Cuba Highlights
Havana
Unquestionably, the Cuban capital is one of the most peculiar and fascinating cities on earth, a city of
great paradox and great presence. It is the focus of Cuba's youth culture, the place where you'll find the most magnificent
hotels and the liveliest nightclubs. Havana's key tourist attractions include: the Plaza de Armas, Palacio de los Capitanes
Generales, Catedral de la Habana, El Capitolio, El Morro, Gran Teatro, Parque Central, El Malecón, Plaza de la Revolución, Hotel
Inglaterra and Edificio Bacardí; museums such as the Museo de la Revolución, Museo de la Ciudad, the Museo de Arte Colonial,
the Museo de Bellas Artes and the Finca Vigía Hemingway Museum; the Pártagas cigar factory; the famous Hemingway drinking
holes La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita; and the world-famous Tropicana nightclub.
Viñales
Around
Viñales, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, are a unique string of rounded limestone mountains called mogotes; in
their shadows are the lush green fields that produce the world's finest tobacco leaves, the dream of cigar connoisseurs from
Paris to New York.
Varadero
The resort of Varadero, some 32 km NE of Matanzas, is the closest you'll get
to finding Miami Beach in Cuba. If you are looking for a straightforward beach holiday in a good modern hotel with cable TV,
air-conditioning, a pool and a jacuzzi, then this is the place for you. The seas are warm and crystal blue - and it is one of the
few places in Cuba where women can sunbathe topless.
Zapata Peninsula
The best-known of Cuba's wildlife
havens, the Zapata Peninsula, 156 km southeast of Havana, is a refuge for many bird and animal species. The scenery is
spectacular: flamingos swoop across the milky lagoons, and crocodiles meander out across the dirt roads. The entire region is
now a nature reserve.
Santa Clara
The provincial capital of Santa Clara, 276 km east of Havana, is well
worth visiting. The city has a fine colonial centre, full of well-restored mansions, theatres and churches. See in particular the
Museo de Artes Decorativas, Teatro la Caridad, Restaurante Colonial 1878, Casa de la Ciudad, Iglesia del Carmen and, beneath
the Plaza de la Revolución, is the Mausoleo, which houses the remains of Che Guevara, brought here in
1997.
Trinidad
Located in Sancti Spíritus Province, 82 km east of Cienfuegos, is Trinidad, Cuba's third-oldest
settlement and one of the island's crown jewels. Its red-tiled roofs, pastel buildings, cobblestoned streets and historic
museums make the town a magnet for anyone interested in Cuba's colonial history. In 1988, the United Nations declared
Trinidad and the Valle de los Ingenios a World Heritage Site.
Sierra Del Escambray
The majestic Sierra del
Escambray is Cuba's second most famous mountain range after the Sierra Maestra in the Oriente, with its highest peak - the
Pico San Juan - topping 1,100 metres. Some of the heaviest rainfall in Cuba feeds the Escambray's lush jungle, where trees are
laden with bromeliads and delicate waterfalls greet you at every turn; look out for the giant umbrella-like ferns, a prehistoric
species.
Sierra Maestra Mountains
To experience fully the rugged beauty of the southeastern mountains, the
best base is the Villa Santo Domingo, in the hills south of the road linking Bayamo and Manzanillo on the coast. Guides
accompany visitors to the area through the wilderness and lead hikes up Cuba's highest mountain, Pico Turquino (1,970 metres),
16 km away. The trail is exciting and beautiful: between outcroppings of mineral and volcanic rocks, deep green conifers stand
alongside precious cedar, mahogany and trumpetwood trees.
In the colonial town of Bayamo and nearby Dos Ríos are monuments to the greatest heroes of Cuba's 19th-century War of Independence - Carlos de Céspedes and José Martí.
Santiago de Cuba
Nestled alongside a sweeping bay at the foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains, Santiago is
Cuba's most exotic and ethnically diverse city. Santiago is renowned for producing much of Cuba's most important music, and
this rich musical tradition, mingled with the remnants of French customs, gives the city a sensual, even sleazy, New Orleans-like
atmosphere.
Cayo Largo
East of the Isle of Youth (Isla de la Juventud), Cayo Largo is one of a myriad of
tiny cays scattered in a wide arc. All have delicious beaches of white powdery sand and magnificent diving amongst the coral
and the shipwrecks. Cayo Largo is currently the only cay that is geared to tourism, and is accessible by plane from Havana or
Varadero.