How do I prepare for a trip to Cuba? What restrictions are there, as an American? What activities count toward Support for the Cuban People? Where should I stay? What kind of money should I bring? Answers to all these questions and more, in a streamlined guide.

No trip to Cuba would really be complete without a visit to cigar country, so we booked a day-tour of Viñales, a rural town three hours west from Havana. It was here that we discovered rolling hills of green, vast farms of tobacco, and the home of Cuba's main exports.

Cuba is a photographer's paradise. It has pastel buildings, neon cars, and green farms that stretch as far as the eye can see. Contrasted against these bright colors are old, dilapidated mansions. It is a country of stark juxtaposition, a country caught in the 1960s.