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HavanaSituated on the north coast of the island and built around a natural harbor, Havana (La Habana), is one of the most lively and colorful cities in the Caribbean. Much of the city's charm can be found among the narrow, derelict streets packed with crumbling buildings and fascinating people. Every open door and overhanging balcony allows glimpses of rocking chairs and colorful washing accompanied by the strains of music. On the streets Chinese-made bicycles, yellow, egg-shaped coco-taxis and two-humped camello (camel) buses weave among the melee of 1950s Chevy's and Russian Ladas.
The historic old
town, Habana Vieja or Colonial Havana, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and fast becoming a tourist Mecca. The Spanish left behind some superb colonial architecture and many of the great buildings and grand plazas are being restored to their former glory. Centro Habana boasts some of the most important museums and architectural highlights, including the Revolution Museum, and the National Capitol, resembling the US Capitol Building in Washington DC. The trendy suburb of Vedado boasts high-rise buildings and modern hotels, and draws locals and visitors alike with its theaters, art galleries, restaurants, cafes, and cabaret shows; however most of the city's sights are in Habana Vieja and Centro Habana. The five-mile (8km) seawall, or malecón, stretches from Vedado to Habana Vieja and is lined with architectural gems in various states of dilapidation or restoration.
Havana's nightlife will exhaust even the most seasoned partygoer. After dark nightclubs and bars come alive and the famous rum cocktails flow freely. The city has plenty of cultural entertainment too, and its fair share of monuments, museums and statues. For those travelers needing rest from all this activity, the beaches are only twenty minutes east of the city.
Getting Around: Cubans rely heavily on an unreliable bus system that is cheap, but overcrowded and slow with long queues and inconsistent routes and schedules. Large buses called 'camellos' (camels, for their two humps) are pulled by truck engines and are particularly crowded, but very cheap (20 centavos). Most visitors to Havana avoid the buses and rely instead on numerous, inexpensive taxis to get around the greater part of the city. Renting a car is not the best option as car hire is expensive, roads are not well sign-posted, and numerous one-way streets make driving a real challenge. Different types of taxis cruise the streets, including tourist taxis, two-seater bici-taxis, colectivos (classic vintage cars) and the yellow scooter coco-taxis. Most tourist taxis are air conditioned, metered and well maintained and charge in Convertible Pesos, but there are also vintage car owners who operate as unofficial taxis, although a rate should be negotiated beforehand as passengers are likely to be overcharged. Bici-taxis, coco-taxis and colectivos are officially not supposed to take tourists. A couple of vintage cars can be hired by tourists for tours around the city and can be found outside main tourist attractions like the Revolution Museum or the Capitolio.
Santiago de CubaSantiago, the original capital of the island of Cuba, was founded in 1514 and is today the center of the province of Santiago de Cuba in the south east of the island, 485 miles (780km) from the present capital, Havana.
It is a hilly city with sloping streets, surrounded by the Sierra Maestra mountain range, and boasts some monuments and museums associated with Cuba's long struggle for national independence. Santiago also claims to have the oldest home in the Americas, the Case de Diego Velazquez, residence of the Spanish governor of old, which is a highlight of the city's historic quarter.
Santiago is also known for its annual carnival and its closely situated natural areas, including the 80,000-hectare (197,684-acre) Baconao Park, which begins in the city and ends in the lagoon of the same name. It is climatically the hottest part of Cuba with average temperatures of 90°F (32°C).
Vinales ValleyA recent addition to the UNESCO World Heritage list, the town of Vinales and the valley in which it is set in Cuba's 'green' Pinar del Rio province, is characterized by its impressive round-topped hills, or
mogotes. These date back to the Jurassic period and are covered with rich and varied vegetation, and are remnants of the plateau that was eroded by a network of underground rivers millions of years ago.
The Vinales Valley is located about 112 miles (180km) west of Havana. The natural beauty and tranquility of the valley is interspersed with green fields of tobacco, coffee and other crops that grow out of the rich red earth, where traditional agricultural techniques have remained unchanged for centuries. Scattered palm trees and pine forests shelter a variety of melodious birds, and the area is also a magnet for speleologists, being riddled with limestone caves and caverns.
The hilly landscape, quaint villages, oxen-plowed fields, rustic barns and underground rivers, stalagmites and stalactites provide a striking contrast to the colonial grandeur and white sandy beaches found on the rest of the island. The main valley village, Vinales, is a charming, very laid-back place that makes a good base to explore the beautiful surrounds.
TrinidadOne of the most visited towns in Cuba, Trinidad maintains a charming colonial atmosphere with its uneven cobbled streets, quiet plazas, churches, red tiled roofs, wooden shutters and wrought-iron grilles. Bicycles and horse-drawn carts bump along streets lined with untidy pastel-colored houses, where open doors afford brief views of folk on rocking chairs and wooden birdcages, and the strains of salsa music drift out from cool courtyards where the intricate steps of the dance are practiced.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, Trinidad has thankfully escaped the modern tourist infrastructure and large hotels usually accorded a popular destination and retains its welcoming and tranquil atmosphere. Surrounded by sugarcane plantations, and situated between the Topes de Collantes mountains and the Caribbean Sea, Trinidad's location also provides easy access to the beach, mountains and the beautiful surrounding countryside, where vestiges from the 18th and 19th centuries in the Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills) testify to a time of prosperity during the sugarcane boom.
Getting Around: Trinidad is relatively easy to negotiate on foot and most attractions are in the historic hub, centered around the Plaza Mayor. Playa Ancón's beaches are serviced by Cubatur minibuses, usually from 8am to the evenings, running along Maceo. Taxis are available, as are car rental agencies, though streets can be somewhat confusing and are known by different names. A novel way to explore the area is on the Rumbos steam train, dating back to 1907, that travels to Valle de los Ingenios. The train leaves at 9.30am and returns at 2pm.
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