“Walk to the end of this road. When you see a bakery, make a slight left onto a dirt path, and when you get to a building, ask for Benito.” These were our instructions for a DIY tour of a tobacco farm just outside of Viñales, a small town in western Cuba that we were visiting for a few days. It sounded a bit vague, a bit sketchy, and a bit unlikely that we’d find someone on site, but we were game.
Upon arrival by bus that morning, we had stopped into the local tourist office to try and arrange an outing. We wanted to hike, and we wanted to see a tobacco farm and learn how cigars were made. To our dismay, all of the trips were bundles of disparate activities, all crammed into 4-hour excursions that covered many things – none well. Our choices ended up being (a) to take a waterfall/cave/hiking/tobacco farm/horseback riding junket with a group, or (b) to improvise and find a farm and a hike on our own.
At the third agency I visited, I exasperatedly asked the salesman if we could just find a farm and stop by, and to my amazement, he said yes and told me about Benito’s place just outside of town. After a quick lunch, I roped in my skeptical travel mates and we traipsed off to find it.
And it worked! We straggled onto the property just as a small van of visitors was leaving, and impertinently asked if we could have our own tour. We were welcomed graciously and taken around to all of the barns and other buildings involved in growing, drying, and rolling tobacco for cigars.
They charged us nothing and even shared a cigar and a “white coffee” (coffee laced with rum) with us at the end. We tipped them generously, bought some cigars to take home, snapped a few more photos, and went on our merry way after the easiest and most personalized tobacco farm tour we could have hoped for.
One Foot Out the Door 
Obviously a complete success.
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Yes, the perfect kind of success. Unplanned, easy, and satisfying!
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These “spontaneous” excursions are the best! We usually try to find places and activities on our own and find the locals to be friendly and helpful. It is cheaper, more adventurous and more personable this way. You really interact with the locals and leave with extra understanding and appreciation when doing activities in depth and by yourself. Did you manage to find a decent hike to do as well?
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I totally agree that spontaneous finds are the best. It depends on the travel mates, though; you have to have the flexible, adventuresome type along to be able to pursue these things! Making your own fun has its risks (not so much here), but it has greater rewards. We did find a hike the next day; it was not ideal, but Cuba is not really set up for independent hiking at this point. It was just nice to be outdoors under the sun for a while!
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I’m glad you did your own thing and had a successful adventure!
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Thanks! We were quite pleased with ourselves!
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I’m surprised the salesman told you about it. Island directions often consist of landmarks rather than road signs. What an excellent tour. Congrats on avoiding the organized ones.
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I was a little surprised too, but I think he wanted me out of his hair! I had asked about 10,000 questions and was not taking no for an answer. Maybe he figured I’d never actually follow through – haha.
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This sounded like an amazing off-the-road trip. As J.D said, it is amazing the salesperson told you about this place. He sounded very genuine. Maybe he knew the people who owned and worked at the tobaccao farm. What could go right, could go right, went exactly that way for you. The tours they have sounded incredibly packed, and I’m guessing those are the ones where it is literally “in and out”, stop at a place for a few moments and then move on.
The tobaccao plants look so lush, like they are well taken care of. What a sight. Also that tall hut looks amazing. It looks a tad fragile what with it looking wispy on the outside but I’m sure it’s weather resistant 🙂
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I think the guy realized I was not going to do one of his combo tours, and he just wanted me to finish up since I was asking so many questions! He WAS very nice, though, to pass along the info, and we are so pleased it worked out so well. That’s the beauty of a not-yet-developed tourism scene; people are more flexible and open about what you can do. The tobacco plants were very healthy-looking and green – nice and fresh against the backdrop of those old buildings!
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Beautiful photos. Totally agree that avoiding the tour groups and spontaneously stopping is way preferable (in our experience too), almost everywhere. I second what Liesbet says above.
Wonderful that it was such a positive and fun experience. We too found the majority of Cuban people we came into contact with, exceptionally warm and hospitable.
Peta.
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The warmth and hospitality are also untarnished by tourism-based greed and inflexibility in Cuba! That may come with bigger crowds some day, but for now we found it so refreshing to be able to travel in a more laid-back way.
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Thanks for sharing about this. I love your photos. I took a taxi collectivo to Viñales from Havana and was able to have the driver stop so we could take a solo tour of a tobacco farm as well. It was breathtaking!
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I thought the farms were so pretty also, with the bright green tobacco leaves sprouting from the rich soil. It’s so great when things work out just as you hoped!
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This is the way to see a country! Organized tours can be ok, but it’s these solo explorations, and being willing to take a chance, that will be the memories you will always remember. Great photos!
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Agreed. I actually don’t hate tours in general; I just dislike when they try to cram too much into one outing and there are too many people as well. This was a perfect outcome for us that day!
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These are the best kinds of tours of all. The ones you just fall upon. Excellent post Lexi! Hope all is well!
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I totally agree – this was the perfect result for us! As you can tell, I am behind on my blog posting and reading; life is a dizzying carnival ride right now. ALMOST done, I think – I hope to be settled by the end of the month, maybe before. Fingers crossed!
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How fantastic that you had this authentic experience. I agree often the packaged tours have only a bit of what one actually wants.
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Exactly right, Sue – the organized tours are a big smorgasbord sometimes when all we want is a la carte!
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Generally the more people there are in a tour group, the cheaper it costs — although in many occasions the tour ends up faster than many people want it to be. I’m always touched by the genuine kindness of the local people, like what you experienced with the salesman at the third agency, who care more about treating guests well than reaping profits. This really sounds like a delightful discovery, Lex!
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We definitely got lucky, Bama. I asked the right guy at the right time, and he was willing to help us out. That’s one of the great things about hitting a country before its tourism industry is well-established; there is still room for improvisation!
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Great work! It clearly pays to be bold. Love the people photos here.
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Bold or maybe just a little annoying when I asked so many questions! Haha. The people of Cuba were very accommodating and helpful, and we got to see things a little differently as a result. It was great!
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I love this! My family are actually partially from Cuba (the majority of the Caribbean side are Jamaican, but my great granddad is Cuban) and I’ve always wanted to visit. It seems that the best adventures are typically not planned!xx
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So true! I am a planner and organizer by nature, but when I let things fall where they may, I always have the best time! I hope you get to go to Cuba soon; it’s a fascinating place. Do you still have any relatives there?
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looks amazing and worthwhile – even for someone who hates smoking!
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Thanks, Andy. I am certainly no fan of cigars or the smell of their smoke, but when in Cuba, it seemed like a must-visit and must-try (one puff)!!
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Sounds like it ended well 🙂 I’d love to have a white coffee… 😉
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Yes, we got lucky indeed. And the white coffee was a nice kick in the afternoon! 🙂
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That’s what I call efficient! So sweet that you managed to do the tour in a non touristic way, no pressure and last but not least, with a chance to take the time to enjoy. Does the dry tabacco smells like the one people smoke?
(This white coffee sounds exactly like what I need now with 2 kids in bed with flue 😛 )
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The tobacco leaves do not smell like the smoke from the cigars .. luckily! I don’t love that smell although some people do. I went to college in a town with many tobacco factories (decades ago!) and, interestingly, the smell of the tobacco there was sweet and not bad at all, nothing like the smoke from the cigarettes they were producing.
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Wonderful Lex. It’s seems to me it’s always worthwhile to pursue the kind of experience you really want rather than the packaged kind. We did a bit of both. Isn’t Viñales just wonderful? It was one of the highlights of Cuba for me. We didn’t get a tobacco tour, but instead hired a man with a horse and cart who drove us all around the valley for three hours. He was the sweetest man, and we did stop at a tobacco farm and had a look inside a drying shed and a talk with the farmer.
Alison
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Viñales was a highlight for me, too. It was so laid back and we had the cutest little Airbnb house down a dirt road from the main part of down. We had a great hike one day near some big hotel (can’t remember the name!) in the hills farther out of town, and we loved this little tobacco farm experience (not much more than a look at a drying shed and a chat either). I can’t wait to see and hear about everything you did in Cuba … I will hold my horses until you get to it! 🙂
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what a tour, fun! 😉
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Thanks! Sometimes the simple stuff is the best.
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Gate-crashing a farm, vineyard (or a tobacco plantation) can only go two way: shot at with salt, or a great day out… Glad it was the second for you, Lexi!
I’ve only had a Cuban cigar once, in 2006, when a friend made a bet with me that, had Italy won the World Cup, he’d have given me a Montecristo. I never knew they could be so inebriating!
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Based on my short trip, I can’t imagine any repercussions for gate-crashing in Cuba – it was one of the chillest places I’ve traveled! But I get your point; in fact, on a random hike one day in rural Colorado, we accidentally wandered onto private property and were immediately confronted by a gun-toting farmer who did not react well to our apologies. Yikes.
I only took one puff of the cigar, but I think it would be not only inebriating, but nauseating as well, if smoked in full!
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So you didn’t go around puffing smoke like a steamboat? Ah, that’s a missed opportunity there!
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I had a couple of Cubans that I brought back from my trip and totally agree they were inebriating. I thought it was because I was a light weight!
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I’m a lightweight, too, but I’ve been told those babies are extra strong!
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Just the mention of the word ‘Tobacco’ me want to take up smoking again (just kidding …but not really, the craving never goes away, it just lessens in intensity). Luckily, I was quickly distracted by your GORGEOUS images – everyone a winner. I am delighted that you were able to arrange such a marvelous, impromptu tour…those are always the best kind 😘
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Ahhh, Lisa – another similarity! If smoking wouldn’t kill me, I’d start up again tomorrow! Luckily, the smell of cigars is not pleasing to me, so the tobacco farm did not induce any decades-old cravings. It was such a pretty place in an earthy way, and I wish I’d taken more photos of the bright green leaves nestled in that rich soil, all surrounded by mountains and clear skies. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the countryside!
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A kindred spirit indeed, former bad habits and all 😀. While you may not have taken as many pics as you’d have liked, the ones you did take are works of art #imafan 👍
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That is so cool! Did you happen to visit the cigar factory in Havana? When I went many years ago, you could watch the whole process of people rolling and sorting cigars. It was very interesting.
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We did try to go to the factory in Havana, but it was closed. Cool building, though! We were bummed that all we could see was the entrance and the shop (who says Cuba is not capitalistic – ha), and that’s what set us on this mission to find a farm once we got out into the countryside.
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Just one puff? (that’s all I could take too) Isn’t it odd that processed tobacco can smell good but the smoke is nauseating?
I loved your tale of private touring – the best kind. It also brought memories that, in the countryside near Kansas City, where I used to live, there are still tobacco farms. I always liked seeing the fields being planted in spring, kids on the back of carts putting the plants in the ground by hand, a few rows at a time.
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I would never have imagined tobacco fields near Kansas City! I went to school in NC where, at the time, tobacco in both its raw and finished forms was a staple of the economy. The factories had a sweetish smell and back in those days, I admit to enjoying the smoked version also, but now I do find it nauseating!
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This brought back memories! We had organized a whole day out from Habana but we’re very clear we did not want to go on any of the tourist junkets. We spent the morning with a local artist who has used naturally occuring materials like local stone and wood to totally transform his property into a kind of sculpture garden. And the afternoon was a visit to a farm just like the one you have wonderfully photographed above.
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The artist visit sounds amazing! My daughter and I would have loved that. We took the bus to Vinales and spent two days and a night in a cute little house. We loved being out of Havana for a few days (even though it was still our favorite part of Cuba) and seeing the slow life in the countryside. Nice that you got to see a small farm as well – our visit was so enjoyable in a simple way.
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Those houses with the colorful rocking chairs looked so delightful…next time 🙂
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I wish I could have seen Vinales on my trip. But as you mentioned, the large bus tours were such a mish mesh of activities, I decided against taking one, but now I kind of regret missing out on this wonderful place.
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We were glad to have taken the bus to just get there and wander around on our own. The bus that took us there from Havana was great. Comfortable and clean, and the trip was maybe 4 hours with a nice rest stop. We toyed with hiring a driver, but after riding in those old cars for a few days, we decided a big cushy bus would be better for 4 people. Give it a try next time!
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I love this!! What a fun little side trip. I cannot stand to bring myself to do organized group tours….I’d rather pay extra and do something private or go it alone like you all did here :-). The trip we took was art focused so we missed this part of Cuba.
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This was a perfect little travel moment. I wish they all worked out this well! There was no way we were doing that touristy compilation of activities all crammed into about 4 hours, but actually figuring this one out took some patience and persistence.
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I say we won’t do group tours, but when we retrace the steps of Jack the Ripper in London, we’ll be with a big group. Ugh. Oh well, now I just sound like a brat!!
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Rules are made to be broken! I’m not a big tour person, but I’ve had some great ones!
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