53 Best Sights in Central Cuba, Cuba

Originally erected in 1748, this church was reconstructed in 1848, repaired after a fire in 1906, and renovated yet again in 1998. The clock on its facade was the city's first public timepiece, made in Barcelona in 1773; its current machinery was imported from the United States in 1901. The church's interior has massive square columns and a vaulted ceiling decorated with faded art nouveau frescoes dating from 1915. The painted wooden altar was made in 1909 to replace one destroyed by the 1906 fire, but the paintings on the walls around it date from the 18th and 19th centuries. To the right of the altar is the Santo Sepulcro (Holy Sepulchre): a Christ figure in a glass casket that was made in 1762 using the silver from 23,000 Mexican coins donated by parishioners. It's carried out of the cathedral and back every Good Friday in a religious procession that was prohibited for nearly four decades. The crypts beneath the altar have been partially excavated and converted into a tiny museum of tombs, icons, and other antiquities; it's not for the claustrophobic. If the church is closed, enter through the convent next door.

East of town lie Cienfuegos's expansive botanical gardens covering 94 hectares (232 acres) and containing more than 2,000 plant species, most of which are not native to Cuba. Created at the turn of the last century by U.S. sugar farmer Edwin Atkins, the garden was administered by Harvard University until 1961, when it was taken over by the Cuban Academy of Science. It includes palms, bamboos, and other tropical trees as well as medicinal plants and a forest reserve that's home to many native animals. Signage could be better here; a guide can point out what you're seeing, although not all speak English.

Tips are greatly appreciated.

No matter what your politics, a visit to Santa Clara's most famous attraction is a must if you wish to understand modern Cuba's complex history. A massive bronze sculpture of iconic revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara looms over a site containing his tomb and a museum dedicated to his life. Exhibits under the statue—the entrance is around the back—chronicle Che's eventful life, from his happy childhood in Argentina, to his life-changing 1950's journey through South America chronicled in his own journals and the 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries, to his 1967 assassination in Bolivia. Exhibits here primarily concentrate on his involvement in the Cuban Revolution. The cave-like mausoleum next door holds the remains of Che and 16 others who fought and died with him in the mountains of Bolivia—they weren't discovered and identified by forensic anthropologists until 1997, and the remains didn't arrive in Cuba until 1998.

This is hallowed ground to the lines of Cubans who file through, and proper hushed decorum is required.

Photography is permitted outside the complex but not inside.

This mouthful of a name translates as the "Museum of the Fight Against Bandits." Those so-called bandits were fighters who waged guerrilla warfare—with a little help from their friends at the CIA—from the Sierra de Escambray for the first six years of Castro's Revolutionary government. The museum documents that struggle and their defeat. Doctrinaire exhibits aside, this is Trinidad's most famous landmark, and it adorns postcards, brochures, and T-shirts. The tall, yellow bell tower is all that remains of the original 18th-century Convento de San Francisco, a Franciscan monastery. You can climb the tower for a sweeping view of the city.

The most impressive of Punta Gorda's mansions is the Palacio de Valle, which was built in 1917 by the sugar baron Asisclo del Valle. It's a stunning, sumptuous structure full of ornate relief work, crystal chandeliers, hand-painted tiles, Italian-marble columns, French windows, and carved Cuban hardwoods. Though the mansion's design is eclectic, its foremost inspiration was the Alhambra—the Moorish palace in southern Spain. It now houses the city's best restaurant on the ground floor and a rooftop bar that's the perfect spot from which to watch the sun set.

The Neoclassical Biblioteca, on Plaza Serafín Sánchez's southwest corner, is the most conspicuous edifice. Built in 1929 by the city's wealthiest citizens as an exclusive club, it became a public library following the Revolution, and was meticulously restored in 1998. On the second floor in the former ballroom, students now read beneath painted columns and crystal chandeliers. Be sure to check out the view from the balcony.

Down the hill behind the church is Calle El Llano, a steep, cobbled street lined with some of the city's oldest houses, most of which are private homes. At the bottom of the hill stands the Quinta Santa Elena, a former farmhouse that dates from 1719. It's now a restaurant, and its shaded front terrace has the best view of the 19th-century stone bridge that spans the Río Yayabo.

For several blocks south of the Plaza Serafín Sánchez, Calle Independencia is a pedestrian mall lined with an array of shops, a couple of banks, and the main post office. The mall ends in front of the 19th-century Colonia Español building, to the west of which is Sancti Spíritus's ancient church, the Iglesia Parroquial Mayor del Espíritu Santo.

At Parque José Martí's southwest corner stands the Palacio Ferrer, an elaborate mansion built in 1917 by Spanish businessman José Ferrer and now the Casa de Cultura. The corner room on the second floor was once used by Enrico Caruso, and a spiral staircase leads from here up to a tower that offers a nice view of the plaza. Local musicians and dancers often rehearse here.

This yellow colonial building with a high wooden balcony was probably one of the tallest structures in town when Ignacio Agramonte was born to a wealthy ranching family here in 1841. Agramonte grew to become a general in the Ten Years War. When he was killed in battle in 1873, popular acclamation elevated him to the rank of hero. Though only half of the original house remains, it has been restored and converted into a museum. Its courtyard has a tinajón in every corner, and upstairs rooms are furnished with period pieces or filled with displays about the wars for independence.

Above a fishing village overlooking the narrow entrance to the Bahía de Cienfuegos (35 km [21 miles] south of the historical center) is a Spanish fortress built in 1745 to keep out pirates who had grown accustomed to trading with locals. It's completely refurbished (even the drawbridge works) and has a historical museum with weapons and other antiques. The dungeon houses a bar and restaurant. On your way down, note the small chamber beneath the steps; prisoners were chained and tortured here.

If you're a woman, we suggest you not wear blue when you visit. Local legend holds that the site is haunted by the ghost of a mysterious female figure dressed in a blue gown; given the fort's notorious history, who can say for sure? We wouldn't want anyone to mistake you for her.

You have three ways to get here: take a taxi (or drive) the whole way, looping counterclockwise around the bay; travel overland directly south of Cienfuegos to the Hotel Pasacaballos at the entrance of the bay and take the short ferry that crosses back and forth to the fort all day long; or board the ferry at the south end of Calle 25 in Cienfuegos with departures at 8 am, 1 pm, and 5:30 pm and returns from the fort at 6:30 am, 10 am, and 3 pm.

The city's bright yellow Neoclassical cathedral, with its high central bell tower reminiscent of a minaret, was consecrated in 1870. Its interior is less impressive than the renovated exterior, but it does feature a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception—the city's patron saint—and stained glass windows from France that depict the 12 apostles.

Camagüey's cathedral, on the southeastern edge of Parque Ignacio Agramonte, was built in fits and starts between 1735 and 1864. The most recent of several renovations took 15 years and included replacing the wood-beam ceiling. Its refurbished exterior is an attractive beige and yellow. The most impressive aspect of the spacious interior is the large wood-and-marble altar, behind which shine stained glass and a statue of the Virgin Mary.

A 45-minute boat ride southeast of the peninsula takes you to Cayo Blanco, with its white-sand beach and vast coral reef offshore. A tour is the easiest way to get here. Several boats visit the island on day trips offered by local hotels and tour operators.

The island was named for the white ibis, a pale wader called the coco in Cuba, but its mangroves and sandy shallows attract dozens of species, including flamingo (which gather by the hundreds in the shallow bay to the south), roseate spoonbill, tricolor heron, and reddish egret. The island's roughly 90 indigenous bird species are joined by another 120 migrants between November and April, and its forests are also home to everything from wild pig to anole lizard.

Despite its varied wildlife, most people visit Cayo Coco for its swaths of sugary sand shaded by coconut palms and washed by cerulean sea—the stuff of travel posters in Toronto storefronts or the daydreams of snowbound accountants. Nine beaches run for a total of 21 km (12 miles) along the northern coast, and only two of them have hotels. The most spectacular beaches are Playa Flamingo, with its extensive sandbars, and nearby Playa Prohibida (Forbidden Beach)—a protected area backed by dunes covered with scrubby native palms.

The island's beaches are narrow but still captivating. The ocean in front of them is so shallow that you can wade out more than 90 meters (290 feet). Its nicest beach is Playa Pilar, which was named after Hemingway's old fishing boat. Stretching along the key's northwest end, this beach is backed by 20-meter (66-foot) dunes and overlooks Cayo Media Luna, an islet where dictator Fulgencio Batista once had a vacation home. Cayo Guillermo has excellent skin diving, with 37 dive spots nearby.

Just west of the Bahía de Nuevitas, the island has deserted beaches, a working lighthouse, and the ruins of a Spanish fortress. A bumpy road and short causeway take you here; hiring a taxi is best, even if you have your own rental vehicle.

On the eastern edge of Plaza de San Juan de Dios, the old hospital now holds the offices of several cultural organizations. In the portico of its large garden, you'll find a simple museum with exhibits on the building's history, some old photos, and surgical instruments from days of yore—thank goodness for modern medicine. It's worth a quick look if you have a curiosity for the history of medicine. More interesting is the view from the roof.

The restored exterior of this 18th-century Baroque church dedicated to Our Lady of Solitude leads to its well-preserved interior. Thick, square columns rise into high arches decorated with lovely floral frescoes, above which is a mudejar wooden ceiling with ornate carved beams. According to legend, a statue of the Virgin fell from a wagon at this spot in the late 1600s; seeing it as a sign from heaven, the locals built a hermitage for it, which was later replaced by this church, completed in 1776.

The squat colonial structure with a massive bell tower on the plaza's eastern end is the Church of St. John the Baptist. Its splendidly restored 18th-century interior (head for the back door, as the main doors are usually shut) includes high arches, an elaborate beamed cedar ceiling, and gilt-wood altars. Although its stone floor dates from 1550, most of the chapel was rebuilt in 1752; it underwent extensive renovation in the 1940s, including the construction of a new main altar using parts of the original Baroque altar. The smaller altar to the right is dedicated to the Virgen de la Caridad, Cuba's patron saint. The gilt shrines along the walls are dedicated to various saints; note the pregnant Virgin, brought from Seville in the 1700s, to the left of the main door.

Camagüey's oldest church was built in 1728 to replace the original (1686) St. John's. It underwent some structural changes in 1847 and an extensive restoration in 1986. Its simple, traditional interior has a terra-cotta floor, white-stucco walls, and a sloped wooden ceiling. Four ancient hardwood altars stand along the walls, each of them dedicated to a different saint—St. John's is the second on the left. The main altar is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and is unique in that the Holy Spirit is represented as a man instead of as the usual dove.

Built in 1680, the starkly beautiful Iglesia Parroquial Mayor del Espíritu Santo is one of Cuba's oldest and best-preserved churches. Its massive bell tower is visible from much of Sancti Spíritus, and though its interior is sparsely decorated—a carved wooden ceiling and a blue-and-gold wooden arch framing a simple altar—it's extremely well preserved.

Although the city's cathedral was consecrated in 1892, the building took the better part of the 19th century to complete (it was built to replace the 17th-century church that was destroyed by a hurricane). Don't let the rather bleak exterior (or limited hours) deter you from stepping inside; its interesting interior is replete with a dozen hardwood altars that date from the early 20th century and various colonial icons.

Local people usually refer to the cathedral as the Parroquial Mayor (major parish).

To the south of the old part of town, Calle 37 runs parallel to the waterfront Malecón, where locals stroll at night. Note the illuminated billboard near the Malecón; it has an image of revered Cuban singer Benny Moré and a line from one of his songs: "Cienfuegos es la ciudad que más me gusta a mi" ("Cienfuegos is the city I like most"). The palm-lined promenade stretches south to Punta Gorda, a point dominated by the mansions once owned by sugar barons and ending in a small park surrounded by water where people gather on weekends to swim and relax.

This site of an 18th-century farmhouse once belonged to one of the region's wealthiest families. It stands next to the Torre de Iznaga, a 43-meter (141-foot) tower built in the early 1800s. Legend has it that the two Iznaga sons were in love with a beautiful young woman, and their father told one to build a tower and the other to dig a well, with the promise that whoever built higher or dug deeper could have her. But when they were done, both the tower and well were 43 meters, so the old man married the woman himself. The tower actually had a much more practical purpose: it was a place from which to keep an eye on the thousands of slaves who worked the surrounding plantations. The large bell that was rung when slaves tried to escape lies on the ground near the farmhouse.

If you really wish to delve into Trinidad's amazing architecture, this museum documents the city's development. (Of course, nothing replaces actually wandering around the city's fabulous streets themselves and soaking it all in.) Exhibits on its most important 18th- and 19th-century buildings fill the rooms of a sky-blue 18th-century house, once the home of the Sánchez Iznaga family. Don't miss the lovely garden patio.

The meticulously restored mansion that now houses the Museum of Colonial Art was long the property of the Valle Iznaga family, who owned sugar plantations, processing plants, a railroad, and a port, among other things. Dating from 1744, it's furnished with antiques from several centuries, most of which belonged to the Valle Iznagas, so the house appears much as it might have for a party a century ago—the music room is full of instruments, the dining room is set for a banquet, and the kitchen is ready for the cooking to begin.

The oldest building on Parque Vidal is a former home built in 1810 that's now open to the public as a museum. The house itself is half the attraction, with its marble floors, fluted columns, and hand-painted tiles. Its rooms hold an array of antiques—including crystal, china, statues, and furniture—that date from several centuries.

On the northern side of Plaza Martí you'll find one of the city's best-preserved colonial buildings. The former home of composer Alejandro García Caturla is now a museum dedicated to his life with many of his musical instruments on display. Built in 1875, the house has a small central patio planted with palms and surrounded by rooms that contain antique furnishings or exhibits on the composer's works.