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Varadero
is considered to be Cuba's premier beach resort, with miles
of dazzling white sand stretching along the coast.
It is no wonder Varadero captivates even the most experienced
of travellers.
Varadero is a 27 Km long peninsula, located
to the north central area of the Cuban Island.
Varadero was
discovered as a beach resort after 1945, when the wealthy Americans and
Europeans could not go to the European beaches due to the destruction
that World War 2 had left behind.
Nowadays Varadero is one
of the most developed areas in the country, with a variety of hotels
and a wide range of services to offer visitors. Most hotels in Varadero
are run by overseas hotel companies, which has helped Cuba to gain
experience and knowledge in the hotel administration business.
Matanzas,
located only just 100 kilometers from Havana, was founded in 1693. The
city, lies beside the shores of a quiet bay and because of its numerous
bridges, is known as the Venice of Cuba.
A visit to
Bacunayagua bridge, located to the end of the province, is a must.
Standing on the bridge one can enjoy an amazing view of the
Yumurí Valley,
surrounded by a 150-meter high
mountain range and bathed by Yumurí and Bacunayagua rivers.
The
pleasant climate, lush vegetation and peaceful landscape of the area
provide an appropriate setting relaxation. Specialized facilities offer
therapeutic treatments for stress, obesity, high blood pressure and
special programs for more senior tourists.
Bellamar caves,
discovered last century, are located in the capital of the province.
Extending over two kilometers, they are full of stalactites and
stalagmites. Their halls stretch to ground water and end up in
crystalline-water lakes.
The Pharmaceutical Museum is
especially interesting to visitors. Set in an old French drugstore
founded in 1882, is the only pharmacy that still preserves its original
instruments, furniture and recipes. It treasures many valuable pieces
like polychromed porcelain bottles, 55 books of entries and a
prescription desk which was awarded the bronze medal at the Paris
International Exhibition in 1900.
“Oscar
María Rojas”, another museum of the province, was
founded in 1900 and is one of the oldest in the country. The museum
shows objects related to the independence struggle which involved
important people from the city.
At first, the city was
famous for its excellent port, intense trade activity and sugar
industry development. Today, it is most famous for Varadero, a
20-kilometer beach located in the Hicacos Peninsula.
Varadero
is the island’s most outstanding spa and one of the more
popular beach resorts in the Caribbean. Its transparent waters and its
fine white sand beach is an absolute delight for holidaymakers.
All
these natural attractions complement the tourist
infrastructure’s ongoing development which includes hotel
capacities for all likes as well as restaurants, night clubs, discos,
18-hole golf courses and 23 scuba diving areas.
In Varadero
you can enjoy exciting nightlife, music and the most exotic cocktails,
and also the beauty of ten virgin islets and seabeds with 40 different
species of coral, a variety of fish, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, cute
dolphins and 70 types of mollusks.
The famous spa also
features the Municipal Museum of History, a wooden construction built
early this century. The museum displays maps of the Hicacos Peninsula
and copies of indigenous pictographs that have been found in nearby
caves.
Matanzas’ best preserved xeromorphous
sub-spiny scrub is located at the northeast end of the Hicacos
Peninsula in Varahicacos Ecological Preserve where very old cactuses
and several migratory bird species dwell around the Mangón
lagoon.
Also in the preserve we find Los Musulmanes and
Ambrosio caves, interesting archeological sites with many aboriginal
cave paintings.
Puertosol Dársena, Marlin
Chapelin and Gaviota are marinas offering facilities for boats. Most of
them are located in Varadero and all together provide berth for ninety
boats as well as power, drinking water, refueling and minor repair
services. Yachting, sail boating and catamaran are available for rental.
The
province has also five scuba diving centers. Three of them
–Barracuda, Acua and Club Varadero– are located in
Varadero, Matanzas’ most popular destination providing for
coral reef and shipwreck diving, underwater photography and
pedalo rental.
Cárdenas is one of the
province’s cities. A town of carriages and horses, it was the
first in the country that used power for street lighting and saw the
national flag flying in the wind.
To the south of the
province, in the Zapata peninsula, is the Montemar Grand Natural Park,
one of the continent’s best preserved ecosystems. The park
covers 70 thousand hectares encompassing vast areas of forests,
mangroves, coastal brush and weedy swamps.
The site is the
habitat of diverse waterfowl, mammal, reptile, amphibious and
invertebrate species like manatees and an endemic breed of crocodile.
Among bird species –171 total, 18 of them endemic–
we find the carpintero jabado (a kind of woodpecker) and the fermina,
both indigenous to Cuba.
The territory has great potential
for eco-tourism, hiking, birdwatching, picture taking and hunting.
For
underwater spelunking lovers, there is great opportunity in the flooded
caves of the area. One of them, Los Peces (The Fish), is the largest in
the country. Bahía de Cochinos’ (Bay of Pigs)
coral reefs are good for diving. These activities are all supported by
Playa Girón and Playa Larga centers.
At the
Laguna del Tesoro (the Treasure Lagoon) visitors will come across
Guamá, a picturesque tourist center located in the Zapata
peninsula. Among the many attractions of the site you will find a
life-size reproduction of a native taína village; all the
sculptures were made by Cuban artist Rita Longa. The location also
houses one of the greatest crocodile nurseries in Latin America.
Playa
Girón Museum, is a journey through the last forty years of
the Revolution. It gives an insight into the 1961 invasion to the
island, defeated in only 72 hours by the Cuban armed forces.
These
and many more wonders can be found at Montemar National Park, a site
created by nature, and that makes Cuba so distinct from other
destinations in the Caribbean.
Cuba is green and blue, it is
an island of birds, fish and corals, beautiful landscapes and palm
trees.
It is just a dream come true.
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