, participants signed up may have a choice of paying an additional fee/surcharge rather than facing cancellation of the tour. The smaller the group, the higher the supplement fee will be, as fewer people will be paying towards the fixed costs such as vehicle hire, fuel and all guide related expenses. The minimum group sizes and potential small group supplement rate can be obtained on request from our tour consultants.

The world’s best tour leaders command fees that reflect their exceptional knowledge and experience.

We provide high-quality licensed guides, outstanding photography expertise, staff and services, it’s hard to provide it at a significant discount. We employ tour leaders who are passionate and knowledgeable about their country, speak a language or two with a high-level fluency, are passionate birders or divers themselves and have well over a decade experience in running tours and creating unforgettable experiences. We also select high quality, photography experts that have been featured in the likes of National Geographic, BBC Wildlife and have won prestigious photography awards. They are specialists in their field and passionate about conservation and wildlife education.

In addition o our experts, our back office staff take extreme pride in ensuring that every last detail is considered and that your tour is ultimately a quality experience.

We also ensure that our staff in any location receive a fair salary for the quality they bring to the table. We also pay our suppliers a fair pay for their services.

Another point to consider is that our standard level accommodation is what is considered premium elsewhere.

Absolutely. Since 2010, all people traveling to Cuba are required to purchase travel insurance before entering the country. Your travel insurance details will be requested by the embassy for your visa, may be spot checked by immigration on arrival and also will be recorded by your leader on the first day of the trip. As such it is essential for your trip. Do make sure that your insurance in fact covers you whilst in Cuba as some policies do not. Wold Nomad may be able to assist, contact them for more information.

It is recommended that you obtain a policy that covers COVID-19 and that provides enough coverage for medical care and repatriation. Please check with your insurance provider as to the coverage they provide prior to purchase.

If you are unwell prior to travelling, please stay at home and contact us to make alternative arrangements. Please refer to our Booking Conditions for more details on our refund policy.

We recommend that you check that your travel insurance covers COVID-19. Should you be diagnosed with it whilst on your trip, you will be taken into isolation/medical care as required by the health authorities. Protocol regarding care, cleaning, disinfecting and requirement of other group members will be followed as provided by the authorities,. Should you be unable to continue your tour with us, we will offer a credit for the unused days of your trip.

Please note that while we will assist to ensure that you get all the help and support you require, all expenses for testing, treatment or self-isolation will need to be covered by you, which is why it is important that you check that your insurance policy have COVID Coverage.

If you wish to sign up for a particular tour that is already fully subscribed, we will be happy to add you to a waiting list. Should someone booked on the tour drop out, then names on the waiting list will be approached on a first-come-first-serve basis. If there appears to be a fair bit of interest in a tour that is already fully subscribed, or if we have plenty of time to sell a departure, then we may look at adding an additional tour to the schedule.

If you cancel some or all of your booking, the following cancellation terms will apply:

• If you cancel at least 120 days prior to departure, the deposit amount will be held as credit.
• If you cancel with less than 120 days until departure:
  1. 50% of the monies paid in connection with the booking will be held as credit. The other 50% will be retained by us.
  2. if the cancellation is due to you having COVID-19 or ‘flu-like symptoms’, we will hold 100% of monies paid by you in connection with the booking as credit. This must be supported by a medical certificate,
  3. Any credit resulting from a cancellation under this Clause 8.3 does not have an expiry date and may be applied towards any other available trip offered by us. This credit is not transferable or redeemable for cash. This credit excludes flights or insurance as they will have their own booking conditions.

You are strongly advised to take out cancellation insurance at the time of booking. If you leave a trip for any reason after it has commenced, we are not obliged to make any refunds for unused services. If you do not join your trip, join it after departure, or leave it prior to its completion, no refund will be available. The above cancellation terms are in addition to fees which may be levied by accommodation providers, travel agents or third-party tour and transport operator fees.

For full details on cancellations, please read our Bookings Terms & Conditions.

Simply Cuba Tours would do everything we can to assist you in this regard, but please note that we would not be liable for any damage, losses or expenses suffered by any participant as a result of sickness, quarantine, weather conditions, war, strikes, riots or any other cause beyond our control. If sickness or accident interrupts a tour, Simply Cuba Tours shall not be liable for any loss or expense arising therefrom, save only to the extent that such sickness or accident was caused by Simply Cuba Tours’s wilful act or gross negligence. We strongly recommended that you take out comprehensive travel insurance upon booking, to cover any financial losses due to cancellation for whatever reason. Also please refer to our Bookings Terms & Conditions

We currently have a referral discount whereby, if you refer a friend and the booking is made directly with Simply Cuba Tours, you will qualify for a EUR$200 discount. The discount can only be redeemed if the full tour price is charged. The discount cannot be redeemed if other discounts are given on the same tour. Furthermore, the discount will be issued to if you contact us within 1 month after the person that you referred registers for their first tour. If the person you referred cancels their booking, then the discount you received in relation to this referral will no longer be valid.

There are no requirements for vaccination or PCR testing to enter Cuba.

You will have to complete an online personal information form via the D’Viajeros portal within 72 hours before departing for Cuba. Once you provide it, you will receive a QR code by email. You must show an electronic or printed version of the QR code to authorities upon arrival.

D’Viajeros traveller information portal – Government of Cuba

You also must have travel insurance in place. To find the best insurer read this article from Medical for Nomads.

Cuba has 2 distinct seasons – the wet season from April to October, with the hottest and wettest months being June, July and August. And the Dry Season from November to April, where some nights can be a ‘chilli’ 16 degrees. Tropical storms and hurricanes are more prevalent in September and October but rarely cause problems for travelers.

It is important to note that there is no specific time frame as to when a tour will get confirmed. The general rule is: if we receive the minimum number of bookings to operate the tour, we will send out the official tour confirmation. Should we fill a tour 6 months in advance, we will send out tour confirmation to allow you to book your flights.

We always encourage everyone to book their desired tour as soon as possible. Having a tour confirmed far in advance allows participants to book flights early and thus, receive better deals on flight tickets. If you require more information on booking numbers for your specific tour, please contact tours@simplycubatours.com.

Hand sanatiser was the first thing that went out of stock in Cuba. It is a government requirement for public venues to provide hand sanitiser, such as places like your accommodation, transport and restaurants. However, it is something that is hard to source in Cuba, for peace of mind we recommend bringing your own personal supply.

It’s not advisable to drink water from the tap in Cuba. We ask that you bring your drink bottle, and we will provide you with safe drinking water each day of your trip.

They are western-style, flushable toilets. You will be required to pay a small fee at public toilets and if you are lucky you will be given some toilet paper. It is however something that may not be readily available at the facility, or even in shops, so best thing to do is to bring either hand tissues or your own toilet paper.

It is best to check with your service provider in your home country prior to leaving whether their service will work or will allow roaming whilst in Cuba. For Australian travellers that is a definite no on this occasion.

Currently Cuban authorities do not differentiate between vaccinated or non-vaccinated arrivals. There are no requirements for PCR testing, nor is there a requirement for using masks.

All our guides are triple vaccinated and all our service providers have been certified by the Cuban government to meeting their health and safety standards. These providers are reviewed periodically to ensure that they keep standards at the highest levels.

We do request that our travellers bring RAT tests with them and test and report if they become symptomatic. Should this become the case, our tour leader will take them to obtain medical assistance and upon positive test, they may require isolation.

General rule of thumb is smart casual attire for the duration for your trip.

For birding/birding photography tours – Light-weight, neutral-colored clothing (ideally not white) that can easily be rinsed out and dried quickly (cotton or cotton blends) are recommended for the field, so as not to unnecessarily frighten away birds and other wildlife. If you prefer long-sleeved shirts and long pants, then these will help protect you from insects, thorny plants and sunburn. Strong-soled walking shoes or hiking boots are essential, as we will typically spend a good amount of time on our feet.

Laundry services are usually available; however, more detail in this regard will be provided once you have signed up for a particular tour. Making use of the available laundry service means you will not need to bring as many items of clothing as you would otherwise. Alternatively, to lighten your load, you may consider bringing some clothes that may be discarded at the end of your trip – these clothes are typically well received.

Keep your bags light as you will have to carry them to your accommodation from the bus.

For diving – ensure you have your rashie and mask as a minimum.

Sunscreen, water bottle, mozzie repellent, hat and sunglasses  are handy to have.

Regardless of the time of the year, it is always wise to bring a jumper and a rain jacket (poncho).

For each tour, you will be sent detailed pre-departure with a packing list to help you prepare. This document provides details on the required clothing and expected weather conditions for each particular tour. With any questions in this regard, please feel free to reach out to us at tours@simplycubatours.com

If you advise us of your dietary requirements we can accommodate them on your trip.

Please note that some items aren’t readily available i.e. milk alternatives, packaged snacks so if they are important to you, you may wish to pack some supplies for yourself.

Another thing to consider is that Cuban cuisine is built around seasonal food, some seasons have more variety of fruits and vegetables than others. 

Prior to your travel Orsolya will help you either via email on tours@simplycubatours.com, messenger or on phone/whatsapp +61 402083 137

Once you are on tour, you will be provided you tour guide’s information with contact information in Cuba to assist you.

We support Together for Cuba with 5% of our proceeds going to this charity. We also provide medicine and hygiene products as additional support.

Depends on the tour you have selected.

Our photography tours attract those who are serious about learning the art of photography and want to take their skillset to the next level within their chosen field.

Our Simply Cuba influencer led tours are frequented by the younger generation, who wish to master their iphone photography, learn to be influencers within the travel industry and don’t take themselves too seriously.

Our birding tours cater for those keen to discover the region’s endemic specialities. You DO NOT need to be an expert birder to come on our tours.

The diving tour for those who want to spend a lot of their time in the water discovering the untouched waters of the Caribbean sea.

What is most common in our clients is the intrigue for new cultures, the love of nature and culture and the willingness to come with an open mind and learn.

All nations are welcome! And whilst our clients tend to come from a large variety of countries, the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and Nez Zealand well represented.

Our photography tours have been specifically crafted around creating an incredible experience, whilst providing outstanding expert guidance to create a Cuban Photography portfolio. Will ensure that you get a change to capture a variety of unique scenarios – the endemic birds in flight for our birding photographers, shipwrecks, sharks and more for our divers and soul capturing photo opportunities for our travel photographers to name a few.

Our Simply Cuba Tour is designed for balance. Balance of fun, culture. Photography and adventure. Nature and nurture. It has everything from ziplining to get the adrenalin going to salsa for endorphins to waterfall swims for relaxations. You cannot go wrong!

Our birding tour is focused on showing you the regions of Cuba richest in birdlife, especially endemics. Whilst our diving tour brings you 14 days of diving fun mixed with an authentic Cuban cultural experience.

If there was any direct cause for concern, we would assess the situation in full before making any necessary decisions. Our first choice, should the situation allow, would be to rearrange the itinerary to ensure the trip goes ahead. Should a destination become entirely unsafe for travel, then we will cancel the trip and you will receive a refund.

It is, commonplace for world news to sensationalise what is sometimes going in within a particular country. It is important to understand that conflict is sometimes regional and that our tour might not be going to the area that is deemed to be unsafe. As mentioned before, the safety of our guests and Simply Cuba Tour Leaders are of the utmost importance to us and all decisions on whether to cancel a trip or go ahead will be taken very seriously and with everyone’s safety at the core.