Pinar del Río Province
If they gave out Academy Awards for Cuban beaches, Las Tumbas might just win, edging out Playa Sirena on Cayo Largo del Sur (too many tourists) and Playa…
Must-see attractions in Pinar del Río Province
Pinar del Río Province
A grand crenelated entry gate a few kilometers west of San Diego de los Baños announces the surreal, long-abandoned grounds of Hacienda Cortina. The…
Valle de Viñales
A kilometer beyond the turnoff to Dos Hermanas and the Mural de la Prehistoria, a dirt road twists up to the mountain community of Los Aquáticos, founded…
Pinar del Río Province
The tobacco farm of Hector Luis Prieto currently produces the 'Champagne' of Cuban cigars and invites visitors to find out exactly how they're nurtured…
Valle de Viñales
Welcome to Cuba’s largest cave system and the second largest on the American continent. There are over 46km of galleries on eight levels, with a 1km…
Finca El Pinar (Robaina Tobacco Plantation)
Pinar del Río Province
The famous Robaina vegas (fields), in the rich Vuelta Abajo region southwest of Pinar del Río, have been growing quality tobacco since 1845, but it wasn't…
Pinar del Río Province
During the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara transferred the headquarters of the Western Army to this vast and spectacular cave,…
Valle de Viñales
A 120m-long painting, 4km west of Viñales village on the side of Mogote Pita. Leovigildo González Morillo, a follower of Mexican artist Diego Rivera,…
Pinar del Río Province
A former Spanish farm spread over 1000 hectares of pasture, forest and wetlands, the Rancho la Guabina is a jack of all trades and a master of at least…
Valle de Viñales
Immersed in the foothills of Viñales' mogotes (limestone monoliths) lies a bucolic manifestation of all that is best about this region given unique form…
El Jardín Botanico de las Hermanas Caridad y Carmen Miranda
Viñales
Just opposite the Servi-Cupet gas station as Cisneros swings north out of town, you'll spot an outlandish, vine-choked gate beckoning you in. This is the…
Fábrica de Tabacos Francisco Donatien
Pinar del Río Province
If you're tracking the full story of tobacco from plant to cigar then this is the inevitable end-point – the factory where they skillfully roll them by…
Viñales
Go directly to the source. Viñales' celebrated farm-to-table restaurant, Olivo, gets most of its ingredients from this farm in nearby Valle del Silencio…
Pinar del Río Province
Wow! West on Martí, the grand neoclassical facades give way to this gushingly opulent wedding venue dating from 1924, with its huge mirrors, chandeliers…
Pinar del Río Province
A mad but magnificent neo-Gothic-meets-Moorish-meets-Hindu-meets-Byzantium mansion built by local doctor and world traveler Francisco Guasch in 1914. Once…
Valle de Viñales
In a pretty nook 5.5km north of Viñales village, this cave is very popular with tourists. An ancient indigenous dwelling, the cave was rediscovered in…
Viñales
Finca Raúl Reyes, 1km north of the town center, is a tobacco plantation where you can enjoy fruit, coffee, puros (cigars) and a dose of throat-warming rum…
Pinar del Río Province
Often included in a set of seven classic 19th-century Cuban provincial theaters, the 540-seat Milanés dates from 1845, making it one of Cuba's oldest. It…
Pinar del Río Province
The Plaza de la Independencia is the hub of the art scene. First and foremost, on the northwest side, is the workshop-gallery of renowned Cuban artist…
Pinar del Río Province
On the far western tip of Cuba sits the nation's oldest lighthouse, which was constructed by enslaved people and Chinese laborers in 1849. It was named…
Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas Galería
Pinar del Río Province
This top-notch Pinar gallery on Plaza de la Independencia houses many local works. Bonus: there are some interesting new murals adorning the buildings…
Pinar del Río Province
Thermal pools, hot springs, recuperation center; there are many terms to describe San Diego's famous bathhouse, but 'spa' isn't one of them. Whatever you…
Valle de Viñales
Los Malagones, from the community of El Moncada, was the first rural militia in Cuba. It comprised 12 men who rooted out a counterrevolutionary band from…
Valle de Viñales
This is a small cave at the jaws of the Valle de San Vicente, with the cave entrance serving as a bar/nightspot. Your entrance fee gets you into a gaping…
Viñales
To learn about the local tobacco-growing process, stop by this tobacco plantation just outside Viñales on the road south to Pinar del Río and see a fully…
Pinar del Río Province
Workers here use a secret recipe to distill sweet and dry versions of the city's signature liquor, Guayabita del Pinar guava brandy. Whistle-stop 15…
Viñales
Positioned halfway down Cisneros, Viñales' pine-lined main street, the Museo Municipal occupies the former home of independence heroine Adela Azcuy (1861…
Pinar del Río Province
The city's understated cathedral is four blocks southeast of the cigar factory. It dates from 1883 and its exterior seems to change color every couple of…
Pinar del Río Province
A museum collecting the history of the province from pre-Columbian times to the present, including Enrique Jorrín ephemera (Jorrín was the creator of the…
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.
Viñales
A tiny art gallery next to the Casa de la Cultura in Viñales town center. Worth a stop on a rainy day!
Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús
Viñales
This small cream-colored church anchors Viñales' equally diminutive main square.
Viñales
The sturdy building with its noble arches on the main square is the Casa de la Cultura, one of the oldest structures in town. Dancing lessons are held…
