Habanos Cuban Festival XII - Feb 2010

[ACMCC]

Thanks for the info Bob, was thinking of going, have a few other things around those date's so still at the planning stage at the mo....but it is now at the top of the list.....

[Deano]

Good spot bob. Lucky you did or I might've booked it all wrong!

[snooky]

Sounds good anyone got anymore details?

[Big_T_UK]

Yes, any progress on this?

T.

[Ryan]

As far as I know, there's nothing definite yet. The only mention I've seen is this, bottom of the page,
"The 12th Havano Festival will be held in the Cuban capital February 22-26, 2010, the organizing committee announced. "

http://www.cubanow.net/pages/loader.php?sec=18&t=2&item=6460

From what I can find, every festival for the last ten years has been held on the last week in February.
I have flights and the Parque Central booked for feb 18-28. It's my 40th next month and this is my wife's present to me.
I wanted to get in early as, from what I've heard, the shelves in the casas empty during the festival. The new export restrictions bother me though,

[Pantomimehorse]

who have you booked with Ryan? did you go for a package or book flights and hotel seperate? think Im going to go festival time too

[Ryan]

who have you booked with Ryan? did you go for a package or book flights and hotel seperate? think Im going to go festival time too

I booked separately.
I used this for the hotel.

http://www.cubahotelreservation.com/hotel.asp?hotel_code=sctpcentral#rooms

and Cubajet for the flights.
Flying with Air France, Dublin-Paris, Paris-Havana.

[Pantomimehorse]

thanks Ryan I like they look of that place, I'm also considering renting out a house as that seems quite cheap but must admit the hotel looks great

[Ryan]

thanks Ryan I like they look of that place, I'm also considering renting out a house as that seems quite cheap but must admit the hotel looks great

The Parque Central does look very nice, it's also very near the Partagas factory. I was considering a Casa Particular myself and found some nice looking ones on the web, this one for example.

http://www.cubaradiso.com/en/vmchk/La-Habana-Vieja/Prado-Colonial-Formerly-Casa-Kenia/shop.cuba_flypage.html

Very cheap at about 30 CUC/day but as this is my first time in Havana and I'm going with a friend who is very much on the cautious side, I chose the hotel. We also may need somewhat reliable internet access.
I've also heard stories of people being bumped from the casa they had booked to another due to double booking. This will be festival time, there will be a lot of return travellers, who have ongoing relationships with casa owners, who have not booked yet..so I didn't want to take the chance.

[Pantomimehorse]

good points all round mate, think I might go for the hotel

[Kdot]

I'd be interested in this but The prices i'm getting for flights is fairly expensive (?800 ish) from Scottish airports. I'll need to research this.

Any Scots looking to make the pilgramage, possibly do a group booking and get a discount?

[Pantomimehorse]

Kdot similar goings on in my searching for London flights, seems ?600 plus is the norm, somethings gotta be wrong with that ?

[Ryan]

It's not cheap. Flights for me, with one stop in Paris, came to about ?820, ?750ish.
That's the cheapest I could find for February, there are cheaper deals out there but not for that week. At least not yet.

[Simon-JG-hr]

I'm thinking about it. Will have to make a decision soon though.

It's looking like being about ?630rtn, direct to Havana from London, plus about ?550 for 7 nights of accommodation at the Nacional.

Anyone interested in sharing? The accommodation price would drop to around ?315 for sharing a twin room (two singles by the look of the photos).

[Big_T_UK]

Yep, interested.....