Our representative will meet you at Toronto's Pearson Airport for the start of your Cuban adventure. You will be met at Antonio Maceo Airport in Santiago de Cuba by our friendly staff and taken directly to your resort. This tiny all-inclusive resort is perched high on a cliff with some of the most beautiful seascapes in Cuba.

Relax by the, take a walk in the small town, snorkel or bathe, acclimatize to the island's warmth and beauty.

Before lunch you will transfer to Santiago (about an hour's drive along a beautiful coast road) and your city homestay - your home for 3 nights. This exciting city is one of the oldest in the Americas. After lunch we will take a tour of the highlights of this historic city (2) (3) (4) with our expert guide and translator.

A gala dinner, with an exciting performance of Afro-cuban dance, will provide you with a splendid introduction to the soul of this city and give you time to meet some of the people who will be your guides to our gardens.

An early start will take us passed large state farms, through peaceful villages and onto the slopes of the Gran Piedra. We will make several stops on the climb to the summit as we pass through plantations of coffee, and bananas, orange and mango groves. Every turn in the climb brings with it changing climates and plants.

Amid a cloud forest of giant ferns and orchids, our expert will open your eyes to some of Cuba's tiniest ferns and orchids, bromeliads, and other exotic plants. We will take time to visit the house and grounds of the 19th century Haitian style Cafetal near the summit for a look at Cuba's past.

Our tour will take us to a commercial high altitude garden with a Bird of Paradise nursery. Fragrant hedges circle beds of roses, gladioli and camellias. Every path provides a vista of mountainsand plains.

Because of the early start and later lunch you will have the choice of a snack during your time on the mountain.

For lunch we will visit an artisans' colony (2) with time to stroll and visit their homes and studios. A great place for something unique to take home.

On our return to Santiago you will be dropped at your homestays. Dinner on your own in one of the many restaurants in Santiago.

From a day in the clouds to a day on the narrow desert like coastal strip between the Caribbean Sea and the Sierra Maestra. The internationally acclaimed cactus expert of the Jardin Botanico de Santiago will be your lecturer at the Cactus garden, which is his work and his passion. This large garden is home to both indigenous cacti and those from around the world (2).

After lunch we will have time to explore more of Santiago's coastal plain and its rocky coastline.

We will return to Santiago and your homestays in time for dinner. Dinner on your own.

Optional evening visit to local Trova - this is where the musical traditions of the island are preserved.

For the morning we will make a very special tour of Casa de los Helechos. This famous garden is a unique setting for an internationally important collection of tropical ferns (2), bromeliads and orchids (2) (3). This outstanding collection is the life work of the Director, acknowledged around the world for his contributions to the world of ferns and gardens and the discoverer of several indigenous species.

We will take the opportunity to visit one of the organicoponico gardens which this year are expected to bring in about 3 million tons of produce throughout the island. Started just a decade ago these gardens make a significant contribution to the diet and health of everyone.

Lunch.

Free afternoon and evening.

Dinner on your own.

After breakfast an early start will put us on the road to Bayamo. The two-hour drive takes us over the Sierra Maestra and onto the central plain. Cane fields stretch as far as the eye can see, punctuated by groves of oranges, avocados and mangos, and banana plantations. The City of Bayamo is home to an extensive Jardin Botanico, which includes collections of foothills plants, lilies, medicinal plants, ferns and orchids. Their orchards contain species trees of the fruits of this island, and with your lunch you will have your choice of fruits and vegetables grown in this unique setting.

This is an exciting garden still growing and changing, offering a largely different environment from those in the dryer coastal plain or in the mountain tops.

From here we head into the mountains to El Salton Eco-Resort for a break and to see more mountain plants.

A welcome dinner will give you a chance to meet your guide for your mountain stay.

A day to enjoy the many delights of this small eco-resort. Swim in a waterfall, take a massage, relax and enjoy a book by the tinkling stream, enjoy the myriad of birds and butterflies.

Breakfast, Lunch in the open-air dining room above the gentle river. Traditional Cuban dinner by the waterfall.

A guided early morning walk takes us above the resort through the alpine like meadows of peaceful farms. See cocoa on the tree, coffee growing in the shelter of forest canopy, peacocks strutting across the meadow, and children on their way to school. The plants, birds, and butterflies of the high mountains are fascinating in their diversity.

We shall leave after lunch for a drive through the mountains to Santiago. On our way we shall take the opportunity to pause at the Basilica (2) de La Vergin de la Caridad at El Cobre dedicated to the patron saint of Cuba. This modern Basilica (nearly a century old) set amid flowering trees, is the site of many personal pilgrimages.

You will return in time for dinner at your beach resort.

Enjoy once more the tranquility of this tiny resort, or enjoy some of the more active life of its sister hotel. Day 13 Come out to one of the tiny islands in the bay for an optional fish barbeque.

Relax at the resort until time for your late afternoon airport transfer.

Leave for home.