Parque Serafín Sánchez

Sancti Spíritus


While not Cuba's shadiest or most atmospheric square, pretty Serafín Sánchez is full of understated Sancti Spíritus elegance. Metal chairs laid out inside the pedestrianized central domain are usually commandeered by cigar-smoking grandpas and flirty young couples with their sights set on some ebullient local nightlife.

There's plenty to whet the appetite on the square's south side, where the stately Casa de la Cultura often exports its music on to the street. Next door the columned Hellenic beauty that today serves as the Biblioteca Provincial Rubén Martínez Villena was built originally in 1929 by the Progress Society.

The magnolia-colored grande dame on the square's northern side is the former La Perla hotel, which lay rotting and unused for years before being turned into a three-level government-run shopping center.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Sancti Spíritus attractions

1. Museo Provincial

0.03 MILES

One of those Cuban museums where the collection logs the history of Sancti Spíritus. It also includes a dusty stash of ephemera that comprises English…

2. Museo de Historia Natural

0.04 MILES

Not much of a natural history museum, this colonial house just off Parque Serafín Sánchez has a stuffed crocodile (which will scare the wits out of your…

3. Plaza Honorato

0.13 MILES

Formerly known as Plaza de Jesús, this tiny square was where the Spanish authorities once conducted grisly public hangings. Later on, it hosted a produce…

5. Museo Casa Natal de Serafín Sánchez

0.18 MILES

Serafín Sánchez was a local patriot who took part in both Wars of Independence and went down fighting in November 1896. The museum cataloguing his heroics…

6. Centro de Interpretación de la Ciudad

0.19 MILES

Featuring a requisite scale model of the city, this interpretive center also has photographs of the 2014 excavation of the former convent under what is…

7. Museo de Arte Colonial

0.2 MILES

This small museum had a 2012 refurb and displays 19th-century furniture and decorations in an imposing 17th-century building that once belonged to the…

8. Puente Yayabo

0.28 MILES

Looking like something out of an English country village, this quintuple-arched bridge is Sancti Spíritus' signature sight. Built by the Spanish in 1815,…