Playa Ancón

A ribbon of white beach on Sancti Spíritus' iridescent Caribbean shoreline, Playa Ancón is often considered as the finest arc of sand on Cuba's south coast. The beach has three all-inclusive hotels and a well-equipped marina with catamaran trips to nearby coral keys. While it can’t compete with the north-coast giants of Varadero, Cayo Coco and Guardalavaca, Ancón has one trump card: Trinidad, Latin America's sparkling colonial diamond, lies just 12km to the north.

Between Playa Ancón and Trinidad lies half-forgotten La Boca, a small fishing village at the mouth of the Río Guaurabo with a pebbly beach shaded by flowering acacias. If you like lazy rocking-chair tranquility, fresh lobster, raspberry-ripple sunsets and bantering in Spanish with the local fishers, it's bliss.

The one paved road crosses a tidal flat teeming with birdlife visible in the early morning. Be warned: sand fleas are famously ferocious at sunrise and sunset.