The city's oldest church is five blocks north of Parque Vidal. It was built in 1748, with a tower added in 1846. During the War of Independence it stood in as a jail for Cuban patriots. A modern cylindrical monument facing the church commemorates the spot where Santa Clara was founded in 1689 by a dozen or so refugee families from Remedios.
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
Santa Clara
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Conjunto Escultórico Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara
0.99 MILES
The end point of many a Che pilgrimage, this monument, mausoleum and museum complex is 2km west of Parque Vidal (via Rafael Tristá on Av de los Desfiles),…
Parroquia de San Juan Bautista de Remedios
27.61 MILES
One of the island's most interesting and oldest ecclesiastical buildings, Remedios' main church dates from around 1550, although much of the current…
0.35 MILES
A veritable alfresco theater named for Colonel Leoncio Vidal y Caro, who was killed here on March 23, 1896, Parque Vidal was encircled by twin sidewalks…
28.3 MILES
El Nicho, an outlying segment of the Topes de Collantes Natural Park, is the name of a beautiful waterfall on the Río Hanabanilla and the protected zone…
0.3 MILES
Santa Clara is peppered with comic book–style murals, the work of a local graphic artists' collective called Melaíto, which produces a monthly supplement…
Sitio-Museo Acción Contra El Tren Blindado
0.45 MILES
History was made at the site of this small boxcar museum on December 29, 1958, when Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and a band of 18 rifle-wielding revolutionaries…
Fábrica de Tabacos Constantino Pérez Carrodegua
0.12 MILES
Santa Clara's tobacco factory, one of Cuba's best, makes a quality range of Montecristos, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta cigars. Tours here are lo-fi…
Museo Provincial Abel Santamaría
0.31 MILES
Not actually a memorial to Señor Santamaría (Fidel's right-hand man at Moncada), but rather a small provincial museum quartered in former military…
Nearby Santa Clara attractions
1. Fábrica de Tabacos Constantino Pérez Carrodegua
0.12 MILES
Santa Clara's tobacco factory, one of Cuba's best, makes a quality range of Montecristos, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta cigars. Tours here are lo-fi…
0.29 MILES
Something of a sleeping beauty on Parque Vidal, this 18th-century mansion turned museum is packed with period furniture from a whole gamut of styles that…
0.29 MILES
Many are deceived by the relatively austere neoclassical facade, but toss CUC$1 to whoever is manning the door and you'll serendipitously discover why the…
0.3 MILES
Santa Clara is peppered with comic book–style murals, the work of a local graphic artists' collective called Melaíto, which produces a monthly supplement…
5. Museo Provincial Abel Santamaría
0.31 MILES
Not actually a memorial to Señor Santamaría (Fidel's right-hand man at Moncada), but rather a small provincial museum quartered in former military…
0.34 MILES
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…
0.35 MILES
A veritable alfresco theater named for Colonel Leoncio Vidal y Caro, who was killed here on March 23, 1896, Parque Vidal was encircled by twin sidewalks…
8. Catedral de las Santas Hermanas de Santa Clara de Asís
0.36 MILES
Three blocks west of Parque Vidal, Santa Clara's cathedral was constructed amid huge controversy in 1923 after the demolition of the city's original…