A city aside from Havana & Trinidad...

Hey all. I’m going to Cuba for just under three weeks, and obviously I can’t go everywhere. City wise though, I'm intending to make it to Havana and Trinidad, but I hope to have the time to visit at least another, probably out of Santa Clara, Cienfuegos or Camaguey. Assuming I get lazy and only have time for the one, which would you recommend? I’ll be taking my trip as it comes, but be good to hear your thoughts to help me have a better idea. Ta.

Cinefuegos is easy to get to. It is on the way to Trinidad from Havana on Viazul, and if you are a bit of a history fan you can go to the Bay of Pigs from there and then go on to Trinidad. However, I would not give Cienfuegos more than 2 days. As far as Santa Clara is concerned, you can be able to get a cab from Trinidad for not too much. I was lucky when I went, ran into a group that was going that way and we split a cab between the 4 of us. I think I paid 15 or 20 CUC. Travel to Havana from Santa Clara is pretty easy too.
Santa Clara does not deserve more than 2 days either, if you get there early one morning like I did it does not take more than 8 hours to see Santa Clara in my opinion. If you are going to be in Cuba for 3 weeks I would suggest going to Cienfuegos and Santa Clara (2 days each)...someone else might recommend Pinar Del Rio.

Yes, while I agree with Poster #1, you will have time as well to visit Pinar del Rio and Vinales, and perhaps will want to, since that area is entirely different, very scenic, and only about 3 hours from Havana by Viazul bus.

I second #1's nomination of Cienfuegos. Two days is about right - and it's on the way to trinidad.

Cheers guys. Was planning of visiting Vinales already, but what's Pinar del Rio like? The guide book doesn't exactly sell it...

The guide books give Pinar Del Rio a raw deal. Vinales is nothing but a small town next to the tourist attraction: places to stay and eat but little else.

PDR, by contrast, is a medium sized city and a provincial capital. It is sufficiently close to the spectacular Vinales valley to visit it as a day tripper. It is a better base of operations for the other attractions in the area and has a fuller range of life support systems. Even supports a pretty good baseball team!

It has been my choice in the past and I hope to revisit there in a few short weeks.

#5 Hate to disagree and I am sure that once you know your way around you can have a good time etc, but whenever I have been through PDR we have got loads of hassle and it seemed to me to be a pretty depressing depressed place.

Vinales is completely over run by tourists but there is a reason for that - it is a really lovely cute place (nonewithstanding said tourists) with great nature and a nice ambience.

#1 If you are driving I would definitely skip PDR and if you don't want to spend too much time in a small place like Vinales check out Cayo Levisa which is a nice drive from Vinales and a nice relaxed beach place.

If not I would spend more time in the other cities you mentioned, Camaguey is great but a long treck.