Eastern Cuba is a place of striking scenery, population and culture. The terrain is somewhat rugged and boasts such hallmarks as the Sierra Maestra mountains to the south and the Sierra Cristal, with its Sagua Baracoa ridges, to the north. The provinces of Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo make up what’s known as Eastern Cuba, a surface of some 13,500 square miles.

Access On the ground, the Central Road reaches through the entire area. A mess of highways and dirt roads takes visitors to other locations, cities, towns and sightseeing spots across the territory. By air, the main entry points are the international airports of Santiago de Cuba (Antonio Maceo), Holguin (Frank Pais) and Granma (Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and Sierra Maestra. There are two excellent marinas in Bahia de Vita (Holguin) and Santiago de Cuba.

Weather The coastal areas and the plains show a balmy and slightly milder climate, even cold up in the mountains. The higher the ground, the higher the temperature, though hot conditions are common. July and August are extreme months in this sense.

Population Blacks, whites and mixed-race people are the three largest racial groups of eastern Cuba, with as many as 3.9 million inhabitants.

Language Spanish. (In all major tourist centers, staff members speak foreign languages such as English, French, Italian and German).

Religion Mostly Catholic, Apostolic and Roman, though African-Cuban rituals are well rooted. The Day of Our Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba’s Saint Patron, is observed on September 8. Thousands and thousands of devoted pilgrims head for Santiago de Cuba in a massive procession to the steps of the Virgin’s church in the outskirts of the city.

Main Cities Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second-largest city, second best to Havana. Other major cities are Holguin, Las Tunas, Bayamo, Guantanamo, all capitals of the region’s provinces.

Traffic Like in the rest of Cuba, traffic is on the right side of the road. When it comes to driving in rural areas, it’s commonplace to see tractors, horse-hauled buggies and bicycles, so there’s need to take extra precaution measures when hitting those roads. Up in the mountains, drivers must double those precautions due to regular rainfall and the existence of zigzagging and narrow dirt roads. Accommodation The main travel destinations across the region, from the north of Las Tunas and Holguin all the way to faraway Baracoa, feature excellent hotels and resorts next to top-class beaches or in the cities and inland natural locations with a variety of options in terms of rates and categories.

Transportation Roads are in good conditions across the board, but it’s important to have maps or ask your way around with the locals. Road signs are not everywhere. When touring around or planning group traveling, visitors may rely on transfer in/transfer out services from their hotels. There are plenty of car rentals at airports, tourist centers and major cities.

Sports Scuba diving, sailing, windsurfing and ecotourism in watching and adventure modalities, tennis, horseback riding, among others. All top-of-the-line hotels are equipped with sports courts and facilities, while beach resorts count on their own nautical bases and are outfitted with an array of resources and means.

Cuisine Fresh seafood, shellfish, international and gourmet food, fusion cuisine with Mediterranean and Asian elements, as well as from other parts of the world, are available in all major travel destinations and tourist centers, featuring top-quality and assorted menus. Restaurants serving Cuban food dish out more traditional meals based on rice and beans and pork meat.

Shopping Suggestions This is a nature-laden region featuring top-quality handcrafts made of fibers, wood, seashells and other elements. Major hotels usually reserve some space of their own for local artisans to showcase and sell their products. All main cities have small marketplaces that open daily with sales of crafts and other similar items. We suggest you to buy woodcarvings, bracelets, necklaces, creels, hats, coconut vases and many others. Colorful and creative naïf painting is virtually everywhere. Eastern Cuba is known for its top-class musical instruments, like claves, maracas, graters, drums and tumbadoras, as well as its excellent rum, coffee and traditional music.

OUR TIPS

The Best Landscapes Marea del Portillo-Santiago de Cuba Tourist Road This is a not-so-hyped landscape tour, yet one of the most captivating ones all across the country. It’s quite a good two-hour drive for photographers and common travelers who get the chance of taking a firsthand look at scenery marked by the sea, mountains and rivers down a southern coastal road that hooks up the Desembarco del Granma National Park and the Turquino National Park all the way to the Santiago de Cuba province. Gran Piedra At 4,022 feet above sea level, it offers a breathtaking view of the Sierra Maestra mountains. But the place has some exclusive landscape values of its own, plus countless wildlife and floral specials and a rich history linked to the arrival of French-Haitian settlers who introduced and developed the crop of coffee and its culture in the region. The ruins of their former estates and plantations were declared World Heritage by UNESCO. La Farola A road built between Imias and the vicinities of Baracoa, between the south and the north of the Guantanamo province. It clears natural hurdles on the ground that remained unaltered for centuries down a 20-mile highway full of cliffs, roaring rivers and dizzying heights. The road was virtually hanged on the hillsides and propped up on pillars in quite a few stretches. It runs through deep rainforests, takes peaks and valleys and lets drivers watch nonstop changes of foliage, a must-see for any tripper. World Heritage and Cultural Sites in Eastern Cuba Cubano The San Pedro de la Roca Castle Built between the 17th and 18th centuries, this is one of the major fortresses constructed by the Spanish rule in the Caribbean. It’s considered a valuable example of Europe’s renaissance military engineering in the region. Sierra de Cristal With breathtakingly lavish nature, centennial-old forests and vast colonies of tree-climbing vines and ferns, it’s located in the vicinity of the El Guayabo waterfalls –Cuba’s highest– and in the heart of the Pinares de Mayari. Ruins of the Gran Piedra French-owned coffee plantations The best-known ones are the Santa Sofia, Kentucky and La Isabelica. These plantations are tremendously important for their architectural, cultural, scientific, technical and vial values, in addition to being living evidence of past domestic ad funerary traditions. The men and women who settled down there were the ones who built all the first pathways through the Sierra Maestra mountains that eventually became roads and dirt roads. Desembarco del Granma National Park This park is perched on a series of eye-catching marine cliffs and spectacular crags, evidence of the particular geological and morphological processes those rhinestone terrains endured for ages. Its most emblematic sites are the Escaleras de los Gigantes terraces and the El Guafe natural archeological trail, home to the Water Idol Cave –one of the most interesting spots visitors can see in this location. A similarly interesting trail is the Morlote-Fustete one. Alexander de Humboldt National Park A geological gem of the Caribbean and Cuba’s main protected area, this is considered one of the best-preserved places on the entire island nation, featuring old woodlands and a great clustering of wildlife and floral species