Cuba went live on Wednesday (1 November), with Sunvil offering a range of accommodation – including private houses, or casas. Other featured properties include the five-star Mystique Regis Havana Hotel and Iberostar Grand Trinidad, plus the beachside Royalton Cayo Santa Maria.
Sunvil’s 12-day active guided tour of Cuba gives guests the opportunity to explore Cuba’s capital Havana by bike or classic car and visit the city of Santa Clara where Che Guevara is buried.
Other highlights include the Topes de Collantes Nature Reserve; the Bay of Pigs, one of six Unesco biosphere reserves in Cuba; and Pinar del Rio, famed for its limestone monoliths or mogotes.
Prices lead in from £3,495pp based on two sharing including return flights, B&B accommodation, some meals, all transfers, entrance fees and the services of a local bilingual guide for eight days. Tours can be fully tailor-made.
Closer to home, Greek island specialist Sunvil has added the island of Kea – or Tzia – in the Cyclades to its 2024 programme. Sunvil describes Kea as being atypical of islands in the Cyclades, in so much as it doesn’t feature the classic whitewashed cubic houses or blue-domed churches.
The operator has also expanded its Crete programme with the addition of the small coastal resorts of Plakias and Agia Galini, the inland village of Zaros, and Agios Apostolis, near Chania.
Other additions include small ship and gulet cruises via Star Clippers and Sail in Greece, fly-drive options in western Greece to Sivota, Parga and Zagoria, and new tailor-made island hopping routes:
- Cyclades and Dodecanese – Santorini, Amorgos, Astypalea, Kos, Nissyros, Tilos and Rhodes
- North Aegean – Thessaloniki, Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Rhodes
- Western Cyclades – Sifnos, Folegandros and Milos
Sunvil is also growing its Albania programme, which already features Saranda and is served "frequent and reliable" 30-minute ferries from Corfu, and its Nordic programme.
Additions in Albania include the southern beach resorts of Ksamil, Himare and Vlore; twin-centres with Corfu, Paxos, Sivota, Parga and Lefkas; and self-catering properties through GIC The Villa Collection.
The Nordics is another focus for Sunvil; the next "solar maximum", a period of heightened solar activity which occurs every 11 years, is due this winter, boosting people’s chances of seeing the Northern Lights.
Sunvil has added a new guesthouse in Swedish Lapland, with a four-night itinerary there featuring snowmobiling, dog sledding, reindeer encounters, Aurora tours, ice driving and snowshoeing leading in from £2,976pp based on two sharing.
Another new property has been added in Finnish Lapland too, Iso Syote. Sunvil is also offering a new seven-night Arctic Adventure twin-centre journeying from Norway’s Tromso to Lapland, which leads in from £2,460pp.
