Havana - The Caribbean’s largest island, Cuba – the size of England – is ideal for a fly-drive adventure.
Cuba is the only nation where you can drive through superb tropical landscapes, on lightly travelled roads, in vehicles which are relics from half-a-century ago.
You can drive where you please, alternating between glorious colonial towns and dazzling beaches as you cover the ground between the scenic tobacco-growing lands of western Cuba and the wild countryside and revolutionary history of the east.
Rental cars are readily available and good value, typically around £40 (R810) a day, fully inclusive. You need not rent a car for the full duration of your stay; in Havana, a vehicle will be a disadvantage.
Alternatively, you might stay in one of the big resorts, such as Varadero and Guardalavaca, and want to opt out for a few days. Cuba lends itself to impromptu decisions because accommodation is so plentiful: besides some excellent hotels, you can find plenty of private homes offering comfortable rooms for as little as R325.
Don’t be too ambitious about the distances you intend to cover. After all, you need to make the most of being on the road. The excellent Guía de Carreteras de Cuba (Highway Guide of Cuba) is widely available on the island. It is bilingual Spanish/English and has detailed regional charts plus street maps for all the significant towns and cities. Fuel is widely available at prices that are low by UK standards. Hitchhikers are seen everywhere. While you need not feel any obligation to pick people up, most visitors find it an excellent way to meet the locals.
Start your drive by going west on the Autopista Nacional – the backbone of the road network. In Pinar del Rio province, the Cordillera de Guaniguanico provides a stirring upland companion.
The range includes the Sierra de los Organos with the bizarre mogotes – large limestone humps which rise dramatically out of the tobacco fields of the Viñales valley.
Viñales offers splendid hiking as well as the most environmentally sensitive aspects of tourism in Cuba. A great place to stay is the Hotel Los Jazmines, a handsome early 20th-century mansion with superb views. Explore the Viñales National Park north of the town, with fascinating caves and spectacular views. Next, move gently east, possibly pausing at the southern port of Batabanó for a side-trip to Isla de la Juventud (“Isle of Youth”) – for some rejuvenation and diving. Ferries are erratic, though, and you may want to leave your car on the mainland.
The Zapata Peninsula gets its name from the shape on the map – like a shoe (zapata) kicking into the Gulf of Batabanó – and it is Cuba’s prime rainforest area. Continuing west, you can tick off one fascinating city after another: Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Sanctí Spíritus and Ciego de Avila. And make a detour to Bayamo and the province of Granma. (Granma was the name of the cabin cruiser used by Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and their comrades, for the 1956 landing that began the revolution.)
The beaches along the flat south-eastern shore are superb, but the towns and cities are even more compelling. Santiago (“Hero City of the Revolution”) contains the Moncada Barracks, where Castro led his first bid to overthrow the Batista regime. Drive into the Sierra Maestra, where the rebels set up camp while rousing support to continue the struggle.
A newly opened road cuts a big corner across the south of Cuba and gives faster access to Cienfuegos.
By the standards of Cuban cities, Cienfuegos is relatively new – established in 1819 – and lovely. Founded by a French settler, Louis Clement, it is full of 19th-century French architecture. The Hotel La Unión (hotellaunion-cuba.com) is right in the centre. Good double rooms cost R810, room only.
From Cienfuegos, you can follow the coast east and climb into the Escambray Mountains, which rise majestically north of the shore.
Topes de Collantes is a high-altitude hill resort at the heart of Cuba’s coffee country – claimed to rank with the Blue Mountains of Jamaica as producing the best arabica beans in the world.
Get in touch with the nature of the island at Guamá, where you can board a boat to explore more deeply. You are taken across the Laguna del Tesoro (“Treasure Lake”) which was named so because, after the conquistadores arrived, the locals threw their riches into the water rather than give them up.
Santa Clara would be a pleasant but unremarkable city in central Cuba were it not for one event that marked the climax of the revolutionary struggle.
Revolutionary
Che Guevara became the minister of banking and industry for the new government in Havana. But he had always vowed to fight injustice in Latin America and by 1967 was in Bolivia, seeking to spark revolution there.
He never returned to Cuba, was captured and shot dead on October 8, 1967. Three decades later, his remains were brought to Santa Clara to be interred alongside his comrades at the Plaza de la Revolución, a sombre place to contemplate Che’s enduring influence on Cuba and the world.
Simon Calder, The Independent