40 Best Sights in Western Cuba, Cuba

This attractive, leafy square is the heart of the city. A bronze statue of 19th-century liberal revolutionary leader José Martí presides over the plaza, accompanied by a startling sculpture of a screaming, bare-breasted woman representing Cuba breaking free from her chains. Around the square are beautifully restored Neoclassical buildings, including the Museo Farmaceútico Triolet, the restored Sala de Conciertos José White, and the magnificently refurbished Velasco Hotel, next door to the handsome Velasco Theater. Nearby bookshops and cafés are bustling, and there's almost always some music or street theater going on in the square.

Once the estate of a wealthy sugar-mill owner, since 1940 this public park, open daily, has been a tranquil spot with extensive gardens and a small lake with swans and flamingos. Rowboats are available for rent (less than CUC$2), and there's a small public pool, and open-air concerts some nights.

At the end of the road from Pinar del Río, the village of La Bajada lies at a junction: the road to the left heads to Playa María la Gorda (14 km [9 miles] south), the one to the right takes you into the park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The drive out to Cuba's western tip at Cabo de San Antonio, 54 km (33 miles) over a rough dirt track, is a long haul to undertake, unless you're eager to explore the wilderness. If you go, bring food and drink; a cooler and a few sandwiches are advised. Your best transportation bet is to take a bus from Pinar del Río (about CUC$39) or book a tour with Gaviota, one of the state-owned tour companies, which also operates the hotel in María La Gorda.

This superb 3-km (2-mile) white-sand strand is the only beach on the island with picture-perfect palm trees. All the hotels arrange ferry and bus shuttles to this sliver of a peninsula off Cayo Largo's western tip. The marina here, shared by all the hotels, has a restaurant and a bar and a full range of water sports, including diving, snorkeling, and boat rentals from kayaks to pedal boats to Hobie Cats. If the beach gets too crowded, you can arrange a boat to take you to nearby, deserted keys such as Cayo Rico and Cayo Iguana. For a taste of the best of Cayo Largo, without renouncing the cultural experience of Cuba, there are day-trip packages from Havana and Varadero that include a 40-minute flight, half a day and lunch on Playa Sirena, snorkeling the offshore reef, and a visit to Cayo Iguana. Amenities: food and drink; toilets, water sports. Best for: snorkeling; walking.

A little overwhelmed by passing traffic, this landmark square is the cultural hub of Matanzas, with the Matanzas Provincial Museum on one corner and the magnificent, neoclassical Sauto Theater (currently closed for restoration) taking up a whole side. In the middle of the square is the marble statue of an anonymous independence fighter known as El Soldado Desconocido (The Unknown Soldier). A couple of cafés face the theater and there's a modern art gallery (free) to browse.

The prison, built in 1926–31 by the dictator Gerardo Machado, is the area's most visited sight. Modeled on the famous high-security penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois, the presidio facilitated constant surveillance of up to 6,000 prisoners crammed into he doorless cells in four circular, five-tier buildings overseen from central watchtowers. The fifth block, where prisoners weren't allowed to speak, housed el comedor de tres mil silencios (the dining hall of 3,000 silences). German and Japanese prisoners of war were held here during World War II, and, most famously, Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, and 24 fellow rebels were jailed here from October 1953 to May 1955 after the attack on the Moncada Barracks. Celebrity inmates, Castro and company were housed in the prison infirmary; their bunks are still in place, with photographs of each prisoner on the wall over the bed. Castro penned his now famous "La Historia me absolverá" ("History Will Absolve Me")—the defense speech for his trial for the Moncada attack and a manifesto of the cause against the dictator Fulgencio Batista—at the Presidio Modelo, which has been a museum since 1967.

This once-elegant, arched bridge over the Yumurí Estuary used to set a Parisian, Seine-like scene. Built in 1878, with two imposing carved columns at each end, it connected the barrio of Versalles, named for resident wealthy French coffee planters, and the city. Although it's currently in sad shape, it's still one of the most striking pieces of Matanzas architecture. The Cuban government used to give replicas of the columns as official gifts to visiting dignitaries.

With no fewer than 56 dive sites—with such evocative names as Tunnel of Love—the waters around Punta Francès are truly a diver's paradise, with underwater caves, varied fauna and sunken ships to explore. Legends of sunken treasure and Spanish galleons add romance, but divers are more likely to explore a modern ship that was sunk after being used for target practice.

On the Plaza de la Vigia, the massive, white Teatro Sauto is one of Cuba's finest and best-preserved Neoclassical structures. Also known as the Teatro Antillano, or Theater of the Antilles, it was built in 1863 at the peak of the city's prosperity. The theater is currently undergoing a major restoration and is closed indefinitely, but you can't miss seeing this landmark building.