Villa Clara Province

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
Villa Clara Province
% 42 / pop 803,690
Why Go?
Santa Clara..................261
Around Santa
Clara........................... 270
Embalse
Hanabanilla................ 270
Remedios................... 272
Caibarién.................... 275
Cayerías del Norte..... 276
Best Beaches
¨¨Playa Ensenachos (p277)
¨¨Playa Las Salinas (p277)
¨¨Playa El Mégano (p277)
¨¨Playa Santa María (p276)
Best Local Life
He wasn’t born here, never lived here and died in the distant Bolivian mountains, but Che Guevara is synonymous
with Villa Clara, for liberating its capital, Santa Clara, from
Batista’s corrupt gambling party. Yet, the patchwork of misty
tobacco fields and placid lakes wedged between the Sierra
del Escambray and Cuba’s northern keys offers reasons
other than Che to drop by.
The city of Santa Clara is an important junction for crosscountry travelers, with a cutting-edge nightlife and some
palatial casas particulares, while nearby the Escambray
peaks glimmer with adventure possibilities centered on the
mirror-like Hanabanilla lake.
Picturesque Remedios is the region’s oldest settlement,
and its somnolence is annually shattered by a frenzied firework party, Las Parrandas. Northeastward, on Villa Clara’s
coveted coast, beach life revolves around the archipelago of
the Cayerías del Norte, Cuba’s fastest-growing resort zone.
The presence of an adjacent Unesco Biosphere Reserve has
meant development has been relatively sustainable – so far.
¨¨Parque Vidal (p261)
When to Go
¨¨La Marquesina (p268)
¨¨It’s hard to conceive of a better time to take a trip to Villa
¨¨La Casa de la Ciudad
(p263)
¨¨Centro Cultural las
Leyendas (p274)
¨¨Caibarién (p275)
Clara than December. The 24th, specifically. That’s right.
Swap a boring Christmas for one of the Caribbean’s hottest
street parties in Remedios.
¨¨Head over to the Cayerías del Norte for the start of the
high season, which runs December through March, when the
chances of the skies raining on your beach parade are as low
as they get.
Playa
Girón (8km)
Topes de
Meyer
l
Sancti
Iguará
Jatibonico
To Ciego de
Ávila (30km)
Sancti
Spíritus
Province
Jarahueca
Florencia
Morón
Laguna de
la Leche
El Salado
Máximo
Gómez
Tamarindo
Marroquí
Cayo
Guillermo
20 km
10 miles
Bahía de
Perros
Ciego
de Ávila
Province
Chambas
Punta de
Judas
0
0
beaches of the Cayo Santa
María (p276).
7 Bask on the balmy
at ramshackle yet heartwarming Caibarién (p275).
Cayo
Santa María
Mayajigua
El Estero
Real
Yaguajay
Buena
Vista
Zulueta
Las Brujas
Airport
Bahía
Caibarién Buena Vista
Cabaiguán
Guayos
Fomento
ciona
Autopista Na
Placetas
Cayo
Francés
lén
drap
El Pe
Remedios
Boca del Róbalo
Dolores
Cayo
Fragoso
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
tourist board forgot to mention
6 See the Villa Clara the
plaza’s cafes in the colonial
pocket of Remedios (p272).
5 People-watch from the
Cayerías
del Norte
Camajuani
Embalse
Minerva
Manicaragua
El Salto del
Hanabanilla Güinia de
sc rra
Miranda
am d
br el Embalse
ay
Hanabanilla
Cumanayagua
Potrerillo
Ranchuelo
Cifuentes
Encrucijada
Abel
Santamaría
Airport
Santa
Esperanza
Clara
Santo
Domingo
San Antón S
E ie
Palmira
Cruces
El Naranjo &
Cienfuegos
CARIBBEAN
SEA
Yaguaramas
Rodas
Autopista Nacional
Cienfuegos
Province
Aguada de
Pasajeros
ral
ent
ra C
rete
Car
Embalse
Alacranes
Sagua la
Grande
up the solitude of Embalse
Hanabanilla (p270).
4 Hike the trails and soak
nightlife in Santa Clara’s Club
Mejunje (p269).
3 Plug into the electric
Río
Caleta
Buena
El Rincón
Los Arabos
Cayo las
Picuas
Quemado de
Güines
Baños de
Hotel &
Spa Elguea
Elguea
Corralillo
Palma
Matanzas
Province
Río la
Colón
Playa Girón
(61km); Havana
(166km)
Jovellanos
(20km)
Cárdenas
(26km) Martí
cigar factory, Fábrica de
Tabacos Constantino Pérez
Carrodegua (p263), followed
by sublime coffee at La
Veguita (p263).
2 Tour Santa Clara’s
R
la ío Sa
Ch gu
ica a
1 Trace the legend at Santa
Clara’s monument to Ernesto
Che Guevara (p264) and
Monumento a la Toma del
Tren Blindado (p264).
Vill a Cl ar a Province C
 l ara P r ov i nce H i g h l i g h t s
Villa Clara Province Highlights
260
a
Zaz