Things to do in Cienfuegos
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Universidad de Cienfuegos
The Universidad de Cienfuegos offers Spanish courses for beginners to advanced. The courses last one month and incorporate 64 hours of study (CUC$340). It also offers courses in ‘Cuban Culture’ (CUC$340). Language courses run monthly, culture courses every other month. Check out its website for more details.
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Club Cienfuegos
With a setting this good, it’s easy for the food to fall short, which it often does. But there are plenty of options here, with the Bar Terraza for cocktails and chicken sandwiches; El Marinero, a 1st-floor seafood establishment; and Restaurante Café Cienfuegos, a more refined adventurous place up on the top floor where you’ll pay CUC$10 for a steak and CUC$6 for a fine paella. The yacht-club vibe and wraparound dining terraces make for a memorable experience even if the food doesn’t.
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Teatro Tomás Terry
Swapping French influences for Italian, the Teatro Tomás Terry is grand from the outside, but even grander within. Built between 1887 and 1889 to honor Venezuelan industrialist Tomás Terry, the 950-seat auditorium is embellished with Carrara marble, hand-carved Cuban hardwoods and whimsical ceiling frescoes. In 1895 the theater opened with a performance of Verdi’s Aïda and it has witnessed numerous landmarks in Cuban music and dance in the years since.
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Palacio de Valle
The ultimate in kitsch is yet to come. Continue south on Calle 37 and, with a sharp intake of breath, you’ll stumble upon the Arabian Nights–like Palacio de Valle. Built in 1917 by Alcisclo Valle Blanco, a Spaniard from Asturias, the structure resembles an outrageously ornate Moroccan Kasbah. Batista planned to convert this colorful riot of tiles, turrets and stucco into a casino, but today it’s an (aspiring) upscale restaurant, with an inviting terrace bar.
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Cementerio La Reina
- Cienfuegos, Cuba
- Sights › Dark
The Cementerio La Reina was founded in 1837 and lined with the graves of Spanish soldiers who died in the Wars of Independence. La Reina is the only cemetery in Cuba where bodies are interred above ground (in the walls) due to the high groundwater levels. It also has a marble statue called Bella Durmiente: a tribute to a 24-year-old woman who died in 1907 of a broken heart. It’s an evocative place if you’re into graveyards.
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Malecón
- Cienfuegos, Cuba
- Sights › Bay
Heading south for 3km on Prado, you cross into Cienfuegos' aristocratic, waterfront quarter called Punta Gorda. The Malecón here shares none of the sexy extracurricular characteristics of Habana's seawall, but it still offers an exquisite vista of what is considered to be one of the world's best natural bays. The architecture is distinct, with bright clapboard homes boasting sun-dappled porches and intricate lattice work.
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Paseo del Prado
Paseo del Prado, stretching from the Río El Inglés in the north to Punta Gorda in the south, is the longest street of its kind in Cuba and a great place to see Cienfuegueños relaxing at their leisure. The boulevard is a veritable smorgasbord of fine neoclassical buildings and pastel-painted columns and at the intersection of Av 34 you can pay your respects to a life-sized statue of local hero Benny Moré.
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Marlin Marina Cienfuegos
The Marlin Marina Cienfuegos is a 36-berth marina. You can organize deep-sea fishing trips here for CUC$200 for four people for four hours. Multiday trips cost CUC$400/680 for one/two nights (gear and crew included). A classic bay cruise costs CUC$16 for the day or CUC$10 for a two-hour sunset cruise (stopping briefly at Castillo de Jagua). Book through Cubatur or Cubanacán.
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Paladar El Criollito
You’ll feel like you’re eating in someone’s front room – probably because you are. El Criollito is a salt-of-the-earth, old-school paladar: a decent no-frills family-run restaurant business that makes do with limited ingredients and not a lot of encouragement (or help) from the government. Standard fish and meat meals are plentiful, if not memorable.
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Restaurante Covadonga
Legend has it that Castro and his guerrillas ate here in January 1959 during their triumphant march to Havana. The food probably tasted delicious after two years up in the Sierra Maestra but, if you’ve just flown in from Canada, you may not appreciate the rubbery fish. Enjoy a relaxing sunset cocktail and see if the paella’s on offer. If not, head elsewhere.
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Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte
On the western side of Parque Martí is the former Palacio de Ferrer (1918), now the Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte, an eye-catching neoclassical building with Italian marble floors and – most noticeably – a domed rooftop cupola equipped with a wrought-iron staircase. For a tip of CUC$1 you can climb up for unparalleled city views.
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Teatro Café Tomás
Cafe, souvenir stall and nightly music venue, this delightful place wedged between the Teatro Tomás Terry and the neoclassical Colegio San Lorenzo is the best place to flop down and observe the morning exercisers in Parque Martí. The flower canopy–covered patio to the side comes alive in the evenings with trova (traditional singing) duos.
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Jardines de Uneac
Uneac’s a good bet in any Cuban city for its laid-back unpretentious vibe and Cienfuegos is no exception. In fact, this is quite possibly the city’s best music venue with a salubrious outdoor patio hosting Afro-Cuban peñas (musical performances), trova and top local bands such as the perennially popular Los Novos.
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Necrópolis Tomás Acea
- Cienfuegos, Cuba
- Sights › Dark
The Necrópolis Tomás Acea is classed as a ‘garden cemetery’ and is entered through a huge neoclassical pavilion (1926) flanked by 64 Doric columns modeled on the Parthenon in Greece. This cemetery contains a monument to the marine martyrs who died during the abortive 1957 Cienfuegos naval uprising.
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Museo Histórico Naval Nacional
A little out of the way, the Museo Histórico Naval Nacional is housed in the former headquarters of the Distrito Naval del Sur (1950). It was here in September 1957 that a group of sailors and civilians staged an unsuccessful uprising against the Batista government. The revolt is the central theme of the museum.
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Dinos Pizza
Locals will point you in the direction of this reliable government chain opposite Cubanacán Boutique La Unión with pizzas starting at CUC$4 (with toppings such as mushrooms, black olives and sausage, no less!) and lasagna at CUC$7. The big salads, bruschetta and soups ought to satisfy vegetarians tired of the tortillas.
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Polivalente
Weekend boxing matches and other sporting events occur at Polivalente. There is also a small sports museum here including hockey, fencing and baseball paraphernalia as well as the boots and T-shirt of local boxing hero, Julio González Valladores who brought back a gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
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Arco de Triunfo
Start your wanderings in the town center at Parque José Martí, passing under the Arco de Triunfo the only one of its kind in Cuba and dedicated to Cuban independence. This impressive monument ushers you into the heart of the park, dropping you at the feet of José Martí rendered in marble.
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Estadio 5 de Septiembre
From October to April, the provincial baseball team – nicknamed Los Camaroneros (the Shrimpers) – plays matches at Estadio 5 de Septiembre. Its best ever national series finish was fourth in 1979. Weekend box testing matches and other sporting events occur at Polivalente.
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Bar Terrazas
Cienfuegos was built with the word refinement in mind and you can recreate it here with a mojito upstairs at the Cubanacán Boutique La Unión; live music starts at 10pm. Other excellent drinking perches (especially at sunset) can be found at Club Cienfuegos and the Palacio de Valle.
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El Palatino
Liquid lunches were invented with El Palatino in mind – a dark-wood bar set in one of the city’s oldest buildings on the southern side of salubrious Parque Martí. Impromptu jazz sets sometimes erupt, but be prepared to be hit up for alms at the end of song number three.
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1869 Restaurant
Cienfuegos’ best city-center dining experience can be found in this elegant restaurant in the La Unión hotel. Although the food doesn’t quite match the lush furnishings, a varied international menu makes a welcome change from rice/beans/pork staples offered elsewhere.
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Centro Recreativo JA Mella
The former Casa de la Música has toned down its act considerably since its conversion into a rec center (much to the relief of many of the tinnitus-suffering local residents); but you can still catch the occasional Disco Temba (’70s and ’80s music) here.
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Centro Recreativo La Punta
The Centro Recreativo La Punta has a gazebo on the point’s extreme southern tip and this is where lovers go to watch the sunset. You can also grab a beer or mojito at the bar. Live music sometimes breaks the tranquility.
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El Benny
It’s difficult to say what the ‘Barbarian of Rhythm’ would have made of this disco/club named in his honor. Bring your dancing shoes, stock up on the rum and Cokes and come prepared for more techno than Benny Moré.
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