| Cuba
:
Highlights
Cities:
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Havana
Havana is probably the most splendid example of Spanish colonial
architecture in Latin America. Much of the historic centre
has been carefully restored. The absence of the outward manifestations
of international commerce - advertising billboards, burger
chains, neon lights - helps create a subtle and haunting atmosphere
missing in the other capitals of the Spanish colonial domain.
Museums, forts and lively squares add to the attraction
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Havana City >> |
Trinidad
Trinidad is a small and peaceful city located between the sea and
a range of rolling verdant hills. It pays homage to an illustrious
past by remaining perfectly preserved since colonial times. There
are fine churches and red-tiled mansions lining the cobbled streets,
many of which are open to visitors. To savour the richness of this
culture, visit the half-dozen museums or music clubs (casas de la
trova), or a cigar factory whilst staying at nearby Playa Ancón.
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Varadero
The resort of Varadero, some 32 km NE of Matanzas, is the
closest you'll get to finding Miami Beach in Cuba. If you
are looking for a straightforward beach holiday in a good
modern hotel with cable TV, air-conditioning, a pool and a
jacuzzi, then this is the place for you. The seas are warm
and crystal blue - and it is one of the few places in Cuba
where women can sunbathe topless.
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Varadero
Viñales
Around Viñales, in the western province of Pinar del
Rio, are a unique string of rounded limestone mountains called
mogotes; in their shadows are the lush green fields that produce
the world's finest tobacco leaves, the dream of cigar connoisseurs
from Paris to New York.
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Vinales |
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
City is called "The Pearl of the South" because of the
impressive beauty of its bay; because of its seductive city which
provokes the wonder of all who know it, and because of that innate
nobility which characterizes those born in Cienfuegos.
The history of Cienfuegos possesses interesting antecedents and
is rich in aborigine and Hispanic legends. Before the Spanish
came to America, the zone was settled by indigenous people and was
known as the Cacicazgo de Jagua .
Santiago
de Cuba
Nestled alongside a sweeping bay at the foothills of the Sierra
Maestra mountains, Santiago is Cuba's most exotic and ethnically
diverse city. Santiago is renowned for producing much of Cuba's
most important music, and this rich musical tradition, mingled with
the remnants of French customs, gives the city a sensual, even sleazy,
New Orleans-like atmosphere.
Baracoa
Baracoa is a land of great rainfall and many rivers. The
lush vegetation, the high mountains covered with long-lived forest,
the customs that have been handed down from one generation to another
and the appearance of a town that has remained unchanged over a
long time are, undoubtly, key ingredients in the special attraction
of this tiny city on the shores of Miel (Honey) Bay.
Beaches:
| Cuban
beaches are sparkling and unlittered - hotels are not luxurious
but seldom blot the shoreline. The bright turquoise waters of
the Caribbean, often fringed with palm groves, do not disappoint.
The visitor can choose between the isolated and unstructured
charms of Las Brujas and the island of Cayo Levisa, or a more
sophisticated resort such as Playa Ancon, close to Trinidad.
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Rural
Cuba:
Alongside
the plantations of tobacco, sugar cane or pineapples, rural Cuba
- with its tranquil, bucolic lifestyle - rewards the visitor with
some gorgeous mountain scenery. Close to Viñales in the west
is a dramatic landscape of sheer limestone monoliths, fertile valleys
and underground waterways. The historically significant Sierra Maestra,
where Castro and his fellow rebels plotted revolution, offers fine
hiking in forested hills in the east. You can see rural Cuba by
bike and take in both coastal and mountainous scenery.
| Nature: |
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Zapata
Peninsula
The best-known of Cuba's wildlife havens, the Zapata Peninsula,
156 km southeast of Havana, is a refuge for many bird and
animal species. The scenery is spectacular: flamingos swoop
across the milky lagoons, and crocodiles meander out across
the dirt roads. The entire region is now a nature reserve.
Sierra
Del Escambray
The majestic Sierra del Escambray is Cuba's second most famous
mountain range after the Sierra Maestra in the Oriente, with
its highest peak - the Pico San Juan - topping 1,100 metres.
Some of the heaviest rainfall in Cuba feeds the Escambray's
lush jungle, where trees are laden with bromeliads and delicate
waterfalls greet you at every turn; look out for the giant
umbrella-like ferns, a prehistoric species. |
Sierra
Maestra Mountains
To experience fully the rugged beauty of the southeastern mountains,
the best base is the Villa Santo Domingo, in the hills south of
the road linking Bayamo and Manzanillo on the coast. Guides accompany
visitors to the area through the wilderness and lead hikes up Cuba's
highest mountain, Pico Turquino (1,970 metres), 16 km away. The
trail is exciting and beautiful: between outcroppings of mineral
and volcanic rocks, deep green conifers stand alongside precious
cedar, mahogany and trumpetwood trees.
Escambray
Mountains
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or massif of Guamuhaya: mountain range that is characterized by
steep peaks and deep valleys, the exuberance of vegetation, endemism
of species of flora and fauna, cave systems, beautiful landscapes,
pure and transparent rives and streams that make up picturesque
waterfalss and crystalline ponds. The visit to this mountains also
allow to know about the rural life associated to the growing of
coffee and other agricultural activities.
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