Baracoa travel guide
The dry, cactus-strewn landscape of the south coast begins to change as you follow the winding, spectacular 30km (18-mile) road ‘La Farola’ across the mountains to Baracoa (150km/93 miles from Santiago), a picturesque little village known for its local chocolate and coconut factories. The tropical seaside town is surrounded by green hillsides covered with cocoa and coconut groves, and all around are palm-backed beaches. Baracoa lies smack in the middle of the wettest region in Cuba, and has no fewer than 10 rivers, all of them ripe for whitewater rafting. In the mountains to the northwest is the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt, a biosphere reserve named after the great German naturalist and explorer.
Baracoa was the first settlement to be established by Diego Velázquez in 1511. Columbus came here first, though, after landing at Bariay Bay in today’s Holguín province in October 1492, and planted the Cruz de la Parra (Cross of the Vine) in the soil on his arrival. What is claimed to be this cross is on display in Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, the church on Plaza Independencia.
Top places to visit in Baracoa
Hotel El Castillo
A good place to get your bearings is the hilltop Hotel El Castillo, a former castle looking out over red-tiled roofs, the town’s expansive, oyster-shaped bay and the landmark mountain called El Yunque (The Anvil), named for its singular shape.
Main Square
In the main square is a bust of Hatuey, the brave Indian leader who resisted early conquistadores until he was caught by the Spanish and burned at the stake. There’s also a very lively Casa de la Trova here. It is worth wandering along the Malecón, the seaside avenue, from the snug Fuerte Matachín (an early 19th-century fort that has a small but informative municipal museum inside) to the Hotel La Rusa, which is named after a legendary Russian émigrée who over the years hosted celebrities such as Che Guevara and Errol Flynn.
Museo Arqueológico, Las Cuevas del Paraíso
In and around Baracoa are several dozen pre-Columbian archaeological sites related to the two major indigenous groups that once inhabited the region. The Museo Arqueológico in Las Cuevas del Paraíso up the hill from the village, contains a copy of the Taíno tobacco idol found nearby in 1903 (the original is in Havana).
