Matanzas Province
Enhance your taste for bucolic provincial life away from the razzmatazz of Matanzas Province's north coast at this ecological farm 14km northeast of San…
Must-see attractions in Cuba
Holguín Province
A lovely little beach 17km northwest of Gibara, this stretch of white sand and azure sea is a favorite of Holguín vacationers. The town is ramshackle,…
Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano
Santiago de Cuba
The oldest house still standing in Cuba, this arresting early colonial abode dating from 1522 was the official residence of the island's first governor,…
Vedado
Without a doubt one of the best museums in Havana and thus in Cuba, this magnificently laid-out collection of 7000 objects associated with the life of…
Holguín
Now a national monument, the building on the northern side of Parque Calixto García was constructed between 1860 and 1868 and was used as a Spanish army…
Matanzas
For a mappable view of mildewed Matanzas on one side and the broccoli-green Valle de Yumurí on the other, climb 1.5km northeast of the center up Calle 306…
Guantánamo Province
Surreal even by Cuban standards, the Zoológico de Piedras is an animal sculpture park set amid thick foliage in the grounds of a mountain coffee farm,…
Matanzas
Imagine. You're tramping through Matanzas' tatty streets wondering whether the 'Athens of Cuba' moniker is just a local joke when you stumble upon this…
Museo Arqueológico 'La Cueva del Paraíso'
Baracoa
Baracoa's most impressive museum, La Cueva del Paraíso is a series of caves that were once Taíno burial chambers. Among nearly 2000 authentic Taíno pieces…
Holguín Province
This museum's small but rich collection of indigenous artifacts is one of the best on the island. Don't miss the tiny golden fertility idol unearthed near…
Museo Provincial Ignacio Agramonte
Camagüey
Named (like half of Camagüey) after the exalted local War of Independence hero, this cavernous museum, just north of the train station, is in a Spanish…
Ciego de Ávila Province
Anglers, listen up: 12km north of Morón, off the Cayo Coco road, this mangrove-rimmed, 4-sq-km lake has the island's best square-kilometer density of bass…
Camagüey
In Cuba's ceramics capital, the studio-gallery of Martha Jiménez Pérez shows the work of one of Cuba's greatest living artists. See everything from pots…
Matanzas Province
A gorgeous ruin lying truly abandoned in the middle of small-town Cuba that's heavy with atmosphere and still shines (despite the mildew) with a…
Matanzas Province
Cuba's second-oldest museum (after the Museo Bacardí in Santiago) offers a selection of weird artifacts, including a strangulation chair from 1830, a face…
Santiago de Cuba
This gorgeous yellow colonial-style building houses a museum detailing the underground struggle against Batista in the 1950s. It's a fascinating, if…
Holguín Province
One day in the not-too-distant future (after it's been Cancun-ized), we'll all wax nostalgic about this precious strip of sand situated 13km east of Banes…
Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma
Granma Province
Mixing unique environmental diversity with heavy historical significance, the Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma consists of 275 sq km of forest,…
Holguín Province
This archaeological-site-based museum protects the remains of an excavated indigenous village and cemetery, including the well-preserved remains of 62…
Holguín
Dazzling white and characterized by its twin domed towers, the Catedral de San Isidoro, one of the town’s original constructions, dates from 1720. Added…
Trinidad
Just off Plaza Mayor, this grandiose mansion, Trinidad's main museum, belonged to the Borrell family from 1827 to 1830. Later it passed to a German…
Reserva Ecológica Limones Tuabaquey
Camagüey Province
One of Cuba’s newest reserves, these heavily wooded uplands occupy the Sierra de Cubitas in northern Camagüey Province. The star attraction is Cuba's most…
Sancti Spíritus Province
This 40-sq-km managed-resource area is still little-explored by independent travelers, although organized groups come here. Organize guided hikes through…
Granma Province
Ten kilometers south of Manzanillo is the moving sight of the sugar estate of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, whose outcry, known as Grito de Yara, and the…
Ciego de Ávila Province
The once scrubby wasteland between Hotel Ciego de Ávila and the city center, on the northwestern edge of town, is now a vast park featuring an artificial…
Sancti Spíritus
The favored uniform of South American strongman presidents and blushing grooms at Mexican beach weddings, the guayabera shirt was purportedly 'invented'…
Granma Province
This tiny village nestles in a deep green valley beside the deliciously clean Río Yara. Communally it provides a wonderful slice of peaceful Cuban…
Sancti Spíritus
Looking like something out of an English country village, this quintuple-arched bridge is Sancti Spíritus' signature sight. Built by the Spanish in 1815,…
Santiago de Cuba Province
The hub of the Unesco World Heritage site bestowed in 2000 upon the First Coffee Plantations in the Southeast of Cuba is this impressive two-story stone…
Museo Municipal Emilio Bacardí Moreau
Santiago de Cuba
Narrow Pío Rosado links Calle Heredia to Calle Aguilera and the fabulous Grecian facade of the Bacardí Museum. Founded in 1899 by the rum-magnate war hero…
Ciego de Ávila Province
One of Cuba's best-presented municipal museums, this mustard-yellow building with a typical avileño porch is one convertible well spent. Riveting exhibits…
Santiago de Cuba Province
It's worth huffing and puffing the 459 stone steps to the summit of La Gran Piedra at 1234m. The huge rock on top measures 51m long and 25m high and…
Casa Natal de Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Bayamo
Birthplace of the 'father of the motherland,' this museum is where Céspedes was born (on April 18, 1819) and spent his first 12 years. Inside, Céspedes…
Vedado
Far more than just a hotel, the Nacional, built in 1930 as a copy of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, is a national monument and one of Havana's…
Plaza de San Francisco de Asís
Habana Vieja
Facing Havana harbor, the breezy Plaza de San Francisco de Asís first grew up in the 16th century when Spanish galleons stopped quayside on their passage…
Havana
Construction of this stately European-style boulevard – the first street outside the old city walls – began in 1770, and work was completed in the mid…
Habana Vieja
On the seaward side of Plaza de Armas is one of the oldest existing forts in the Americas, built between 1558 and 1577 on the site of an earlier fort…
Vedado
One of Havana's best museums dazzles like a European stately home. It's replete with all manner of architectural features, including rococo furniture,…
Habana Vieja
Just when you think you've seen Havana's strangest, weirdest, most surreal and avant-garde art, along comes the 'eye of the cyclone' to re-stretch your…
Habana Vieja
Finished in 1930, the magnificent Edificio Bacardí, once the HQ of Cuba's erstwhile rum dynasty, is a triumph of art deco architecture, with a host of…
