Text and photos: Juan David Latorre.
There are many places and corners of Cuba that are “unmissable” for any tourist who wants to absorb the spirit of the island. Holguín and its Cayo Saetía, the Boulevard of Bayamo, the Historic Centers of Baracoa and Remedios, the Plaza de Marte of Santiago de Cuba, the mausoleum of Che Guevara in Santa Clara, the silver of Saint Lucia in Camagüey,…
From Havana you start to the east and reach Viñales, a small town in the province of Pinar del Río famous for its tobacco plantations and where the most common means of transport is still the horse and mule cart. Must visit the Mirador Los Jazmines and contemplate the unique and majestic Mogotes and the Mural of Prehistory.
Also the Cueva del Indio, the cave of Palenque de los Cimarrones, the Caverna de Santo Tomás or the Casa del Veguero are must-sees.
To the east is located the town of Cienfuegos. To say that the Plaza José Martí of this city is beautiful is very short. Its Teatro Terry, the Museo de las Artes Palacio Ferrer or the Palacio de Valle make this town one of the most artistic and carefully maintained in all of Cuba.
Cienfuegos takes its name from José María González de Cienfuegos Jovellanos, who was captain general of Cuba in the nineteenth century. In addition to the eclectic architecture fruit of the French, Spanish and Afro-descendants inhabitants who inhabited the city, the streets of this place allow the traveler to see different lifestyles in its portals and balconies. At the beaches of Rancho Luna, Rancho Cristal and Arimao, which are semi-impervious, you can breathe the tranquility of the atmosphere and also discover the bay that has served the maritime trade since the nineteenth century. The José Martí Park, which was the Plaza de Armas, has a series of mansions full of stories from the Cuban aristocracy until the 1959 Revolution.
Cienfuegos is another face of Cuba, without the hustle and bustle of Havana, this city is the perfect place for locals and visitors to live together and know the way of life of the Cubans in the province. Cienfuegos is 233 km from Havana, so the best option to visit this city is to rent a car.
And if we leave aside the idyllic Caribbean beaches of Cuba, perhaps the most beautiful place on the island is the city of Trinidad, one of the best preserved colonial places in America. Its foundation dates back to 1514, when the advance of the Spanish Crown, Diego Velázquez, established the “Third Villa” in these lands, which today belong to the province of Sancti Spíritus.
The historic center of Trinidad, one of the first Cuban peoples founded by the Spaniards, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Among its many points of interest are the Museum of History, the Archaeological Museum of Guamuhaya, the Museum of Colonial Architecture, the “Casa de la Trova”, the old sugar factories, the Romantic Museum of the Plaza Mayor, the Valley of the Mills and the Tower of Manaca Iznaga.
Located at the northernmost point of the island of Cuba, Varadero beach stretches along the narrow Hicacos Peninsula. Its 22 kilometers of beach are characterized by having a wide strip of fine white sand and a gentle descent from its platform to a sea that encloses an incomparable range of blues, in warm and transparent waters.
