Baracoa
This Spanish fort has watched over the harbor entrance at the northwestern end of town since 1803. The super thick, hurricane-resistant walls now hide a…
Must-see attractions in Cuba
Cuba
A brief exposé of Palmira's famous Santería brotherhoods (including the societies of Cristo, San Roque and Santa Barbara) and their raison d'être can be…
Museo Provincial General Vicente García
Las Tunas
Housed in the royal blue town hall with a clock mounted on the front facade, the provincial museum documents local tunero history. A member of staff will…
Isla de la Juventud & Cayo Largo del Sur
The cemetery here contains the graves of Americans who lived and died on the island during the 1920s and 1930s. It's about 7km east of Nueva Gerona and…
Museo Casa Natal de Serafín Sánchez
Sancti Spíritus
Serafín Sánchez was a local patriot who took part in both Wars of Independence and went down fighting in November 1896. The museum cataloguing his heroics…
Guantánamo Province
Housed in an old jail guarded by two cannons, the city museum has salas (rooms) dedicated to aboriginal culture, local nature, weapons (lots of Mambí…
Santa Clara
The eastern side of Parque Vidal is guarded by the thick columns of the neoclassical Palacio Provincial (1902), today home to the Martí library (9am to…
Museo Municipal María Escobar Laredo
Villa Clara Province
Even humble Caibarién had a heyday (although it was a while ago): find out more about it here in one of the city's most elegant buildings, the former…
Santiago de Cuba
Situated opposite the Bacardí Museum, the equally Hellenic provincial government seat is another building from Cuba's 20th-century neoclassical revival…
Camagüey
This modest house gives visitors a small insight into Cuba's late national poet and his books. It doubles as the Instituto Superior de Arte, where local…
Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas
Regla, Guanabacoa & the Forts
Inside the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, this armaments museum contains weapons from bows and arrows to giant catapults and cannons.
Las Tunas
A two-headed Taíno chief looking in opposite directions. It dominates the surroundings at the rustic Motel El Cornito 3km west of town.
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje
Santa Clara
East of the center, the Buen Viaje (1707) is Santa Clara's third-oldest church. The current structure is an interesting mix of Gothic, Romanesque and…
Matanzas
An eye-catching Che Mural – a copy in mosaic of Alberto Korda's famous 1960 photo – lies to the south of Puente Calixto García.
Holguín
In the southwestern corner of Parque Calixto García is the Biblioteca Alex Urquiola, named after a local revolutionary and housing Holguín’s biggest book…
Habana Vieja
Thousands of people pass by his image every day, but few spare a glance for this marble statue of engineer Francisco de Albear, located in a small Habana…
Havana
Now the Spanish embassy, this beautiful wedding-cake-like building was constructed in the art nouveau style in 1912. It's the only embassy in this part of…
Habana Vieja
Encased in Plaza Vieja's oldest building is this quirky playing-card museum, with a 2000-strong collection that includes rock stars, rum drinks and round…
Habana Vieja
The Casa de México Benito Juárez exhibits Mexican folk art and plenty of books but not a lot on Juárez (Mexico’s first indigenous president) himself.
Ciego de Ávila Province
Contains pre-Columbian artifacts from the nearby Los Buchillones archaeological site. The museum is in the town of Chambas, 10km northeast of Florencia.
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí
Vedado
Cuba’s national library is housed in a modernist tower block overlooking the Plaza de la Revolución. There's sometimes a photo exhibit in the lobby.
Centro de Interpretacion de la Ciudad
Camagüey
Cuba loves its maquetas (scale models), and Camagüey is no exception. This one offers a good overview of the twisting streets of the city.
Reserva Ecological Alturas de Banao
Sancti Spíritus Province
This reserve between Trinidad and Sancti Spíritus is a mountain refuge with waterfalls, forest and steep limestone cliffs in the Guamuhaya range.
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
Habana Vieja
An average museum that contains examples of Cuba's flora and fauna; it overlooks Plaza de Armas in a building that once served as the US embassy.
Holguín
The tomb of Calixto García, containing his ashes, is in Holguín's Plaza de la Revolución, as is as a smaller monument to García's mother.
Cienfuegos
This park near the Club Cienfuegos at the beginning of the Punta Gorda Peninsula is festooned with a motley collection of modern sculptures.
Habana Vieja
Overlooking the harbor is this small-scale Cuban-style playground (for children aged four to 12), with inflatable castles and other games.
José María Heredia y Heredia Statue
Santiago de Cuba
The traffic circle at the corner of Av Manduley and Calle 13 contains an impressive marble statue of poet José María Heredia y Heredia.
Villa Clara Province
Small street corner gallery displaying local art in the town that spawned Cuba’s greatest painter, Wifredo Lam, born here in 1902.
Habana Vieja
An old gun shop (now museum) stormed by revolutionaries on the said date in 1958. Mercifully, the armaments are no longer for sale.
Habana Vieja
This museum contains antediluvian fire equipment dedicated to 19 Havana firefighters who lost their lives in an 1890 railway blaze.
Centro de Promoción Cultural Guiarte
Ciego de Ávila Province
This gallery has works by Raúl Martínez, Cuba's king of pop art, on permanent display, alongside works by other local artists.
Isla de la Juventud & Cayo Largo del Sur
Beyond Playa los Cocos at the far end of the island is this beach, where sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand in the summer.
Pinar del Río Province
The beach life here can't match the alluring north coast; still, this makes a pleasant, sandy deviation on the way out west.
Holguín
The Iglesia de San José features a distinctive dome with a bell tower (1842), once used by the Independistas as a lookout.
Bayamo
This is the one original section of Bayamo's main church to survive the 1869 fire. It sports a gilded wooden altar.
Ciego de Ávila Province
The Iglesia Católica dating from 1947 is notably emblazoned with the city's patron saint, San Eugenio de la Palma.
Granma Province
For an example of the city's striking architecture, check out the old City Bank of NY building from 1913.
Viñales
A tiny art gallery next to the Casa de la Cultura in Viñales town center. Worth a stop on a rainy day!
Holguín
Situated in a colonial building, the Galería Holguín displays a revolving cache of good local art.
