Events to Plan Around – Santiago and the rest of Cuba
Seasoned travelers’ advice:
- Book your flights as early as possible, especially if there is more than one of you. Flight schedules are usually up by mid-Summer.
- When booking for more than one person – you may notice that the flight price is higher than expected. Try booking one person – you may get the last seat at that price, and then you can book the next person at the higher price – often a saving of up to $50.00. You still get to sit together!
- Come a little early or stay a little longer – this is particularly true for Christmas and March Break and Easter. Sometimes a day or two can make a huge difference in airfare and accommodations. Hotels and Bnb’s often offer a serious discount for longer stays (more than 2 weeks) – See Stay with Us
- Often prices are lower at end of January, beginning of February, including Hotels and Bnb’s.
- For events book your accommodation well in advance.
- Make sure you have CASH money with you. Banks close for major holidays and ATM’s run out of money.
Christmas and New Year’s
Christmas is a religious festival. New Year’s is both a great party and a political event. It is also about family.
Most everything, except entertainment shuts down from 30th December to about January 4. People try to travel back to their family homes from wherever they are. Expect long delays and overbooking on all transportation.
Buy wine, spirits, beer and soft drinks early.
Make sure you and your host have plenty of bottled water on hand.
Christmas and New Year’s in Santiago
We offer a Christmas Dinner (yes we do great vegetarian food) with English style crackers to pull – funny hats to wear, etc. No Christmas pudding – but great traditional deserts. Come in time to decorate the TREE. Hang decorations, and make crackers. Take a papier mache workshop and make some decorations to take home for next year! Midnight mass at the cathedral with wonderful choral music and community participation. Get there early and be prepared to stand.
For New Year’s we offer an early traditional dinner so that you can go out and enjoy the festivities around the city.
Villa Clara – Remedios
Christmas Eve – a tradition dating back two centuries. Every year the two opposing parts of the town compete for the best float. These huge Chinese style floats take most of the year to build.
Firecrackers, fireworks, bands, and fancy dress make this a truly memorable event.
Matamoros Traditional Music Festival – Santiago
March 19 to 24
Santiago de Cuba is the host city for this festival which celebrates the Trova music genre. Trova has a few different styles and sub-genres, and many of these are represented at the festival by musicians who are passionate about this romantic form of musical expression. Jose (‘Pepe’) Sanchez who died in 1918. He was considered the father of the Cuban style of Trova. The festival culminates on March 19 which is known as Troubador Day, and is the date of Pepe Sanchez’s birth in 1856.
Matamoros Son International Festival
Matamoros Son Festival. This festival is held every 2 years. It owes its existence to a local (now famous) musician – Alberto Alvarez, and is a tribute to one of the big names of Cuban music – the Santiago de Cuba-native Miguel Matamoros author of the well-known song “Son de la loma”.
Havana World Music Festival
March 26 to 28
A popular new music festival held in Havana each March and organised by the new rum label Black Tears by Vigia which is marketed at the younger party generation of Cubans and foreigners alike. Interestingly though, Black Tears is named after an old and traditional Cuban ballad, very popular among Cubans of all generations – the 1929 Lágrimas Negras (literally “Black Tears” in English) by Miguel Matamoros, which was composed in a combination of the traditional Cuban rhythms of bolero and son. The music on offer at the festival is also a mixture of the the traditional with the more modern.
March Break and Easter
Family Holidays, Birding, Active Adventures, and much more – throughout the island.
Festival of Fire – Santiago
July 3rd to 9th
Week long festival at the beginning of July celebrating the African diaspora in the Caribbean. Each year a different country is honoured. Music, dance, food, lectures, gallery displays. Lots of street events, evening shows. Mix and match with our history, eco-tours, walks
Carnival – Santiago
July 19-27 (approximate).
This is “tierra caliente!” The Sea is Hot and the Music Hotter
Carnival seems to start earlier every year. There are parades and prizes, children’s carnival on the Sunday preceding, and the grand parade on the last night. Lots of street parties, lots of music everywhere!
In 1953 the attack on the Moncado took place on July 26th – hence all the banners in black and red with M26 emblazoned on them. The attack on the barracks is celebrated very early in the morning of July 26th – 5am! With a mock attack, gunfire and explosions. No you are not under attack! Every second year Santiago is the site of the political celebrations at the Moncada.
July 24, 25, 26 are national holidays – banks are closed, ATM’s are not refilled, stores may or may not open for short periods. Museums may be open, but plan for a party! Plan accordingly. All schools are closed the end of June and July and August are major family holidays. Campismos are crowded to overflowing.
Biannual International Choral Festival – Santiago
November/December – dates vary. Non-competitive Choral Music festival. Choirs from around the world.