Introducing Viñales

Sombrero-wearing guajiros saunter home on horseback after a tough day in the tobacco fields; rocking chairs creak on well-swept porches; cigar-sucking farmers navigate oxen through tilling the rich, red fields that roll around town; climbers tackle the sheer, forest-fringed mogotes that shoot up beyond: you have arrived at Viñales, hub of what many reckon on being Cuba's most mesmerizing spot of scenery. Despite a double pummeling by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, this most unhurried and friendly of Cuban towns has lost none of its picturesque charm. Well established on the standard tourist circuit, this is where travelers come to relax, ruminate and revel in the great outdoors.