Cuba is caught in the midst of a struggle between the traditional and the global, with distinctive elements of each side battling to control the country and people. The cosmopolitan capital of Havana argues for innovation. Its intoxicating music and sultry nightlife encourage a bustling lifestyle that is faster than the salsa step. The picturesque town of Viñales fights for a more conventional way of life, where tobacco plants outnumber people, and mountains, not buildings, scrape the sky. Varadero's white beaches lure visitors from across the world into Cuba to enjoy a taste of the exclusive and high class resort life. The city of Trinidad is as traditional as Varadero is fashionable: this 500-year-old city stands resolutely in the past, transporting you to a time when horses and buggies roamed the cobblestone streets and the colonial style houses were filled with sugar cane farmers.
Top attractions in Cuba
Cuba is caught in the midst of a struggle between the traditional and the global, with distinctive elements of each side battling to control the country and people. The cosmopolitan capital of Havana argues for innovation. Its intoxicating music and sultry nightlife encourage a bustling lifestyle that is faster than the salsa step. The picturesque town of Viñales fights for a more conventional way of life, where tobacco plants outnumber people, and mountains, not buildings, scrape the sky. Varadero's white beaches lure visitors from across the world into Cuba to enjoy a taste of the exclusive and high class resort life. The city of Trinidad is as traditional as Varadero is fashionable: this 500-year-old city stands resolutely in the past, transporting you to a time when horses and buggies roamed the cobblestone streets and the colonial style houses were filled with sugar cane farmers.
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Viñales Valley
This valley is lush land sunk below islands of limestone outcrops. The rich soil of the valley and the hillsides have long supported tobacco farms and fruit and vegetable crops. These days as well as the farmers this reg...more
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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...more
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Cienfuegos
The colonial town of Cienfuegos was founded in 1819 in the Spanish territory but was initially settled by immigrants of French origin. It became a trading place for sugar cane, tobacco and coffee. Situated on the Caribbe...more
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Catedral de la Habana
‘Music cast into stone’ is the description most accurately applied to Havana’s inviting, lovely 18th Century Baroque cathedral, as written by Alejo Carpentier. Not particularly tall and asymmetrical in design due to its ...more
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Museum of the Revolution
This museum building, originally decked out by Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue, was the Cuban Presidential Palace between its construction in 1920 and the revolution in 1959 but now houses relics of the war. Out the back is the G...more
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Havana International Jazz Festival
Havana comes with a backing track of groovy beats and tantalising rhythms, so the even if you don't visit during the jazz festival you're still pretty much guaranteed to hear some fantastic music. But if you can make it ...more
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Comandancia de La Plata
Comandancia de La Plata functioned as headquarters for Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and their guerrilla rebel army, while they planned and campaigned their fight against Batista. The grounds are kept in their original, rust...more
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Isla de la Juventud diving
In the clear waters around this island are nurse sharks, stingrays, turtles, jacks, tuna, barracudas, snappers, parrotfish, triggerfish and a colourful range of crustaceans. Reefs ring the pale sandy beaches in shallow s...more
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