Playas del Este

The name Playas del Este translates to beaches of the east and refers to the beaches and beach resorts running along the coast eastwards out of Havana. Locals say the area starts officially at Bacuranao, about 20 minutes taxi ride out of Havana, and stretches past Guanabo to Matanzas and Varadero, with the most popular portion being the first 10kms out of Bacuranao.

Along this stretch of sand―known for being quite white―are several resorts, with most of them grouped around Santa Maria del Mar. The advantage of staying in this area is that there's long stretches of sand bars out into the warm, bright blue waster so it's very safe, there's fishing and diving just out of the marina, there's plenty of shopping and restaurants, cafes and bars and security is good, keeping out a lot of the local colourful characters, one of the down sides is that security keeps out a lot of the local colour. Local people tend to stay in less expensive Guanabo, but at the height of summer this beach resort town's population can swell to 120,000, and the sand isn't as palely pristine.