Legend
	Pinar del Rio
	La Habana
	Ciudad de La Habana
	Matanzas  Varadero
	Cienfuegos
	Villa Clara
	Sancti Spíritus
	Ciego de Ávila
	Camaguey
	Las Tunas
	Granma
	Holguín
	Santiago de Cuba
	Guantánamo
	Isla de la Juventud
	Cayo Largo

Pinar del Rio
The furthest west of Cuban provinces with the impressive Vinales Valley and the tobacco region Vuelta Abajo. Soroa orchid garden, in Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, with 750 orchid species and Las Terrazas with marvelous landscapes and an offer of sustainable tourism. At the western end of the Province is Guanahacabibe Peninsula's Biosphere Reserve with its two nature reserves: El Veral and Cabo Corrientes and the diving sport center Maria la Gorda, with around 40 diving locations and a colony of black corals. Cayo Levisa and La Corona of San Carlos are also rewarding destinations for diving enthusiasts. San Diego de los Banos, recognized mineral water healing site is yet another attraction in the region.

La Habana
Havana Province in western Cuba, was created in 1975 as a result of a political redistricting of the country. In Havana's most northern district, midway between Cuba's capital city and Varadero beach area, Jilbacoa is one of the most sought after tourist destinations due to the quality of its beaches and its scenic charm. Latin America's largest rum factory is located in Santa Cruz del Norte. El Salado, west of the capital city and located 30km from José Martí International Airport, has a coral guarded beach, and offers divers attractive destinations. Surgidero de Batabanó is located on the southern coast, the connecting harbor to Isla de la Juventud.
Airfield: José Martí

Ciudad de La Habana
Founded in 1519 as Villa San Cristóbal de La Habana. The historic city center was declared a World Cultural Heritage site in 1982 by UNESCO.

Matanzas/Varadero
Matanzas is the province with the largest number of tourist attractions. Varadero has an international airport and large variety of hotels. Fine, white sand, transparent water in every possible shade of blue and a great variety of water sports are some of Varadero's distinguishing features. The many fascinating diving spots make Varadero especially interesting for divers as well. One of the highlights is the "blue hole", Ojo del Mégano, a giant hole in the reefs not far from Cádiz Bay and Cayo sea Park Piedras del Norte, with sunken ships, a sunken frigate, a sunken passenger aircraft!, and more. Other highlights: Punta Hicacos Reserve with cave paintings, the international center for skydivers, the Varadero Golf Club (the island's only professional golf course - 18-holes, par 72), and lots more. To the southwest is Montemar Natural Park in Ciénaga de Zapata Biosphere Reserve.
Airfield: Varadero

Cienfuegos
The region is located in central Cuba with a namesake capital city, which emerged from "Fernandina de Jagua" colony founded in 1819. Cienfuegos city is located on Jagua Bay, has a monumentally protected old town, the country's longest promenade and is known as "the pearl of the south" or also as "beautiful city of the ocean". The beaches Rancho Luna and El Inglés are well suited for water and diving sports. There are over 50 diving destinations between Jagua Bay and Boca Ambuila (i.e. the famous six meter high coral pillars "Notre Dame" and sunken ships). The Guanaroca's Lagoon and Yaguanabo Valley are fascinating with their tropical fauna and the Caves of Martín Infierno have impressive 67 meter long stalagmite.
This coastal region is perfectly suitable for water sports and divers!

Villa Clara
Located in the mid-northern Cuba was the scene of the battle at the end of December of 1958 which finally led to Cuba's independence. The capital city Santa Clara was founded in 1689 and is 267km from Havana, 74km from Cienfuegos, 207km from Varadero and 88km from Trinidad. A 48 km long village street connects Caibarién, a fishing village surrounded by deep waters with spiny lobster breeding facilites, to the northern islands of Las Brujas and Santa Maria. Santa Maria is also known as Jardines del Rey (Kings Gardens) archipelagos' white rose. It is 13km long and has excellent beaches with fine, white sand and diverse underwater flora and fauna. Further highlights include, Pelo de Oro o del Muneco Caves, Elguea healing springs, Hanabanilla-Stausee at the foot of Escambray Massifs, among others.

Sancti Spiritus
A province situated in central Cuba, with the Sierra del Escambray mountain range spanning 15% of its total area. The like-named capital city has preserved its historic town center with its multifaceted styles. Trinidad at the southern end of the province is known as "Museum City" and has the most well preserved and complete architectural complex from colonial times on the American continent. It was announced a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Trinidad's historic downtown is about 10 km away from the Caribbean beaches, which are said to be the best of Cuba's coast and also offer attractive destinations for divers. Escambray massif and Topes de Collantes National Park offer eventful expeditions and hikes.

Ciego de Ávila
30km of untouched beaches and the second largest coral reefs in the world invite to dive. Starting points for tourists are Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo Islands. Cayo Coco has a hotel infrastructure and has 22km of fine-sand coasts in an undisturbed environment. Cayo Guillermo is a 13 km2 large island, was made famous by Ernest Hemmingway's Island in the Golf. Playa Pilar beach, which is known as one of the most beautiful regions is on this island.
The capital city Ciego de Ávila was founded in 1840.
Airfield: Máximo Gómez
Coastal regions especially suitable for water sports and divers!

Camaguey
The province spans over 15900 km² of mid-western Cuban archipelagos and has hundreds of kilometers of extraordinarily attractive beaches. The namesake capital city, with the country's second largest historic city, was founded in 1514 under the name "Santa Maria del Puerto del Príncipe". One of the highlights of the region is "Santa Lucía" with 20 km of the finest white sand beaches and the second largest coral reefs in the world. A fascinating diving zone extends over five kilometers of this area with a substantial amount of tropical flora and fauna and 27 shipwrecks.
Airport: "Ignacio Agramonte"

Las Tunas
Las Tunas Province stretches across 6584 km² in the northeast of the island and has over 35 undisturbed beaches and a 265km coastline. The capital city of the same name was founded in 1759 and is known as "Capital of Sculptures" (70 monumental works are displayed on 600km²). Covarrubias on the Atlantic coast has a fine-sand beach and is protected by a three kilometer long coral reef. Near Malgueta Bay there is a large variety of bird fauna, among which are flamingos, herons, and pelicans.
One further highlight of the province is the largest crocodile reserve in the Caribbean with 20,000 species.

Granma
Situated in southeastern Cuba, Granma Province is fascinating with the impressive Sierra Maestra landscape, a mountain range which spans from Pilón along the coastal street through Granma Province and Santiago de Cuba. The capital city Bayamo was founded in 1523 by the Spanish colonial masters, but unfortunately has few historic buildings. It is however appropriate for a layover, when driving to Santiago or Baracoa. Comandancia de la Plata, Castro's former mountain headquarters, located in Sierra Maestra National Park can be visited with special permission. Pico Turquino, at 1974m the island's highest mountain peaks out of Turquino National Park. The coastal street goes from Pilón to Santiago de Cuba and for diving enthusiasts hotel Marea del Portillo with an adjoining diving center is a sure recommendation.



Airport:Havana-Bayamo connection 2x a week, Havana-Manzanillo 1x
Sport Activities: hiking, diving, snorkeling
Hotels: Royalton, Sierra Maestra, Beach Hotel Marea del Portillo

Holguín
The north coast of the province situated on the east is covered with the beaches of Playa Yuraguanal, Playa Pesquero, Bahía de Naranjo, the Guardalavaca beach region, and Cayo Saetía Island. There are comfortable beach hotels spread around the entire region and are most accessible from Holguín, the capital city which is also a destination for national and international airlines. The city is also known as City of Parks. Guardalavaca, Playa Esmeralda, Pesquero and Playa Blanco offer beaches surrounded by diverse coastal vegetation, with fine white sand and warm, clean water for water-sports and diving enthusiast. The province also has several impressive nature parks, which could be explored by jeeps or on horseback.




Airport: Holguin
Sport Activities: diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, sailing - special charter
Hotels:
Tipp:

Santiago de Cuba
The like-named capital city of the southeastern Province, founded in 1514 is known as the home of Afro-Cuban musical roots, dance and magic. The city center is characterized by Andalusian and Moorish colonial architecture, with Parque Céspedes in the center. There are lots of points of interest within walking distance, i.e. Casa de Diego Velázquez, homes of the former conquistadors or the Casa de la Trova with atmospheric live cocerts. When the annual carnival goes through the streets in July, the city turns into one great party and celebrates with visitors from other cities and fans from all over the world. On the outskirts of the city, a visit to Castillo del Morro, an imposing fort, to Basílica del Cobre, the pilgrimage church, to the 1234m high Canyon, Gran Piedra with a view which extends to Haiti and to the crocodile farm at Baconao Lagoon, where one could also rent a boat. Playa Siboney, west of Santiago and to Playa Daiquirí in Baconao Park are beaches definitely worth a side trip. The diving districts at Hotel Club Bucanero, in Sigua, Daiquirí and Sierra Mar, with more than 70 diving spots all together, are especially interesting.
Flughafen: Havana-Santiago daily connection
Sport Activities: snorkeling, diving, hiking, bike tours and tennis (Hotel Club Bucanero)
Hotels: Casa Granda, Las Americas, San Juan, Balcon del Caribe, Villa El Salton, Gran Piedra Tipp: Casa Granda's Terace is a good meeting point and for a beach vacation, Bucanero Club is a good starting point to visit Santiago and the region.

Guantanamo
Made notorious by the American Marine Base in Guantanamo Bay and the factionalism between the USA and the Cuban governments, the city has little to offer. In 1903, after defeating the Spanish, the USA government was pressured into signing a lease agreement which can only be cancelled with mutual consent and consequently has an unforeseeable end. Mirador los Malones allows for a view of this section with a telescope, which is surrounded by a 27km long fence and has the only McDonald's Restaurant in Cuba. Joseíto Fernández is world famous for his composition of the song "Guantanamera" in the 1940s about a girl from this city. Two highlights of the Province are surely the mountain street "La Farola" with an exquisite view of the Country and the oldest city in Cuba, Baracoa which it connects to. Starting at Baracoa, explore the Biosphere Reserve, El Yunque with a 575m high Rock, Yumurí Canyon, 180m high, densely packed canyons, Río Toa Waterfalls and Playa Maguaná with the most beautiful beach in the region.

Airport: Havana-Guantanamo several times a week
Sport Acticvities: snorkeling
Hotels: Baracoa - El Castillo, Porto Santo

Isla de la Juventud (Treasure Island)
Located in the Canarreos Archipelago, the Island is a destination for divers from all over the world. The sea fauna and the diversity of the ocean inhabitants, from 12m deep until steep slopes lock in lots of professionals, but novices from El Colony's professional team are also guided through the underwater world. Flights come in to the small sleepy capital city Nueva Gerona daily from Havana and it is a suitable starting point for a visit to Cuevas de Punta del Este, which was discovered in 1910 by a wrecked French Ship, and houses 235 cave paintings from the Siboney Indians. The white sand beach at Punta del Este is surely one of the most beautiful on the island, which otherwise has rather dark or black sand on the coastline. Cocodrilo, a small fishing village on the south coast, founded by the British settlers from the Cayman Islands, is easily accessible from El Colony Diving Base. Nueva Gerona also offers charter sailboats, which travel along the island chain of the archipelago to Cienfuegos Harbor Town or to Trinidad on the mainland.

Airport:Havana-Nueva Gerona 2x daily
Sport Activities: diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, sailing - special charter
Hotels: El Colony with a Diving Center
Tipp: One of the greatest highlights in Cuba for divers; Recommended starting point for sailors and cruises towards Cienfuegos.

Cayo Largo
This island, located among Canarreos Achipelago is a choice destination of guests seeking a quiet beach vacation away from the city. This is the place to enjoy the three 'S's - sun, sand, and sea. This 25 km long island, along with Marina Cayo Largo, is a choice location to anchor yachts and stock up on provisions. The fine, white mussel-sand, on the secluded Playa Sirena, Playa Paraiso and Playa Blanca, invite long hikes or strolls and the coco palm trees at Playa Los Cocos provide shade with a view of the turquoise colored ocean. Diving trips from Marina Cayo Largo and boat tours for snorkeling are offered to the offshore reefs; a diver's delight. In sum: Pure Caribbean Island feeling





Airport: several times a week from Havana and Varadero
Sport Activities: Diving, Snorkeling, Sailing, Windsurfing, Tennis
Hotels: Gran Caribe Club Cayo Largo, , Villa Marina (especially for divers)
Tipp: due to moderate local flight prices, very good supplement to a cross-country trip or city trip.