A TRIP to one of Havana's biggest cigar factories dispelled the myth that tobacco is rolled on the thighs of virgins, but still provided a fascinating insight into how they are made.

The Dickensian building was hot, dark and dirty -- but the finished product is prized by connoisseurs around the world.

Workers specialise in one part of the process, such as matching the colour of cigars, but brands such as Monte Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and the much-prized Cohiba, are all produced in the same place and sold in the adjoining shop.

When we visited, the workforce was winding down ahead of the four-day July Bank Holiday, which commemorates an important date in the country's revolution.

Reminders of Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries are on every corner and our tour of the city wouldn't have been complete without seeing the huge image of Che Guevara in Havana's Revolution Square.

We learned a lot about Cuba's history during our six-night tour, but also had time on the trip to sample the local rum and the lively bars. Music can be heard on every corner of the capital and nearly all the bars have their own bands.

We tried daiquiris at El Floridita where they were invented, Cuba libres at La Bodeguita del Medio where Ernest Hemingway used to hang out and mojitos (made of rum, lemon juice, sugar, water and mint) sitting at the Cafe de Paris.

The streets are lined with colourful, but dilapidated, buildings, and the ornate houses lining the city's seafront look as though they are about to collapse. Efforts are underway to renovate the historic centre of the city, but there is still plenty to see.

Getting around on foot is fairly easy and there are plenty of taxis to take you back to your hotel after one too many mojitos.

Our guide Diana and coach driver Diosvil took us to see Hemingway's house in a suburb of Havana. Visitors can't go in, but you can peer in from the outside and see stuffed animal heads and mementoes from his life.

Die-hard fans of the author may also enjoy a trip to the fishing village of Cojimar to the east of Havana. One of its residents was Gregorio Fuentes, a friend of the author and the person who provided the inspiration for the protagonist in his book The Old Man and the Sea.

From Havana we moved on to Cienfuegos, stopping on the way to see a small park with examples of local flora and fauna and a mocked-up Indian reservation.

Public transport is extremely unreliable and hire cars are in short supply so travelling by coach is the easiest option.

Lunch at a local restaurant followed a pattern started in Havana, with a choice of chicken, beef or fish, followed by a local pudding of mango puree with cheese.

Mealtimes provided a good opportunity to get to know other members of the group. The size of the tour can vary but there were 22 of us -- mainly couples or families with teenage children.

Cienfuegos is known as the Pearl of the South and its well-kept main street leads to an impressive main square with an attractive church and theatre.

The heat meant we didn't want to do a great deal of strolling around and we were all relieved to get to our hotel on the Caribbean coast. We travelled in July which proved to be extremely hot, with average temperatures of 32C (89F). Between May and October is the wet season.

Generally there is a short thunderstorm in the afternoon and then the weather clears, but we had hardly any rain. The dry season runs from November to April with slightly cooler temperatures.

A short drive took us to Trinidad, my favourite of the towns we visited. Its graceful colonial buildings have earned the town UNESCO protection as a world heritage site and it has the highest number of museums per capita in the country.

Girls in Cuba celebrate their coming of age at 15 by wearing elaborate wedding-style dresses and having their photographs taken at local beauty spots. We came across a girl posing with her parasol in the main square but she would have had any number of views to choose from.

We were invited into a house owned by an 81-year-old woman, complete with its 1950s fridge, and had lunch in a converted colonial residence. Many of the town's residents try to make money by letting rooms to tourists, as jobs are in short supply.

After picking up a few purchases from local craft stalls we drove through some stunning countryside, including the Valle do los Ingenios which was home to the sugar estates that helped create Trinidad's wealth in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our final day's sightseeing started in Sancti Spiritus, the provincial capital of the region of the same name, where the holiday celebrations were in full swing. Most of the population seemed to be pottering around the streets and there were dozens of stalls groaning under the weight of roast pigs.

We finished the day by visiting the mausoleum of Che Guevara (real name Ernesto) in Santa Clara and the derailed train monument which marks the site of a decisive clash between revolutionaries led by Guevara and Batista's forces in 1958.

Although the tour was over we still had eight nights to enjoy a completely different side of Cuba.

Varadero, on the north of the island, is dominated by tourism. Its 25km long peninsula is lined with luxury hotels and we stayed in one of the newest five-star resorts.

The LTI Varadero Beach is all inclusive, so after a morning or afternoon spent lounging around the pool or swimming in the warm turquoise sea there was always a plentiful buffet to look forward to. The menus varied slightly every day but the food was all excellent and drinks included. The town itself doesn't have much to see but Kuoni offers optional excursions such as swimming with dolphins and cruises.

Relaxing in such luxurious surroundings was wonderful, but I was also glad of the touring part of the holiday which gave us a chance to what life is like in the rest of the island.

TRAVEL FACTS

Kuoni Travel offers 14 nights in Cuba on the Discover Cuba Tour, spending three nights in Havana, one night in Cienfuegos, one night in Sancti Spiritus and one night in Santa Clara mostly on a full board basis on the tour, followed by 8 nights on an all-inclusive basis at the LTI Varadero Beach.

This itinerary includes transfers in resort and flights with Air Jamaica from Heathrow, the luxury atlantic limousine service. Prices from £1,224 per person based on two sharing in November 2002. To book call 01306 747008 or visit www.kuoni.co.uk